Sermon: The Kingdom of Dependent Children

Scripture: Luke 18:9–34

Date: February 15, 2026

Well, good morning. It is good to be in the house of the Lord. Let me pray before we begin.

Father, we praise you that from you, and through you, and to you are all things. We praise you that you are our God in whom we live and move and have our being. We cannot even breathe without you. Make us dependent upon you. And Lord, we are now dependent upon you to hear your voice by your Spirit. Show us your Son. By your Spirit, to your glory, Father. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Well, today's sermon is going to be found in Luke chapter 18, verses 9 to 34. If you have your Bibles with you, you may want to turn there.

The Illusion of Control

You know, when I was a teenager, I thought that I was in control. How many of you actually thought that as well? One day, I was driving, and I was going down this big hill called Mespo Hill near where I lived. It was about a quarter of a mile long. It went way down, had a kind of a valley, and then it had a little peak. Well, coming from the top, you could see over the peak. But when you were down in the valley, you could not see over the peak.

Well, there were cars that were driving way too slow for my liking. There were eight of them. And I decided that I would pass all eight of those cars. Well, actually, I didn't think I would pass all eight; I thought I’d get around a few, but they wouldn't let me in. And so I kept driving with my foot to the floor as hard as I could. I got faster and faster—80 miles an hour, 90 miles an hour—and I realized I was in trouble when I was coming up over the valley and started coming up over the peak. To my chagrin, right before me was another car going 55 miles an hour that was—I kid you not—probably from that door to here.

I couldn't see what was coming. And so, in that moment, I realized something. One, I was scared to death, but the second was that what I thought was control was simply momentum. My planning, my strength, my confidence—none of it could save me in that moment. The only thing that could save me in that moment was for me to cut over and hope I did not hit the car that was beside me.

This illusion of control is actually exactly what Jesus exposes in our text today. Through a parable, through two encounters, and a final prediction of his suffering, he shows us that it is impossible to save ourselves through our morality, through our honesty, through our honor, through our status, or through our wealth. You know, when we rely upon our own strength, when we compare, when we justify, and we try to secure ourselves, it actually feels powerful. But it leads to death. Why? The kingdom of God belongs not to the capable; the kingdom of God belongs to the dependent.

And this scene unfolds as Jesus is approaching Jerusalem, where he will suffer and he will die for us. We are just like these situations, trying to be in control. But what if, instead of accelerating toward the crest and depending on ourselves, we lived as children, dependent upon God? What if resting in the Father, through Jesus Christ and what he has accomplished for us, will actually give us peace and not draw us into the terror of when things are out of control?

Scripture Reading

With that in mind and the opportunity for us today, let me read Luke chapter 18, beginning in verse nine.

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’

But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.”

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time and in the age to come, eternal life.”

And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

Well, the grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever, and all God's people said, Amen.

The Meaning of Propitiation

Well, what we see clearly in this text is that God's kingdom belongs to dependent children. God's kingdom belongs to dependent children. You know, God does not merely warn you not to pass going down a hill that might kill you on the other side; he actually must take the wheel. God must be in control.

What we see in verses 13 to 14 is that dependent children humbly rely on God for propitiation. Propitiation—the word is "mercy" you see in the text, but that word "mercy" actually means to settle the wrath of God. It means to propitiate. It's only used in that context elsewhere in the Bible. Settle the wrath, propitiate.

You see, the tax collector doesn't make an appeal to his righteousness or to his effort, does he? He's actually honest with both himself and with God. You know the tax collectors—those people who were in league with the Romans, and who actually were considered traitors and stole from their own people. Yeah, him—that guy. You know people like that, probably. We look down at them, don't we? But this man, he cries out to God and says, "Propitiate for me. Settle my wrath. For me."

