Between Two Worlds - Luke 6:20-26

Comfort feels like the clearest proof that life is going right, but Luke 6 refuses to let us keep that definition. We walk through Jesus’ blessings and woes and feel the tension immediately: the kingdom of God calls “blessed” what the world tries to avoid, and it warns us about the very things we often chase. If you have ever assumed God must be pleased because life is easy, or feared you must be failing because life is hard, this message resets the scoreboard.

Transcript

Christmas Morning And Empty Boxes

SPEAKER_00 0:00

And so we are in Luke chapter six. Uh what we would say uh if there was a title is between two kingdoms. It's kind of this mesh between two kingdoms. So let me start off with a story kind of painted picture of this, right? Uh especially because there's kids in the room. How many of you guys love Christmas? Anyone here love Christmas? Right? Christmas is fun. I do love Christmas. And being in Florida for so many years, uh, I am glad we back into a state where it does get cold on Christmas, except for this year. For this year was actually warmer on Christmas than it was in Florida. But I'm excited because man, there is nothing about wake that better than waking up on Christmas, and there's a Christmas morning, and you have a fireplace and you're all by the tree and you're gathered around. Uh, and for kids in the room, what is one thing you really love about Christmas? Presents, right? And let's be honest, adults, we love presents too as well, right? Presents are great. So imagine this, right? Imagine it was Christmas morning uh and there was just tons of boxes laid out. And I don't know if you have a large family. I have a larger family. So when we would gather, there would be tons of gifts everywhere. Uh, and then we have a large family now, so when we gather at houses, there's tons of gifts. I mean, we are just excited to open the gift, right? And what if uh everything you laid out, you you get you all had your gifts, and you go to open them and you unwrap them, and there's nothing in the box. How excited would you be? Right? Except a little letter, right? A little note that says this you already have everything you need. How joyous would you be? Now, parents were like, that is actually right, right? Well, let's try that out this year and save some money. But for us, we would be pretty upset and hurt. What do you mean we have everything we need? No, there's so many things that we desire in this world, right? There's so many things that I wanted this and I wanted this, and this would make my life so much better if I just had this. Like, what do you mean we have everything we need? And then you open another box, and it actually says a lot of the stuff you have is actually detrimental to your life. And you're like, what are you talking about? Uh these things are so great, they make my life so much easier, they're so enjoyable, right? I love having X, Y, Z, right? I love having a TV that I can sit down and be comfortable every day. I love having a coffee machine that I can make coffee. I love having whatever you can think of in your life that brings joy to you. Well, that's what Jesus is doing here in Luke 6. You see, all these Jesus was gathering around, and in this moment, he's about to give another sermon. There is some opposing views on whether or not this is the same sermon that is a sermon on the mouth as Matthew or not. But either way, Jesus probably would have, in this time, sent a lot of his messages over and over and over again because, much like you, you could probably hear the same text preached over and over and over again, and you still forget what it is, just like myself. So Jesus probably sent a lot of the same messages over and over and over again. So he's giving this message to them. And so imagine people who are like, Jesus is at this point, he's like doing miracles, he's making people's lives so much better. And you gather around and you're like, I cannot wait to hear what Jesus is gonna say. How is my life gonna be so much more joyous because what Jesus says? And then he gives this message here. He looks to his disciples and he said, Blessed are you who are poor, because the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are hungry now, because you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now because you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you, insult you, and slander your name as evil because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, and take note, your reward is great in heaven, for this is the way their ancestors used to treat the prophets. And then he flips it. