Luke 06.20-26 Last
time in Luke
06.17-19 | Sermon
on the Level part 01 we looked briefly at Melchizedek,
who received tithes from the spoils of war by Abram in Genesis 14.01-24.
Moses records for us that Melchizedek was “a priest of God Most High” who met Abram bringing out “bread and wine”, the elements
of communion (Genesis
14.08; Hebrews
05.10; Hebrews
07.01). Again this was all before the Law of Moses was
given, so Melchizedek would have been uncircumcised, not from the tribe of
Levi and a descendant of Aaron (Leviticus 21.16-23)
and was not anointed according to the Law prescribe by Moses (Exodus 29.01-37). Melchizedek
blessed Abram in Genesis 14.19-20, which is
significant because the greater always blesses the lesser, and Abraham is
regarded as the father of our faith (Romans 04.16-25; Galatians
03.01-29)! But what I forgot to tell you, though it was
in my notes, it that the writer of Hebrews tells us that Melchizedek was a
pre-incarnate Christ, saying “Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become
a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 06.20;
see also Psalm
110.04)
Back to Luke 04.20-26, the Greek word for “Blessed” here
is (G3107) makariov makarios and it involves happiness that does not
depend on circumstances but on the condition of the heart no matter what is
going on around you. The way that the text is written is important, because it
is not telling us that we should try to put into use the beatitudes so that we
become blessed, but instead it is describing what are the characteristics of a
“blessed” person.
That’s why we looked at the Old Testament saints last time (Luke 06.17-19
| Sermon
on the Level part 01) because they were justified and made righteous
before the Law because of their faith in the LORD, the pre-incarnate Christ, “because by the
works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”
(Romans
03.20) “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart
from works of the Law.” (Romans 03.28) “nevertheless knowing that a man is not
justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we
have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ
and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be
justified.” (Galatians 02.16)
The Sermon on the Level must not be looked as a reward of an
individual’s spiritual state. It is not because a man is poor in spirit that
his is the kingdom of God. The Sermon on the Level was not a
constitution for the kingdom of God or a path to follow for salvation. What
connects the state and promise is Jesus the Christ Himself, because He alone
stands in out present and our future, and has opened Heaven to all who
acknowledge Him as Lord and Saviour (Romans 10.09-13). (cf. Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah
[Peabody; Hendrickson, 1993], Bk 03, Ch 18, p365, 1.530)
This sermon shows how a person who is in a right relationship
with God should conduct his life. While the Pharisees were concerned about
external qualities, Jesus was concerned with the internal, the heart. The
teachings of Jesus conflict completely with the teachings of man. Most of the
Jewish religious leaders found the teachings of Jesus as being threatening,
offensive and revolting. They went so far as to accuse Him of being demon
possessed in Mark 03.22. The teachings of Jesus
are threatening,
offensive and revolting to many because it is in direct opposition to what is
commonly thought, it is not politically correct and even seems foolish to
others (Colossians
01.17-02.16).
While the people were gathered around Jesus, expecting
miracles, Jesus turned His attention to His disciples.
Luke 06.20 “And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say,” Dr. Luke tells
us that Jesus turned “His gaze toward His disciples”, which shows us
that the Sermon on the Mount/Level was directed mainly at the disciples, and
that the woes were given to the crowd in general. Even though the words that
Jesus spoke were directed at His disciples, those in the crowd could hear what
He was saying.
Dr. Luke records four “blessings” and four curses by Jesus
that contrast one another.
01. The Blessed (Luke 06.20-23)
Luke 06.20 “Blessed are you who are poor” The Greek word
for “poor” (Luke 06.20)
that Dr. Luke used here is (G4434) ptwcov ptochos, which means one who is like a beggar, poor, destitute,
those in extreme poverty. It describes someone who is thoroughly afraid and
hides by shrinking back in the shadows in shame. Jesus talks about “a poor man named
Lazarus (who) was laid at his gate,
covered with sores” (Luke 16.20),
using this same Greek word (G4434) ptwcov ptochos for “poor”. The
Greek word (G4434) ptwcov ptochos is the same word
for poor that is used in the Greek Septuagint of Isaiah 61.01 and in Luke 04.18
when Jesus quotes from Isaiah 61.01 in the Nazareth Synagogue.
