Introduction and Context
Morning, church. Thank you for letting me come to Nathan. I appreciate it. To Dan and Luke, I've been around these guys for some years and have got to know them and see the work here, hear about the work here, all the ups and downs over the last several years.
But the good news is we are here today. The gospel is amongst us. The Holy Spirit is inside his believers. And we can grow and we can learn and we can hear from God today.
It was three weeks ago I stood on the Mount of Beatitudes. And the teacher I was with, a guy named Brian Wright, who used to pastor at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, took about 30 pastors and their wives to a study trip to Israel. One of the stops was the Mount of Beatitudes. And all he did to teach there was to read Matthew 5 through 7. And then when Nathan told me I have Luke 6, I was like, "Oh yeah," because I'm inspired there.
Now, little did I know that following weekend, I would be in Jerusalem when the current conflict or war, whatever you want to call it, started, which is probably another story for another day. One of the craziest 72 hours of my life. Maybe we can go to Peace, Love, and Pizza sometime, and I'll tell you more.
But at the Mount of Beatitudes and hearing Pastor Bryant read the Sermon on the Mount, I was just struck how extraordinary that message is.
The Structure of Luke 6
Every civilization apart from Christ throughout history has rejected the message of the Sermon on the Mount. This passage today, Luke 6:12–26, gets there. It begins the Sermon on the Mount. We see its parallel passage in Matthew 5–7.
The structure of this passage is pretty simple. It's going to introduce the apostles to us, 12–16. 17–19, we're going to see remarkable work that Jesus does, extraordinary supernatural power. And then 20–26, we're going to see the beginning of his Sermon on the Mount.
There's something that you went to lunch today with your family and you said, "Dad, call you out." I was like, "Hey, what was the message about?" I hope that you can say after our time together, God uses unlikely people and God has supernatural power. And boy, we live in an upside-down kingdom. That's what this text teaches. That's what this text shows us.
Now we have to know context. You guys preach faithfully through books, which I commend and ask you to continue. You'll know the context before this. Jesus has been teaching on the Sabbath. There's healing of a man with a withered hand. You're seeing the authority of Jesus through supernatural healings.
After this, he's going to start teaching about loving your enemies. Boy, that's hard in today's age, isn't it? That's not something easy to do: to love those who are opposed to us, to serve those who hate us. Right in the middle of that, we see.
The Foundation of Prayer
How Jesus started his public ministry with people. Look in verse 12. In these days, he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. In these days, these are the beginning of Jesus' ministry. What does he do first? Before a single unlikely person is called, before the next miracle is performed, he's praying.
And what does it say? He prays all night. I am not going to have you raise hands and ask you the question, "When's the last time you prayed all night for something?" Because the reality is it's probably never or it's been a really long time. But he prays all night and continues in prayer to God.
This is the third time we've seen this: chapter 4, verse 32; chapter 5, verse 16. Jesus modeled prayer as a way to fellowship with God, a way to communicate with Him as a model for us, too. And the first ordination service comes after much prayer.
The apostles that are about to be named are the outworking of God's providence. God's providence was revealed through prayer by the Son of God. Never underestimate time together in prayer when making important decisions, especially when it comes to choosing leadership for Milton Community Church or for any church for that matter.
We go to the Lord. We want him to work first. We want him to keep us in unity, to be right together about people we entrust for the exercising of oversight, for the instruction that they have in teaching over us and shepherding our souls.
He starts with prayer, and we can't miss that. In our devotional reading, we may just read verse 12 and go, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's nice, Jesus' way to go." But I think it's there. Luke put it there for a reason to say, here's the groundwork for the apostles being called. And when day came, he called the disciples and chose from them 12 whom he named.
The Calling of the Apostles
Apostles. Apostles are messengers. Apostles are sent ones. They are authoritative figures who go on Christ's behalf to carry his name and his message. That's what it means to be apostles. They are the big letter A apostles of the Bible. And I would encourage you, they are the last big A apostles of the Bible. There are no more men like this called who serve as the foundation, Revelation 21:14, whose names are written on the foundation, the start. They had a unique role in the ministry of Jesus. They had a unique role to play. And now he is entrusted upon those different buildings, pastors and elders in their authoritative position.
