A Barna study in the United States revealed that 88% of people feel that they will be accepted by God. The same study showed 62% of adults considered themselves to ‘be spiritual’.
Over 8 billion people now live on earth so an important question we all need to ask is, ‘Who is acceptable to God’, the God who made this universe and this world.
Jesus gave a shocking statement early in his ministry in his ‘Sermon on the Mount’, only a minority of people will find their way into God’s presence:
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 7:13-14
Our present passage is about what happened when Jesus was on his final journey down to Jerusalem. He is in the area of Jericho, He had just told the story of the owner of a hundred sheep and one sheep had wandered off. This good shepherd leaves his 99 sheep in order to find and save the one that was lost. Jesus explains this parable:
“In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.” Luke 18:14
Jesus is emphasising how much God longs that people should enter his Kingdom.
What is the Kingdom of God?
The concept of the Kingdom of God is central to the teaching of the Bible. The Kingdom is where God reigns. God does reign over the whole universe but Jesus emphasises that this kingdom consists of individuals in who God reigns. The word ‘Kingdom’ is found 126 times in the gospels alone. Matthew calls it the ‘Kingdom of heaven’ 32 times. He does this because he is reflecting a Jewish custom to avoid using God’s name casually.
God’s purpose is to save a people for himself and eventually to renew the world for those people. His rule implies a saving activity of his people’s behalf. Their sin and theirs alone will be forgiven. Jesus says that he came to establish this Kingdom, one in which he, as the Son of God, reigns
When Jesus finally arrived in Jerusalem, he entered the city riding as a King on a donkey and he was worshipped by many. All his teaching, that of his disciples and that of John the Baptist centred on the fact that God’s King and God’s Kingdom had arrived.
Today there are many who are interested in spiritual matters. They know instinctively that there must be a creator God and that they have values inbuilt within them, that values such as truth, honesty, kindness and integrity are real and matter. However they are unsure about Jesus’ claim to be God’s Messiah. Many are asking:
“Is there a real God? Does his Kingdom really exist?’
Where is God’s Kingdom?
Some religious people had earlier asked Jesus when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied that it does not come with visible signs to be watched for, saying instead,
“The kingdom of God is within you", Luke 17:20-21
By this Jesus meant that God's rule was already present through His ministry because he is the king.
People have always been interested in when God’s kingdom will be revealed. The number of ‘adventist cults’ is remarkable. People always want to know where, how or when Jesus will return. These started with William Miller and the Millerites (1830s–1840s). Miller was a Baptist preacher who studied biblical prophecies and calculated that Jesus Christ would return to Earth between March 1843 and October 22, 1844. When this prediction failed to be fulfilled a wide variety of splinter groups developed such as the present Seventh Day Adventists. Other cults such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons developed around this time. They forgot that Jesus had said:
“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” Matthew 24:36 and Mark 13:32:
Jesus however poses a much more important question:
“Will you be included in God’s kingdom?”
Jesus answers his own question by telling some parables.
The Rich man and Lazarus Luke 16:19
The rich man lived for himself. He was not interested in the needs of others in this life, he showed no evidence of being one of God’s people so he landed up in hell. Lazarus, in contrast had very little in this life but he went to heaven.The specific English word ‘hell’ appears 13 times in the New Testament, with 12 of those instances spoken directly by Jesus (though some are parallel accounts of the same teaching across different Gospels).When counting broader references to judgment, Gehenna, or final punishment rather than just the literal word ‘hell’, Jesus touched on this topic in roughly 60 verses (about 3% of His recorded words in the Gospels). Whether Jesus spoke about hell more than heaven is debated by scholars; most studies show he actually spoke about heaven, eternal life, or the Kingdom of God significantly more (around 192 verses, or nearly 10% of His recorded words).
Jesus is asking his listeners:
“Are you really in my eternal kingdom yourself.”
He and his apostles have made it abundantly clear that no-one can work their way into God’s kingdom, we cannot earn it, buy it or win admission. What a disaster it was when the Roman Catholic Church sold indulgences that purported to admit people into God’s kingdom. If you go to Rome today you can still be offered years off purgatory by going to certain places or doing certain things.
