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 Luke 18:9-14: The lowest branches.(please click here for todays passage)

It is interesting and helpful to read this parable in a modern version of the Bible such as the ‘The Message’.

‘He told this story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people.’

We see that the Pharisee was a religious poser: ‘The Pharisee posed and prayed like this…’ His prayer was full of self-righteous self-congratulation. He was slapping himself very warmly on the back as he prayed and assumed that God shared his viewpoint.  He thought the Lord was very lucky to have him on His team.Watch out for the slightest hint of self-righteousness. If you allow it living space in your heart it will blind you to truth about yourself you really need to see. Ultimately it will keep you out of heaven. The New International Version says that he ‘prayed about himself’ (and the margin suggests that it could mean that he prayed ‘to’ himself). God wasn’t interested in such a self-interested prayer. It is humility that cuts ice in the realms above.

”Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’ 

Jesus commented, ”This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more yourself.”

It remains true – and it always will be – that ‘everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.’ (14; see James 4:10/1 Peter 5:6). Someone wrote that ‘in God’s garden, the branches that hang the lowest bear the most fruit.’

Without humility you will never face the fact you are a sinner; but it is imperative that you do if you are ever going to be made right with God.

 Luke 18:1-8: Never give in!(please click for todays passage)

Walter Wink said that ‘history belongs to the intercessors’. It truly does, and I think that is why the devil hates prayer so much. He knows full well the damage it will do to him and his kingdom, so he trains his big guns on it. ‘When we go to God by prayer, the devil knows we go to fetch strength against him, and therefore he opposeth us all he can.’ Richard Sibbes. That, for me, is the main reason why so many church prayer meetings are more than half empty.

Does your life line up with the teaching of Jesus in this wonderfully encouraging story? 

‘Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.’ (1).

‘Jesus told them a story showing that it was necessary for them to pray consistently and never quit.’ (The Message).

Are you cultivating a heart which prays without ceasing? Have you given up praying for anyone or anything?

‘But how much of that persistent faith will the Son of Man find on the earth when he returns?’ (The Message).

Prayer is one of Luke’s big themes. We have already seem something similar about praying in a wonderful passage (11:1-13). It’s been said that you can take all the teaching of Jesus about prayer and boil it down to one word: persistence (or perseverance).

Notice the widow ‘kept coming to him’ (3). The judge said she ‘keeps bothering me’… (5). God wants us to be like the widow in our praying, and to know that He is not like the unjust judge. As someone said, prayer is laying hold of God’s willingness, not overcoming His reluctance.

It is said that Winston Churchill stood before his old school and delivered the shortest message of his political career. He just said, ‘Never give in, never give in, never give in!’ Let such a spirit fuel your prayers, and don’t allow Satan to mug you.

Prayer: Lord, I want to pray exactly in the way you say I should. Help me to keep going. I don’t want the devil to fulfill his prayer-preventing agenda in me.

Luke 18:20-37: People, get ready!(please click here)

Many people are asking, ‘What is this world coming to?’ The more important question is, ‘Who is coming to this world?’ The answer is ‘Jesus’, and we all need to get ready. Here are three important realities to come to terms with:

1. ‘You can’t miss it!’ I think it was on my first trip to Birkenhead, as a child, that one of my parents stopped to ask for directions. The person asked kept saying, ‘You can’t miss it!’ In truth, when we follow such instructions we often find that we can miss it!! But these words truly do pertain to the second coming of Christ. It will not happen behind anyone’s back: ‘The arrival of the Son of Man is not something you go out to see. He simply comes. You know how the whole sky lights up in a single flash of lightning? That’s how it will be on the Day of the Son of Man.’ (The Message). You can’t miss it. But Jesus went on to say that ‘first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.’ (25). He kept on saying things like that. He knew that the cross awaited Him. But beyond it there lay His resurrection, and, ultimately, His return. ‘CHRIST HAS DIED; CHRIST HAS RISEN; CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN.’ He has come through the cross; He has come our of the tomb; He will come back to the earth.
2. Business as usual. Before Jesus returns it will be a case of ‘business as usual’ in the world, and to many people His appearing will come as a devastating shock. There are Biblical, historical precedents for this: ‘The time of the Son of Man will be just like the time of Noah – everyone carrying on as usual, having a good time right up to the day Noah boarded the ship. They suspected nothing until the flood hit and swept everything away. It was the same in the time of Lot – the people carrying on, having a good time, business as usual right up to the day Lot walked out of Sodom and a firestorm swept down and burned everything to a crisp. That’s how it will be – sudden, total – when the Son of Man is revealed.’ The Message.
3. A day of division (34,35). For some, the day of Christ’s return will be one of great joy. It’s what they have been looking forward to for so long. They will see their Lord and be with Him forever. But for others it will be a day of bitter regret. They will find ‘the door of the ark’ is now closed and it is too late to repent.

