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LUKE 6:20-31
“THE GOSPEL ATTITUDE”
The story is told of three teachers working at a school. One day a stranger
went to the school where they worked and met them sitting together. He asked the
first one, “What do you do here?” The first teacher answered, “I am making a
living. This is a job and I come here every day to do it and I get paid for it.” The
stranger asked the second teacher, “What do you do here?” The second teacher
answered, “I am teaching. I teach students math and science and social studies. I
give knowledge and information. That is what I do here.” The stranger asked the
third teacher, “What do you do here?” The third teacher answered, “I am molding
minds and shaping lives. I am preparing the future because if we fail to prepare,
we are preparing to fail.”
Here we have three different attitudes about teaching. Our attitude is the
way we view the world and the way we understand what is happening to us.
Attitude is how we approach life and our disposition to reality. It also means how
we deal with events when they happen to us. Attitudes can be positive or negative.
When bad things happen to good people and they remain strong in the faith, we say
they have a good or positive attitude about their situation. There are some people
who have a great attitude about their conditions in life. When they are sick, they
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do not become angry or bitter, instead they use the time of sickness to get closer to
God. When traffic is slow and they are running late for an appointment, they
remain calm and spend that time in prayer. Someone once said, “A strong positive
mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug.” That is so true
and that is why I want to preach today on a special attitude Jesus wants us to have.
I call it “The Gospel Attitude.”
This passage in Luke chapter 6 is also found in Matthew chapter 5 and
generally known as the Beatitudes. Although the word, “Beatitude” refers to
“blessing,” one commentator I read said in order for believers to be blessed, we
need to have a certain attitude towards life. While it is true that there are general
blessings in life, such as the sunshine and the rain God gives, or the free breath of
life God offers, but in order to truly live the abundant life or life in all its fullness,
we need not just a positive attitude, we need the Gospel Attitude.
In Luke 6:20-31, there are two things about the Gospel Attitude Jesus wants
us to learn. First, it’s Personal. It begins with the person in the mirror. It begins
with ourselves, with me and with you. How we view ourselves matter. If we
accept ourselves, we can accept others. If we respect ourselves, it will be easy to
respect others. When we have bad days, we tend to make everybody around us
have a bad day. When we feel down in the dumps, we want to pull everybody
down there with us. But the Gospel Attitude is one that begins with the care of
ourselves. In verses 20 and 21, we see how we should view ourselves. These
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verses read, “Then he looked up at his disciples and said, ‘Blessed are you who are
poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for
you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” The same
passage in Matthew reads, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom
of God.”
In interpreting this passage, William Barclay said he did not believe Jesus
meant to glorify poverty and encourage people to be poor. While Jesus wants the
poor to be cared for, Paul made it clear money was not the root of all evil, rather it
was “the love of Money that was the root of all evil.” Barclay said what Jesus
meant was the poor in spirit, those who know their need for God was great, those
who understand how important God is in their lives. I agree with Barclay. The
poor in spirit are those who are humble, who take no credit but say “To God be the
glory.” The poor in spirit will say like the prophet Jeremiah, “Let not the Wise man
boast of his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not the rich man
boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and
knows the Lord our God. Blessed are those who know their need for God is great,
they will receive the Kingdom of God.
Another personal attitude we should have is in verse 21: Blessed are you
who are hungry now, for you will be filled.” Again, the same passage in Matthew
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5:6 reads, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they
will be filled.” Notice that Jesus didn’t say, “Blessed are those who are righteous.”
Rather he said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.” You
know hunger and thirst are connected to desire, and so Jesus is saying that if we
only have the desire, the hunger and thirst to do the things and the will of God, it is
where righteousness starts. That desire for the things of God will lead us to do the
things of God. Do we yearn for the things of God? Do we crave for the word of
the Lord? Do we desire to understand God’s will for our lives? If we do, we will
find fulfillment and satisfaction, the joy of the Lord will be our strength.
Another personal Gospel Attitude is how to face moments of loss and grief.
“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” In Psalm 30, verse 5, it is
written, “Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.” When
we deal with personal crisis, know that it won’t last forever. Even in our crisis,
God is there with us. Our darkness is never dark to God. Our crisis is an
opportunity for God to show us His power. So the first Gospel Attitude is about
ourselves, how we perceive, understand and even accept ourselves. It is personal
and we must always see God in our circumstances.
The second Gospel Attitude is Interpersonal, how we relate to others.
“Blessed are you when people hate you, revile you, and defame you on account of
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the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great
in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.” The key phrase here
is “…on account of the Son of Man.” When people hate us because of our faith in
Christ and our testimony for the Lord and our desire to stand up for the Gospel,
then we can rejoice and leap for joy because we are suffering for the Lord.
When our faith is challenged, what do we do? When we are faced with
death because of Jesus, will we deny Him? Maybe that time is coming when our
faith will be severely tested. Are we ready? The Gospel Attitude is standing up for
what we believe in and believing in what we stand up for. When it is known that
there is no way, but then suddenly God makes a way. It is realizing when we have
no hope, we can hope against hope.
In this reading it sounds as though Jesus is attacking riches and rich people.
Jesus is actually attacking those who love money more than they love God. It is
not money that is the root of all evil. Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 6:10, “The love of
money is the root of all evil.” Many people in the Bible were rich, including
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, and many more. But when God gives us
riches, we must recognize our wealth comes from God.
Jesus even called upon us to have a different attitude toward those who hate
us. When people hate us, let us see that as having problems with themselves and
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realize they need help. That way we can even pray for them to get over themselves
and change their own bad attitude towards us. This is “The Gospel Attitude.” How
we live is all about the attitude we have.
A newly married woman insisted on going to the California desert so she
could be near her husband who was in the army. The only place the couple could
find to live was a rundown shack near an Indian village. The daytime heat was
unbearable-105 degrees in the shade. The dry wind blew constantly, covering
everything with dust. None of the Indians spoke English. The young wife was
miserable. Then she learned that her husband was going deeper into the desert for 2
weeks. So she wrote her mother and asked if she could come home. In her
mother’s reply were these words: "Two men looked through prison bars; one saw
mud, the other saw stars." As the woman read those lines over and over, she
decided to change. She would look for the stars. She set out to make friends with
the Indians. When they saw her genuine interest, they taught her weaving and
pottery. She learned their culture. Then she began to study the desert itself-its cacti,
Joshua trees, and seashells left behind by the sands of an ocean floor.
Not only did she survive, she became known as an expert on the area and later
published a book about it.
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When we have the Gospel Attitude it will help us see ourselves as needing
God and desiring the things of God. When we also have the Gospel Attitude, we
will relate to other people in ways that give honor and glory to God. The Gospel
Attitude will help us see the bright and positive side of everything.
May Jesus help us keep this Attitude and guide us always in his name, Amen!
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