Text: This week we’re
covering Luke 18:9-34 where in four
short sections Jesus addresses the question asked by a certain wealthy ruler,
“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” This is the question that has been
asked through the ages. In this section we learn there are at least four
important aspects of how we enter the Kingdom of God and obtain eternal life.
Let’s find out together!
Other passages to read: We
encourage you to read "horizontally" in these passages that are
parallel or provide background information to our text from Luke 18:
·
Pharisee (trusted in himself): Matthew 5:20; 6:5; 2
Corinthians 1:9; Prov. 30:12; Matthew 9:14-17
· The Tax Collector: Ezra 9:6; Psalm 79:8-9; Ezekiel
16:62-63; Isaiah 66:1-4; Mark 11:25
· Children coming to Him: Matthew 18:1-4; 19:13-15; 25:34;
Mark 10:13-16; John 3:3-5.
· The Rich Ruler: Matthew 19:16-30; Mark 10:17-3;
Exodus 20:12-16; Deut. 5:16-20. Zech. 8:6
· Jesus predicts his own death for a third time: Matthew
20:17-19; Mark 10:32-34; Psalm 22.
Points to ponder: In your
study this week, you might want to think about one of these questions:
·
What is prayer? What makes our words a prayer?
·
What is the proper posture in prayer? Why do the two
men stand alone to pray?
·
How does self-righteousness effect the way we see
God and others?
·
In what way does the kingdom of God belong to
“children”?
·
Why does Jesus question the ruler calling him a
“Good Teacher?” How does this affect our perception of Jesus, if at all?
·
How does the repeated prediction of Jesus’ death fit
into this passage?
We try to answer these questions on the
Jesus4Everyone blog in the next week’s post.
Questions to ask ourselves: The
following questions are intended to help us move towards greater application of
what we learn about Jesus…
·
How do I come into
times of public worship? How do I posture myself towards other people in
worship? How do I compare myself with others?
·
Who (e.g., what
types of people) do we tend to hinder in their coming to Jesus?
·
What would make us
sad to leave behind if Jesus asked us to follow him? Is there anything in our
life that makes it difficult for us to get into heaven? Take time to commit
this issue to Jesus’ direction.
·
Take time to
imagine the people involved in the arrest, trial, torture and crucifixion of
Jesus and ask yourself what role you might have played if you had been there.
Pastor Randy’s Sermon Notes: "The Pursuit of Righteousness"
Read Luke 18:9-14
A) Signs of self-righteousness:
·
Public performance is easier than private devotion.
“And when you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites,
for they love to stand praying in the synagogues…to be seen by men” (Matthew
6:5a)
·
Knowing the Bible comes easier than living the Bible.
·
Separation leads to isolation.
·
Gratitude gives way to resentment
·
Tradition becomes more attractive than truth.
B) Repenting of Self-Righteousness
“All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous
acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” (Isaiah 64:6)
“If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh,
I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of
Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a
Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for
legalistic righteousness, faultless. But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss
for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss
compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose
sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in
him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that
which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is
by faith.” (Philippians 3:4a-9)
C) Embracing Christ’s Righteousness“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Quotes and Commentary:
My
Thematic Outline for Passage: “What must I do to
inherit eternal life?”
1)
I
must confess my sin…that I need atonement. (v. 9-14) [Humility]
2)
I
must come like a child, enthusiastically, without reservation, knowing I bring
nothing to the deal. (v. 15-17) [Simplicity]
3)
I
must respond to Christ’s commands. What has he asked me to do? (v. 18-25) [Sincerity]
4)
I
must depend on the power of God to set me free. (v. 26) [Miraculously]
5)
I
must enter through the provision of Christ’s death and resurrection. (v 31-34)[Prophetically]
It
seems to me that the prayerful cry of the tax collector, asking for God to make
an atonement for him in the first section is answered by Jesus in the last
section.
v.
9-14
“The more familiar a parable, the more it cries out to be
rescued from the barnacles that have attached themselves to it over the
centuries. In the popular mind, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax
collector is a simple story about prayer. One man prays an arrogant prayer and
is blamed for his attitudes. The other prays humbly and is praised for so
doing. Too often the unconscious response becomes, Thank God, we're not like
that Pharisee! But such a reaction demonstrates that we are indeed like him!
How can this parable best be understood? Is it strictly about styles of prayer?
No doubt humility in prayer is at the heart of the story, but in his
introduction Luke tells his readers that the main focus of the parable is righteousness
and those who believe they can reach that pious goal by means of their own
efforts." (Kenneth E. Bailey. Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural
Studies in the Gospels, 343).
The
story begins, "Two men went up into the temple to pray." In English,
we commonly use the word pray to refer to private devotion and the word worship
to refer to what a community does together. In Semitic speech, whether Aramaic,
Hebrew, Syriac or Arabic, "to pray" is used for both. On Sundays, the
Christian in the Arab world says to his friend, "I'm going to the church
to pray," and the friend knows the speaker is on his way to attend public
worship. (Bailey, 346).
