Unshaken: Chapter a Day

Luke 18 Discussion

• Pastor Plek

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What if prayer felt less like a last resort and more like a lifeline? We dive into Luke 18 and trace a sharp line from a widow who won’t quit, to a Pharisee who trusts himself, to a childlike faith that Jesus celebrates. Along the way, a rich young ruler asks for eternal life and discovers his heart is chained to his wealth, while a blind beggar shouts for mercy and sees more than the crowd. The contrasts are bracing: persistence versus passivity, humility versus pride, dependence versus self-reliance.

We start with the persistent widow to show how faith stays at the door when heaven seems silent. If an unjust judge responds to relentless appeal, how much more will a just and loving God act? That launches a frank look at self-righteousness through the Pharisee and the tax collector. One boasts; the other beats his chest and asks for mercy. Jesus justifies the humble, which reframes how we talk about goodness, spiritual disciplines, and the danger of contempt. Then Jesus welcomes children, making childlike trust the front door to the kingdom.

From there, we walk with the rich young ruler as Jesus pinpoints his idol and invites him to follow, not just comply. It’s not anti-wealth; it’s anti-idolatry. The line “What is impossible with man is possible with God” becomes the hinge of hope for anyone who knows they can’t save themselves. We close with the blind beggar who refuses to be quiet until mercy answers, and then follows with new sight. Threaded through each scene: God’s justice, God’s mercy, and a call to pray without quitting, humble ourselves, and loosen our grip on lesser loves.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs courage to keep praying, and leave a review so others can find it. What scene from Luke 18 challenged you most today?

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Pastor Plek:

And welcome back to a chapter a day. Keeps the devil away. I'm Pastor Pleck, along with Pastor Holland. We're talking Luke chapter 18. We are going to outline it. We're going to make some observations. We're going to give you some interpretations. And finally, we're going to land the plane with an application that you can take with you along your day. So Luke 18 starts off with verses 1 through 8 of the parable, The Persistent Widow, where Jesus encourages unceasing prayer without losing heart. Then we get to the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, where Jesus sort of rebukes those who act self-righteously and despises others. Then we've got the where the children come in verses 15 through 17. And Jesus is like, don't rebuke them, don't hinder the children from coming to me, which is why we all want to have a great children's ministry. All right, then in verses 18 through 30, we have the rich young ruler. The ruler asks how to inherit eternal life. Jesus gives them the commandments. And then the wildest one, which was not in the commandments, but he tells them to sell everything he has, give it to the poor, and come follow him. And he can't do it because he was rich. And then the disciples sort of freak out, and how can anyone be saved? And Peter is told, What is impossible with man is possible with God. All right, then verses 31 through 34, Jesus foretells his death for the third time. And he tells it private to the twelve, announcing that he what was announced through the prophets will be fulfilled. He'll be delivered over the Gentiles, mocked, flogged, killed, then raised on the third day, and they have no clue. Verses 35 through 43, Jesus heals a blind beggar by crying out, Son of David, have mercy, and he won't stop yelling until he's brought to Jesus, where he receives his sight and follows them along the way. All right. So Holland, what observations did you make about this text?

Pastor Holland:

Okay, first one, last chapter, there's this instruction if your brother sins, rebuke him. Yeah. And if he repents, forgive him. So you see two rebukes in this chapter. Oh, nice. Um, the first one, though, is people bringing babies to Jesus. Nice. And then it's a blind man calling out for Jesus. Those are the two rebukes. And so, you know, you see this. Here's what rebuke is for it's for, you know, confronting sin. What are the, you know, uh what are the ways people are rebuking, you know, others for in this chapter? Bringing babies to Jesus and calling out in Jesus. And there is one more rebuke.

Pastor Plek:

Jesus rebukes the rich man. Yeah. And says, go, he's like, hey, I want to inherit eternal life, go and do this, and he won't do it. And then he rebukes by saying how hard it will be for the rich to inherit eternal life. Yeah, wild. So there I I love maybe we have three rebukes here, but twice, and that's sandwiched in between those two rebukes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mind blowing. Yeah, interesting. Okay, uh, what else you got?

