Luke 6:17-26 (NIV)
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“Jesus Levels With Us”
“Jesus Levels With Us”
“Heavenly Endorsement”
“Heavenly Endorsement”
Endorsements can be great, esp. if you’re a celebrity or an athlete.
Exp. Lebron James - Nike (almost $100 million out of high school)
But with an endorsement comes responsibility…certain stipulations
Now, you’re suppose to project a certain kind of image, so you have to conduct yourself a certain way.
Things are no different for us as Christians.
You see, Jesus gave His disciples “His Endorsement”
Today, we get to find out what the stipulations are concerning our walk with the Lord…
Jesus Chooses His Endorsees
Jesus Chooses His Endorsees
Jesus has just spent all night praying to the Father about who He is suppose to give God’s “Heavenly Endorsement” to.
We know them as the Twelve Apostles.
Soon they will find out, what it truly means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
He went down with them 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,
who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured,
and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.
“A Level Place”
“A Level Place”
I’m sure it’s no coincidence that Jesus gave this sermon while standing on a “level place” because He proceeds to “level” with His disciples.
He proceeds to give them a profile of what a true disciple is to be— poor, hungry, sorrowful, rejected.
Looking at his disciples, he said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
“Poor in Spirit”
“Poor in Spirit”
Does this mean we should sell everything we own and live a life of poverty in order to follow Jesus?
After all, that is what He tells the rich young ruler in Matthew.
But Jesus only tells him that because He knew the young man’s heart…just like He knows our hearts.
Jesus knew that the young man’s whole identity was tied to his wealth and status.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus clarifies that the kingdom of heaven belongs to the ‘poor in spirit’ .
In other words, the Kingdom belongs to those who are humble in heart…The ones who know that they are spiritually bankrupt .
How’s your spiritual bank account sitting these days?
Sooner or later, the devil’s gonna stop by and audit you…maybe he already has.
The only prayer any of us have is through God’s Grace.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians:
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
You can be ‘poor in spirit’ but still choose to be rich in God’s mercy and grace.
It all depends on how hungry you are:
“Hungry for Righteousness”
“Hungry for Righteousness”
Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
Again, Jesus brings clarity to the kind of hunger He’s talking about in Matthew:
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
How thirsty are you feeling these days?
Jesus told the woman at the well,
John 4:13 (NIV)
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,
but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
If you find yourself feeling dry and empty inside, then you need to tap into the Source of life.
“I don’t know about you, but I use to get so tired traveling back and forth to the well I was using.”
“Trying to carry all that water by myself…was exhausting.”
If you think you can just hang out by the well and get a drink whenever you want, you’re forgetting that at some point you’ve gotta eat.
It’s a “catch 22”…unless you rely on Jesus.
The philosopher Kierkegaard illustrates the importance of staying hungry with this illustration:
"A duck was flying with his flock in the springtime northward across Europe.
During the flight he came down in a Danish barnyard where there were tame ducks.
He enjoyed some of their corn.
He stayed, for an hour, then for a day, then for a week, then for a month, and finally, because he relished the good fare and the safety of the barnyard, he stayed all summer. "
But one autumn day when the flock of wild ducks were winging their way southward again, they passed over the barnyard, and their mate heard their cries.
He was stirred with a strange thrill of joy and delight, and with a great flapping of wings he rose in the air to join his old comrades in their flight.
But he found that his good fare had made him so soft and heavy that he could rise no higher than the eaves of the barn"
So, he dropped back again to the barnyard, and said to himself, “Oh well, my life is safe here and the food is good.”
Every spring and autumn when he heard the wild ducks calling, his eyes would gleam for a moment, and he would begin to flap his wings.
But finally, the day came when the wild ducks flew over him and uttered their cry, but he paid not the slightest attention to them."
As disciples of Christ, we should never be domesticated.
We must always stay hungry for righteousness.
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
We must also remain sorrowful.
“Sorry for What?”
“Sorry for What?”
We are called to weep over lost souls, over people who will go into eternal darkness without Christ.
We are to weep over the world’s misery,
over the injustice that falls on so many helpless people,
over the unfairness that victimizes the weak,
over child abuse,
over betrayals,
over loneliness,
over those who now laugh but who, unless they turn to Christ, will suffer God’s condemnation forever.
“Not a Popularity Contest”
“Not a Popularity Contest”
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.
“Jesus isn’t running for office, He doesn’t care about the popular vote.”
“He’s already established Himself as Commander and Chief.”
Jesus knows He’s not with the “in crowd”…aka the “sin crowd.”
He didn’t come to tell people what they want to hear.
Jeremiah hit the nail on the head when he said,
The prophets prophesy lies,
the priests rule by their own authority,
and my people love it this way.
But what will you do in the end?
We love to have things our way and challenge anything that goes against the grain.
“But what will you do in the end?”
Jesus tells His disciples what to do,
“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
“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.
Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.