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your comfort. Woe to you who are now full, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are now laughing, for you will mourn and weep, and woe to you when all the people speak well of you, for this is the way their ancestors used to treat their false prophets. Imagine those eyes on Jesus, eager for a message, and this is the message they got. I imagine their faces are somewhat the same of us sitting on Christmas morning, opening a gift to Nami. But you're but you're supposed to bring all this. You're the king of pinks here on earth. You were supposed to bring in a new kingdom now. Life is miserable, and we've been waiting for this king to come who is going to make like great. And the bigger picture became you see, there's something something deeply ingrained in each one of us. We instinctively believe that comfort or that blessing looks like comfort. Many times in our life, we instinctively believe that blessing is going to look like clunk comfort. I mean, so much that if you were to ask people in this world what does a blessing look like, it's almost always going to equal some kind of comfort. Unless you're a southerner saying, Oh, bless their soul. Right? It's always equal to comfort. And look at that blessing. They got a new car, what a blessing upon their life. They got a new job, what a blessing upon their life. Man, they're they're in the financially good spot, what a blessing upon their life. And those things aren't inherently wrong, but to us, typically, we equal comfort to blessings. The easier life is, the more blessings you have upon yourself. We assume if life is easy, God must be pleased. If we are successful, we must be blessed. If people approve of us, we must be doing something right. And we rarely question that. We just live by it, we build our lives around it, and we chase it. But then Jesus opens his mouth and he completely redefines everything we think we know. He does not just adjust our definition of blessing, he replaces it. And what he gives us is not slightly different, it is the complete opposite. And here is the danger. If we are not careful, we will spend our entire lives chasing what Jesus warns us against and resisting what he calls blessed. Before we step into blessings and the woes, we need to understand something about how God has always worked with his people. When God called Israel to himself, he did not just rescue them from Egypt. He set them apart from the nations. He gave them laws that shaped every part of their life, what they would eat, how they what they would wear, how they worship, and how they ordered their lives around him. And those laws were not some random restrictions. They were visible markers of their identity. Jesus did just give them these rules and regulations to follow for just some hearsay thing, but yet they were identifying markers of an Israelite at that time. You could see somebody by the way they lived and said, Oh, they belong to the Israel kingdom. Those laws declared, these are the people that belong to God. When the nations looked at Israel, they were supposed to see something different, something distinct, something holy. And those laws also served as a protection. They guarded people's, they guarded God's people from the idolatry of surrounding nations, the moral corruption of different nations, and the cause incitation to blend in and become like everyone else. But now, under the new covenant, we're not set apart by ceremonial laws anymore. We do not distinguish ourselves by our diet, our dress, or ritual systems. But hear this clearly: God has not abandoned his purpose of having a distinct people. God is not abandoning his purpose of having a distinct people. Listen to the language in 1 Peter chapter 2. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. And then Peter says, You are sojourners in exile. You do not belong here. This world is not your home, its values are not your values, its priorities are not your priorities. So how does God now mark out his people? Not by ceremonial law, but by the words of Christ shaping their lives. That's how God now marks us as believers. By Christ's words shaping the way that you are to live. And in Luke 6, Jesus is doing exactly that. He's kind of drawing a line in the sand. He's defining what his people look like, and he's establishing the boundary between two kingdoms, God's kingdom and the worldly kingdom. Instead of saying, do not eat this or don't wear this, he's saying, Blessed are the poor, blessed are the hungry, blessing are the weeping, blessed are the rejected. And then woe to the rich, woe to the full, woe to the laughing, and woe to the freeze. These aren't casual observations. These are identity markers for us as believers. They are guardrails, they're warnings, and they are a picture of what a true preserving believer looks like. So when Jesus speaks here, he's kind of drawing the line in the sand. And the question becomes do our lives look like the world, or do they look like a future kingdom? So if I can leave you with a give you our main idea today, this is our main idea. That in God's kingdom, true blessing belongs to those who depend on him, while those who trust in themselves face eternal loss. Let me say it again. True blessing belongs to those who depend on him, while those who trust in themselves face eternal loss. Everything we nationally believe about blessing, everything the culture tells us about success, everything we assume about what a good life looks like, here