Download 021 Luke 06v17-26 Blessings And Woes

Presentation 21
Presentation 21
Introduction
We have discovered that Jesus did not conform to the
status quo. By his behaviour he constantly challenged
the establishment . By breaking with the conventions
of his day, he shocked the religious sensibilities of the
Pharisees. However, we find that his radical teaching
further challenged dearly held belief systems.
In the verses addressed to his disciples, Jesus
publishes God's blueprint for blessing. To those who
submit themselves to his rule, Jesus says, "here is how
to discover true happiness". I doubt if the disciples
could have imagined what was coming next for what
Jesus has to say would surely have turned normal
expectations for happiness on its head.
Presentation 21
Introduction
You see the world in which we live says, ‘Happy are the
rich’ but Jesus says , ‘Blessed are the poor.’ The world
says, ‘Happy are those who are fully satisfied’. Jesus
says, ‘Blessed are the hungry.’ The world says, ’Happy is
the man who can laugh in the face of the seriousness
of life’. Jesus says , ‘Blessed are those who weep.’ The
world says, ‘Happy is the man who has gained
universal popularity’. Jesus says , ‘Blessed are you
when men hate you’.
How are we to understand the teaching of Jesus which
contradicts the popular values of the world in which
we live? Let’s now examine Jesus prescription for
happiness in detail.
Presentation 21
The Poor And The Rich
First, "Blessed are you poor for yours is the kingdom of
God" v20 which should be contrast ed with v24 "Woe
to you who are rich for you have already received your
comfort." Jesus does not mean that all poor people are
blessed. Jesus is not saying that if we manage to
achieve material misery down here we will be
guaranteed eternal bliss in heaven. He is not
encouraging his followers to take a vow of poverty. He
is not claiming that material poverty is a virtue. If he
were then that would mean that it would be
unchristian to attempt to alleviate the condition of the
poor and destitute. We could smile and wave to those
in the third world and say, “You are truly blessed".
Poverty is not intrinsically a blessing. It can make a man
bitter, harsh and thoroughly self preoccupied.
Presentation 21
The Poor And The Rich
What then is the kind of poverty which Jesus is
commending? The O.T. provides us with a helpful
instruction; "This poor man cried, the Lord heard him
and saved him out of his troubles“, Ps 34.6. The poor
man mentioned here was a man who was aware that
he could not save himself from the trouble
surrounding him and he therefore looked to God to
save him. This idea is explicit in Matt 5.3; "Blessed are
the poor in spirit". Jesus is speaking of those who are
aware of their spiritual poverty. Here is the person who
has become aware that his spiritual cupboard is empty.
He knows that he is incapable of being a spiritually selfsufficient man. And it is because of that that he sees
his need of God's mercy, grace and forgiveness.
Presentation 21
The Poor And The Rich
In contrast, the world cries , ‘Blessed is the man who is
rich in self-reliance.’ It hems us in to thinking on a
purely material level and encourages us to make
earthly wealth our sole ambition, and our consuming
passion.
“Owning things is an obsession in our culture. If we
own it we feel we can control it; and if we can control it
we feel that it will give us more pleasure. The idea is an
illusion.”
R. FOSTER
The man who has made wealth his goal may well enjoy
it and derive comfort from it for a season. But says
Jesus that comfort is transitory it belongs to this
fleeting life only.
Presentation 21
The Poor And The Rich
More specifically, these words have something to say to
those who consider themselves spiritually rich and have
never seen themselves as spiritual bankrupt. The self-reliant
man believes he has placed sufficient deposits in the bank
of heaven to save himself. He does not depend upon God
but upon his own effort. In the story of the Pharisee and
the publican, the Pharisee reviews his life and applauds
himself. He has never said with the hym-writer:
‘Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to the cross I cling,
Naked come to thee for dress, Helpless look to thee for
grace, Foul I to the fountain fly, Wash me saviour or I die.’
The man who considers himself spiritually rich excludes
himself from the presence of the king for “he has already
received his comfort"
Presentation 21
The Hungry And The Well Fed
Secondly, we read in v21 "Blessed are you who hunger
now for you will be satisfied." This contrasts with v25
"Woe to you who are well fed now for you will go
hungry".
Who are the hungry Jesus is speaking of here? Does he
mean physical hunger? If so then all that Christians
need do by way of response to starving in the third
world is to send them little telegrams telling them how
blessed they are. Instead of serving breakfasts to the
down and outs in our towns and cities we could supply
them with little pin badges which read, "I am hungry
therefore I am happy". How ridiculous! What then did
Jesus mean?
Presentation 21
The Hungry And The Well Fed
Surely it is to a man’s spiritual appetite that Jesus
is referring? Look at Matt 5v6, "Blessed are those
who hunger and thirst after righteousness". The
Bible has much to say to those people who have
spiritual appetites cf. Ps .107v9 "God satisfies him
who is thirsty and fills the hungry with good
things.” Or, think of what we read when we
studied Mary's magnificat in Matt.1.53 "He has
filled the hungry with good things but the rich he
has sent empty away”.
In these cases hunger describes an intensity of
desire.
Presentation 21
The Hungry And The Well Fed
Picture the pleading expressions and outstretched
hands of famine victims . They communicate the
painful gnawing in the pit of their stomach, their
craving for satisfying food simply refuses to go away.
