WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:29.505 Reading from the gospel of Luke chapter 18 verses 9 through 30. He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. 2 men went up into the temple to pray, 1 a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus, god, I thank you that I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. 00:00:29.565 --> 00:00:57.380 I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, god be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humble humbles himself will be exalted. Now, they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them and when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 00:00:57.680 --> 00:01:23.235 Jesus called to to him saying, let the children come to me and do not hinder them for to such belongs the kingdom of god. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of god, like a child, shall not enter it. And the ruler asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 00:01:23.615 --> 00:01:52.050 You know the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother. And he said, all these I have kept from my youth. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, one thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me. But when he heard these things, he became very sad for he was extremely rich. 00:01:52.750 --> 00:02:17.545 Jesus, looking at him with sadness, said, how difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. Those who heard it said, then who can be saved? But he said, what is impossible with men is possible with God. And Peter said, see, we've left our homes and followed you. 00:02:17.605 --> 00:02:34.745 And he said to them, truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God who will not receive many times more in this time and in the age to come eternal life. The word of the Lord. 00:02:37.150 --> 00:03:05.025 Will you all pray with me? Father, we thank you for your word, and we recognize even in hearing it that, so much of it is hard to understand. And the things that are easy to understand are hard to believe and to live. And so, father, we ask that through your spirit that you would teach us. You teach us how to believe and you would teach us how to live. 00:03:06.445 --> 00:03:31.470 Challenge us, change us, confront us. We pray these things in and for the name of Christ. Amen. Some of you might be wondering how, we're actually gonna make it through all of that, in just a little bit of time. I'm only gonna speak for about an hour and a half, so, really, we should we should be out of here in no time. 00:03:32.090 --> 00:04:00.615 This is the 38th, sermon on Luke that we've had here together. And so we are now to chapter 18. And in 18, a lot of things are happening. A lot of things that as as I've read in Luke before, I thought were kind of varying stories, and it was difficult for me to see how they related. And so tonight, we're we're gonna take some time. 00:04:00.615 --> 00:04:34.925 We're gonna look at these three particular scenes in Luke 18. Now at the very beginning of Luke, a story that wasn't read is a story about this woman that keeps going to this unrighteous judge, and she keeps asking for justice, and she keeps being denied. And finally, the judge gives it to her, not because he respects god, it says that he doesn't, and he even says that he doesn't. And it's not because he respect respects men, because he says he doesn't. But because she's so persistent, he he gives her what she wants. 00:04:35.865 --> 00:05:06.450 And Jesus says that he, you know, that that the lord would would do likewise to those that are persistent in their prayer. We're not gonna spend time looking at that parable tonight, but that that's what happened right before we get to where we are, tonight. But as that's closing out, Jesus says, somewhat of a troubling sentence. He says, when the son of man comes, will he find faith on earth? And really, I I think that is what leads us into what the rest of this is about. 00:05:08.725 --> 00:05:29.495 When Christ comes, will he find faith on earth? And what is that faith? And what does faith look like? And how do we know what is faith? It's hard enough just to trust and believe in some of these things that we talk about in church, let alone to to have a faith that is even recognizable amongst one another? 00:05:30.355 --> 00:05:56.060 What is it that makes you like me in faith? How are we similar in these things? Because although there are a lot of surface similarities between us, there are also a lot of differences. And so how do we know what that faith is? And so Jesus tells these 3 different stories, and he's in these 3 different scenes, and I think Luke is trying to tell us something about what faith looks like. 00:05:58.515 --> 00:06:25.810 And that thing and and and just to be forthright with you, I'd like to go ahead and put that out there now and not just save some hidden little thing that I'm just going to bring out at the end and present to you. And you'll be like, I've never thought of that before. But, but I'd like to give it to you upfront so maybe you can see this as we make our way through. And it's 3 things in these stories and they all have to do with humility. Humility trusts in God's mercy. 