The humbled self

Most of the time when Jesus wanted to deliver one of his parables, the Scripture says quite simply, "And he taught them a parable, saying, ....."  We who read and study those parables know there is a story involved, followed by an explained or inferred application.  Sometimes the parables have some common sense applications and sometimes the application may not be easily determined. We might be like the disciples who asked the Lord on more than one occasion to explain it to them. 

There is one parable in particular, in which Jesus is very clear in describing the ones who need the teaching of the parable, and the application is very plain.  Look at his introduction to a parable recorded in Luke 18:9, "To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable:"  Now there is a parable that is directed to people who really need the teaching and the application.  The trouble is, many will fail to see themselves in the description Jesus gives.  Here is the rest of the parable. 

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ 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. ¹² I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

¹³ “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.’

¹⁴ “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.”

I have to tell you, this Pharisee sounds like a pretty good guy. He doesn't steal, he isn't involved in doing evil. He is not an adulterer. And best of all, he isn't like the dreaded tax-collector.  He is faithful in fasting and tithing.  He even gives thanks to God that he isn't like all the bad people he has referenced. 

His real problem is in declaring his righteousness is based on how good he is. I know it won't be easy but he needs a lesson in humility from the other man who was praying, the mean old tax-collector.

In the prayer of the tax-collector, we see a man who knows he is in a pitiful shape. He cannot even raise his eyes and look toward heaven. He knows his need. He knows his emptiness. So without telling God a single thing about how good he is or bad he is, he humbly prayed, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

His prayer touched the very heart of Jesus, who tells us this man went home justified.  The real lesson and application for us comes in the closing sentence, " For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

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Explanation Needed

Read Matthew 13:24-30, known as the parable of the weeds. While there may be some of the parable that is easily understood, the closest followers of Jesus didn't understand it all.  Later in the chapter they asked Jesus to explain it to them. 

³⁶ Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
³⁷ He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, ³⁹ and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
⁴⁰ “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. ⁴² They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³ Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. Matthew 13:36-43

Jesus went into great detail in his explanation, naming everything and everyone involved. That gives his disciples a little more information in learning the meaning of the parable. Then Jesus tells how all of it fits into his description of events at the end of the age. 

Look again at those events.  The weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire. The Son of Man sends his angels, whose duty consists of weeding out of the kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.  They end up in the fiery furnace, that place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

That description makes me shiver. It is a fearful description Jesus gives. It could even be the motivation for some to  become "sons of the kingdom" and known to be "the good seed."

Notice again verse 43 from above. It is the description Jesus gives for the righteous. We who have escaped darkness and have lived lives of "walking in the light" are described in words which could be considered the greatest promise in the Bible. " Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

As children of God, we recognize the responsibility to the be light of the world. Our lives as Christians can be a blessing to those around us as they see Jesus living in us. Even greater, when Jesus comes and weeds out everything that causes evil and all who do evil, he promises we are going to still be shining; shining like the sun in the kingdom of the Father.  Earlier in Matthew he had said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and give glory to your Father in heaven."

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The Cripple Walks and Jumps

Acts 3 tells the story of a crippled beggar who depended on others to carry him to the temple courts every day so he could receive a hand-out from those going into the temple. I probably don't have to tell you all the down side of this man's existence. While others could work for their support, this man could only beg and hope he could collect enough of the meager donations to take care of his daily needs. 

I can visualize those walking by, avoiding eye contact. No doubt there were some that spoke to him, most of them saying something like, "I have no money but I will pray for you."  That's close to what Peter and John said to him when they walked near. However, their message to him brought excitement to the heart of this man who had never walked.  " Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” Acts 3:6.

The Bible says those who observed all these happenings were filled with wonder and amazement at what had just happened. Scripture also tells us the healed man was walking and jumping and praising God. But noticed what happened next.

¹¹ While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade. ¹² When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? ¹³ The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. ¹⁴ You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. ¹⁵ You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. ¹⁶ By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see. Acts 3:16.

Peter uses this event to let the amazed crowd know the source of healing had come, not from he and John, but from God. Not only that, Peter continued in letting them know they were the ones that had disowned Jesus when he was brought before Pilate. They were the ones who insisted on killing Jesus but God had raised him from the dead. 

I like Peter's statement "By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong."   There is no denying a healing miracle had taken place. The crowded temple courts were buzzing with talk about this cripple who was now walking and jumping. They had all seen it happen. 

Both in Peter's sermon on Pentecost, and now in this story, he gives the message of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus as the power source for all mankind. The message of power the prophets foretold. The Savior, the Messiah, they said would come. Peter and John were living in exciting times when they could show the world such a Savior. Until Jesus returns, we share in those exciting times by sharing the gospel story.