Who is the one who's settling the wrath? Is it his repentance? Is it his... no, he's actually asking God to do it. The settling of God's wrath happens through atoning sacrifice by God himself through Jesus Christ. We see that later. And so God responds here, not by excusing sin, but actually, he says, "this man went down to his house justified." Declared righteous. God propitiates; this man receives righteousness. Can you see it? You see, dependent children actually humbly rely on God for him to settle their wrath.

Receiving the Kingdom Like a Child

But then in verses 16 to 17, we see that dependent children alone receive the kingdom of God. Here Jesus actually explicitly states that the kingdom belongs to those who receive it like children. Children depend upon their parents, don't they? You don't see a seven-year-old—this one was probably one or two, maybe three—you don't see them going to the corporate offices to work, to bring money home, do you? They can do nothing. They will not survive without help, without their parents. You see, entry into God's kingdom is not achieved through status. It's not achieved through maturity. It's not achieved through contribution. It is achieved through helpless dependence upon God as Father.

But then next, we see the dependent children submit to Christ's greater authority over the law. You know, Jesus reveals himself here as the truly good one with divine authority to expose the limits of law-keeping. Now, you might say, why does Jesus say, "Well, who is the one that is good?" In looking at this particular encounter, he says, "Why do you call me good?" Jesus is actually leaning into something here: Who do you think that I am? You don't think I'm God. Because if you did, whatever I would say to you to do, you would do.

You see, Jesus is the king, the lawgiver, who is allowed to actually give demands that are more than the Mosaic law. This man says, "I'm going to obey the Mosaic law." Jesus is like, "It's not enough. You have to follow me and give up everything you have." Can you see it? So the man then walks away. What is he not doing? He's not depending on Christ's greater authority. He's depending upon himself, his own status, his own wealth. You see, Jesus shows here that obedience to the law is completely insufficient for entry into the kingdom, apart from a dependent transfer of trust to him. You see? You have to transfer your trust from yourself and your wealth and status and riches to Jesus. And then once you do, he gets to tell you what to do.

Finally, dependent children rely on God to do what is impossible for them. Jesus declares that entrance into the kingdom of God is impossible for humans. When they look at giving up everything, they realize that this is not possible, that they won't be able to do this. So they say, "Who could be saved?" And Jesus says, "Well, it's impossible for you. But it's not impossible for God." See, Jesus is saying that you cannot rely on riches or self-sufficiency; what is impossible for man to accomplish is accomplished by God alone, preparing the way for salvation through Christ's necessary suffering.

The Temptation of Self-Dependence

But even though it is impossible for us in our own strength to enter God's kingdom, guess what? We naturally want to depend upon ourselves. We naturally want to depend on ourselves. You know this to be true, right? See, we can't see over the crest. We don't know what's coming tomorrow. We don't know what's coming later today, do we? And yet, we still want to be in power. We still want to be in control because we want to depend upon ourselves alone, because we think that's where the most security is.

We depend upon religiosity and comparison, like the Pharisee. Instead of depending upon God alone, what does this Pharisee do? If you actually look at your Bible, you'll see that it says he stood and "prayed to himself." You could take it that way. I think it's actually that he's standing by himself praying—like everybody's over there and he's kind of by himself showing that he's better than everybody else. And he's going through the commandments, talking about how he's not like all the breakers of the commandments. And then when he does go through those, afterwards, he comes back and he says how he does these religious things: "I fast twice a week. I give my tithes, everything's amazing. I'm so good. I'm not like that man over there."

The contrast is very stark here. And we're like him. We often compare ourselves. When we're feeling bad, when we have a bad day, when we sin, the first thing that we do is we look to others to compare, and we say, "Well, I'm not that bad. I'm really kind of good. I'm not as bad as them." And then we watch the media, the news, and we see how awful people are, and then we compare ourselves to them, and we're like, "See, I'm better." We do this. We self-justify. We measure our own righteousness against others instead of resting on God's mercy.