00:06:27.470 --> 00:06:49.320 Humility is dependent upon God. And humility submits to God. Those are going to be the 3 things that we will be looking for as we, as we make our way. Trusting, depending, and submitting. Those three things. 00:06:50.865 --> 00:07:36.060 Now, humility is not something that our culturally, encourages. In fact, not only is pride permitted and preferred, it's really encouraged. And we can see this even in in the way that we treat young children, This pride that we want from, some things that that are good but not ultimate. Pride in what we do, or pride in the work that we do, or pride in ourselves, self esteem, or pride in the country, or pride in a community. Those kinds of things, which which have good qualities to them, but but when we start taking pride in them, it can become very dangerous because pride leads to something, and that is contempt, hatred. 00:07:37.480 --> 00:07:58.355 Pride is a quick, quick road to hatred. Hatred of others. Hatred of those that are not like us. I I cannot listen to Amazing Grace now without thinking about a particular point in my life where I was working with Sanford Student Ministries and there was this group that was coming to campus. It was going to a lot of different campuses. 00:07:58.355 --> 00:08:50.830 It was called Soul Force. It was a group of it was a gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual group of people that that would make their way on a bus, and they would go to these campuses to to protest or picket, and, at every school along the stop until they got to Sanford, especially in his 1st year there, that Sanford would welcome these people, and they would welcome their bus in, and they would be given time to talk. And it was an interesting thing to work alongside of, of Matt during this time. And at the very end of the day, I was in charge of planning a worship service for everyone. Interesting task. 00:08:52.855 --> 00:09:15.075 And I cannot hear those words without thinking of all these people together, singing these words, of wretchedness. That commonality, not the commonality of righteousness, which was really what the fight was about at every campus before. Who is righteous? Me. You. 00:09:15.695 --> 00:09:44.340 Who? And this fight that did not happen when they came to Sanford. Now there were parents that complained and students that complained, and of course people complained. But when we came together and we sang these words, we realized that the commonality was not a pride that leads to hatred or contempt. The commonality with all of us was that we were desperate. 00:09:46.640 --> 00:10:24.445 And so now we turn to we turn to this story that that Luke shows us of what humility is, starting here in verse 9. Look with me. Luke tells us right off who Jesus was talking to, and why he was sharing this story with them. He's talking to people that trusted in themselves for their own righteousness. The text doesn't say if it was Pharisees, although he brings up Pharisees in this parable. 00:10:24.665 --> 00:10:44.815 But, but more than likely, he was talking to disciples. He was talking to people that were following him, trusting in themselves. And he says, look at verse 10. 2 men were going to the temple to pray. Now one of them was a very common man in the temple. 00:10:44.815 --> 00:11:01.620 That would be a Pharisee. The Pharisees were, the most pious people of that time, and so he was a common figure in the temple. But then there was an uncommon man, and that was a tax collector. They were seen as turncoats. They were the people that, and we've talked about this because Luke brings them up over and over and over again. 00:11:02.545 --> 00:11:30.980 They were for the most part, they were usually Jews that were taking taxes from the Jewish people, giving it to Rome, and stealing off the top of that. They were the most hated people, and here they come to the temple to pray. And Jesus pulls these two examples and holds them together. And the first he, he stands up to pray. Verse 11. 00:11:30.980 --> 00:12:03.215 The Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus, God, I thank you that I am not like other men. Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, and even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I give tithes on all that I get. He manages in his prayer of Thanksgiving to mention himself 5 times. He goes in and he says, god, I thank you for what I have done, what I have done, what I have done, what I have done, what I have done. 00:12:03.940 --> 00:12:20.785 There are 3 main categories. 