Pastor Holland:

Um how about the the the first parable. Um man, it's just so uh where where's the verse? Uh verse five, because the widow keeps bothering me. I just I love that. Um it's it's so motivating. I love the way Jesus you know uses a story like this to teach a uh you know a principle about prayer. Such a great story and encouragement to just pray and pray and pray and pray and pray and pray.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, and because what he's saying is like if an unjust judge will give in just because he wants to shut the woman up, yeah, how much more your father in heaven who loves you. Right. If that works on someone who does not care, then imagine how much it'll work with someone who does care. And and I think what makes this story so powerful, it is the object of your faith. So Jesus being the object of your faith, the judge was the object of her faith that she knew that she could be annoying enough to make this guy's life miserable where he dreaded seeing her, and he knew that to get her to go away, he just had to give justice and do the right thing. Yeah. Wild. And so Jesus obviously, the question he asked, will he find faith on the earth? I think what he's saying is, will he find people who will actually pray? Like, will he find people that will pray and say, God, please, I give me j like I think what happens is people give up. Their last option is prayer, and when they throw up one prayer and nothing happens, like, well, I guess, I guess it's over. I'm giving up on God. And what he's saying is like, don't give up. It should be your first solution and your final solution. All right. What about like the in the verse, next couple verses where uh with a parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector? I love this story where he goes, he he he told this parable to some who trusted themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt.

Pastor Holland:

I thought that was wild. If like if we want to go to what this teaches about the nature of man, like that that's so profound right there. That we it is in our nature to trust in ourselves, think that we're righteous, treat others with contempt.

Pastor Plek:

Oof. It's good. All right. Can I get to the observation that's so to me clear? Why doesn't Jesus do a layup evangelism of going through the Romans road with this rich young ruler? It's a it's a salvation layup. I mean, it's like it's what everybody's hoping for. What must I do to hear eternal life? Well, first, do you know that you're a sinner? And maybe that's what he was doing. He went to the commandments first, and he couldn't recognize that he was a sinner. Yeah. Huh. That sort of just hit me now. Like he he couldn't re like Jesus goes to the commandments and he's like, I've done, I've I've kept everyone. I am like per I'm essentially perfect. And if someone can't recognize the depths of their sin, there is no hope for them.

Pastor Holland:

Jesus, you know, he he says, You gotta follow me. That's that's where he his you know, his quote, his answer ends. He says, Sell all that you have, distribute to the poor, you'll have treasure in heaven, and come follow me. Right. Here's how you can be saved. Come follow me. But he says it in a way that pinpoints the man's idol. Right. That pinpoints what is actually holding up the man from putting his faith in Jesus, from trusting Jesus. Right.

Pastor Plek:

And see, you know, and I think he had two things going on from the previous parable, he had self-righteousness. Yeah. And the second one was he had wealth. You put those two things together, it's really hard to save somebody. Yeah. I mean, so hard. They are gonna be so bound up in their pride.

Pastor Holland:

And okay, here's what's crazy about this because you know, self-righteousness is coming from hey, look, he says, I'm not like other men, I'm not like the unjust, the adulterers. I I'm a good person. I do good things. And then the rich, young, really, he's wealthy. Like, is this not what you want for yourself, your family, your children, that you are good, ethical, moral people that you know, the that they're praying, that they're taken care of, provided for, wealthy. These are all good things, but this shows you like, here's what you have to be careful of when you have these good things. You can put your trust in them instead of putting your trust in them.

Pastor Plek:

Because there was no dependence on Jesus. Yeah. Like, because he he thought if he lost all of his wealth, he would have nothing. Whereas if he lost all of his wealth, he'd have all of Jesus, and that is way better than all the wealth. And that's if you want to know what the mystery of the gospel is, that's it. It's your faith is not in you, your ability, your wealth, your righteousness. It's all on Jesus, and that's the whole point.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. And so, like this uh, you know, this other man went uh where does it say? He would not even, verse 13, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven. I'm just like, man, that that's the humility. That's the like, I'm unworthy, you know. Um, just your only hope is the mercy of God.