Who are these men? He lists them. Simon, who's named Peter, mentioned first, probably because he was the leader among the 12. We certainly see that in Acts. Andrew, his brother. James and John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, another James, son of Alphaeus, Simon, who was a zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
Simon Peter, a fisherman, the most prominent apostle, bold and outspoken, he became a foundational leader for the early church. Peter's mantra: speak first, think later. Then you see God sanctify him over time, and then he's delivering one of the greatest sermons at Pentecost we've ever heard. Andrew, Peter's brother, also a fisherman. He was the one who first brought Peter to Jesus. Maybe God might use you in the next couple weeks to be an Andrew for somebody to come to this Easter service and to hear the gospel and maybe believe. Who do you know that needs to hear about Jesus? Who do you know that needs to come and meet him face to face? Andrew was that guy. He brought his brother Peter.
James, this is the son of Zebedee and brother of John. So there's James and John, sons of Zebedee. Sons, like kind of son of the last name. Zebedee means thunder, so they're often known in commentaries and articles as the sons of thunder. I think that would be really cool to be an apostle and be like, "Yeah, we're the sons of thunder." Yeah, it seems like a wrestling tag team right there. James and John are on the inner circle. James, son of Zebedee, was the first apostle martyred in Acts 12. James' brother was known as the beloved disciple, or James' brother was also known as the beloved disciple. He wrote the gospel of John in Revelation.
Then there's Philip from Bethsaida, practical, straightforward. He brought Nathanael, likely Bartholomew, to Jesus. Bartholomew, often identified as Nathaniel. John 1:45 shows us that. Jesus called him a man in whom there is no deceit. Matthew, a tax collector. He worked for the IRS. In today's terms, he's the one that's going to be calling here April 15th and me like, "Time to pay up." How do you feel about those guys? How do you think Jewish people felt about tax collectors? That's what he did before Jesus called him. He wrote the gospel of Matthew.
Thomas, famous for doubting after the resurrection until he saw Jesus personally. He was courageous and loyal, even beneath his doubt. James, another James, they all start running together, son of Alpheus, sometimes called James the Less. How would you like to be known that way in history? James the Less. Really just distinguished him from the other James because little is recorded about him.
And then Simon the Zealot. If you've never thought about that, he's likely a former member of the Zealots, a radical Jewish political movement. Could you imagine Simon the Zealot amongst the crowd, and Jesus is giving roll call? Matthew, tax collector, was there. People in the crowd? Boo! You know, I don't think so. Matthew, come on. Matthew's standing with the soon-to-be-12. And then he says, Simon the Zealot. And Matthew goes, "Excuse me?" These are the guys that, this is the gang against us. They hate Rome. They'd be like the two most politically charged different people you could imagine. And Jesus says, "Come on. I'm going to change the way you live. I'm going to change what you stand for. I'm going to use you."
Then you have Judas, son of James, also called Thaddeus. Asked Jesus why he revealed himself only to disciples and not to the world in John 14. And then you have Judas Iscariot, the treasurer of the group, who ultimately betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, leading to Jesus' arrest and his crucifixion.
It's a bunch of unexpected people, isn't it? That's not who you think he would choose. Would that be who, if Jerusalem, Israel was America and Jesus came to America and chose the 12 that he was going to build his church on, would we think that's who he would go after? Fishermen, radical zealots, tax collectors? I mean, a lot of these guys had jobs because they didn't make it in the spiritual school. Everybody had spirituality to do in the Jewish tradition until a certain age. And if you had what it takes, you could.
Uneducated and Untrained Men
Move on. You could become elite. You could study under rabbis. You could become a Pharisee, a Sadducee. These were fishermen, tax collectors, zealots. These were uneducated and untrained men.
Acts 4:13 tells us that, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived the crowds that they were uneducated common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. No Pharisees, no scribes, no priests, rulers, elders amongst the people.
Did you have to ask this question, too? Here's a question I asked in this, seeing the list of the 12: Why did you pick Judas? We believe God to be all-knowing.
The Purpose of Judas
We believe His providence always wins. That in His sovereignty, everything happens the way it should. Why? Have you ever thought why did He appoint Judas Iscariot? Well, I think it's for this. I think it was to teach the others humility. Ordinations do not bestow grace, and no leader is beyond failing. They didn't need to make an idol about the position they were being invited into. It was tempting, wasn't it? There was even a time, you remember that time they were walking? They were like, "Who's going to be the best amongst us all?" It's always in us, men. It's always in us, women.
So, we need to have a little bit of humility seeing His name in here. He was used for a purpose; he was an insider that was always an outsider. And a practical application here: I would just encourage you, it's vain to look for perfection in church leadership. One pastor once told me, to be a pastor means that you disappoint people at a rate they can handle. I thought that was actually really good. We are called to be examples. We are called to shepherd the flock. We are called to be qualified, 1 Timothy. Deacons as well. Our qualification is our character, not our business savvy, not our knowledge, not our leadership skills, not our wallet and how much we give to the church. Qualification for the church office of elder, deacon is your character.