Jesus says that there is only way to be admitted into God’s Kingdom and that is to be given admission by God himself. To be given this we must:
“Repent” Luke 16:30
This word means the same as ‘re-think’. In old English to be ‘pensive’ meant to ‘think’, hence ‘re-pent’ Secondly we must listen to what God says to us in his word and especially to the words of someone who clearly came from God:
“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” Luke 16:31
The evidence that Jesus rose from the dead is very strong indeed, it is the mainstay of all the evidence that confirms Jesus claim that he is indeed God’s only Son.
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
The lesson of this parable continues the same theme. One religious man thought he must be acceptable to God but he was wrong and in contrast one outsider is accepted by God.
When we were in Bandung in Indonesia we visited a local up market shopping mall, There we met an eighteen year old local Muslim man who was out shopping with his three sisters. I showed them a rubber band trick and then explained its meaning that there is only one way to be freed from our sin, to be right with God. He replied that he was right with God because he was a Muslim. At the time the atrocities being performed by ISIS were all in the news so I asked if he thought those people would be saved.
“Oh no,” he confidently replied. “They are not true Muslims. There are 72 groups in Islam and only one of those is going to be saved.”
I asked which group he was in and he confidently replied:
“I’m in the one that is going to be saved.”
Jesus teaches us that we are not saved by being in the right group but through entering a relationship with himself. Notice how the Pharisee prays about himself and what he considers to be his virtues, it betrays what is in his heart:
“The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’” Luke 18:11-12
In contrast the tax collector, a despised reject from Jewish society, prayed in a very different way:
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’” Luke 18:13
What is the difference? The Pharisee was full of himself and his self-righteousness. The tax-collector recognised how far short he fell from God’s standard and threw himself, as a sinner, on God’s mercy. Jesus made a judgment:
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:14
People tend to get this wrong - about who is God pleased with. If you did a survey and asked:
“Who will enter God’s kingdom?”
Most religious people will answer, ‘It’s us, the religious’. It doesn’t matter which religious group you ask, most will tend to think it is those who take their religion seriously and honestly try to act out their religious principles, that God will look in favour on. Jesus is telling us all:
“Don’t you believe it! Can’t you see that no-one is ever good enough for God?”
However there is hope according to Jesus, some are acceptable to God - a few will be saved. Who are they?
Who is acceptable to God?
Jesus gives us a series of parables to answer this vital question.
Receive it like a child
Many people were bringing children so he could touch them. The disciples objected but Jesus intervened saying:
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Luke 18:16
How can people enter the Kingdom of heaven? Jesus uses this picture as a way of teaching how a person may enter the Kingdom of heaven.
“Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Luke 18:17
In the ancient world, children were given no status. Similarly those who were sick received little attention from authorities. Jesus however did care for the underprivileged. When he saw a friendless invalid who had been at the Pool of Bethesda for 38 years, hoping to be cured, it was Jesus who saved him, both physically and spiritually. Jesus also cared for women, he treated them as being equally important as men in God’s eyes. Caring for the underprivileged has been a feature of Christians.
Political leaders who do not think as God thinks will be willing to sacrifice human beings for their own gain. In recent years there have been many such leaders who do not value human beings. In the present war to try and capture Ukraine, the total Russian casualties, since the 2022 invasion, including killed, wounded, and missing, are estimated to exceed 1.1 million to 1.2 million personnel.
Jesus still calls children to him. This is why Sunday schools and teaching the Bible to youngsters is so important. Many Christian adults pencilled in a commitment to Jesus when they were children. The reason is that it is so much easier to make this change then, when right and wrong are so much clearer.
Little children are totally dependant on their parents who feed them, clothe them, clean them and, most importantly, love them. They are always on the receiving end. A child asleep in its parents arms is a lovely picture of this caring relationship. This is the picture Jesus wants us all to see. We are all utterly dependant on the love of our heavenly Father.
