THE MORAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD
(Suggested Reading: Chapter 18:9-34)
What are the moral characteristics of the Kingdom of God? This is the great question taken up and answered here. The self-righteous Jew thought he knew. His life, as a man under law, self-importance, wealth as a mark of God's favor, the present enjoyment of material things in the land of promise. But the King is the only One Who has the right to legislate on this point not His subjects, real or pretended. So the Lord points out the great moral features suited or opposed to the Kingdom during the day of grace. Because those who claimed to be His subjects were unwilling to deviate from their own ideas of what the Kingdom should be like, the Lord unfolds the truth gently— first, in the form of a parable, next, in an incident, and finally, in direct instruction to His own.
The Parable of the Pharisee and Publican—18:9-14
In the parable, two men went up into the Temple to pray—one a Pharisee, the other a tax-gatherer. Both men stand to pray, but the word used to describe the Pharisee standing denotes a formal stance in addressing God. He is full of himself. "I thank Thee." "I am not as other men." "I fast twice in the week." "I give tithes." "I possess." He acknowledges God, but not his distance from Him. Instead of comparing himself with God, he compares himself with other men whose sins, he reminds God, are in marked contrast to his own virtuous, religious life. In so saying, he unmasks his own sins: pride, hatred, and contempt for other men more hateful to God than the carnal sins of others. No wonder that "he prayed thus with himself." God will note such a prayer, as the Lord did here, but will not answer it.
The prayer of the tax-gatherer is short and to the point. He starts with God, like the Pharisee, but immediately asks for mercy, ending quickly with the unpalatable admission that he is a sinner. Unlike the Pharisee, who ended by telling God that he gave tithes of all he possessed, the tax-gatherer, who probably possessed more, admits that he could really give God nothing. How can a sinner give God anything? On the contrary, he pleads with God to give him what he needs so badly— mercy. He beats his breast, hoping that God will hear his entreaty. And Jesus did, saying, "I tell you this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other." This has nothing to do with Paul's doctrine of justification by faith. At this point, the cross is future and Paul nowhere in sight. It simply tells us that the tax-gatherer was justified, not the Pharisee, for his prayer in the Temple. The Lord follows this statement with one of the great principles in the Bible— "for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." The tax-gatherer "would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven"; the rich man lifted them up in hell. The tax-gatherer had humbled himself and the Lord exalted him; the rich man had exalted himself and God had humbled him.
Believers should beware of the spirit of the Pharisee and not think that they are immune to it. An old Christian man, confined to his house, used to ask me for tracts. His neighbor gave him newspapers with people's names, and the old man got great joy from mailing out tracts to them. It was the one thing left that he could still do for the Lord. One day, an astonishing letter was received. A Christian lady was most indignant that a tract was mailed to her. "I'm a born-again believer," she complained. "Our family gives tithes to the Lord's work." Then she concluded, "Besides, tracts shouldn't be mailed. They should only be given out personally." However, there is no indication that she went up to the Temple to pray.
The Confiding Trust of Little Children— the Believer's True Place—18:15-17
The tax-gatherer admitted his lowliness by confessing his sinfulness; little children are not even conscious of their lowliness.
Theirs is the lowliness of insignificance, but confiding trust. The disciples oppose the little children coming to the Lord, showing how slowly they were absorbing His teachings, and why He has to instruct them directly at the end.
The Rich Young Ruler and the Lord—18:18-27
People who travel greatly, see the ruins of great buildings erected by vanished civilizations and with a little imagination can visualize them in their former glory. So it is with man. The fall left him in ruin. Still, in some men we see not good, as the Lord teaches here, but suggestions of man's distant origin from the hand of God. Here is a man who naturally has every advantage. He is rich; he has lived a morally good life under the law. He is a ruler and seeks to improve his life, perhaps that he may rule more justly. Furthermore, he is young, not old, and can enjoy his position and the riches it probably produced, to the full— not wait for gratification until he is older. However, when he approaches the Lord, his questioning about eternal life clearly reveals his groping for something. He cannot maintain his position or hold onto his riches forever, since every man is born to die. Yet he has no sense of personal distance from God, of ruin, of sin.
The two great mistakes of this young man were failing to recognize in Jesus a divine Person, a Savior of sinners, and his own need of salvation. Instead, he approached Christ as man might Ghandi or Confucius, for ethical instruction. Well did the Lord feel the insult to His Person. He concealed it admirably, yet exposed the young ruler's error. He had called the Lord "Good teacher," and so the Lord takes the young man up on his own ground. "Why callest thou Me good?" means "if you think I am only a man like other men why do you call Me 'good teacher' for man is not good at all?" Since the ruler could not respond to such doctrine any more than the Pharisee who prayed in the Temple, the Lord tests him with the law. He is proud to reply that he has kept the commandments from his youth. But he lacked one thing: "sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, follow Me.”
If he did that, he would not only lose his wealth, but his position as a ruler. He couldn't rule and follow a King who wasn't allowed to rule. But he would be fully recompensed with treasure in heaven. How this teaching reaches the foundation of our beings! Place yourself in the position of this man. What would your answer be? His answer is given us: "and when he heard this he was very sorrowful, for he was very rich." He is in contrast to Zacchaeus in the following chapter, another rich man, who received the Lord joyfully. Still, one hopes to meet the young ruler in heaven. He will not have treasure there unless he finally obeyed, of which there is no indication. The Lord did not say that a camel could not go through the low gate called "a needle's eye" here, but indicates how difficult it was. Zacchaeus proved it could be done. Just as the disciples were unprepared for the Lord's teaching on entering the Kingdom as little children, so they were not ready for the teaching the Lord gave to the rich young ruler. The Lord must now give them direct instruction.
The Lord Reveals His Death and Resurrection to His Own—18:28-34
Peter was always the leader among the disciples. He reminds the Lord that if the rich young ruler was fearful of leaving his riches to follow Christ, the disciples weren't. After all, he had left a prosperous fishing business, Matthew his tax revenues, etc. The Lord's answer is an indirect reply to the lack of confidence in God displayed by the young ruler. He states that those who left all for Christ, would receive eternal life in the world to come. That was what the young ruler wanted when he approached Christ. But he was afraid to reach out for it, fearing he wouldn't be taken care of in this life if he forsook his riches. So the Lord covers this point, too. God would see to it that those who gave up temporary advantage for Christ, would receive "manifold more at this time." How? Simply that God moves the hearts of His people to open up their houses and treasures to take care of His servants' needs.
Now the Lord never taught others what He did not practice Himself. He began "to do and to teach." He was the rich Man, far richer than the rich young ruler, yet for our sakes, He became poor see I 1 Cor. 8:99But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak. (1 Corinthians 8:9). So poor in fact, that He had to say, "show Me a penny," for He didn't have one. He "sold all that He had" Matt. 13:4646Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. (Matthew 13:46) and in this way, secured "the pearl of great price"— the Church— His "treasure in heaven" Rev. 21:2121And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. (Revelation 21:21). Then, too, He was the Man Who truly humbled Himself. He "became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" Phil. 2:88And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:8). But He had taught that "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted." So, when He told the disciples of His death, He also told them of His resurrection, for He was to be raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. But the disciples "understood none of these things... neither knew they the things which were spoken." This is the key to why much of the Bible is not understood by believers. The will is working, not obedience to "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
The disciples clung to their Jewish prejudices and hopes of an earthly kingdom. Believers today approach the Bible and take from it what pleases them, forgetting that Scripture is a unity. Not all believers. Some. Those who "understood none of these things.”