The Wisdom of Two Ways: Choosing Life or Death
Epiphany • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 16 viewsNotes
Transcript
Handout
The Wisdom of Two Ways: Choosing Life or Death
The Wisdom of Two Ways: Choosing Life or Death
17 And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon,
18 who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.
19 And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.
20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!
23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.
24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
25 “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
26 “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
This is the Gospel of our Lord!
Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ!
The Wisdom of Two Ways: Choosing Life or Death
The Wisdom of Two Ways: Choosing Life or Death
Picture a kid standing before a candy aisle, torn between a giant chocolate bar or sour gummies. The delight is evident, but he knows his dentist is watching. Sometimes, our choices reflect our immediate pleasure rather than long-term wisdom
12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
We often live life like a kid in a candy store. Short-term joy in exchange for:
Smiles full of rotten teeth.
Many in the early church began to question faith and Paul responded with this:
15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.
Paul’s message continued to preach trust in Christ as He was in fact the ONE raised from the dead by the power of God! He gave us this hope in
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
This message was the message of the Apostles and in I Corinthians 15:3, Paul said:
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures
The word “delivered” was also translated as “passed down” in other translations. This denotes a heritage of faith that is being passed from one generation of believers to the next.
Knowing we have a heritage of faith based upon the Resurrection power of God in Christ, why should we trust in anything/anyone else? Jeremiah presented it like this:
5 Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. 6 He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
Verse 5 calls a man “cursed who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.
In what ways are we “rotting our teeth” by putting our trust in man in our personal lives?
____________________________________________________________________________
In what ways are we -as a church “rotting our teeth” by putting our trust in man?
____________________________________________________________________________
1. Trusting Temporary Treasures
1. Trusting Temporary Treasures
What kind of things are “trusting in man”
Jobs
Bank accounts
Possessions
We make “flesh our strength” by putting our faith and trust in our own power, strength and wisdom or ~ trusting in governments or others rather than in God Himself.
The writer of Hebrews laid it out like this:
25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.
We have been talking about the life in Christ. We are not promised a lifetime of ease and pleasure, but rather trials, tribulations and persecutions. Remember the lives of ‘ease’ that Isaiah, Jeremiah, Peter, Paul and so many other Fathers of Faith have endured ~ not to mention that of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I’d rather hear “well done” rather than have a life of ease on this side of eternity.
How does Paul compare and contrast the lives of the people of God and those still of the world?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Jeremiah continued:
7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. 8 He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
What is the “measure” that the Lord uses to “search the heart and test the mind?”
____________________________________________________________________________
2. Rooted in Righteousness
2. Rooted in Righteousness
I personally would prefer the blessings of God rather than trusting my heart.
So many people when needing to make a decision, make a statement like, “I’ll just trust my heart…” but more often than not Jeremiah 17:9 is fulfilled right before their eyes!
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
A couple weeks ago, we spoke of God being a “consuming fire.” David gave us an interesting contrast in Psalm 1:1-3 and Psalm 1:4-6.
1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
Blessings follow those who delight in the law of the Lord! When storms come, their roots go deep and they are not destroyed!
4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; 6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
What are the two metaphors that David uses to compare the righteous and the unrighteous?
____________________________________________________________________________
Looking at the fruit of your own life, which metaphor more accurately depicts your present situation?
____________________________________________________________________________
3. Choosing Chaff or Fruit
3. Choosing Chaff or Fruit
We always have a choice! Being driven by the wind or bearing fruit. Paul told the Church at Ephesus:
14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
Ephesians 4 and Psalms 1 use “wind” in a separation process. What, according to Ephesians 4 are these “winds?”
____________________________________________________________________________
Jesus Himself said it like this:
6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
What does Jesus say will happen to those who do not abide in Him?
____________________________________________________________________________
What do you believe Jesus is saying?
____________________________________________________________________________
Should be an easy choice.
4. Pursuing Kingdom Priorities
4. Pursuing Kingdom Priorities
Jesus here in Luke’s account of the “Beatitudes” also accounted in Matthew’s Gospel in Chapter 5, gives us a little different glimpse of what Jesus said on the mountain. He demonstrated blessings and woes to groups of people who chose the “way of the Cross” and those who chose the “way of the world.” Without reading all of it again, Jesus sums it up succinctly in two verses:
23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.
And then in Luke 6:26
26 “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
This comparison standing alone, gives us a really vivid idea of the Power of the Gospel of Christ. I would like to highlight one last thing in this passage:
17 And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.
Here is Jesus. It says that the crowd sought to touch Him, for power came out of Him and healed them all.
These people were not looking to truly follow Christ, they were of selfish ambition. What can “this Jesus” do for me?
How can we recognize this “attitude” demonstrated by the crowd?
Look carefully at what Jesus does next.
20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said…
HIs focus changed from the world making demands on His power ~ which He demonstrated freely and generously then addressed those who were “His Disciples.”
It’s like He’s addressing the “temporary issues” with the masses, then gives the truly powerful, life-changing Gospel to those who have made a choice to follow Him. ~ in the “fellowship of His suffering.”
He has been ministering up to this point to the physical needs and wants of the crowd. Now, He starts ministering to those whom have demonstrated a willingness to “follow Him.” Then, to those who have truly demonstrated, at least in some measure, the contrasts of blessings and “woes.”
It’s easy to follow the guy who attends to your fleshly needs and desires, it’s another thing to follow the One that transforms your soul and grants you “newness of life” and that “more abundantly!
If you were there that day, which group of people would you be found in?
The Wisdom of Two Ways: Choosing Life or Death
The Wisdom of Two Ways: Choosing Life or Death
15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,
If there was one simple thing that you could take away from this message today, what would it be?
____________________________________________________________________________
Who is one person or family that desperately needs to hear these truths?
____________________________________________________________________________