Jesus flips it. What the world calls blessed, Jesus warns about. And what the world avoids, Jesus calls blessed. So we have to ask, are we defining like the way the world does or the way that Jesus does? Because if we get that wrong, we can spend our entire lives chasing what will not last. So let's first look at what Jesus says, the blessed like actually looks like. A blessed like is defined by God. That's our first point. He says, Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Now Jesus is not saying poverty earns salvation. So don't take from this message that I have to go sell all myself and live on the street. That's not what Jesus is saying here. But he is describing a condition of our heart, right? The poor here are those who know I have nothing to offer God. I cannot save myself. I'm completely dependent upon him. It's the opposite of this self-sufficiency mindset. It's the collapse of pride in the pretending of I can make everything happen on my own will. John Calvin said, those who are reduced to nothing in themselves are ready to trust in God alone. Think about a drowning man, right? For a drowning man in the water and there's a boat next to him, he's not gonna negotiate his saving. Well, can you do this for me, right? If you did this, then you can help me out, right? I don't like that light preserver. It's not the right color. Can you like maybe give me a little nicer way? Can you do this, do this, right? They don't negotiate their saving. He doesn't boast like, just give me a few more minutes. I can save myself, just wait. He doesn't say, I've got this mostly under control. He knows he cannot save himself. And so what does he do? He reaches out. That's the posture of a blessed person who understands. And notice what Jesus says: yours is the kingdom of God. Not will be, but is. It is a present reality for us as believers. Those who depend on God already belong to his king. It is a posture of our heart, knowing that there is nothing you bring to the cross. There is nothing that makes you deserving of your salvation. It is only because of Christ in Christ alone. It then moves on to blessed are you who hunger now. So some of you in here may be sitting in and you may be hungry now. And you're thinking about where is my next meal gonna be after church? Where am I gonna go eat? Well, that is not what Jesus is talking about. He is not talking about a physical hunger. It is a deep longing in the soul. It is a dissatisfaction with this world. How many times have you had moments in life where you look around this world and you are just dissatisfied with what it can offer? You're just you turn on the news and it's just bleak. You go on social media and it seems like nothing happy has happened. And there's just no joy. What Jesus is talking about here is blessed are your hunger now, means that this world is does not satisfy. You know this cannot be the end all be all. There's a hunger for righteousness, you hunger for justice, you hunger for God Himself, a recognition that this is not how things are supposed to be. I think that's easier said now than many times in our lives. As we look around the world, we say, Man, things just this is not how it's supposed to be. I hunger for something much more. And Jesus says, You shall be satisfied, not partially, not temporarily, but completely in Christ's kingdom. So not only blessed are you who are poor, blessed are you who hunger now, but blessed are you who weep now. A weeping over sin, a grief over brokenness, a grief over the reality that we live in a fallen world. I'm gonna be honest with you right now. If you look around this world and sin does not bring grief in your life, seeing brokenness of this world does not just hurt your heart. And you have to have a reality check with this. Jesus says, Blessed are you who weep now. You look around the world and sin, seeing the sin of the world has an effect on your own life. Man, maybe that you think about that friend or that family member who just doesn't know Christ, and it seems like everything they're doing in their life is completely in opposition to them. And you just weep and you're broken over that. That father or mother who has yet to know Christ, that son or daughter who has yet to know Christ, and it seems like everything they're doing in their life is pushing them further and further away, and all you can do is be broken for them. Those who weep know. Martin Lloyd Jones says the man who truly knows God is the man who mourns for sin. It's not weakness, but it's an evidence of life. Because the heart that has been changed by God feels what God feels about sin. But then Jesus says, You shall lie. There is a coming day when sorrow will be replaced with joy. And he says, Blessed are you when people hate you. And this may be the hardest one. I used to be a horrible people pleaser. I don't know if anybody else in here are people pleasers in the room. And if one person in my life would just say the slightest little thing against me, I felt like the whole world hated me. And I let's just be honest, nobody in this room