Dr. Luke could have used another Greek word for “poor” in
Luke 06.20,
which is the Greek word (G3993) penhv penes, and it describes one who works for his daily provision but
still is poor, and is used in 2Corinthians 09.09.
The Greek Lexicon by Joseph Thayer describes the difference
between the two Greek words for poor: “The
penhv penes
may be so poor that he earns his bread by daily labor, the ptwcov ptochos that he only obtains his living by
begging.” (Joseph Thayer, Thayer’s
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament [Peabody; Hendrickson
Publishers, Inc., 2000], p499-500) http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G3993&t=KJV
In other words, the difference between the two Greek words
for poor is that penhv penes
is able to work for his daily sustenance while ptwcov ptochos is completely reliant upon
others providing his daily sustenance. In spiritual terms the poor (ptwcov ptochos) are those who understand that
they have nothing that makes them righteous before a Holy God, while those who
think they are spiritually rich (penhv penes) think that they are going to
Heaven because they’ve earned it. The spiritually poor understand that they are
in spiritual poverty; they recognize their need for a Saviour, and in need of
Gods’ righteousness, grace and mercy because their own works cannot save them (Ephesians
02.08-10). The spiritually poor understand that their righteous
deeds are but a filthy garment or a menstrual rag (Isaiah 64.06). Jesus didn’t say
that He came to make the poor physically rich, but “TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR.”
(Luke 04.18)
This is what is missing from Tim
Keller, Shane
Claiborne, Rick
Warren and other proponents of the Social Gospel,
who want to focus on feeding the poor but not giving them the Gospel, or giving
them a watered down version of the Gospel (1Corinthians 15.03-04).
Instead, Jesus said that we would have the physically poor
with us always (Matthew
26.11; Mark 14.07; John 12.08; each time Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy 15.11).
Often it is the physically poor in this world who are more open to the Gospel
because they see their destitute situation and recognize their need for a
Saviour more readily than the physically rich person who has all that they need
and lives with no want (1Corinthians 01.26-29). In 1Corinthians
01.27 the Greek word that is translated as “foolish” is (G3474) mwrov moros. It speaks of someone
who is imprudent, without
forethought or wisdom, producing no moral fruit. It is where we get the
word for “moron”. James wrote “…did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the
kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” (James 02.05)
All of mankind is born spiritually
poor; there are only a few who recognize that they are spiritually poor recognize
their need for a Saviour. Those who think that they are spiritually rich
don’t see their need for a Saviour (Matthew 05.03; Luke 06.20). Jesus rebuked the
Laodicean church for thinking that they were spiritually rich in Revelation 03.14-22.
The Laodicean Church was like the Pharisee that Jesus talks about in Luke 18.11-12,
who thought he was spiritually rich because he fasted twice a week and paid his
tithes. The spiritually poor are like the tax collector that Jesus talks about
in Luke 18.13,
who was unwilling to lift his eyes, stood at a distance, beating his chest and
crying out, “God,
be merciful to me, the sinner!” Jesus went on to say, “I tell you, this
man (the tax collector) went to his house justified rather than the other (the
Pharisee); for
everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be
exalted.” (Luke 18.14)
The promise or blessing to the spiritually poor is that
theirs “is the
kingdom of God.” (Luke 06.20). The word “is” in Luke 06.20 is important, for it is
a “state of being verb”, and in the original Greek it is written in the Present
tense, Indicative mood, which means it is
a simple statement of fact and is occurring in actual time. Why is this
important? Because most people tend to think that those who are spiritually
poor will only get their blessings in the future millennial reign of Christ (Revelation 20.01-06).
But because the Holy Spirit directed Dr. Luke to write this down, using the
Greek word (G2076) esti esti for “is” in Luke 06.20
and writing it in the Present tense, Indicative mood, which means that those
who are poor in spirit today can enjoy the blessings of the Kingdom of God.