As we follow Christ, we encourage the body to follow Christ as well. But our hope is never in church leadership. Our hope is in the Chief Shepherd. Elders are undershepherds of Him. Nathan and I, we would do you a disservice if we take you to us. We take you to Jesus. He is always better, always more comforting, always more truthful, always more insightful, and will always be there for you. And I'm not trying to disappoint you. For the rest of your eternity, you're going to look to Him anyway. We're going to get out of the way at some point.
Unexpected people. If you've ever found yourself thinking, "I'm a nobody, a no-one, how could God use me?" I say, welcome to the club. God saved a 13-year-old Oklahoma boy reading his Bible, the Gospel of John, on his shag carpet of his 1972-built home. He was reading about the death, the burial, the resurrection of Christ. Played soccer and basketball. I went to public school. Just an ordinary kid in Oklahoma. God saved me and changed me and used me for ministry and set me apart. And I've gotten to be a part of an amazing journey at amazing churches. Don't you ever think you don't have anything to offer by being in here? That you're somehow JV in this room? There's no JV in Christianity. It's all varsity ball when He saves you. There's one head coach, and His name is Jesus.
This Jesus appoints 12 and then He comes down to them. Look, 17. He came down to them. Stood on a level place with a great crowd of His disciples, a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem. Judea is the region to the south. Jerusalem is the city. That means there's a lot of people from the south who are around Jesus now, moving and traveling to see Him. There are multitudes, there are disciples, and now within the disciples, there's 12. We're going to have influence in all those kinds of crowds. Jesus had His 12, He even had His three. There were a group of disciples, and then there were crowds that want to see. It's been the same then, it's the same now for us.
But why were they coming? What kind of power? What kind of authority did this guy have? Verse 18 tells us, they came to hear Him, to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowds sought to just touch Him. For power came out of Him and He healed them all. What a remarkable first day of work. They're a part of the crowd. They're here and they're seeing these things. He's like, "Roll call, 12 of you forward. I'm going to talk to you about what it means. You're going to be my apostles, my messengers, my ambassadors to take my message out."
And yet when we hear this, look back, you might miss it. Verse 18. There's something really important in 18, and then there's something secondarily important in 18. If we're reading this in our devotional life in verse 18, we go, "Who came to hear Him?" And we think that's secondary. And we think that's unimportant. But boy, when we hear "healed of their diseases and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured," we're like, "Oh, that's the show. That's what I want." There are entire denominations of churches built on the misplaced emphasis of verse 18. Did you know if you took the Bible on a timeline? And you took every major, significant miracle. We're talking creation, Red Sea parting, those kind of things. Pentecost. And you took the times when there seemed to be an extraordinary pouring out of the Holy Spirit in a sign, in a miracle.
Do you know they would average out through the history of the Bible to be about one of those every 600 years? It is not the ordinary means of ministry for Jesus. In fact, I would argue, and I hope Nathan does too, and if not, listen to him, not me, that these are signs. That I have a message to share with you, but if somebody could get healed, what's
Signs Pointing to the Message
More important? The message I'm saying or the person being healed? Those signs always point to something. Miracles or signs to say, look to the messenger, look to the message. They heard his teaching and they were healed. Why? Because he was showing them with supernatural power that his message of who he was was true.
So let's get our priorities right in Christianity. They're not to be ignored or dismissed. They're powerful things. They're God-glorifying things. They're good things, but they're not the most important things. What a sad thing to have your unclean spirit come out, but your soul be tormented in hell forever.
He comes down and he's doing these things, and they're on the first day of work, and you see this remarkable supernatural power on display. All these people are becoming convinced of Christ. The apostles, the disciples, the crowds who may become disciples, they're so desperate in this, they just want to touch him.
A lot like that woman in Magdala. She said, "If I can just touch the hem of his robe." She does. 12 years of bleeding, healed. The power is not the point. The power comes from a person. He's the point. He's the reason. What a first day of work for these guys, these unexpected people seeing supernatural.
The Upside-Down Kingdom
Power. What's the message behind the miracle worker? Verse 20 starts to do it. It's the Beatitudes and the woes. I'm going to begin, which you will carry on in the next several weeks to unpack more.