But then we depend upon our status and our perceived importance. The disciples are listening to Jesus and hearing all this amazing teaching. And they're like, "Yeah, this is good stuff for us." And then these parents are like, "We want our children, who are dependent, to come and be blessed by Jesus." And what do the disciples do? They act like bodyguards or bouncers. And they tell the people to go away and get those children out of here. "The Master has much better things to do with his time. And actually, we who are listening to the Master, we're more important, so send those children away." In other parallel passages, it says that Jesus was indignant. He was really mad. And then he goes and he says that the kingdom of God is not able to even be entered unless you enter it like a child, which is in dependence and helplessness—having the Lord propitiate for you.

So we are kind of like this, and we try to secure our standing before God and others, but also we kind of depend upon our own goodness and our own resources. This rich ruler—they often call him the "young" ruler, but it doesn't say that here—this rich ruler, he comes and he's trying to figure out what has to happen to get into the kingdom of heaven. And what does he do? Jesus comes back at him and says, "Hey, well, what about the law?" And the guy's like, "What? I've kept it. Kept it all." The second tablet, right? And Jesus goes through and works with him. And most people take this passage and say that Jesus is actually cutting into the one commandment he skipped in the second tablet of the law, which is "Do not covet." That's actually not what he's doing. What he's actually doing is driving to his absolute authority. It's not about coveting—because he says, "You have to follow me and give up everything." Sure, the man coveted; everybody covets. But the point is, his allegiance was to himself, not to Jesus. He wasn't willing to trade his allegiance to Christ.

So, we're just like that. We trust in our obedience. We trust in our possessions. And yet, as we look at these achievements to justify us—something that Jesus declares is impossible—we still try to rely upon ourselves.

But then we also depend upon our own perception and our own understanding. You know, the disciples... I mean, and this is shocking to me. Like, you're reading this passage, and Jesus straight up says, "I'm going to Jerusalem, they're going to flog me, beat me, do all these terrible things to me. I'm going to die. I'm going to rise again." And the disciples are like, "Huh? What?" But look what it says: "These things were hidden from them." What's this pointing to? The revelation of God is necessary for us in order for our eyes to be open, to truly hear and to know, and to be like the tax collector, having the Lord propitiate for us.

And so when we think about this, we'll see next time—not next week, I'm off this coming week, but the following week—we'll see the road into Jericho with blind man Bartimaeus, whose eyes are opened by Jesus. There's a picture here of blindness and only what Jesus can do, which is to open us. Which shows our dependence upon God. But we don't like that. We think we have the resources—the time, talents, treasures, everything—and we think that we know what's good and we can do this without God. Though, as Jesus says, it is impossible for us as men and women to enter the kingdom of God.

The Impossible Made Possible

So if we stopped there and did a hard stop, it would be scary, wouldn't it? Because it is impossible for us to enter the kingdom of God. But Jesus has done the impossible because he suffered and died in our place for our refusal to be dependent. Jesus suffered and died in our place for our own refusal to be dependent.

Here's the thing: Jesus, he saw the crest. And he saw the car over the hill. And he knew that it was coming, and he didn't swerve. He absorbed what we could not survive and died so that we might be safe and depend wholly upon him. You see, Jesus lived in dependent obedience to God, fulfilling all that was written. Don't let this first bit of this verse pass you by: "We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished."

Jesus chose willingly to do everything that was in the Father's will to accomplish what God had purposed. He knew what was coming. He straight up says he's going to die and all this is going to happen to him. He 100% knew that. He willingly set his face toward Jerusalem as the Son of Man, declaring that everything by the prophets will be fulfilled. His life is marked by perfect and absolute dependence and obedience upon the Father's will, accomplishing God's saving plan where we refuse to trust God fully. You see, Jesus lived as the dependent child of God, always doing exactly what God said, and doing it perfectly because we couldn't do it.

