Qualities of the Kingdom - Humility - Luke 18:9-17

Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem; we’re getting closer to the cross and Jesus’ teaching takes on a new urgency, with a focus on the coming of kingdom of heaven. On the way to Jerusalem, the brothers James and John approach Jesus, asking to be given places of honour beside him. Jesus calls them together and says, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Jesus is about serving the other: God, your neighbour, even your enemy, because this is what shapes and changes your heart attitude into the same attitude Jesus has.

Jesus emphasizes the importance of humility, servanthood, and responsibility over power, authority, and entitlement that the world so often prioritizes. This is the reality of sin’s influence in the world; sin separates and divides while Jesus seeks to bring unity and a culture of humility and building into each other, just as the Father builds into the Son and Spirit, the Son builds into the Father and Spirit, and the Spirit builds into the Father and Son to create the perfect example of unity and outward focus.

Jesus tells a parable, using a familiar setting, yet adds a shocking twist. Jesus tells of a Pharisee praying, he’s just told parable about constantly praying and trusting in God to act. Now he tells of a praying Pharisee, a common sight. The Pharisees were the holy ones who practiced the law and acts of piety on behalf of the people. There he stands tall and confident as he prays, “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.” The Pharisee reminds God of how special and pious he is compared to everyone else. It’s rather surprising to those listening to Jesus tell this parable that the Pharisee would even notice the tax collector. Tax collectors were considered unclean, so he likely wouldn’t even be in the same area of the temple as the Pharisee, probably worshipping in the Court of the Gentiles, even though he’s a Jew. Jesus’ listeners see the Pharisee as the good guy here.

Jesus turns the tables on his listeners, “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.” The tax collector’s too shamed to even lift his head to pray, knowing he’s a sinner and doesn’t deserve grace or forgiveness, and now Jesus says that attitude and spirit is what God sees and desires, a humble heart that seeks God’s favour, unlike the Pharisee who simply tells God he’s special and deserves God’s blessing, deceiving himself, blind to his need for God’s grace and forgiveness.

Jesus comes from heaven to earth, God's sign of love and grace. God comes to us even though our tendency is to move away from him. Jesus is with us, living in the world where real life happens rather than being coddled behind palace walls. God comes as a child, born in the middle of his people, instead of among the privileged few. After visiting America, Herman Bavinck reflected on American Christianity and remarked that it was a very self-centered faith, focusing on the importance of self, some things never change.

Jesus comes in humble circumstances so that we can feel free to come to him, knowing that he understands our lives, with all the messiness, the noise, the dirt, stress, chaos, joy and excitement life brings; with all of its day-to-day needs and challenges. Jesus comes to save us from the brokenness of our sin, offering new life of hope and inner peace even if our outward circumstances don't change. Jesus' salvation changes us, makes us right with God, filling us with his Spirit, knowing that he’ll give us the strength and wisdom needed to make it through good and hard times.

Jesus acknowledges the faith of the tax collector who knows himself better than the Pharisee, whose personal insight is blinded by self-importance and pride. In our social media age, we’re tempted to create lives online that are unrealistic and focus on how special our lives are, rather than admitting the reality that our daily lives are filled with normal regular work, study, failures and successes, with joy and tears, with times of excitement and deep boredom, all the normal things of life. We’re tempted to be like Pharisees, while Jesus shows us the way of humility and being real with each other and ourselves. If we try to live up to our social media images, we risk depression and anxiety, never able to measure up every day to the special staged moments that we actually share.

Jesus grows up in a small village with all the other children and families, learning at the synagogue, worshipping with his parents at the temple at feast times, learning about God his heavenly father, learning a trade to take care of himself and his family. Jesus doesn't claim the privileges of being the son of God, he does life with us.

The apostle Paul writes to the church in Philippi, ^"In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

The result of Jesus' humility in doing life as we do, living it like regular people, is that God exalts him and accepts Jesus' death for our sins. Death now brings us into the presence of God rather than into punishment. Jesus’ humility leads to his trust in his Father’s plan of the cross, leading to our justification with the Father and adoption into the family of God! Humility is a key quality of the kingdom as it leads us to practice trust and reliance on Jesus and the Holy Spirit instead of ourselves, helping us to see our need for Jesus, our need for his guidance and the importance of submitting our lives to obedience to Jesus’ way over our own way. It brings us to the place where we can be honest with the reality of the depth of our sin and where we confess our sins with a broken heart, which leads to repentance and life change instead of just words.