1, that I'm not like other people. Contempt. Hatred, where his arrogance has led him. And then that he fasts twice a week, which there's really only one day where the law said that they had to fast. 00:12:21.420 --> 00:12:42.970 And he does it twice a week. He is dedicated, and he tithes on everything. Not just some things. As as, the last time, that I taught in December, we we looked at these offerings. We looked at them maybe ad nauseam, like, all of these different offerings that we give, that the that the Jews were required to give. 00:12:44.065 --> 00:13:06.565 And here, he's saying he gives a tenth of every everything that he gets. He's he's giving offerings. He is so good at being religious. And so he stands before God and he says, look what I've done. He compares himself to all these people and says, look at me. 00:13:07.920 --> 00:13:29.540 And somehow expects to be justified before God. And then this tax collector. The tax collector, he, he takes a different approach. He's standing far off. He's probably too embarrassed to come into the inner court at the temple, where all these wonderfully religious people were. 00:13:30.640 --> 00:14:02.940 And afraid to even go in too far, he stands back. He won't even lift his eyes to the heavens to pray. And he beats his chest, and he says these words, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. He knew that the good that he had done, any good, maybe he was stealing, and then at some point he helped someone that day, and he thought, I did a good thing. I did a whole lot of bad things, but I did some good things. 00:14:02.940 --> 00:14:21.150 He knew that he could not claim any of those good things. They were worthless. He doesn't say, You know, I'm bad, but I might be able to find someone worse than me. I know I'm a tax collector, but there might be someone out there worse than me. I'm at least at church. 00:14:21.150 --> 00:14:31.795 I'm at least praying. I at least have some kind of relationship with you. Surely, I can claim something, and he doesn't. He doesn't do it. He doesn't even try. 00:14:32.655 --> 00:14:51.865 God, be merciful to me, a sinner. He doesn't look at anyone else. He only looks at God. This is the vast difference between the 2. And Jesus says that he goes down because the the temple was up, kind of on a mountain. 00:14:51.865 --> 00:15:13.980 So so when they went down, they they descended the mountain, they came away from the temple, and one of them was justified. Meaning, one of them was in right standing, right relationship with God. 1 of them. Not the one that had been doing so much legwork and being religious. Not the one that exceeded the law and fasting so much more than what the law commanded. 00:15:15.080 --> 00:15:44.815 Not because he gave so much money and offering, but the tax collector. Because he looked at god, and he asked for mercy. The pharisee looked at himself and looked at these other people with contempt and sought no mercy. He saw his own righteousness. And then Luke shifts into another story. 00:15:45.370 --> 00:16:03.870 One that you might have heard before. It says that they were bringing children to Jesus. Even infants, it says. So so we're talking about lots of little little babies were coming to Jesus and the parents were trying to bring them in to Jesus and the disciples rebuked them. They said, he does not have time for this. 00:16:03.870 --> 00:16:30.385 He he this this is not of his importance. You see, because infants, especially, they they don't have this kind of romanticized western view that that we have today. This precious moments view, you know, with the enormous heads and the big eyes. They they didn't have those creepy figurines that they they they they saw babies as a hindrance because they can't do anything. They can't contribute. 00:16:31.645 --> 00:16:44.155 They are 100% dependent. It's not give and take. It's just take. Your parents, you know that. At no point can you be like, can you just help out a little? 00:16:44.155 --> 00:16:56.740 Can you, can you just a little bit it's not going to happen. Or I've been working so hard. Could you, could you just think about it for a little maybe cut me a check of just what you think I'm owed. Just no. You can't do they they just take. 00:16:57.065 --> 00:17:18.465 They take resources, and because of that, particularly because of resources, in the Roman culture, it was acceptable to kill a child. Completely acceptable. Only so many mouths could be fed. The infant that they can't work a field, they can't do anything, kill them. That was acceptable. 00:17:21.565 --> 00:17:39.135 And so now, these these infants are coming up to Jesus, and the the disciples are rebuked. Last week, we talked about rebuking. Now, the disciples are being rebuked by Jesus, who says to them, let the children come to me. I know they can't do anything. I I know that they can't walk down an aisle. 00:17:39.135 --> 00:17:48.670 I know that they can't do anything. They can't sing songs of praise to me. They they can't do these things. It's not about these things that they can do. It's about my love for them. 00:17:51.105 --> 00:18:13.745 What does that have to do with us? So he receives these children, and he blesses them. It wasn't wasn't just a show, like something happened, he blessed them. These infants. And then he says to them these very powerful words. 00:18:16.890 --> 00:18:46.265 He says, let the children come to me and do not hinder them, for such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God, like a child, shall not enter it. Now, if you've heard this taught before, you might hear you might have heard somebody say something about like childlike faith. And really, that's not the primary point here. Because that's sometimes used as an excuse for ignorance. 