But Jesus suffered shamelessly in our place. If you look at verse 32 here, Jesus allowed himself... see, "He will be delivered over to the Gentiles." Do you remember those times in Jesus' story from earlier in Luke where there's these people gathered around him and they're going to throw stones at him, and Jesus just walked right through their midst? And you're like, "What in the world?" Jesus did not have to be handed over and delivered over to the Gentiles. He could have called a legion of angels to come down, but he willingly chose to enter our shame, to be mocked, treated badly, and to be spit upon. He bore public dishonor, and he bore public rejection as a part of God's ordained plan, taking upon himself our shame so that he could be dependent, so that he could take our sin, our self-reliance, our pride, and be the dependent one who died for our Declaration of Independence against God.

The Victory of the Resurrection

So, more than this, Jesus died to propitiate—or to bring mercy or to settle the wrath of God—for our sin. But it doesn't end there. He was raised, vindicated at his resurrection. You see, Jesus was flogged. I don't know if you understand what happened. I mean, if you think about it, they pressed a crown of thorns on his head. And then they beat his head with a rod to drive the thorns into his skull, into his head. They whipped him with a whip that had bone on the end of it, more than likely, on his back until his back was completely lacerated. You maybe even were able to see the bones. He was flogged.

And in that moment, he did not assert divine power. The glorious king, Jesus Christ, the God of all, the Word of God, the organizing principle of the entire universe, sat there being flogged, beaten, discarded by humans, carrying his cross. He allowed nails to be driven through his feet and through his hands so that he might hang on the cross bearing the wrath of God. This is your Savior. This is your King. This is the preeminent one, Jesus Christ, in whom is all glory and honor and praise. And he did this for each and every one of you. He was beaten for you. His resurrection on the third day declared that that propitiation was settled, that wrath was resolved. And he secured your justification so that you would go down to your house righteous in him, and so that you could enter the kingdom of God—that which was impossible.

And so the thing is, though, what is even more amazing than this is that Jesus didn't just die in the crash when he hit the car head-on for us. No, he rose again and sent his Holy Spirit to live in us so that now we can live as dependent children, free from condemnation. You know, Jesus has taken our crash upon himself. He has come to live in us. We can live with him at the wheel now. But not "Jesus take the wheel" so I can do nothing. No. We can let him have control of our life so that whatever he asks us to do by the Spirit, we can actually live and do.

So all those laws—those Ten Commandments that we read: not lying, not stealing, not murdering. If we look at the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus expounds those and tells us, for instance, "You shall not commit adultery." He says you can't even look at a woman or a man with lust, or else you've committed adultery in your heart. Now we have the Spirit living in us so that we no longer have to strive and battle through on our own. No, we have the Spirit that enables us to obey the law. And we can depend on God to give us the power because Christ lives in us.

Brothers and sisters, you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. You have been buried with him, and now you're raised with him. So you have power to put away pornography, power to put away anger and yelling, power to put away control, power to love your children, power to love your spouse, power to give up and sacrifice. That's what's in you because Christ Jesus lives in you. You see, Jesus justified us, leading us to live humble and dependent lives. He cried out for mercy, saying, "Father, if this cup pass from me," and yet he didn't receive mercy so he could give mercy. He didn't deserve to be punished, but he was.

Living in Dependence Today

We have the power to receive the kingdom of God as children. And now we have a childlike posture towards God, being dependent and helpless to him. Your ability to fight sin is dependent upon God. And yet you work with him as his children, with the Spirit in you empowering you to do so. This impossibility of entering the kingdom of God—the impossible has become possible. What was impossible for us has been accomplished by God through Christ because salvation no longer rests on our own ability. It doesn't rest on our performance. It doesn't rest on our adequacy. We are freed both from internal and external condemnation. "There is, therefore, now no condemnation in Christ Jesus."