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On a roller coaster

Several years ago, I entrusted the task of helping me to lose weight to a man whose company was gaining lots of respect in the area of proper nutrition.  The leader of this nutrition alignment company hadn't always worked in the area of teaching better eating habits.  He had been a pilot for lots of years, even serving for a time piloting Air Force 1. 

His story was one I found quite interesting so I want to share some of it with you. He told of controlling his weight when it was time for him to take a scheduled physical, then after passing, he would start gaining his weight back, a little at a time.  He was on a roller coaster going up and down with his eating habits, a practice that any doctor will tell you is not healthy.

He started looking for other areas of interest where he might become employed and was invited to join a group which made financial recommendations for investors. He attended a five day seminar to learn as much as he could about the financial world, and was about to be hired by an investment firm.

The final speaker of the seminar was in the middle of his presentation and attempted to sum up the entire week's teaching session.  He told the group, "Our whole week has been filled with laws and suggestions relating to finance, but to be truthful about the matter, it can be summed up in one sentence.  'Wealthy people do things that make money; poor people don't.'"

I told you this man was not always involved in teaching better nutrition techniques, but he did have an interest in that field.  That's when he applied what he had learned at the financial seminar and came up with his own version of the summation sentence, and started his career as a successful nutritionist.  His sentence went like this, "Slim people do things that help them lose weight; fat people don't."  It was from that sentence he built his company and is still active and successful in his work. 

Am I off-base if I make a sentence for an application to living the Christian life?  Think about this one, "Successful Christians do the things God asks us to do; defeated Christians don't."  I mention this because I can see in your lives and mine, we have too much roller coaster Christianity going on, sometimes on the peaks and often in the valleys.  Even those of us who have been Christians for years find ourselves in "downer" situations and that's exactly where Satan wants us. 

Think with me for a moment. When we demonstrate the lifestyle of wavering faith, defeated goals, sour disposition, or ruined relationships, we are telling the world around us that Christianity does not work. All the while, God's Word continues to give us the solutions, His Spirit lives in us to direct, counsel, encourage and lead us every step of the way. The blood of Jesus continues to cleanse us and make us whole. 

If I were to suggest one Bible verse that should keep us positive, always on the peaks, even when life tries to get us down, this is it.  "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life" 1 John 5:13.

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Cast your cares on the Lord

Cast your cares on the Lord
    and he will sustain you;
he will never let
    the righteous be shaken.

 Psalm 55:22

Back in the late 1940's and early 50's, there was a restaurant in Los Angeles which had a basement where they had placed a beautiful garden. The unique garden was designed to represent the Garden of Gethsemane.  In one corner of this garden, there was a large stone, and kneeling beside the stone is a life-size statue of Jesus. 

One visitor stated, "As I entered the place, the garden was dimly lighted and the face of the statue was in a shadow. In that dim light, the countenance seemed careworn and weary. But as I stood watching in reverent meditation, the face began to brighten; gradually it changed until it shone with radiant light. The lines of care and weariness vanished and there came the glow of peace and spiritual strength."

Many of the lives we relate to, in school, in work, at church, in the marketplace, are carrying the heavy load of life's burdens. We are conditioned to make every effort we can to handle those situations based on our own knowledge and abilities.  While there may be some things that happen to us which can be handled that simply, there are big problems that come our way, too. Stated by one suffering person to another, "The road of life can be long and difficult, and we are but humans."  The loss of a job brings calamity. The death of a spouse or other loved one leaves us wracked by loneliness. A child addicted to alcohol or drugs breaks our heart. We have determined to complete an important task, and we fail. More and more we find ourselves in grief and agony. 

Are there answers to the difficult problems in life?  Can we put on our Superman costume and turn all our bad times into victory?  Regardless of the size of your muscles or your bank account, we all continue to face times of adversity that is beyond our ability to control. 

Then we come to a passage of Scripture like the one printed above. We realize again we serve a loving God who invites us to put the weight of our problems on him. There may be a need for repentance and there is always a need for prayer. When we learn of his invitation for us to cast our cares on him, and we trust him to handle areas of life we are not equipped to handle ourselves, we have the promise, "he will sustain us." 

That's when we also learn the look of being careworn and weary, suddenly turns to a glow of peace and spiritual strength. The weight is lifted from us and we know he is carrying the burden for us. One has prayed in a situation like this, "Father, in your presence we have gained strength to face whatever life holds."  He longs for you to have that peace. 

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