The Power of the Gospel in Community

The Infant and the Rich Officer

Luke 18:15-30

Two thousand years ago during Jesus’ time, the Jews were waiting for the kingdom of God to come in the period so-called “the age to come”. God was going to send the “Messiah” to lead the Israelites against all opposing powers.

Then, God would personally come to rule Israel, and all the nations of the earth would worship God and have great respect for Israel. And everything would be renewed. There would not be any death, pain, suffering and evil. God would be with his people.

Anyone who had the privilege to live in this Kingdom was said to have “eternal life” – in Greek, “the life of the age to come”.

In Luke 17:20-21, it is recorded that some Pharisees came and asked Jesus, “When is the kingdom of God coming?”

Jesus answered, “the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

Jesus intended to tell them that the kingdom of God had already started and they were already in the “end time”.

In Chapter 18, Jesus continued by telling a parable of a widow and a judge, and the prayer of the tax collector and the Pharisee. Both parables are to show that the kingdom of God is opened for the weak, unworthy and humble.

When the gospel is spread, the power of the gospel will make the weak strong, raise the humble, and the kingdom of God will prevail over this broken and sorrowful world.

Luke 18:15 onwards, Jesus continued to reveal how God’s people can embrace or participate in the coming of the kingdom of God.

The Power of the Gospel Changes Lives

In chapter 18 verse 15-17, it is recorded that someone brought infants to Jesus, asking Him to touch them. When Jesus’ disciples rebuked them, Jesus asked them to come over, saying, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Luke used “infants”, not to say that people should be humble, but to emphasize that we are to be weak and helpless like a baby. A baby suckling in the mother’s lap will grasp tightly onto the mother, looking into the mother’s eyes and smile while learning how to speak. The baby is weak and helpless. He has no power on his own. He has to totally rely on the mother.

Luke emphasized that entering the kingdom of God is purely by God’s grace. We cannot enter the kingdom of God through our own works or moral accomplishments for we are weak and helpless in that respect.

Verses 18-23 continues to say:

A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 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.’”

“All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “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.”

When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” (verses 24-25)

Jesus did not hate wealthy people. Instead, he was judging people who “find security outside of God”, like securities in wealth, religious piety, status, or how much they served; their knowledge, love, career and achievements. These “external things” had become their “functional saviour”, making them felt as if they wouldn’t live happy lives without these external things.

Consolidating information from Matthew and Mark, we know that this ruler was a young man. So, he was young, wealthy and high ranking. But he did not feel that his life was perfect even when he was blessed in the eyes of everyone else. He also doubted whether he was saved. That was why he came to Jesus.

He held Jesus in high esteem and called him a good teacher. However, he eventually rejected Jesus’ call because he could not put down his wealth. His wealth became the “idols”, the so-called “securities” in his life, causing him to be kept away from the true saviour.

Wealth, status, knowledge, love and career and achievements are all good things. Hunger and pursuing after these things are not wrong, but if we make these things as our ultimate goal in life and replace the true saviour, we have fallen into the deception of the devil.

Timothy Keller called these things “counterfeit God”. They cannot forgive sins, cannot fulfil the inner desires of the heart, cannot give purpose and meaning to life. Instead, people, more often than not, are enslaved by them.

When we think we can only be happy if we have these good external things, we will feel extremely anxious when anything happens that threaten our grasp of these things. If someone stopped us from obtaining these things, we would be very furious. If you fail to achieve these things, the world would not forgive you and you would not forgive yourself.

If you indeed do obtain these things one day, they would not be able to give you the ultimate satisfaction that you were hoping for. Not only that, it might even increase the emptiness in your heart. No wonder many successful people that we look up to fall into depression and commit suicide during the highest peak of their human life.

So then, how do we receive God’s kingdom and live a blessed and meaningful life? The answer is to admit that we are weak and helpless like a baby, to put down the idols in our lives and hold on to the true saviour of our life – Jesus.

Jesus is the eternal Son of God of the Holy Trinity. He is wealthy and majestic. He has endless glory, fullness, love and joy, but He willingly relinquished everything to become poor and died on the cross. He bore the punishment for sins on our behalf on the cross in order that we may live. He saves us, loves us, and gives us fullness of life.