These Beatitudes and woes, we're going to start with the bad news and then finish with the good news, are like the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. They deal with things like poverty, hunger, sorrow, persecution. And these things, by the way, are things nobody wants. If I came here today and told you, "Hey, sell everything you have. Mama, all the stuff your kids, give it away. Just give it all away. Hey, and I want you to be hungry. Don't eat. Just be really hungry because that's what Christians do. Hey, and I want you to be sad all the time. Sorrow. Just Eeyores everywhere in Milton. Let's do it. And persecution, go suffer. Just let them come at you with everything." None of you are like, "Sign me up." These are things nobody wants.
But then there's this other side: money, food, entertainment, popularity. These are things, if we're really honest, we all like to run after. None of them by themselves are sinful. Abraham was rich. David was rich. Paul learned to be content with a lot and a little at times.
But his Beatitudes start to make polar contrasting ideas, or what I will call for the rest of the time, upside-down kingdom. Jesus is going to appoint 12, call them, disciple them, spend three years with them, show them amazing things, bring them on his inner circle. He's going to continue in his supernatural ministry that validates his personal preaching, teaching ministry. And it's like a mini-sermon.
You may be a great Bible student and have looked through Matthew 5 through 7 or Luke 6 and said, "Some of these things are different. Matthew's in the first person. Luke's in the second person. Some of these have these words and there's no woes in Matthew 5 through 7, but they're here." So they're different things, maybe. But I tell you what: us pastors, we have shticks. And when we get to different environments, be it a cabin meeting, be it a pillar meeting, be it a sermon at another church, a sermon at our own church, or a sermon in the hallway, our shticks come out and we say the same thing in different ways over and over.
That's what Jesus is doing. It's how Luke's recording this. This message of the kingdom, this upside-down kingdom, is on Jesus' heart. It's actually, his platform says, "This is what life in me will look like." So we shouldn't be concerned if it comes in slightly different ways as the author of the gospel, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, reveals it.
Verses 27 through 49 are going to expand this Sermon on the Mount again in the weeks to come. There is a tension between ethical present positions and spiritual realities. I've read people who think about both. I think what you'll be encouraged and instructed to hear is these are the realities that Jesus says, "My kingdom will look like this. You who come, few who are called, this is what life is going to be like and a reality for you." You're going to be happy for it. It's going to be consistent and it goes against what the entire world wants. I don't think these are ethical positions, but spiritual realities.
First, the bad news. 24, 25, and 26. We'll come back to the good news at the end.
The Warning of the Woes
Woes. These are strong, emotional. We hear "woe" and people don't say any more. "Whoa." Maybe like in a car. If somebody cuts you off on 85, you're like, "Whoa." That starts to get some of the emotion. But the strength, the language behind the language, is of utmost concern, danger to you who are in this category.
Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. That means if you have a good salary, you're in trouble. No, if this is a spiritual reality about a kingdom in Christ, woe to you who have hung on to earthly possessions as your most treasured thing. You're in the category of the rich young ruler who had done all the spiritual realities. What did Jesus say to him? "Sell everything. And then you can come after me." He's like, "Ooh, I'm troubled." That's a big ask. If you're rich, use your riches for God's glory, but never stake your eternal security in that.
Verse 25: "Woe to you who are full now, you shall be hungry." You think you're eating good now and you've never missed a meal in 30 years. There's going to come a time when you have the worst appetite and hunger for what you missed in Jesus Christ. Full, fat, and fed in this life to be miserable and longing for eternity apart from him. That's what he's starting to separate.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Young people, you need to take this one to heart. The current Western culture of America is putting so much entertainment in front of you that you are just consumers passively of things coming at you. And we laugh a lot and we jump from one adrenaline rush to the next. They build games around feeding that in your brain to just keep going and going and put money on it. Right now, there's an epidemic between 18 and 25-year-old men on online betting. And they're trying hard. I just read a Wall Street Journal article a few weeks ago talking about they're trying hard to equivocate and get the equal amount of women in that pool, 18 to 25. Because it does something when you're like, "What color is so-and-so going to wear to the Oscars?" I can put that my player is going to score 20 points or score a touchdown here, and it feeds instantaneously. And all it does is under-deliver. We may laugh at the movies, the things we watch now, we may be overwhelmed being so entertained, but we're going to mourn and weep when it really matters if our hope is not in Jesus.