enjoys people not liking me. Hopefully, that's kind of weird and maniacal. Right? Nobody here is excited when somebody doesn't like you as much as you can say it. But Jesus says, Blessed are you when people hate you. We all want to be liked, we all want approval, we will all want accept acceptance. But Jesus said, if you follow me, you will not always fit in. You're gonna be misunderstood, you're gonna be rejected, you're gonna be opposed. And then he says something shocking. Rejoice in that. Rejoice in that. First Peter tells us the same thing and says, Listen, if you are a believer in this world, it should be an expectation that the world is gonna come against you when you do not do the things that they do. He says they m they're gonna malign you. When you do not live to the standards of the world, there should be an expectation that people are not gonna like you. Now, what he's not saying here is rejoice in the fact that people don't like you in a way that means that you throw it in their face. Right? Oh, you disagree with me? Well, that's because you're dumb. You just raise he's not saying come against them in that kind of way. But he's saying rejoice in the fact that the people hate you because you are about what God is about. You rejoice in the things that God rejoices in. And that's not the things that they rejoice in. Rejoice. Why? Because your reward is not here. Two people are gonna receive the same payment, one gets everything now while the other gets something far greater. That's what this is kind of saying. For unbelievers, their reward is gonna be now. Yes, they may get to live in the blessings of the world's blessings of this life, but their eternity is gonna look a lot worse. For us as believers, maybe our reward is not now, but man, we can hold on to the fact that we have an eternity with Christ. That's where our blessing will be. So the first thing we see is a blessed life is defined by God. He gives us the examples of what it looks like. The second thing we see is that the dangerous life is defined by the world. Now Jesus is gonna give us the warning. He first says, This is what a blessed life looks like. Now he's gonna define what a dangerous life looks like. He says, but woe to you who are rich. Again, this is not about just having money, but it's about trusting in what you have. It's about a self-sufficiency. He says, Woe to those who are rich, for they have received their comfort. They've received their consolation right now. They are living in the only comfort that they're gonna have. This is all they're gonna get. If your comfort is found in your success, your stability, your resources, then Jesus says, You got your reward. That's all you're gonna get. It's like someone cashing out their entire future for a moment of comfort. It's gonna feel good now, but in the future it's gonna be miserable. Woe to you who are full now. You may be satisfied now, but one day it's gonna be empty. You may get to enjoy the the small little things of life now, but one day it's gonna be miserable. Woe to you when all people speak well of you. Again, this exposes something subtle and dangerous. The desire to be approved by people more than faithful to God. R.C. Swallow says we are not called to win a popularity contest, we are called to be faithful to Christ. If the world always approves of you, you probably are not living for Christ. It needs to be a reality check in our lives. If the world always approves of you, you may not be living for Christ. So we see the blessings and we see the woes. But then we see on the third point is what God promises, not what the world offers. Here's how we're supposed to live. Want what God promises, not what the world offers. Jesus lays out two completely paths here in this. One path is comfortable, approved, and satisfied, while the other is dependent, longing, and faithful. At first glance, the first path is always going to look better. It feels easier, it feels safer, it feels like the kind of life everyone is chasing. But Jesus is not evaluating based on appearances, he's evaluating it based on the end results. And here's the truth: one is going to end in eternal joy, and the other in eternal loss. But here's the good news, the good reversal of the kingdom of God. What looks like loss now is a gain later. And what looks like gain now may be loss later. And the problem is we are constantly tempted to judge our lives by the present moment instead of eternity. Listen, if I could urge you as a believer right now, do not let your surroundings, success, be the definite result of where you are with Christ. Do not let the things around you be your evaluation of where you stand for Christ, the things you have, the status you have in life, what your bank account says. Do not let those be the defining results for who you are in Christ. Because oftentimes, what What God will do is when we hold those things, is He will actually remove those things to bring us closer to Him. First Peter says a refining of fire. James says that we will be like that of gold and silver, refined in the fire. Because