Jesus’ saving grace is free and yet at the same time the most expensive. It is not something that we can obtain by ourselves. This Jesus who gave away everything for you to save you is calling you today to put down everything you have, to become weak and helpless like a baby, to only depend on Him, to follow him and to be one with Him.

With Jesus at the centre of our lives, all these external things would not affect us anymore. They would not cause us to be consumed by bitterness, anger and depression. They would not cause our lives to be like a roller coaster, going through ups and downs in the events of loss or gain.

Jesus is the only saviour; you will be satisfied when you get Him. In the uncertainties of life, adversities and good times, Jesus will be the rock of your life. Even if you disappoint Him in certain aspects of your lives, He will forgive you.

Today, are you going after “many idols” in your life and chained by sin? Is your life filled with joy, peace, satisfaction, prayer and gratitude? Or are you lost, frustrated, empty, bitter and suffering?

Come and kneel before the cross of Jesus and ponder His sacrificial love for you. Live in Christ and continue to abide with Him through reading the word and praying every day, attending Sunday worship and small groups. Jesus promised that you will be filled with the Holy Spirit, giving you rest, joy and satisfaction, helping you to live a life away from sin and live to the fullest.

The Power of the Gospel Changes the World

In verse 28-30, Peter tells Jesus, “We have left all we had to follow you!”

“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.”

God’s kingdom in “the age to come” has already begun! We, those who follow Jesus and truly believe and depend on Jesus, should rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to love God and love others as we love ourselves.

We need to live a life of fellowship with others with the brand new values of this kingdom of God, and build for the kingdom of God while we are living on this earth. The old world values and institutions has already been overturned; the disciples of Jesus, that is the church, already has a new home, new family members.

We should accept and forgive one another, serve and love one another, living a selfless life and enjoy our new fellowship together. We can live in “the age to come”, dwelling in the goodness of the kingdom of God on this earth today. The people of the world will be attracted to the kingdom of God when they see it, and they would want to join us, to live in the kingdom of God on this earth.

Some people might disagree and say that this kind of selfless, full of love, righteous, mutually beneficial life will never happen. Socialism and communism had tried to build a similar utopia, but all have failed. Or, some might say that this church will not be able to do it, some other church however might be successful.

We are all weak and helpless people. But the power of the gospel can change everything! The power of the gospel is the “dynamite” of the kingdom of God, and is able to change the lives of people and overturn the status quo of the world.

The coming of the Holy Spirit heals the brokenness of our society, refreshing us, giving us strength to overcome our weakness. The Holy Spirit will also empower us with various spiritual gifts in order that we may build a unified body of Christ to serve and do the works that God has called us to do.

We should not doubt the power of the gospel and the works of the Holy Spirit. Instead, we should ask ourselves: when the kingdom of God come upon the new earth, where will we be? Are we part of the new kingdom, still faithfully holding on to God and building for this kingdom?

Will we be as the widow in Jesus’ parable, steadfastly fighting for the righteousness of the kingdom of God to come? Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (18:8)

Application

Today, are you like a baby, holding on to Jesus tightly, willing to let go of things that caused you to be far from God, such as bad habits, sins that are hiding in the dark, or those things that give you a false sense of security?

Today, you might have lost your job or your business might be at a loss. You might lose the chance to further your studies or the love of your life or affirmation from people around you. You do not need to be afraid, frustrated, depressed or angry, because you still have Jesus with you!

With Jesus in our lives, we have hope! Through the reading of God’s word, praying and serving God, we will continue to be close with God and continue to be in Christ. He will lead you through the valley of death because his grace is sufficient for you. Christ is enough!

The faithful people have gone through a long period of time, some have declined, some had gone through difficult times. Some want to stay in the comfort zone, some are afraid that our resources are not enough and dare not take the step out to try new things, to try new ministries for God.

God says that it is not by our strength, not by our talents, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We should do our part by equipping ourselves, then God will come and do the rest where we lack. We need to accept and forgive one another, treating each other with love and grace. We should be united and together spread the gospel to the non-believers, providing care to the community and bring substantial benefits to the community.

The power of the gospel is able to change lives and turning over the world around us, which is beyond our imagination!