The proud Pharisee excludes himself from having this relationship. The humble tax collector lets God do with him what God wills, he just throws himself on God’s mercy. If we are unwilling to be humble and submissive then we have no hope of salvation. There is no other way to enter a relationship with God. We have to come to God empty, leaving all our baggage behind. Children find this much easier because they have much less baggage. There is no better time to start a relationship with God than when we are children.
“What is impossible with man is possible with God.” Luke 18:27
What a vital lesson this is for all of us to learn. We are utterly dependant on God’s grace, his mercy. We can earn nothing by the way we live. This is why it is so hard for older people to turn to Christ. In my career as a cancer surgeon, I can count on one hand the number of people who have turned back to God for mercy when they realise their time on earth is limited. However it is never too late. We have seen several older people come to him and ask for his mercy. Then we can receive his gift of admission to God’s kingdom. The story of Merielle in the last chapter of ‘Cure for Life’ is one such example.
We, like the tax collector need to be able to say:
“God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Luke 18:13
This new status is only the beginning. We enter God’s Kingdom through repentance but that is just the start.
2. Value the gift as a treasure
The next story Jesus tells gives a vivid contrast. It starts with a ruler asking a great question, one Jesus has been explaining up to this point:
“A certain ruler asked him, ‘Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Luke 18:18
This man was probably a ruler of the synagogue and as such would also be on the town council. But notice his mistake. He is asking
‘What must I be doing to inherit eternal life’
But Jesus has already explained that admission to God’s kingdom can only be received as a gift, it cannot be earned by what we do:
“Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Luke 18:17
The answer to this man’s question is that you cannot inherit eternal life through your actions.
Any person with an ambition to be King of England faces an impossible legal problem. To become King you have to be born into the royal family. You can only inherit it. Similarly we must receive the status of being a child of God by being adopted into his family and Jesus explains that this status is only given to those who turn to Christ in repentance. This is the only way because Jesus is the only Son of God and only Jesus paid the price for our sin that would otherwise exclude us from God’s presence.
We have seen that we have to receive this status as a child. This does not mean we become childish, on the contrary we can then spend our lives investigating the evidence for Jesus and what it means to follow him. This is not a weak decision but it is a humbling one, a meek one. A Greek word used for a strong stallion that has been broken in is ‘meek’, it is power under the control of the master.
Do you notice the strange answer Jesus gives to the ruler. It is not one most of us would use. He picks up on a word the man used when he addressed Jesus:
“Good teacher . . .” Luke 18:18
No rabbi would allow himself to be called ‘Good’ because only God is good. Jesus replied:
“‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good—except God alone.’” Luke 18:19
Jesus point is that if he is ‘good’ then he is God because, according to rabbinical teaching, only God is good. Can you define what goodness is? Goodness is what God wills. At the beginning of the Bible, in Genesis chapter 1, we read about the stages of God’s creation of the world and at each stage when God completed something he says ‘and it was good’. When man was created he said ‘and it was very good’.
The Ten Commandments summarise what ‘goodness’ is. God gave these Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai after the children of Israel had fled from Egypt and they are fundamental. The first four relate to God and the final six are about our relationships with others.
When Jesus speaks to the ruler he quotes from five of these commandments:
“You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honour your father and mother.’” Luke 18:20
These five are significant. Jesus significantly failed to remind him of the first four commandments that elsewhere he summarised as:
“Jesus declared: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind’” Matthew 22:37
In Mark 12:30, the word ‘strength’ is also included: ‘with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The life God expects of his people is a total commitment to Jesus as our Lord. This is why the New Testament calls Jesus ‘the Lord Jesus’ 747 times. When he is our saviour he will become our Lord.
Jesus mentions that God’s people will not commit adultery, murder, theft, and will honour their parents and the ruler says he has never broken any of these commandments. That in itself is remarkable but we must remember that rabbis only looked at outward actions whereas God looks at the heart, our inner thoughts, as he made clear in the Sermon on the Mount.