Humility sees ourselves through the lens of reality instead of desire. Humility acknowledges the gifts and blessings God’s given us, the abilities and talents we have. Humility’s about valuing ourselves correctly. One of my professors at Redeemer University was Al Wolters, a world renown scholar who was willing to ask us, his students, for copies of our papers, and permission to use our insights when he learned something from us. He knew he was gifted in his field, but was humble enough to learn from his students. This is healthy biblical humility.

Humility rooted in love is at the heart of following Jesus; it reflects who Jesus is, how he lived and how he calls us to live. I’ve always loved the GEMS’ verse in Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Jesus sees parents bringing babies to him to be blessed and uses these children as an example of the humility we’re called to live out. He tells his disciples, “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.”

We know that children can be as proud and arrogant as adults. We’ve seen children taunting each other, “My dad’s stronger than your dad,” or “My parents make more money than yours,” or multiple other ways of showing they think they’re better than others. Yet children at their heart, depend completely on their parents for the clothes they wear, the food they eat, the bed they sleep in, and they completely trust mom and dad to provide for them, so much so, it’s perfectly natural for them. Jesus challenges us to trust completely in him, to look to him rather than ourselves for our value, worth, or identity. It takes humility, a confession that we need to lean on him rather than ourselves, that we cannot save or even provide for ourselves without Jesus. When we finally reach that place in our faith, the stress of life disappears, and we can live in the joy of Jesus without worry, fear, or guilt, and heed his call to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

The Holy Spirit – Gift Giver - 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

 

Paul has just shared with the church in Corinth the significance of the Lord’s Supper, angry that they have taken this gift from Jesus to remember him, and turned it into something that divided the people from each other rather than joining them closer together as the body of Jesus. Paul reminds them that the Lord’s Supper is about the remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins, that the meal joins us together as Jesus’ body when we eat and drink the bread the cup together.

Now Paul moves on to talking about the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. Paul introduces the gifts, “Now about the spiritual things,” which we translate as “the gifts of the Spirit,” because Paul goes on, “there are different kinds of gifts, but the Spirit here,” pointing back to the references of the Holy Spirit in the first couple of verses where he calls the Spirit the “Spirit of God,” and the “Holy Spirit.” Paul’s emphasizing that these gifts are all from the Holy Spirit. The gifts come to each one of us because the Holy Spirit was poured on the believers on Pentecost, a gift from the Father, God’s presence that now lives within us, filling us with spiritual life, guiding us towards Jesus and away from ourselves, reminding us of who Jesus is, and how he’s called us to walk his way, and away from mute idols.

Now just as we’re all different and the body of Jesus is found all over the world in different cultures and languages, so the gifts of the Spirit are varied because the needs of the church vary from one place to another. While the gifts may be different, they all come from the Holy Spirit. Just like we all serve Jesus in different ways and in different places and settings, we all still serve the same Jesus. Paul’s really hammering on the theme of unity and togetherness here because of how the church in Corinth has allowed the gift of the Lord’s Supper to become a time of disunity among the people.

Paul emphasizes that the ministration of the Spirit, the gifts the Spirit gives, are for the common good, to benefit and build up the body of Jesus, for the family of God. The gifts are given to bless and equip the community of believers, not for our own benefit, but to help us reflect the nature of God, to share the gospel news of Jesus, to show how God pours himself out into his people to partner with him in the work he is doing here in renewing and restoring a people for himself.

Paul goes through a number of the gifts given for the common good: a message of wisdom, a message of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. The Spirit gives these gifts, plus more, as the Spirit determines what’s needed for the health and growth of the body of Christ. We often think that gifts are given and that’s it, but there are circumstances where the church may need specific gifts and they are not be there, but if we turn to God and ask for the needed gifts, the Spirit will give them to us. Likewise, if we don’t bother using the gifts given to us, the gifts can slip away.