Paul tells us “the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but
righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14.17)
and that the spiritually poor are “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we
suffer with Him so that we may also
be glorified with Him.” (Romans 08.17)
Luke 06.21 “Blessed are you
who hunger now” A second sign of the blessed is hunger. Matthew
tells us (Matthew
05.06) that this hunger does not come from lack of food, but from
lack of righteousness. To “hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matthew 05.06;
G3983 peinaw peinao) means to crave ardently, to seek with eager desire.
(Joseph Thayer, Thayer’s Greek-English
Lexicon of the New Testament [Peabody; Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 2000],
p498) https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G3983&t=KJV
It is an intense, overwhelming desire to be accepted by God
as a spiritually poor beggar, wanting for the righteousness of God.
The psalmist captures this perfectly when we read, “As the deer
pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts
for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?”
(Psalm
42.01-02) David wrote, “O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My
soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where
there is no water.” (Psalm 63.01) and “I stretch out my hands to You; My soul longs for You, as a parched land.
Selah.” (Psalm 143.06)
The blessing for those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness is that they “shall be satisfied.” (Luke 06.21) The Greek word for
satisfied is (G5526) cortazw chortazo means
to fulfill or satisfy the desire of any
one. When used of animals it speaks of fattening them up, having them eat
until they cannot eat any more. When used of humans, it means to be completely
satisfied.
David wrote that those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness “seek
YHWH (and they) shall not be in want of any good thing.” (Psalm 34.01)
because “YHWH
is my shepherd, I shall not want.” (Psalm 23.01) Jesus said, “I am the bread of
life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never
thirst.” (John 06.35) and “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. “He who believes in Me, as
the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living
water.’” (John 07.37-38)
Luke 06.21 “Blessed are you
who weep now” The third blessing is directed to those who weep now. The
Greek word that Dr. Luke uses here is (G2799) klaiw
klaio and it is used of people who
weep or sob out loud because of pain or grief, whereas the Greek word (G1145) dakruw dakruo means to cry silently. Weeping is the
response of those who are spiritually poor and have a hunger for righteousness,
for they see themselves as being spiritually blind, captives to sin and oppressed
(Luke 04.18).
Their weeping is their reaction to being confronted of their sin and thus repenting
of it (2Corinthians
07.10-11). David mentions this Godly sorrow in Psalm 06.06-08. David displays
this sorrowful repentance when confronted by Nathan the prophet after he sinned
with Bathsheba (2Samuel
11.02-12.14; Psalm 51.01-19).
Luke 06.21 “for you shall laugh.” The Greek word for “laugh”
is (G1070) gelaw gelao and it means to laugh as a sign of joy or satisfaction.
Those who weep because of their sin will “laugh” (Luke 06.21) with joy because they’ve been forgiven
and set free from their sin.
David writes “Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30.05)
and the Psalmist writes “Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. He
who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his
bag of seed, Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.” (Psalm 126.05-06)
For those who weep because of their sin, the joy of the Redeemer will be
theirs, giving them a joy that no human can experience outside of Christ.
The first three blessings all deal with how the truly
repentant sinner views himself, while the fourth one describes how the world sees
him.
Luke 06.22 Notice
that Jesus uses four verbs (hate, ostracize, insult, and scorn) to describe
the animosity that the world has towards the repentant sinner. This fourth
blessing reveals that the work of the first three blessings has been
accomplished and that genuine salvation has occurred. Jesus said in John 15.18-19 “If
the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. “If you were of the world, the world would love its
own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world,
because of this the world hates you.” and John writes “Do not be
surprised, brethren, if the world hates you.” (1John 03.13) Jesus tells us that
the world will hate us in Mark 13.09-13 and that the world will hate us
because we are followers of Jesus in John 15.18-20. James tells us to “Consider it
all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the
testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be
perfect and complete, lacking in nothing…Blessed is a man who perseveres under
trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love
Him.” (James 01.02-04; 12)
Paul, in Romans 08 writes that the Holy Spirit confirms
to us that we are His children through our sufferings for Him (Romans 08.16-18;
Romans
08.35-37) Peter writes that we shouldn’t be surprised to go through
suffering for the name of Jesus and that we shouldn’t give people any other
reason to persecute us (1Peter 04.12-16).
