A Kingdom for the Empty-Handed
Jamaal Williams
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else:
10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’
13 “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’
14 I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
15 People were bringing infants to him so that he might touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
16 Jesus, however, invited them: “Let the little children come to me, and don’t stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
17 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
–Luke 18:9-17
Big Idea: The kingdom belongs to the empty-handed, not the impressive.
1. Two Men in Prayer: Self-Trust vs. Mercy (Luke 18:9-14)
- Self-trust replaces dependence on God with confidence in performance.
- Religious résumés turn prayer into comparison instead of communion.
- Mercy is received only when self-justification is surrendered.
2. Two postures toward Jesus: Access and Dependence (Luke 18:15-17)
- Kingdom is received, not achieved.
- Jesus welcomes the weak and dependent because the kingdom belongs to those who cannot earn it.
- The kingdom is not achieved through strength but received through childlike trust.
3. Application
- Louisville doesn’t need more opinions; it needs empty hands. Come to Jesus with need, not noise, honesty not hype. Because the kingdom belongs to the empty-handed.