Verse 26: "Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets." You need to hang on to that part. If the world speaks well of you for worldly things, that's really, really dangerous. We have to watch this in the church. I am 47, so I'm in what's called midlife. I'm not a young buck even more, though the Southern Baptist Convention might still invite me to the Young Pastors Association meeting. I'm not a senior yet. I see some wisdom in the room. You've seen some life. This world has changed faster than you'd like over the last 30 years. I'm right in the middle between both of those now. So I can have empathy to our wisdom, folks, and understanding what they're dealing with and watching a world virtually change overnight. But I'm not a young buck and naive that doesn't know what I doesn't know. I've had some life, I've had some kids, I've taken some knocks.
What I've watched, even between those two worlds in the church, as a caution to you, I'm saying this: what the world praises, you need to be very careful about bringing into here: pragmatism, business principles, seeker-sensitive movements to win people and fill these seats. Lots of churches that the world speaks well of. And I'm going to be honest with you, I think the Christian church is becoming a place that the world shouldn't speak well of. Well in our character, well in our service, well in the extraordinary upside-down things we do to them. You're going to hear that next week when we're called to love our enemies. But when it comes to what we do and how we do and the message we proclaim, I'm just here to tell you, it might turn up even more the volume that they don't like the message we say. That you're a wretched damned sinner and need help outside of yourself, not in your good works, not in your money, not in your efforts, not in your skill. You need grace to come to you.
Woe to you when all people speak well of you, so did their fathers to the false prophets. That's bad news. All these woes because of sin, all these sidetrack things we can run after and fill our life up in this life only to be without in the next life. It's the bad news. All those things are rooted in sin. Sin is your worst problem. Students, we talked about this, didn't we, on Friday night? It's the worst problem you and I have.
It's our core disposition apart from God that, without his help and without his grace, we do the things we don't want to do. And there are consequences for sin, namely the judgment of God.
But there's good news. His name is Jesus. And look at these realities.
The Promise of the Beatitudes
This guy who just brought in unexpected people and who is proving the message he speaks with supernatural power. Look at the good news here. Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Are you guys blessed your heart people? Does that come out a lot? Probably comes out with the wisdom, people, doesn't it? To be blessed here is not as simple and cavalier as "bless your heart." To be blessed is the idea in the Sermon on the Mount. Happy, joyful reality for you is this. Prosperity gospel will use it as health and wealth. It's not how Jesus used it.
When he says, "Blessed are you who are poor," all the people with less than $40,000 a year said, "Woohoo, somebody's talking about me." Matthew 5 through 7 helps us see this, this spiritual reality. Matthew clarifies even more: "Blessed are the poor in spirit." What does that mean? It means to be spiritually bankrupt. Blessed is the person who goes, "I am worse than I thought. And I don't have anything spiritually to bring. I can't bring enough money, enough works, enough sacrifices for God to love me. I am completely bankrupt in my spirituality." Blessed are you who are that way, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Salvation has always been by grace alone, through faith alone. The religious people made the mistake of thinking when the method was introduced in the tabernacle and the temple, "Oh, that's it." In fact, in the years that God was silent, Jews incorporated more laws, more things to just beef it up. And they thought, "My religious duty and my pigeons and goats and bulls, this does it. God is good. So I'm going to do the religious work. I'm going to put on the religious face." These people show up in churches now as brother, brother, sister, sister people. Got their Bible in hand. Don't read it through the week at all, but it's in hand on Sunday. Brother, brother, sister, sister, offering comes. Oh, yes. Brother. They show up to things. They engage. But you go watch their life. Monday doesn't match Sunday.
See, that's what happened to the golden generation's kids, didn't it? Well, history lesson. Men came back from seeing the atrocities of war and World War II, literally seeing death everywhere, the worst of man. They came back to America and what they do, they say, "This place needs Jesus. Everybody needs Jesus." And there was this golden age. But what happened? The 60s and 70s came. Those golden era people had kids who said, "You're not the same person on Monday that you are on Sunday." And they rebelled. And they did what sinners do. And those eras in the 60s and 70s were some of the worst for human culture, human civilization, especially for the West. They didn't recognize their bankruptcy and they didn't recognize, "I need grace to do what my performance and professionalization can't do." To be poor in spirit, you say, "I don't have anything, God. I need you to do a work for me that I cannot do for myself." And we need the grace of God to do what only it can do in our heart.
The next one, verse 21, "Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied." Matthew calls this hungering and thirsting for righteousness. There needs to be something in you that says, "I want more than this life has to offer. I know I'm spiritually bankrupt, but I want to have a relationship with God." Corinthians, Paul calls it the great exchange. A lot of times we live the first half of the great exchange. If I just came in here and said, "Hey, do you all want forgiveness of sins? That you're going to burn in hell forever if you don't have the forgiveness of sins. I'm telling you today, you can have the forgiveness of sins. Anybody want that?" We treated most of Christianity for the last 70 years that way. "Make a decision, make a decision, make a decision, make a decision." Did it at vacation Bible school? You're good. Now just live life in your own strength. Don't hunger and thirst for anything. You've made your decision. You've got your hell insurance. You're great.