Sadly, what we see instead today is that the church has
mixed so greatly with the world that when someone stands up and says that
homosexuality is a sin, or that sleeping with your girlfriend is sin, they are
labeled as racists and haters. Many people who call themselves Christians only
limit their Christianity on Sundays for two hours because they are afraid of
being persecuted for the name of Christ. They would rather be silent than to
rock the boat in society and be seen as a nice, tolerant person. The idea of suffering
for Christ, especially here in the United States of America has been overtaken
by the political correctness that dominates society today. We live in a time
where many “Christians” think that we need to be friendly with the world to
share about Jesus, yet the Bible tells us that the world will be hostile
towards us. James writes, “that friendship with the world is hostility toward God…Therefore
whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
(James 04.04)
If the world likes your pastor and what he teaches, then your pastor is not “accurately handling the word of truth.” (2Timothy 02.15)
There are many in the church today who think they are going to Heaven but they
are not (Matthew
07.21-23).
Luke 06.23 Jesus
tells us that by suffering for His name should cause us great joy, because the
world recognizes that we belong to Christ, and when they accuse us of being
narrow minded and bigots, it is evidence that we belong to Christ. When
we as followers of Christ suffer persecutions, we need to be reminded that we
are following in the footsteps of the prophets and martyrs, those that
preferred to die rather than deny Jesus as LORD.
When Peter and the apostles were being told not to talk
about Jesus, they said, Acts 05.29 “We must obey God rather than men.” After
being flogged and ordered not to continue to speak in the name of Jesus, Dr.
Luke records for us, “So they went on their way from the presence of the
Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.” (Acts 05.41)
Paul says that “we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation
brings about perseverance” (Romans 05.03), and he is “well content with weaknesses, with
insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s
sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2Corinthians 12.10)
James encourages his readers to “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you
encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces
endurance. And let endurance have its
perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
(James
01.02-04)
02. The Cursed (Luke 06.24-26)
Luke 06.24 The
use of the Greek word (G4133) plhn
plen for “But”
seems to specify that the woes mentioned by Jesus by those who reject Him are
in direct contrast to the blessings pronounced on His true believers. Jesus
is not talking about those who are materially rich in this world, for it is not
a sin to be rich. Abraham (Genesis 13.02; Genesis 24.35), Isaac (Genesis 26.12-13)
Job (Job
01.03; Job 01.10; Job 01.03;), and Joseph of
Arimathaea (Matthew
27.57) all are recorded as being men of great wealth and followers
of God. Moses
tells us that it is God who gives the power get rich in Deuteronomy 08.18. The rich that Jesus is talking about here though are those
who think of themselves as spiritually rich, those who think that their
righteous deeds are good enough to get them into Heaven, much like the
Pharisee that Jesus talked about in Luke 18.10-13, who thought he was spiritually rich
because he fasted twice a week and paid his tithes.
The woe or the curse that is put on them is that they “are receiving your
comfort in full” (Luke 06.24) in this life and what they will get after they
die is Hell, a place of eternal torment (Luke 16.23-24) where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13.42)
Luke 06.25 “Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry.” The
second woe or curse is for those who have filled themselves up with the things
of this world, and not hungered for righteousness and Jesus says that they will
never be satisfied in Hell.
Luke 06.25 “Woe to you who
laugh now for you shall mourn and weep.” The third woe or curse is
those that live by the motto, “Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.” They
are the ones who will tell you that they will party in Hell. They live for the
pleasures and happiness that this world has to offer, constantly fulfilling the
lust of the flesh with no thought about where they will spend eternity. John
tells us “For
all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and
the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”
(1John 02.16)
They would love to live by the title of Joel Osteen’s book, “Everyday a
Friday”, wanting to party every night with no thought about the consequences.
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