God loves us so much, oftentimes, as believers, when we trust in those things that aren't of him, he will remove those things to bring us closer to him. Here Jesus is saying, want what God promises, not what the world offers. We look at someone who is comfortable, successful, and well liked, and we think that's the blessing life. But Jesus says, you are looking at the wrong timeline. You're evaluating a life based on 60, 70, 80 years, like God is evaluating a life based on eternity. So hear this clearly. We want heaven later, but we want also the full approval of the world now. We want eternal life, but we also want temporary comfort. We want to follow Jesus without losing anything. But Jesus does not leave that option open. He says, don't trade forever for what is temporary. But think about how often we do this everyday life. We trade obedience for convenience. Well, if I could just, this is just a little bit easier, a little like this. It's just a little bit more fun. I know Jesus, I know eternity is great, but man, I kind of want this right now. We trade conviction for comfort. I know I probably shouldn't do this or be a part of this or or live for this, but man, it's just kind of easy to go along with the flow. It's just kind of easy to follow. I don't want to be pushed aside or think what people think about me. Why would you trade truth for acceptance? I know the circle that I'm in, like some of the stuff they talk about or they think. Like I it's just easier just to be a part of that group. They have to like, I don't want to voice my opinion, be the awkward guy in the room. But in those moments, we are making a decision. Not just about today, but about the direction of our eternity. Jim Elliott said, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. That is the mindset of the kingdom. That the world says hold on to everything you can, but Jesus says, let go of wool blast, well, what wolf blasts, so you can gain what will. And here's the tragedy Jesus is warning about. The tragedy is not losing this world, the tragedy is gaining it and losing your soul. So ask yourself honestly, where is my life hidden? Not what I say I believe, but where what is my life revealing today? It's really easy to say what I believe, but it's I was evaluating my own life. What is it revealing the things that I love and hold on to? Your habits, your priorities, your decisions, they are forming your eternity. The things that if Jesus was to take away today would make you feel broken and worthless. What are you holding on to? But here's the good news Christ was and is the perfect example. You see, this passage ultimately points us to Christ. Jesus is not just giving a teaching, but he's showing it in himself. He is the true embodiment of everything that he's going to describe here. He became poor, he left the ridges of heaven and entered into humility and weakness. He hungered, he experienced need and independence. He wept. He felt the way to sin, suffering, and death in a broken world. He was rejected, despised, mocked, abandoned, and crucified. Jesus did not just describe the blessed life. He lived it perfectly for us. 2 Corinthians 8.9 says, Though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. That is the great exchange happening here. He took our poverty so we could receive his riches. He took our rejection so we could be accepted. He entered into our sorrow so we could inherit eternal joy. And here is what that means for us. The life Jesus calls you to is a life he has already walked. So when he calls you to dependence, he knows what it costs. When he calls you to endure rejection, he knows what that feels like. When he calls you to live for eternity, he has already secured it for you. It's not theoretical, it is personal. And it also means this: we do not enter this life by trying harder. We enter it by trusting Christ. It is not your hold on Christ that saves you, but his hold on you. That is our hope. Because if this depended on your strength, you would fail. If it depended on your consistency, you would fall short. But it depends on Christ. The kingdom is not earned by the strong, but it is given to the needy. So the invitation is not get your life together. The invitation is come as you are. Come poor, come hungry, come in need, and Christ gives you everything. So let's wrap this all together. Jesus is not teaching us something to understand, He is calling us to examine our lives. That's the challenge here. Ask yourself honestly, where do I find my comfort in life? What am I trusting in? What does blessed actually look like to me? Because if your definition of blessing is ease, success, and approval, then you may be building your life on something that's not gonna last. But if your life is marked by dependence, hunger, and faithfulness, and even if it feels difficult now, you are walking in what Jesus has called blessed. So remember these. Hold loosely to what won't last. What I'm not saying is you can't enjoy things of this growth. What I'm not saying is you can't enjoy the things that God has said is good. You