In the sermon we downloaded from Elmbrook Church’s website, the pastor was preaching on the Sermon on the Plain from Luke 6:20-26. He explained that it is shorter than the more famous Sermon on the Mount (in Matthew 5-7), “but the main theme and contents are basically the same.”
In Luke 6:20-21, Jesus says:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.”
The pastor said, “‘Blessed are the poor’ – what does he mean by poor? He means POOR – beggar, destitute, to have absolutely nothing.” But then he echoed some of what I read in To Give or Not To Give? (and shared in the last post). He described that in their physical poverty, they’ve realized their spiritual need – they have absolutely nothing to give but themselves, so they come and throw themselves at the feet of Jesus.” The poor are better positioned to have a stronger faith, because that is what they rely on a lot of times, whereas the wealthy lose focus on God when they rely on themselves.
The Elmbrook pastor described that Jesus was in effect saying, “In your poverty, you will know kingdom life, you will know the Christ life living within you, you will know kingdom power, kingdom joy, kingdom fulfillment and satisfaction in the midst of your circumstances whether they are good or bad.” He went on to point out that “these are revolutionary type thoughts.
In that time [and I would say in our time as well], the world said the blessed were only the wealthy, well fed, popular, but Jesus basically says, ‘No, not in my economy.’” People still usually use the word “blessed” for something physical, tangible; something the world would say is good. Meanwhile, when Jesus says “Blessed are the poor,” he says they will be fulfilled and content with the kingdom of God.
Likewise, in “Blessed are the hungry,” the pastor claims that by “hungry” Jesus means starved or famished. He explained that “Jesus says, ‘I have a food from Heaven that will satisfy you, a food that will last forever, a bread from Heaven that will go on and on and on’” and that Jesus is “looking for people with a holy hunger for Him, and passion for Him more than anything in the world.” The pastor paraphrased Paul’s sentiments in Philippians 3 that, “everything the world has to give me is like rubbish; it’s worth nothing.”
It is in these ways, that the pastor said, “The values of Heaven are on a collision course with the values of the world.”
In Luke 6:24-25, Jesus says:
“But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.”
The pastor explained that “woe” means sorrow, dismay, and disappointment. He also pointed out that “Jesus is not saying laughter is wrong; it is not an attack on laughter, joking around or having fun. But what he is saying is, there’s many people in our society today that all they’re trying to do is have fun, to party, and just have a good time at the exclusion of God.” Therefore, the woes Jesus warns us about are not predictions upon all of us, but rather to those who enjoy their wealth and laughter while leaving out the Christian lifestyle of sharing, giving, and loving. Again, the pastor explained that Jesus is in essence saying, “What I have to offer is going to last; what the world offers is temporary. Divorce yourself from that all out pursuit of popularity and wealth.”
In fact, this is supported in Matthew 6:24 where Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Mammon.”
If “mammon” (money) and the pursuit of riches has consumed us in the Western world, I think many of us would agree that it has become difficult to connect with God. Even as I try to commit to reading my Bible consistently (if you may recall I am trying to read the whole Bible this year), I can see that many of our Kenyan neighbors are richer in their faith even without owning a Bible. Since I have “already received [my] comfort” in many ways, I am finding that I am the more poor in spirit.
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