Pastor Plek:

Which then you get to that last story of the blind beggar. He says, Son of David, have mercy on me. And he can't see, but he he's able, he's given, and then he leaves all he has to follow Jesus. Yeah, which is wild.

Pastor Holland:

I love that. And he he becomes richer than the rich young ruler in a true sense. Yep. And he uh even while he's blind has greater sight, spiritual sight than everyone else. Yeah. So he's the the rich man who can see in in the real sense.

Pastor Plek:

Nice. All right, let's get to some interpretation. Um, how about um how about the widow bothers the judge? Oh, sorry, sorry. The let's get to nature of man. We quit on prayer. People quit on prayer because we feel like it's not working, because we can't see, or maybe it feels like our prayers are hitting the ceiling, or we can't see that they're hitting the ears of God.

Pastor Holland:

We we look down on a whole lot of different types of people, whether it's the tax collector or um the babies, the children, or the blind man, we we have a tendency to count people out and think we're better than them.

Pastor Plek:

Um yeah, that's good. That's really good. How about for people, wealth sort of saddens the soul because you you're now dependent upon it for your joy. Hmm. If if again, maybe it's wealth saddens the soul if you're dependent upon it for your joy.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because like you read Proverbs and you're like, clearly, wealth is a blessing. Yeah, absolutely. It's a blessing. But when you put your hope in it, then it becomes a character.

Pastor Plek:

Or if that's what becomes you between you and Jesus.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah. If your wealth is becoming between you and following Jesus, get rid of the wealth.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. Amen.

Pastor Plek:

Man. All right. How about uh character of God?

Pastor Holland:

Um He he values, well, yeah, I this maybe this is about character of God. There's something here about his him valuing humility. You know, oh you've got to receive the kingdom like a child. The man who can't even look up to heaven, um, but beats his breast and says, Have mercy, you know, on me, a sinner. There's there's something there about God is wanting us to see here's what's important to him humility.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, how about God avenges his Alex cries? Like he's you know, like when his he said, I will bring them justice and quickly, uh, which I thought was sort of interesting. What does quickly mean? Uh, but he does hear your prayer. Do not stop crying, because God hears our prayer and will respond, and he's reliable.

Pastor Holland:

Um, God is merciful.

Pastor Plek:

Nice. Um, how about this? Let's get into application. Spec. Send to a com send to avoid, promise to claim, example to follow, command to obey, and knowledge to believe. Um pride, send to avoid. Yeah, don't don't be prideful. That's good. Uh, how about promise to claim?

Pastor Holland:

What's the difference between proud and prideful? When do you use proud versus prideful?

Pastor Plek:

I guess I'm allowed. Am I allowed to be proud of you, but not proud of myself?

Pastor Holland:

Well, or I mean, like, don't be, do you say don't be this is like totally we're on a rabbit trail. But do you say don't be proud or don't be prideful? Or is it the same thing? It's the same thing. Okay.

Pastor Plek:

I I wonder, I think there's a good pride though, right?

Pastor Holland:

Yes, yeah.

Pastor Plek:

And so, like anything, there's a good I'm proud of your kid.

Pastor Holland:

You do a good job.

Pastor Plek:

There's a good jealousy and a bad jealousy. Yeah. And so, yeah. Don't be proud in the bad way. Good. All right. Uh, how about promise to claim? God will bring justice. Yeah. You know that he's coming. How about um command to obey? Pray without ceasing, and don't stop praying. What you got?

Pastor Holland:

Humble yourself. Um, command to obey, uh, and a promise to claim the one who humbles himself will be exalted. Okay.

Pastor Plek:

How about knowledge to believe God can do the impossible?

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, that's good.

Pastor Plek:

All right. Hey, thanks so much for watching. We'll see you next time on a chapter a day.

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