Sermon Tone Analysis

Here are some quotes from some other church bulletins:

10.

The pastor will preach his farewell message, after which the choir will sing, "Break Forth Into Joy.”   

9.

During the absence of our pastor, we enjoyed the rare privilege of hearing a good sermon when J.F. Stubbs spoke.

8.

The choir invites any member of the congregation who enjoys sinning to join the choir.

7.

For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

(I guess they could join the choir too.)

6. ”FASTING CONFERENCE" The cost for attending the Fasting and Prayer conference includes meals. 

5.

The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the  church basement on Friday at 7 p.m.

The congregation is invited to  attend this tragedy.

4.

(The Pastor had been ill): GOD IS GOOD  Dr.

Hargreaves is better.

3.

Weight Watchers will meet at 7 pm.

Please use large double door at the side entrance.

2.

The Peacemaking meeting scheduled for Saturday has been canceled due to conflict.

1.

Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale.

It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house.

Don't forget your husbands.

Often times it’s important to get a little more information before just taking a sentence at face value.

Today’s teaching is called How to Be Blessed, & If you have to leave early, here are the cliff notes: God blesses the poor, hungry, weeping, & hated.

But I would encourage you to stick around a get a little more information before just taking THAT SENTENCE at face value.

PRAY

Open your Bibles to Luke 6:12.

Last August we touched on the first part of this passage so I won’t teach it in depth again.

I do want you to notice 2 significant facts from the text as we read.

First, when Jesus had a major decision, He spent time praying about it.

Luke 6:12–13 (NIV)

12 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. 13 When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles:

Evidently, much of that prayer time was about making sure that out of all the those following Him, He picked the right men to invest the majority of His time in.

What major decision do YOU have to make?

How much time have you spent asking God for wisdom?

Second, we see that Jesus used some ‘average Joes’ to change the world.

He didn’t pick Bible scholars or political leaders.

Instead He chose…

Luke 6:14-16 (NIV)

14 Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, 15 Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

These are the ‘new wineskins’ Jesus would pour Himself into - a ragtag comprised of a group of fishermen, a tax collector, and at least one zealot who had been ready to fight to get the Roman government out of Israel.

In short, these aren’t the guys we would have chosen, but they are the guys Jesus transformed and sent out (meaning of the word ‘apostle’) to impact the world.

So we must beware the idea that God can only use people in positions of authority to accomplish great tasks.

God often chooses the average Joes & Josephines to train & lead others to transform their culture.

Would you ask God to use YOU that way?

Would you pray, “Father, I know I’m not the sharpest pencil in the drawer, but I am willing for You to use me for Your glory.”

After choosing the 12…

Luke 6:17–19 (NIV)

17 He went down with them [the apostles] and stood on a level place.

A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, 18 who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases.

Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, 19 and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

Looking back at v 17, there are 2 distinct groups of people in the audience; who are they?

Large crowd of Jesus’ disciples.

Great number of people from all over.

This is important as we consider who the primary audience seems to be.

Luke 6:20 (NIV)

20 Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you…”

As we have learned in the past, good interpretation always attempts to answer the question: “Who is YOU?”

You in this passage is His disciples.

There are a lot of people standing around listening to Jesus teaching, but these next few promises are targeted at those who would choose to be his disciples.

And it is here that we discover How to Be Blessed.

Last week I was reading from Deuteronomy 28 in my quiet time.

There God speaks of blessing the Jewish people…

If they would obey Him, He would bless their families with lots of food & healthy flocks.

He would protect from their enemies & cause them to prosper in every way.

This Blessing meant health, provision, & protection.

Who wouldn’t want THAT!

But God also warned of what would happen if they did NOT obey Him - their families, food, & flocks would be cursed with disease.

On top of that, their enemies would overpower them and take them captive.

It’s this idea of blessing & cursing that makes the beginning of Jesus’ teaching so intriguing.

Like Deuteronomy, Jesus pronounces blessings on those who obey Him and curses on those who don’t.

But these blessings are not QUITE the same type of blessings as I read about in Deuteronomy.

Remember that the blessings in Deuteronomy meant health, provision, & protection.

But the blessings of Jesus contain a Paradox - the opposite of what is commonly accepted as being blessed.

Listen to the words of Jesus and you’ll see what I mean.

Luke 6:20–26 (NIV)

20 Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

22 Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.

For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.

25 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.

26 Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

Now let’s take some time to dissect this & dig deeper.

20 Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Let’s take a moment to clarify both of these terms: Blessed & Poor.

First, BLESSED in this case obviously doesn’t refer to immediate happiness.

Instead, blessed refers to someone who has received divine favor’.

In other words, we might not be happy ABOUT the circumstance, but we can trust that we are BLESSED THROUGH the circumstance.

* A couple of years ago we studied about Joseph in the OT.

Even though he was enslaved or imprisoned for 20 years, God’s favor was on him - he was a blessed man.

Second, it is the POOR disciples of Jesus who are blessed.

Let’s clarify what Jesus means by poor.

Jesus is NOT referring to those who are abusing the welfare of others.

Jesus is NOT saying, “Blessed are those who are lazy.”

Laziness is frowned upon in the Scripture.

Paul even writes believers in Thessalonica saying, “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”

(2 Thes.

3:10 NIV)

The poor disciples Jesus is referring to are those who might have been sick, had a poor harvest of crops or fish, or worked hard but just scraped by.

And maybe, as we will see in a moment, following Jesus is really beginning to cost them something.

To all those who follow Him, Jesus encourages, “You won’t be poor forever, because you BELONG to the Kingdom!”