Now, says Jesus , transfer that intensity of desire into
your spiritual appetite and longing for God. Don't stop
until you are satisfied.
Spiritual hunger ensures we engage in a determined
search. It displays a yearning for mercy ,forgiveness
and for peace of mind and heart. It refuses to be
fobbed off with worldly remedies which fail to satisfy. It
was this hunger that caused Pilgrim in Bunyan's
Pilgrim’s Progress to leave the City of Destruction in
pursuit of a solution to his spiritual condition.
Presentation 21
The Hungry And The Well Fed
What of the person who does not have this kind of
hunger? Well he's like a starving man in a land of
famine who instead of searching for food employs all
of his energy reading the stock market prices in the
Financial Times or in flicking through a travel brochure
of Caribbean cruises. He believes that all his most
basic needs are met while in reality he is dying by
degrees. If you think no one could be so stupid then
think of the man who has allowed his appetite for God
to be replaced by the material trivia of this world. But
the day will come when he begins to appreciate the
foolishness of suppressing such an appetite but for
some that discovery will be made too late!
Presentation 21
The Hungry And The Well Fed
Jesus made precisely this point in the story he told of
the rich man and Lazarus. After both died, the rich
man longed for his torment to be alleviated and asked
that Lazarus, who was in heaven with Abraham, be
sent with some cool water to comfort him in his
distress. What was he told?
"Son remember that in your lifetime you received your
good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but
now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And
besides this between us and you a great chasm has
been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to
you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to
us.“ Luke 16v25
Presentation 21
The Weepers And The Jokers
Thirdly we read in v22, "Blessed are you who weep
now for you will laugh" and this in contrast with v25
"Woe to you who laugh now for you will mourn and
weep". Jesus is not saying that the more ‘greetin-faced’
we are down here the happier we will be in his
heavenly kingdom. What then is the weeping that is
referred to here? It has its source in the tragedy of sin.
First, this includes a weeping over one’s own sin as we
become aware that our behaviour has offended the
One who has made us the object of his love.
Let me quote from the records of the Cambuslang
Revival after a visit from George Whitefield:
Presentation 21
The Weepers And The Jokers
“I found a good many persons in the deepest
exercise of soul crying out most bitterly for their lost
and miserable state by reason of sin; of their
unbelief in despising Christ and the offers of his
gospel; of the hardness of their hearts... I heard
them express great sorrow for these things and
seemingly in the most serious manner, and this not
so much from the fear of punishment as from a
sense of dishonour done to God”.
Presentation 21
The Weepers And The Jokers
There's a second way in which the follower of Jesus will
weep and it concerns the ungodly deeds of others. He
will be grieved to see God dishonoured, to hear his
name blasphemed, to see his cause suffer setbacks.
This is strikingly expressed in Ps. 119v36 "Streams of
water run down my eyes because they do not observe
thy law."
Both instances of godly sorrow spoken of by Jesus here
has the effect of turning believers’ souls to God. God in
turn comforts them with the news of his forgiving love.
Presentation 21
The Weepers And The Jokers
In contrast, the world advises people to laugh off
evil, not to take one’s own sin and the sin of others
too seriously. We are not encouraged to spend
time dwelling upon our spiritual condition. But the
person who attempts to laugh at evil be it his own
or that of others will one day be forced to face up
to its’ seriousness. In time his laughter will
evaporate and he will begin to drown in the tears
of his own self pity.
Presentation 21
The Despised And The Popular
Finally, we read in v22, "Blessed are you when men
hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and
reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man“.
Now contrast that with v26, "Woe to you when all men
speak well of you for that is how their fathers treated
the false prophets."
Is it not a strange thing for Jesus to say that as a result
of being hated and despised we will be happy? But
notice the all-important qualification when you are
hated BECAUSE OF THE SON OF MAN. Rejected
BECAUSE OF THE SON OF MAN. Insulted BECAUSE OF
THE SON OF MAN.
Presentation 21
The Despised And The Popular
The suffering in view is something brought upon the
Christian because of his love for Jesus and his
faithfulness to Jesus and his commitment to Jesus. The
world may recognise sincerity and be secretly
impressed by it, but Christian sincerity it will not
tolerate. It will persecute it because Christian sincerity
is a devastating thing for a bad conscience. Of course
we need to ensure that we are persecuted for the right
reason and not because of our obnoxious personality
or callous stupidity.
Presentation 21
The Despised And The Popular
What of the professing Christian who is never hated,
despised or insulted? Ah, says Jesus, danger bells
should ring if everyone speaks well of you. Why? Oh
because we are clearly the kind of person who bends
with the wind. We never take a stand. We have no
salting influence upon society. We will not speak the
truth in case we lose our popularity with others. The
false prophets in the O.T. were like that. They called
good evil and evil good. We are told that they spoke
‘peace, peace when there was no peace’, Jer.6v14.
They would not tell their hearers anything that might
upset them because it was more important to them to
be popular with men than popular with God.
Presentation 21
Conclusion
Do you see the balance in the teaching of Jesus? With
one hand he holds out the way to obtain the fullness
of blessing, while with the other he warns against
siding with the philosophy of the age and its values.
Can we take encouragement from the fact that when
we take our stand with Jesus despite the ridicule of the
world that will undoubtedly be showered upon us, we
are entering into the reality of God's blessing?
Presentation 21