‘People get ready, there’s a train a comin’; you don’t need no ticket, you just get on board.’

Will you board now, while you still can?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I can get so earth-bound. Help me to live with eternity in view.

 Luke 17:11-19: Thanks missing?!(please click here for todays passage)

Once again a Samaritan is the ‘hero’ in a Jesus story. The commentators tell us that Luke has a ‘universal’ emphasis. He sees Jesus as the Saviour of the whole world.

I wonder, who you might meet today as you are on your way? Are you ready to serve them and be a blessing in their lives? What seems like an accidental encounter may turn out to be a divine appointment.

These lepers were used to life at a distance (12). Leprosy isolated people. It separated them from the rest of society. It provides a picture of sin which alienates us from God, and from each other. To be cleansed of our sin ‘leprosy’ we have to get to a place of desperation where we call on Jesus to have mercy (13).

In (14) you see a great example of how faith works. They stepped out on the bare Word of Jesus, and it held them up. It kept them afloat. They found it was like concrete beneath them. He told them to do what a person would normally do when they believed they were cured (i.e. show themselves to the priest). But it was as these men were on their way that they received healing. The acting ‘as if it were so’ came first, you might say. They ‘stepped out in faith’. If you are unwell, and praying for healing, it is important to be sensitive to the Lord’s voice and do as He says.

In and through (15-19) there surely comes a call to be a thankful people. In ‘the Message’ you read that this one leper who returned to show appreciation was ‘…so grateful. He couldn’t thank him enough…’ Let’s make sure we follow his example. Live a life of thanksgiving and not of thanks missing.’ Regularly thank people, and above all thank God.

Prayer: Lord, you have blessed me far more than I deserve. I want to express how deeply grateful I am.

 Luke 17:7-10: Remember who you are.(please click here for todays passage)

Mike and I became good friends when we were in college. We were thrown together on the decorating team! Every Monday afternoon, for three hours, all the theological students were involved in some form of labour. It helped to keep the fees lower as we took responsibility to maintain the grand old mansion where our studies were based. So Mike and I painted rooms and talked Christian doctrine. After leaving college I regularly preached at a church where Mike was pastoring in Somerset. On the Saturday night, as we prepared for the Sunday services, Mike and I would go to an upstairs room in the house to pray. I vividly remember Mike praying the words found here (10), saying, ‘Lord, when we have done all, let us know that we are unprofitable servants and have only done our duty.’ His prayerfulness and humility left a great impression on me. Whenever you are complimented for any act of Christian ministry, think about these words and let them keep you in your place.

This short passage says to me, ‘Remember who you are and Whose you are. Remember what you are. Above all, keep in mind who Jesus is. He’s the Master, and you are here to serve Him, and not the other way round.’

Jesus may do many wonderful things for you. That’s His grace. It’s undeserved. He is not obligated to do anything. As a servant I need to keep my focus on doing for Him.

”Does the servant get special thanks for doing what’s expected of him? It’s the same with you. When you’ve done everything expected of you, be matter-of-fact and say, ‘The work is done. What we were told to do, we did.’ ” The Message.

Prayer: Help me, humble Lord Jesus, to keep my life in perspective, and to not think more highly of myself than I should.