Righteous Reversal Luke 6:20-26

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Please turn with me to Luke chapter six verses twenty to twenty six

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Luke chapter six verses twenty to twenty six that he lifted up his eyes toward his disciples and said blessed are you poor for yours is the kingdom of God blessed are you who hunger now for you shall be filled blessed are you who weep now for you shall laugh blessed are you when men hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and cast your name cast out your name as evil for the son of man sake rejoice in that day and leap for joy for indeed your reward is great in heaven for in like manner their fathers did so the prophets but woe to you who are rich for you have received your consolation woe to you who are full for you shall hunger woe to you who laugh now for you shall mourn and weep woe to you when all men speak well of you for so did their fathers to the false prophets this is the word of the

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Lord let us pray father we are thankful that your son

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Jesus has brought us into his kingdom at the cost of his life and we pray that you would help us through your spirit to live according to the principles of his kingdom that we would find encouragement and joy in living as we ought as Jesus taught in Jesus name amen so this this section is

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Luke's version of Matthew's Sermon on the

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Mount it's important to note here that this is more than just the physical context and the reason is the content of this teaching allows for a spiritual and eschatological context to the poor right the poor theirs for theirs is the kingdom of God there is this spiritual aspect to this now this is not a transcript of Jesus teaching it's important to know that the gospel authors when they wrote out their whole book they had to cut it short or else we would be here a longer period of time unpacking what

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Jesus said this is a this is not a transcript but rather a summary of Luke's account of the

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Sermon on the Mount and for that reason because it's a summary Luke and Matthew have different emphases in different angles there are similarities but don't be surprised if Luke and Matthew have different contents and that's because Luke both

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Luke and Matthew are not trying to write a transcript but really it's summarized the core of Jesus teaching the characteristic of Jesus kingdom so this is to lead us away from any worries of oh no the

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Bible is contradicting itself it's not it's just Luke is giving us his angle and Matthew is giving us his angle they're just two different cameras in place and we get to see two different sides and note also that this is a translation remember the whole

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New Testament is written in Greek Jesus did not teach in Greek he probably spoke

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Aramaic so there is a difference in translation as well just as we have difference in translation in our modern

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English versions right we have to also account for that now this section is the preamble to Jesus sermon this is the introduction right the and it shows us the principle and characteristics of Jesus kingdom right every kingdom has its own culture every kingdom has its own standard and characteristic and Jesus kingdom also has its own characteristic and principles and note that Jesus kingdom and the principles are totally dependent on the king every kingdom is dependent on the reigning monarch and it is still the case for Jesus kingdom we cannot talk about Jesus kingdom without the king and anytime a nation society culture try to reach

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God's kingdom without the king try to reach the paradise on earth without the king

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Jesus they actually make hell on earth any ideology that tries to make the poverty go away the hungry go away injustice go away without Jesus they have utterly failed and caused even more wicked acts than ever before and for Christians we have to read this section in the context of what our king has accomplished and that is that he's accomplished full restoration and reversal that shown here through his own reversal on the cross the king who is royal and noble and highly exalted dies a humiliating atoning death for his people the reason why any of us can enter into the reality of Jesus kingdom is because the king laid down his life for his subjects and that concept itself sets the tone for the reversal that we see in this text second we do need to define what blessing is we have such a twisted view of blessing

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I've mentioned it before blessing is not the fact that you get to have a cappuccino coffee cup of coffee with a heart in it right you don't and to take a picture and hashtag blessed right blessing in the

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Bible is totally dependent on God and that's what the hymn even affirmed that it's what

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God does right blessing is not earned blessing is graciously given to us by God it is

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God's action so that's what we need to remember when we see this repeated phrase blessed are blessed are the poor didn't earn it the hungry didn't earn it they're blessed because of God's gracious gift now the main question that this text asks us this morning is what characterizes the principles of Jesus kingdom what characterizes the principles of Jesus kingdom first those who depend on Christ must rejoice during the present hardship because God will fulfill his righteous reversal upon the fulfillment of his kingdom those who depend on Christ must rejoice during this present hardship because God will fulfill his righteous reversal upon the fulfillment of his kingdom we see here a glimpse of Jesus teaching ministry we've been seeing