can't enjoy being married. That's not what I'm saying. Enjoy being married. Enjoy your kids. Enjoy the things that God has given you in this life, but do not hold so tightly to them that they take over the joy that Christ has given you. My wife is a great thing, but she cannot replace the joy that Christ has given me. My kids are a great thing, but they cannot replace the joy that Christ has given me. My position as a pastor, I enjoy it and love it, but it cannot replace the joy that Christ has given me. My job that I enjoy doing for maybe some of us in this room, they cannot replace the joy that Christ has given us. The finances that I have right now that make us in a way that we aren't wondering where our next meal is coming from. Yes, that is enjoyable, but it does not replace the joy that Christ has given me. Fill in the blank, whatever it is and you love, that cannot replace the joy that Christ has given you. And so hold loosely to what won't last. There will hopefully be a day where my wife and I grow old and one of us is taken for this world. If I'm holding so tightly to that, that that removes the joy that Christ has given me, and I don't understand that his blessings. Hold loosely to what won't west. Because if you hold tightly to this world, you will end up losing the nest. Feel your need, but don't hide it. Blessings begin where self-sufficiency ends. Hunger for what God promises, and if you're full of the world, you won't hunger for God. Expect resistance if you follow Jesus. Because if you follow him, you're not always gonna fit in. Live for eternity, not for the moment. You can have comfort now or glory later, but you can't have both. So I say it again: hold loosely, feel your need, hunger for God, expect resistance, and live for eternity. There are two kinds of people in this room. There are those who are comfortable now. You enjoy the blessings of this life. But that's all you live in. And life feels secure for you. Things are going well in your life, and you don't feel a need for God. But listen carefully, that comfort will not last. It may feel stable, it may feel secure, it may feel like everything is going right. But if your life is built on success, approval, and comfort, and not on Christ, it will not stand. Because eventually everything you are trusting in will either be taken or it will fail you. And then there are those who feel their need. You feel broken, you feel the weight of sin, you feel the emptiness of this world. And Jesus says, you are blessed because you are exactly where you need to be. Dependent on him. Because the people who feel their need are the ones who run to Christ. The people who feel their emptiness are the ones who are filled with Christ. The people who know they cannot save themselves are the ones who are saved by Christ. Scripture says two homes are built. One is beautiful, impressive, and admired, but it's built on sand. It looks strong, it looks sable, it looks like everything you could ever want. And the other is simple, maybe not, maybe overlooked, maybe unimpressive, but it's built on ruck. And for a while, they both look fine. But then the storm comes, and when the storm comes, it doesn't matter how impressive either of them look. It doesn't matter how much either one was admired, and it matters what they were built upon. And only one stance. And that is what Jesus has pressing gear on us. Not how your life looks right now, but what is it built upon? And here's the invitation. Jesus is not just describing reality, he's inviting you into it. You don't have to clean yourself up first. You don't have to fix yourself, you don't have to make yourself worthy. You come poor, hungry, in need, and he gives you the kingdom, satisfaction, and joy, eternal life. He says, Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. So the question is not, are you comfortable? The question is, do you belong to the key? Let us pray. Father, we are so thankful today, God, that you called us to a light that looks very much contradictory to everything this world is about. And it is so easy for us to fall into the temptation of allowing the things of this world to bring joy through our life, of allowing those momentary pleasures to replace a joy for eternity. So, God, I pray for many believers in this room this morning, we need to evaluate our life. Do we have things in our life that are we allowing to replace the joy of you? Are there things in our life that if you were to take away, it would just break us? But God, if we have so deeply engraved our joy into uh looking towards an eternity with you because of Christ's work on the cross, that it wouldn't matter what happens. Father, there are unbelievers in this room this morning who have not put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord, knowing that only because of his work here on earth and on the cross that we have received a free gift of salvation. God, I pray that you would open their eyes to it today. That they would understand it and rejoice in you. Father, we love you. We're so thankful. First in your name we pray. Amen.