00:18:47.140 --> 00:19:04.395 I just need faith like a child. I just need faith like a child, and I I don't have to and and Paul criticizes this thought. He says it's not about knowledge. It's not it's not that you would be like a child in your knowledge of god. That you'd be like a baby in evil. 00:19:04.395 --> 00:19:25.800 That you would not be practicing evil. So I'd like to highlight 2 things before we move on from this. The primary thing I think that we can actually, understand better from looking at Matthew 18. So if you want to turn there, it's going to be, to the left. It's not a joke. 00:19:25.800 --> 00:19:51.250 It really is to the left. I'm not gonna lie to you. But in Matthew 18, this is listen listen to this account where Jesus brings a child in, to to teach something to the disciples. Verse 1. At that time, the disciples came to Jesus saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 00:19:52.375 --> 00:20:19.710 And calling to him a child, he put him in in the midst of them. And he said, truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. And he here's the key to understanding what that means. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And then the second point is in this, whoever received receives one such child in my name receives me. 00:20:19.710 --> 00:21:10.690 These two qualities at play, humility and receiving. Such belongs the kingdom of god. The lowly, the humble, the overlooked, the passed by, those that can be dispensed of, those those that are unnecessary, the children, those that are unworthy, those that are not of value value at all, to such belongs the kingdom of heaven. That unlocks a whole new perspective on what that means to have that childlikeness. To be humble like that, to be dependent like that, to be 100% dependent upon God. 00:21:11.470 --> 00:21:37.705 And he ties in this other thing that, that just like you will receive the kingdom, you will receive the kingdom as you would receive a child. Unless you receive the kingdom as or like, you would receive a child. Those of you that are parents, when you received a child, you receive responsibility, you receive servanthood. Who cleans up who? You know? 00:21:38.840 --> 00:21:55.555 Servant. You are a servant. And that's what Jesus is calling from his disciples. A third thing, side note, he says, do not hinder them. The disciples of Christ do not hinder children from coming to him. 00:21:56.700 --> 00:22:29.155 In other places it says like, it would be better that you would tie a rock around your neck and that you would go drown yourself than to keep a child from coming to the Lord. That's a strong rebuke right there and very visual. Not, not good. But you you can realize maybe why the disciples did this. Because there were really important people there, One of them spoke up after this scene with the children, and that's the rich young ruler. 00:22:33.260 --> 00:22:51.580 Now, the rich young ruler comes up and says something that's very polite. He says, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus responds kind of in an odd way and says, no one is good except God alone. No one. This isn't saying that he's not God. 00:22:51.580 --> 00:23:19.485 It's saying, if you say that I am good, and no one is good but God, that means I am God. He's taking this opportunity to to teach on his divinity, and then he moves on. He moves on and he tells him, he reminds him of the law. Well, you, you, you keep the commandments and he lists 5, but, but he's, he's talking about them all. And the rich young ruler says, of course, I've kept those since I was a child. 00:23:21.465 --> 00:23:38.335 He says, okay. Well, there's one thing you lack then. Take all of your possessions, take your many possessions, and sell them. Give that money to the poor, and then follow me. Now, Jesus is not adding a new law. 00:23:40.310 --> 00:24:13.585 He's not asking every disciple to sell everything that they own, and follow him. What he is doing is taking this opportunity to show the rich young ruler that not only has he not followed the law, he doesn't know it. He it's not that he's just failed at the law, he doesn't understand what it means because he can pinpoint this one thing. He's called the rich young ruler. Alright? 00:24:14.250 --> 00:24:31.095 He asked him to sell all his possessions and to follow him. That leaves him as young. He's got nothing else. Now, young, that probably means old money. Young, he hasn't really done all that much yet, but but he's been entrusted as a ruler in some capacity. 00:24:31.095 --> 00:25:00.895 But but he has all of these goods, he's very wealthy, and he's young, and that means there's probably a lot of his identity tied up in this money. Who he is. And Jesus calls for it. He calls him, not just to give up on it, but he calls him out of it. I think that that takes a really different perspective. 00:25:02.475 --> 00:25:57.515 When Jesus is willing to call us out of our own self righteousness. And then Jesus, he he says these words to his disciples, that it's easier for a camel to make its way through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter into the kingdom. There's a Saturday Night Live skit a couple of years ago that was actually about this really wealthy guy, who is putting 1,000,000 and 1,000,000 of dollars into making really big needles and really tiny camels. It was pretty awesome because they had these really they're like, we got a new batch, and they bring out these little tiny camels, and he's like, if there's a way the first thing that they tried was blending the camel and pouring it through, but they thought that that was cheating. And so they've they've gone back to this giant needle and tiny camel. 