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Jesus miracles and his authority through these miracles we get to see what he has to teach us so he first he addresses his followers then he lifted up his eyes toward his disciples and said and it is important to note that the audience of the lecture are his followers they're followers of Christ they're the disciples of Christ they have committed themselves to Jesus this is important because if we lose whom

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Jesus is talking to and try to apply these following verses in a political context it inevitably leads to a false application which is political revolution right we must we must do something for the poor we must do something for the hungry but here the context is the disciples of Jesus and the one who's doing something for them is

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God himself Jesus is not addressing all the poor and oppressed that's also another thing right blessed are you who are poor he's this he's speaking to the disciples he is addressing his disciples who have nothing to depend on but God that's also important because many false teachers try to take these verses and say that poor in themselves are blessed just because they're poor but we have to take note that the blessing of God does not go out to every poor in the whole world in history the context is in terms of those who are following Christ those who are filled will ultimately be those who depend on Christ now the following verses address four groups of people who are in need or are oppressed the poor the hungry the mourners and the persecuted and using the modern worldview and in fact not even just a modern worldview any worldview these are far from blessed these people these groups of people are not what we would characterize as blessed yet Jesus starts out his preamble of the principles of his kingdom with blessed blessed are you poor for yours is the kingdom of God first blessed means fortunate contented they're content blessed is this inner joy of experiencing

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God's faithfulness and of course this concept is mentioned above is very prominent in the

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Psalms right Psalm 1 starts with blessed are those who do not identify with the wicked but meditate on God's Word day and night and Psalm 2 blessed is the one who takes refuge in the

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Lord and more as we go on blessed is the nation whose God is the

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Lord blessing relates to who

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God is in these people's lives you can't separate

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God from blessing now the first group whom Jesus declares blessed are ironically the poor the ones whom we assume to be farthest away from the contentment are considered content in Christ now it is important to not see just the purely materialistically materialistic view right not to see the poor just as in a physical sense it's more than that remember in Luke 4 18

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Jesus read from the Isaiah scroll how the poor heard the gospel and in the context of Isaiah 61 the poor are those who responded to God's mercy because they have nothing else to count on in fact this is prevalent in the

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Old Testament Psalm 34 6 this poor man cried out and the

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Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles the reason why the poor man cries out to the

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Lord is because he knows that he has nothing to rely on and no one else to call upon except the

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Lord himself and it is not his poverty that satisfied the requirement that satisfies the requirement for the

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Lord's deliverance as if he's earned it through his poverty it is Lord's gracious act of deliverance because of his faithfulness to whomever calls on his name their physical lack clearly illustrates their spiritual humility and spiritual hunger in fact that may be why

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Matthew interprets his account of the beatitude as blessed are the poor in spirit

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Matthew saw that this is more than just the physical aspect but it totally accounts for the spiritual reality right of course there are poor who do not call upon the

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Lord right this is not an end -all law but it's generally true that those cannot rely on anything else in their lives because they have nothing they're eagerly willing to call upon God now why are they blessed for theirs is the kingdom of God the reason for the blessedness is in fact purely spiritual it is not blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of Herod as if go out kick that man out and take his palace this is not a political revolution it's also not blessed are the poor for theirs is the

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Roman Empire no it is the kingdom of God they are blessed because God's kingdom is composed of those who are desperately in need of God for every sustenance both physical and spiritual those who have nothing to depend on except God are those who make up Jesus kingdom that's why they're blessed many kingdoms in order to be part of a victorious powerful kingdom unless you're born into it it's very difficult in order to be a