So when that sin rears its ugly head, when it comes back, we simply confess that sin and we say, "Lord, I need to depend on you, and I need your help to beat it the next time it comes my way, because I cannot do it in my own strength, because it is impossible for me apart from you." Your sins, my sins that keep coming back—pride, different things like that—those are opportunities for you to lean and draw into Christ to help you the next time you struggle. Because the cycle of asking for forgiveness can go on forever. Jesus says seventy times seven you must forgive, which means he'll forgive us over and over and over again. But the thing is, we can get stuck in that and forget that we have died with Christ and we have been raised with Christ. Which means the Spirit lives in us and we have actual real power in our lives to defeat sin.

So let's talk about a few practical things. What about in the workplace? In the workplace, you are secure. You see, when a teacher's classroom falls apart, when a software architect's project fails or the designs don't work, when you're behind on the factory line and your boss is yelling at you, or your professional competence is questioned—what does the flesh do? The flesh responds with shame, defensiveness, comparison, or despair. We either beat ourselves up or quietly shame others to protect our own sense of worth. But when we remember that we are already justified, when we are seated at the Father's table as children, failure no longer defines us. Because our righteousness is from Christ, we are free to admit very real mistakes. We are free to receive criticism from others honestly, and we are enabled to continue our work faithfully—not to prove ourselves, but because we're secure in him, because he has done the impossible.

In our homes: You know, parents often live for control, believing that if they apply God's law correctly, their children will turn out well and that will positively reflect upon them. And so when a child resists, parents tighten control and grow anxious. They turn their children's obedience into a measuring rod of their own worth. But the gospel frees parents to acknowledge their weakness, to trust God for the outcomes that they can't control. As dependent children themselves, they can parent from grace and not fear—teaching, correcting, and praying while resting in the Father, who loves their children more than they could ever possibly love them.

But even in leadership and ministry: For pastors and leaders—pastors like myself—self-dependence shows up in the pressure to appear competent, confident, and successful. And so I measure myself with the rod of: Was it a good sermon? Did I say anything wrong? Did I mess something up? Did I quote something wrong? And then when somebody comes to me and says, "Hey, Pastor, you quoted the wrong verse," like happened last week where I mumbled two passages together—you know what the temptation is for me to do? To recoil and to fight and defend myself. But in Christ Jesus, who is my defense, I don't have to do that. I can just admit that I was wrong. It's okay. My righteousness has been declared over me in Christ Jesus. He has propitiated for me, settled the wrath of God for all my failures, and he has drawn me into his life.

You see, leadership needs to be shaped by dependence as much as the average, everyday Christian's life must be shaped by dependence and helplessness. If you don't think you're dependent, you'll never say, "I was wrong," will you? You can't.

So if you don't know the safety of depending on Jesus, he offers this to you today. Simply give up control of your life. I say "simply," but it costs you everything. Transfer the ownership of your life to Jesus, not you. Get it off of you and give it to Jesus. Trust in his life, trust in his death, trust in his resurrection. Unite yourself to him by faith, and you will have him driving. So that now you can live in confidence and in his control, in his safety, dependent upon him—so that even if you can't swerve back over and you die, you are secure in Jesus Christ because he has paid for your sin.

Now, if you already know this, then you can rest in what the Father has already done for you in Jesus Christ. You no longer have to live to fulfill the law to earn your way into the kingdom. You don't have to do that. You can sin and confess it, and it's okay. And try harder—but not in your own power, but in your union with Christ. The law now has life to you because it's the character of God. And so you don't have to be motivated by a fear of failure of the law. You can know that you're protected from the crash. And so you can walk in peace and enjoy obeying and serving him out of his power as a dependent child and not your own.

Come, brothers and sisters, taste and see that the Lord is good. He has done the impossible. He has made through his life, death, and resurrection the impossible possible. And so draw into Christ—his power, his strength, his wisdom. By the Spirit, all to the glory of the Father. And you can live in that power today, even right now.

Father, I thank you and praise you for your love and your mercy. You are so good. We pray that you would direct our paths and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And we praise you and thank you. You are so good. And we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.