00:25:58.295 --> 00:26:17.735 And so he he said, if there's a way around this, I'm gonna dedicate every dime to it. So, but Jesus brings this very visual idea that it's easier for that to happen, which is impossible. Okay? That, like, that's what he's pointing out. The impossibility of that. 00:26:18.640 --> 00:26:32.765 And the disciples lose it for a second. And they say, if a if a wealthy person can't get into heaven, who who has hope? Because money was seen as a blessing, and the blessing comes from God. And so God is blessing these people. These people have preference. 00:26:33.145 --> 00:26:46.415 And so, of course, they're getting into the kingdom. If they can't, who can? And Jesus says, right. Who can? It's not the righteous because they're missing it. 00:26:46.635 --> 00:27:10.115 It's not the wealthy, they're missing it. Who can? And he says these beautiful words that far too often are used as as declarative statements before people tear, like, phone books in half or, like, break baseball bats over their knee or something. But, but he says what's impossible with God with man is possible with God. And it's not about phone books, it's about salvation. 00:27:11.720 --> 00:27:46.990 What is impossible with man, impossible, is possible with God. Jesus is continuing to turn everything upside down. And the way that he makes this possible is what he goes into after this, after this, this scene with the rich young ruler, where he, he talks about his coming death in which, which we're preparing ourselves for as we think through the season of lent. It is made possible because he is going to Jerusalem. That's his language throughout this traveling language. 00:27:46.990 --> 00:27:59.915 He's going to Jerusalem. He's going to Jerusalem. He says he's going to suffer. That's why he's going. To make the impossible possible because you can't. 00:28:04.070 --> 00:28:37.920 Now some of you, just to, to walk through those three things again, that the trust that the tax collector had, not in his own righteousness, but his trust in God's mercy. And then with, with the children, that there would be that dependence upon God. Like a like a baby is dependent upon a parent, that we would be dependent upon him. And then with the rich young ruler, that we would be submissive to him. That if he says, sell all your things, you sell all your things. 00:28:38.685 --> 00:28:57.235 If it says buy this, that you buy this. If it says go here, you go here. That we would be submissive. Now I'm sure that there are some of you that that might have an easier time with that first one. You can see that you are unrighteous, but you have a very hard time moving into that dependence. 00:29:00.260 --> 00:29:25.410 I think that that's that's that's probably a hard place for many of us. That not only we would see our unrighteousness, but that we would actually depend upon Christ's righteousness. That we would be dependent like the child to a parent. That humility is too much for some of us. There's a Lyle Lovett song called, Fat Babies Have No Pride. 00:29:26.125 --> 00:29:43.440 It's true. I was a fat baby, a very fat baby. I maintained that same weight for the first 5 years of my life, and then I moved on. But I was a big baby. And he has a song about how big babies they don't have any pride about them. 00:29:43.825 --> 00:30:01.715 They're not there's they're not sitting there thinking, How how do I become a skinny baby? Or, I'm gonna look at the skinny baby. It doesn't it doesn't happen. And yet, we we have this pride even inside the church where we look, and we see all these people that we think are better than us. And maybe they carry themselves in such a way that make it hard for us, and that and that that's the truth. 00:30:02.575 --> 00:30:36.925 But it's not a good enough excuse. That we would honestly, honestly depend upon the work of Christ and declare that that is sufficient. Lent is a wonderful time for us to see the sufficiency of Christ and the insufficiency of me. And that is what I I hope that over the next few days, that you will wrestle with, and think about, and pray about. How is the Lord bringing that humility to you? 00:30:38.025 --> 00:31:23.910 Let's pray. God, you have made the impossible, possible through the cross. And, it might not be fashionable, and it might not get us the notoriety that pride would bring us. But, we see that we are dependent upon you. Father, teach us in this time and over the coming days, what it, what it means to rest independence upon your sufficiency. 00:31:26.825 --> 00:31:58.450 That we would lay down pride, that we'd lay down all of this, autonomy and, and thinking that we can just do things on our own, but that we would be dependent, that we would trust in the work of Christ and that we would submit. We would give up on our own authority and look to Christ. Thank you that through the cross, you have made the impossible possible. Amen.