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Roman citizen who was not natural born it took a lot of money and influence but this kingdom is different the kingdom of God is different your only requirement is the admitting and crying out to God for help that's the only requirement the second group shows us those who face the consequences of poverty blessed are you who hunger now for you shall be filled the hungry are those who lack the very things that they need to survive the hungry are those who must go to God for every provision or they will die again there's both spiritual and physical aspects to this group those who have pleaded with God for their physical nourishment know that they must beg

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God for the spiritual nourishment the promise here points to the future reversal they may lack now but they will be filled their hungry state is not the end they will be filled the one doing the filling of course is none other than God the hungry to will be comforted by God they will be satisfied by God the third group shows us those who are presently troubled blessed are you who weep now for you shall laugh in the

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Old Testament there are many reasons for weeping a more common reason is injustice Jesus knew that his disciples who are not in power who commit to him now will face all sorts of injustice to those

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Jesus provides the promise of full restoration of justice when the core reason of weeping is dealt with by God the weepers will laugh when the wicked are removed and justice served the mourners will be filled with joy for Christ followers who suffer injustice now are blessed because there will be a righteous reversal and this is important for those of you who may have face injustice at a higher level you never know what the human court will do you never know the verdict you know your case is just you know that righteous righteousness must be served but you never know totally depends on the judge depends on the prosecutor depends on the jurors you don't know you never guaranteed the verdict that you desire that you need but for those who are in God's kingdom your verdict is sealed those of you who are mourning you will laugh there is indeed a happily ever after for those who weep now in Christ's kingdom there will be a righteous reversal now next the hardship for the fourth group escalates and so do the reasons for their blessing blessed are you when men hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and cast out your name as evil for the son of man's sake there is a clear increase in persecution in much more detail intensity and detail first men hate you they despise you they seek to destroy you they harm you they look forward to your errors there are people like that against Christians even though you might not have personally affected them in any way they seek to see your demise second it becomes more social they exclude you from the internal hatred it shows up externally and socially they leave you out this is social separation third they revile you revile also here cast out your name as evil means to completely slander now the idiom for name in the ancient

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Hebrew culture is that the name was more than just the identity marker your name represented who you were as a person your name represented the family you come from people you associate with your character your history that was in the name and this is why again taking the name of the

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Lord in vain is more than just blurting out his name in an inappropriate circumstance right it means to completely mischaracterize

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God as who he's not right it is to bring shame upon God's name even through our actions that's blasphemy and here these people these wicked people are doing the same thing to Christ followers they're completely mischaracterizing reviling

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Christians and now what's the core cause of all this persecution for the son of man's sake the son of man is the title from Daniel 7 he's this mysterious figure who has this these divine qualities he's on the clouds and he's powerful he's he he gets one of the thrones their thrones their plural and the

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Lord is sitting in one the Ancient of Days and he comes before the

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Ancient of Days and the Ancient of Days gives the son of man all the nations over and Jesus calls himself the son of men and he has done so a couple of times before in Luke so for the sake of Christ you're persecuted right the blessing is tied to reviling and persecution directly tied to one's identity in Christ or one's commitment to Christ right you're not blessed nor persecuted for Christ if you're pulled over on the highway for going 20 miles over right that's not persecution for the son of man's sake all these blessings are inseparably tied to one's identity and allegiance to Christ in another sense there's no blessing apart from Christ and during the painful painful persecution

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Jesus commands his followers to rejoice rejoice in the day and leave for joy ironically the persecution itself leads to rejoicing rejoicing be filled with joy externally show that the joy outflows leap for joy is the same language that was used when

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John the Baptist in Elizabeth's womb the left out upon the presence of Jesus when

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Mary visited right this is a complete rejoicing not just internally it's not just internal feeling good but it cannot be contained just inside and now what are the reasons for rejoicing first Jesus gives an eschatological or spiritual reason for rejoicing for indeed your reward is great in heaven there's a future promise of a heavenly reward you may not find justice now your honor may not be restored in the court of public opinion but the