The man was confident that outwardly he had passed this test:
“All these I have kept since I was a boy,” Luke 18:21
There was however one of the last six commandments that Jesus omitted to mention, it was the last one,
“You call not covet . . .” Exodus 20:17
Notice that he is still thinking that he can earn a place in God’s kingdom by the way he lives. He hadn’t been listening to Jesus. Eternal life is not a graduation following hard work, it is a gift. Jesus continued:
“You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Luke 18:22
He certainly coveted riches and this revealed that he was not living as God wanted. Jesus is not saying that a person can earn eternal life by embracing poverty but is pointing out that this man is an idolater, and that money is his God. He has offended against the very first commandment as well as the last one. Jesus wanted this pleasant man to realise that he is a sinner in God’s eyes and so falls outside the qualification for receiving God’s mercy. He was what could be described as:
‘a self made man who worshipped his creator’ - that is he worships himself.
In 1868 the American journalist and humorist Henry Clapp popularised this quip in March 1868, directing it at American newspaper editor and politician Horace Greeley saying that he was ‘a self-made man, and worships his creator’. The witticism mocks a person's extreme ego and self-admiration: by boasting that he is entirely ‘self-made’ - the man is effectively treating himself as God and bowing to his own creation
By June 1870, variant forms, such as ‘adores his maker’ were circulating in the United Kingdom, where the prominent British statesman John Bright was reported to have applied the quip to Conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli.
This ruler who came to Jesus seeking eternal life was full of pride and his own religious achievements. A traditional morning prayer of the Pharisees was:
“Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has not made me a Gentile . . . who has not made me a slave . . . who has not made me a woman."
This traditional blessing is often contrasted with the New Testament view, such as the Apostle Paul's statement:
“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28
It is so easy for us, who call ourselves Christians to be guilty of the same way of thinking. We can pray about ourselves,
‘I try to live a good moral life and I do think of the needs of others, I regularly go to church, I give good money to support the church and I give to TEAR Fund. I really do think God will appreciate all I do.’
However without seeing how unworthy I am, and how much I need God’s forgiveness, I cannot be saved.
The church of Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22) thought they were ‘rich’ but God says he finds them nauseating because Jesus was no longer central to their lives. They, like the Ephesian church, had lost their first love for Jesus and the forgiveness he alone can give, yet these are the only way into God’s Kingdom. The remedy was to return to having Jesus at the centre of their lives. They thought that because they were rich they were blessed by God.
When people heard Jesus teach they were puzzled,
“Those who heard this asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’” Luke 18:26
What a great question. We cannot save ourselves but God can and longs to save us all. Entering God’s Kingdom is free but it must be on his terms.
“Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” Luke 18:27
Jesus alone can give us salvation. Over and over in the gospels we read of people who would not accept God’s offer. They went their own way. In contrast Christians value having a relationship with God, which lasts into eternity more than anything else.
3. Live for God as a privilege
Do you wonder what tone of voice Peter used when he replied to Jesus?
“We have left all we had to follow you!” Luke 18 28
Jesus turns their thinking away from their sacrifice to the great privilege they have:
“‘Truly I tell you,’ Jesus said to them, ‘no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.’” Luke 18:29-30
If we think God is fortunate to have us on his side we have got it all wrong. We are all miserable selfish sinners who cannot deserve salvation but God is willing to admit us into the Kingdom of his Son if we will accept his rule.
Have you talked with people who have given up much to serve Christ? They will all say, ‘What an enormous privilege’. Their new friends, a new purpose in life and seeing God at work is thrilling. If we make ourselves the centre of our lives we will always have problems and eventually we will face Jesus in judgment. When we turn to Christ he puts his Spirit into each of us, our hearts change, our priorities change. We will be willing to let go of our security, our jobs, our money as we realise that ultimately there are much more important things in life.
Jesus calls each one of us to come to him, to live for his values and to live for his kingdom.
BVP
If you would like to discuss further please get in touch with me on - berniepalmer1@sky.com
The website www.bvpalmer.com contains many interesting articles on a variety of important subjects, as well as videos and details of my books .
‘Christchurch Baldock’ meets at 10.30 am every Sunday in Knights Templar School, Baldock.
