Luke: Blessed?

Introduction

I. Jesus Challenges our Categories

A. Categories Challenged

authority - power but also love

Illness - physical but also spiritual

Religion - action but also heart

Wealth/possessions(standing) -

B. Haves and Have nots

i. Generally we see haves as those who achieved the “good life”

They tend in this world to be given “automatic” standing and influence

Perhaps we tend to equate success with wisdom and righteousness(character)

or we see success(wealth/fame) as more important than these

Biblical and Cultural stories display a different reality

In fact, the Scriptures have some strong words to the ‘rich’

James 5:1–6 ESV

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

God wants us to see the significant danger in having

1 Timothy 6:6–10 ESV

But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

ii. Have nots

The poor and outcast

Tax collectors and sinners(?)

Seen as less than and often oppressed or have nots because they are oppressed

Also Some times because of Illness

They are devalued

II. Jesus Flips Our Categories

Blessed - happy, favored by God

What indicates a life favored by God?

Or how does one become favored by God.

Lets look at Psalm 1

Psalm 1 ESV

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; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 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. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

In other words, blessedness comes from the path you choose to follow.

That’s why Matthew Records in Jesus’ sermon

Matthew 7:13–14 ESV

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

In other words, the categories of being blessed are not what we might think they are.

We don’t believe it comes by following someone else. Or by being obedient or surrender or self-denial etc etc.

the narrow gate is hard…who wants that when I could have it “easy”

How much easier can we have it in the West? drive thru food, money, alcohol....

But to the detriment and loss of true life

III. Jesus Promises Life for Anyone

A. Equality/Justice

Let’s put this into the context of Jesus good news - the Kingdom of God

The blessed life is then found as a person becomes a part of His kingdom

Poor become rich, rich become poor

James 1:9–11 ESV

Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

There is an equalling out in God’s kingdom

Scripture uses these categories to compare those who are humble and those who are proud

James 4:1–10 ESV

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

B. Kingdom of Generosity

1 John 3:16–18 ESV

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

James 1:27 ESV

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Conclusion