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Heavenly Father will fully compensate not only that give you more than what you've lost in another sense the

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Heavenly Father is fully aware of what you're going through he hasn't blinked and he will make it right he will reward heftily second

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Jesus gives a present reason for rejoicing for in like manner their fathers did to the prophets this is an encouragement to show that you are following the footsteps of the faithful spiritual

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Giants most of the prophets in the Old Testament were disrespected and sometimes killed for their faith in fact most of them their intended audience did not listen to them one of the few ones who actually was heard was

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Jonah and he didn't even like that for example

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Elijah had to flee Israel after a great miracle against the prophets of Baal because his life was in danger

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Daniel was slandered and thrown into the lion's den Isaiah was sawn in half translation when the world hates you for your commitment to Christ it's a testament that your faith is genuine like the faithful prophets who came before you the world did the same to the prophets whom

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God sent in the past the world hasn't changed so don't expect them to treat you any differently it's almost of a seal of approval that oh yes you must really belong to Christ now the world says you're blessed if you have the right stuff and have the right reputation here true blessing however depends on your relationship to Christ your dependence on Christ this morning like the poor and hungry if you're only holding on to Christ for your ultimate security and comfort you belong to Christ and he will ultimately satisfy you the promise of blessing apply the promises of blessing apply to you this morning and the weepers this morning like the weepers if you're dissatisfied with the current world order when wrong will not be called right when the wrong people evil people are rewarded when the righteous are punished this promise that there would be a righteous reversal through Christ this promise applies to you

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Jesus will make it right it may not be immediate but it is guaranteed it's much better to hold fast to a guaranteed unknown time timeline for a verdict a righteous verdict than an immediate not guaranteed righteous verdict the persecuted this morning if you are the weird relative who brings up Jesus too much during family gathering if your co -workers think you're an idiot because of your commitment to Christ if you have been uninvited to a social event because of your identity in Christ if your business suffered because you stand with Christ Jesus says rejoice because your reward will be great in heaven the reward you didn't get from the world will only be a drop in a bucket compared to the reward that's waiting for you in heaven not only that your faithfulness does not go unnoticed by the

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God of heaven the king is not ashamed to be associated with you in fact the king died so that you'd be brought into his kingdom that's the promise we have in Christ that's why we can rejoice it's both present and future promises it's here but not yet at the same time second those who rely on themselves instead of Christ will experience a ruinous reversal those who rely on themselves instead of Christ will experience a ruinous reversal following the blessing of the four groups

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Jesus pronounces woes against the different yet parallel four groups but woe to you who are rich for you have received your consolation woe is the opposite of blessing it is the pronouncement of pain and judgment that is to come in the old testament oftentimes blessings and woe actually go together the order might be different it might be woe first and then blessing but this is a prophetic message now parallel to the poor the first woe is toward the rich now it is important to know that scripture does not vilify the rich for their wealth in fact

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Luke 19 the same book right accounts that Jesus will stay with Zacchaeus the chief tax collector who's very wealthy and after he declares

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Zacchaeus saved he's a rich man who's been blessed also some of the faithful men of the new testament are followers of Christ and they're rich Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea buried

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Jesus and they were well known and very rich and Barnabas he sold a whole field to give to the church he was rich and in the old testament

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God blessed Abraham Isaac Jacob David and even Solomon with wealth so wealth itself does not make someone evil but rather what their relationship to their wealth is just as the poor who totally depended on Christ was blessed the rich who depends on his wealth is cursed and this is because they find their worth and value in what they possess rather than God because their identities in their wealth they seek comfort and security in their wealth rather than God rather than calling out to God in humility they depend on their possessions and power and to those people

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Jesus pronounces whoa for you have received your consolation for those who are comforted by their wealth rather than God will not be receiving any comfort from God himself and that makes sense if they're not seeking