A little further on, in chapter 14, Paul expands on the gifts of prophecy and tongues, giving us some insight into the reasons for some of the gifts, helping us to reflect on the other gifts and their role in the common good. It strikes me how Paul says that tongues are a sign for unbelievers, quoting Isaiah 28:11-12, “Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people, to whom he said, “This is the resting place, let the weary rest”; and, “This is the place of repose”—but they would not listen.” In the context of Isaiah, God’s talking about the Assyrians speaking in their own language which God’s people didn’t understand, and because they’re unable to understand it’s a sign of judgment for unbelievers. This seems to echo back to the tower of Babel where God changed their languages as punishment for their pride and failure to listen to him. Since unbelievers are unable to understand tongues, it’s a sign that they’re under judgement, emphasizing the importance of the gift of interpretation. Paul states that prophecy is the gift to ask for because it speaks God’s word to the people in words that can be understood and so blesses the church. Tongues bless the individual in speaking to God in worship, but does little for anyone else or for the common good.

Chapter 13, a chapter focused on love as God defines it, is placed between these two chapters on Holy Spirit gifts, and close to the warning on proper relationships within the body of Jesus when celebrating the gift of the Lord’s Supper. It’s a call for love to shape how we come to the Lord’s table together, and also how to use the gifts given to us, with a spirit of love for each other and the community, especially the community of believers.

In Romans 15:18-19, Paul ties the gifts of the Spirit, often referred to as signs and wonders, to leading the Gentiles into obeying God and in proclaiming the gospel of Jesus, “I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.” The gifts and power of the Holy Spirit testify to the salvation we find in and through Jesus according to the writer to the Hebrews, 2:1–4, “We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.” Embracing the call here to pay careful attention to what we’ve heard is at the heart of embracing the gift of wisdom Joanne reminded us of.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to us to help us be a witness to who God is and the salvation that comes from and through God and Jesus. A family I came to know when a youth pastor came by the church one day. They had started attending the church through our youth ministry and the parents wanted to know what was happening. One of their children struggled hard and often acted out at home and school. Over the winter, his mom noticed that he was becoming calmer, that youth group was the high point of his week, and she asked why. One of our leaders had taken a special interest in him and acted something like a mentor to him, in our study evenings we were studying the fruit of the Spirit and how the Holy Spirit works in us to help us to grow more like Jesus. He was fascinated by the idea that the Spirit could change him. I shared this with her and her husband and they were stunned that something so seemingly simple, a mentor and the Bible, could make such a difference in their son. It felt like a miracle to them.

I then realized that the power of the Spirit of God, the signs and wonders mentioned in Hebrews are all part of, and the gifts of the Spirit, all lead us into a closer relationship with God, but also with each other. When we use the gifts given to us, whether it’s the gifts mentioned here in 1 Corinthians 12, or any of the other gifts like compassion and understanding, worship, prayer, hospitality and the ability to build trusting relationships with those who are hurting or struggling; these gifts are given to us to be used to build up the community of believers and be a witness to those who are seeking hope, healing, forgiveness, acceptance, or even seeking God.

The greatest gift we receive isn’t an ability though; it’s the grace filled gift of salvation that we receive through Jesus. This is the greatest gift, and we’re called to tell others of the availability of this gift, a gift they can receive when they accept Jesus as their Lord, when they confess they’re sinners and need a Saviour, when they repent and seek to walk in Jesus’ way, opening their heart to the Holy Spirit.

Most of the gifts of the Spirit involve presence, being with and among people. This is where deep spiritual growth happens, both for the ones we’re with, and for ourselves. This is why we began meeting for a short devotion and prayer time each week as staff last year; simply being together to reflect on a Bible passage and pray together. The reflection and sharing time are especially important for me, it blesses me, and I pray, blesses the other staff too.

We’ve each been given different gifts, but coming together each week as a church family on Sunday mornings, reminds us who we do this for, for Jesus and his kingdom. The gifts given by the Spirit are gifts given for the common good, to be used to build the church and bless the community as a sign of the presence and glory of God. May you bless others as you use your gifts serving God and others.