“Does
he stand by himself or pray to himself? The flow of the Greek sentence means
that the [NRSV, ESV are] correct-he is standing by himself, praying. This more
accurate translation indicates that he stands apart from other people while he
attends the temple service.' He stands by himself because he is a Pharisee who
does not wish to be defiled by "the great unwashed," whom he
considers unclean. If he touches the clothing of someone who is ceremonially
unclean, he becomes defiled. He must, therefore, stand apart...Because he
stands by himself (not praying to himself) he may well be praying aloud, as was
common Jewish custom.' Such a voiced prayer would provide a golden opportunity
to offer some unsolicited ethical advice to the "unrighteous" around
him who might not have another opportunity to observe a man of his
stratospheric piety!” (Bailey, 347).
v. 13-14
In light of our current election cycle, this comment
is interesting, “The description
speaks for itself The tax collector (v. 13), generally thought of as a greedy
politician whose very business depended on knuckling under to the despised
Roman government, was one of the social outcasts so prominent in Luke as
recipients of God's grace (e.g., 5:12, 27; 7:34, 37; 15:1-2; 16:20). His
justification was immediate (v. 14), granted by God in contrast to the fantasy
of self-justification the Pharisee was futilely caught up in…
The
modern reader will probably not feel the impact of this story to the extent a
first-century reader would. We already think of the Pharisees as hypocrites and
the tax collectors as those who received the grace of God. Jesus' original
hearers would have thought, on the contrary, that it was the pious Pharisee who
deserved acceptance by God. (Expositor’s
Bible Commentary, Vol. 9, Zondervan)
v. 15-17 “Luke
emphasizes how young the babies were that people were bringing to Jesus. Jesus’
rebuke to the disciples rings out still today in a world where thousands of
children are treated as sub-human, as disposable commodities. These little
ones, he says, who most who most truly show us what it means to accept and
enter God’s kingdom. There is something about the helplessness of children, and
their complete trust of those who love and care for them, which perfectly
demonstrates the humble trust he has been speaking of all along. (N.T. Wright, Luke
for Everyone, 215)
R. Kent Hughes
sums up the four qualities of the childlike approach to God’s kingdom as, “Unmitigated
Trust…Untutored Humility… Untarnished Receptivity…and Unabashed Love”
(Hughes, Luke: That You May Know the Truth, Vol. 2, Crossway, 200-202).
v. 23 “That was why the rich ruler became sad. In order to
inherit the life of the new age he had to abandon the values of the old and
trust himself entirely to the new, like a diver throwing himself forward into
the water. He couldn’t be serious about seeking for the new age if he couldn’t
abandon the symbols of the old.” (N.T. Wright, Luke for Everyone, 217)
v. 20-22 “That is, what is
remarkable about such lists of the Commandments as this one is not the lists
themselves but their interpretation, especially with regard to elements added
to them. In this way they serve apologetic functions, distinguishing the
particular character of a given community of interpretation.’ Jesus thus
introduces these five commandments not in order to induct the ruler into their realm
of influence, but to initiate him into a discussion of their particular
appropriation within the community of Jesus’ followers. These five commandments
all have to do with kinship and community relations. The middle of the five
concerns material possessions, but even it, when understood within the context
of the experience of Exodus and formation of Israel as the people of God, must
be understood as a signifier of human relationships, for within its historical
and scriptural context, the admonition against stealing is essentially an
affirmation of the priority of the community of God’s people: Do not take for
yourself what Yahweh has provided for the whole people of God.” (Joel B. Green,
Luke, 655-656)
v.
22 “Here the ruler must not only surrender all rights to his possessions but
must also actually dispose of them. This does not seem to be a universal
requirement; it seems rather to be designed particularly for this man to
shatter his covetousness. According to Jesus' teaching in 6:30-31, such an act
would also benefit others; so his wealth should be dispensed among poor people.
Even this is insufficient, however, unless the ruler truly follows Jesus. The
command "Come, follow me" (deuro, akolouthei moi) means to
become a disciple.” (Expositor’s
Bible Commentary, Vol. 9, Zondervan)
Previously on Ponderables:
·
What is the Kingdom of God? You don’t think I am going to make it that easy do you? Why can’t it be observed by signs? In this context
in Luke, Jesus is speaking about something that is already present, but in a
form that was not what the Pharisees were looking for. As for the future, it
comes suddenly…and when it does come in its fullness then it will be such that
you can’t help but see it.
·
What does Jesus mean in v. 21 when he
says the kingdom of God is “among you” or “within you”? As I mentioned on the blog last week, there are about four positions on
this question. I will include those comments here: In v.21 “within
you” is not favored by most, especially since Jesus was speaking to the
Pharisees. There are about 4 meanings considered by most commentators: within
you, among you, in the midst of you, and within your grasp. N.T. Wright
likes the last one as he comments, “The phrase is more active. It
doesn’t just tell you where the kingdom is; it tells you that you’ve got to do
something about it. It is ‘within your grasp’; it is confronting you with a
decision, the decision to believe, trust, and follow Jesus. It isn’t the sort
of thing that’s going to happen, so you can sit back and watch. God’s sovereign
plan to put the world to rights is
waiting for you to sign on. That is the force of what Jesus is saying. The
warnings of Jesus came true in ad
70. But the promise of the kingdom remains.” (N.T. Wright, Luke for Everyone, 210-211)
·
What is the parallel between the three
“the days of” that Jesus talks about? Are there differences? There is nothing listed in these lists of activities that is inherently
sinful, except that all their activity of daily life doesn’t include any
worship of God. The daily business and commerce become the focus. One
difference is that the Sodom passage doesn’t include a “marrying and giving in
marriage.”
·
What does “Lot’s wife” have to teach
the disciples? You can’t look back when following Jesus. You can’t
serve two masters. A double-mindedness serves only to bring us under a delayed
judgment and render such a person a landmark of failed faith for all to see
their foolishness.
·
How do we reconcile 18:8 with apparent
delays in answering prayer for justice? Through the eyes
of compassion for those not yet counted among the faithful. 2 Peter 3:9 deals
with this well. God’s delay is because of compassion as he is not will that any
should perish. However, It we are set in our hearts to live without him he will
honor that decision for all eternity. Revelation 6:9-11 also suggests that the
number of God’s servants is not yet complete.
However, the answer will come and it will come with great suddenness!
Will we be ready?