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God out they're not seeking God for comfort why would God in entrust his comfort on them those who trust in their wealth rather than God will not be delivered by God and ironically they will be delivered by their they will not be delivered by their wealth either they will not be comforted by their wealth eternally their days are numbered in the same order

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Jesus pronounces the woe to the full those who are content now woe to you who are full for you shall hunger those who are full are are are the conditions of the rich and they will experience the opposite of the fate of the hungry they will no longer have what they currently have abundantly and this is because of the reversal that is to come in Christ the righteous will be filled not the wicked and the third woe strikes the attitude of the rich woe to you who laugh now for you shall mourn and weep laughter here is not out of humor but out of arrogance it is the self -sufficient self -satisfied laughter it is the hubris of rejecting

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God because they don't need him in fact we see this all the time and in the powerful not to say that there are no

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Christians who are leaders there are but there are very few and far in between because they rely on their power and wealth rather than God and one day their laughter will cease and turn to mourning and weeping and in fact when

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Jesus describes hell he talks about how those in hell will be weeping and remember weeping is not a sign of repentance repentance is out of remorse for offending the holy

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God weeping can come from repentance but weeping can come from the regret and pain rather than the remorse regret is self -focused remorse is

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God -focused the fourth woe parallels the fourth blessing woe to you when all men speak well of you for so did their fathers to the false prophets instead of persecution and reviling this group will be praised oh this group are praised and commended now

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Jesus reason for their woe is the opposite of the reason for rejoicing for the righteous they're following the path of the false prophets in the old testament many false prophets prophesied what the audience wanted to hear rather than what

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God was actually saying and in fact they were highly regarded oh you will defeat these enemies okay when the true prophets may have said now these are judgments from God repent and maybe

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God might be merciful these prophets the false ones filled the king's courts they placed popularity amongst men over faithfulness to God they placed reception by men over acceptance from God they placed the opinions of man positive opinions of men over the truthfulness of God's word and to them there's woe and they're going along the same line of the false prophets this section first of all is a warning to the outsiders those who are not committed to Christ those who are not in God's kingdom it's a warning of saying don't get too comfortable with your current state of affairs because the reversal is coming the days of oppressing the weak are numbered the days of satisfaction through unjust means will expire and the days of controlling and manipulating the powerless are coming to an end it's a stark warning to the outsiders second this is a comfort to the faithful followers of Christ because the wicked will not last they need to endure for only a little bit their eternity does not have the wicked written in them because the evil ones will face a reversal they do not need to act upon it themselves to bring about their end this is very different from what the modern culture uh promises and proclaims if there's an unfair trial or unjust system we need to overturn it with arms but for Christians we know who's going to overturn it and we know who's going to do a better job it's not up to us to take up arms to reverse the wicked worldly system ever since the garden of eden genesis 3 there was not a good worldly system let's not get ahead of ourselves to think that we can get a good worldly system through our own needs and powers just trust

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God and he'll do it just fine we have to just wait and watch third this is a warning to the disciples

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God's values and world's values are polar opposites it is tempting to pursue the world's popularity maybe if you just stay quiet about the bible's view on homosexuality maybe if you co -sign your friend's sin oh is it okay if i live with my girlfriend maybe if i approve other religions as valid alongside with christianity maybe then people will like me maybe then people will accept me this text warns us not to trade the eternal blessing bought for you by christ atoning death on the cross for a temporary spotlight spotlight of fame that belonged to the false prophets all of these false prophets after their time after their life have been regarded as wicked they had no control over who wrote about them because God wrote about them truthfully and despite when we look at this despite facing any present persecution in the world

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Jesus disciples can rejoice because God will righteously reverse the current state of affairs these promises these wonderful promises are totally dependent on God and these wonderful promises are given to those who are totally dependent let us pray father we're thankful that in the end you will make all things right and we trust that you will do that and we consider ourselves blessed despite what we're going through knowing that what we're going through whether trials temptations suffering they're only temporary and they will reverse dramatically upon the return of our king