That's just half the gospel. It's a good part. We need forgiveness of sins because we are spiritually bankrupt and there are consequences we have if God doesn't intervene. But when we hunger and thirst for righteousness in particular, the great exchange Paul says is not only does he give you the forgiveness of sins, he gives you his very righteousness. So that means when you and I stand before Jesus, whether we die or he comes back to get us, and we're looking. And we hear, "Why are you here?" The only reason we're there in heaven is that God sees Christ in us. Our sin gone. His righteousness, his perfect obedience, his sinless life accredited to us. And we stand there because of Christ. See, that's the kind of righteousness we need to long for. I want Jesus. I want this guy. I want more of him. Paul says in other letters that, "Hey, listen, my job as an elder is to grow you into conformity of Christ."
Not in conformity of Milton Community Church or whatever, Shadowbrook Church, Christ. Make more like Christ. That's our job. So that when you get to heaven, you're not surprised. You're like, "This is how it's always." I see now face to face what I've seen dimly through a fog or now in a steamy mirror. I see clearly. That's what we're trying to get you ready for.
Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness? Because in Christ you will be satisfied. Happy will you be in that. The reality will be. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. You weep when life is hard now and people persecute you and cancer comes and the job fails and things turn upside down. We weep. Suffering's real. Suffering isn't always because of the decisions you make. Sometimes suffering is because of what comes at you. We have an enemy who hates Jesus and hates his followers. And if you're suffering, I pray for the peace of Christ on your life, on your marriage, on your home. Today, weep now. We're with you. One day you won't be weeping anymore. It's going to be a good day for all of them.
Here's something that's becoming even more of a reality. Verse 22, blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you and spurn your name as evil. Listen to that. Hate, exclude, revile, and spurn your name as evil. Why? On the account of the Son of Man. Do you think they're going to look at your name? And Luke's thinking here, is this because my name's Luke? No, your name is Christian here. When you're a Christian, you say, "I stand for Christ in his truth and his word and humility, but I am a wretched sinner and I am saved by grace alone." People are going to hate us for that because this message is against what the world wants. It's been rejected for generation after generation after generation.
Be joyful in that, Jesus says. Every one of the apostles is going to be a martyr. Rejoice in that. Be happy about it. Be blessed. Not arrogant. There's no reason to go and be a jerk on Facebook thinking that you're filling verse 22 out. In fact, I think terrible social media should become a church discipline movement for most churches. Such a terrible witness to Christ because you think it has no implications and you can be somebody you're not. Throw out a comment or a jab or a repost. You're not suffering there. You're just stirring the pot. But when they hate you because you have a message of love and hope and forgiveness and reconciliation, a call to repentance, the world will hate you for that on the account of the Son of Man. Not on the account of you, but because of Jesus. It's Jesus whom they're rejecting.
Then finally, Luke teaches us to rejoice in that day. Leap for joy. And behold, your reward is great in heaven. For so their fathers did to the prophets. Do you see the difference there? He said, in one, here's all the things that you think you want, and there are false prophets who promote that and that are attached in history who want different things. Then there's a whole set of people who are poor, who are hungry, who are weeping, and who are hated. It says, your reward will be great. Your reward will be great. There is no amount of suffering in this life that you'll go, "Oh, that was much bigger than the reality of heaven." Like, we're not going to be in heaven because of grace alone and be like, "I mean, my life was just so bad." That life. And we just kind of live in eternal regret.
We're going to get to heaven. Everything's going to make sense. I heard a pastor say this at a conference this last week, and I thought it was good. I'm telling you, he said it, so you don't give me credit for it. Do you know what one of the things that's going to happen that Jesus himself will do when we get to heaven? He's going to wipe something away. What's he going to wipe? Tears. Pastor said this: How close does Jesus have to be to you to wipe away a tear? I can't wipe any of your tears right now. I'd have to get within arm's length. That's how personal your relationship with Jesus is going to be forever and eternity.
Everything we think is pain and sorrowful and hurt, suffering, poor, and hungry. Oh, he just comes up and he says, "Do you have that kind of kingdom hope?" Are you convinced of that Christ? You should be. You need to be. Maybe today the decision for you is this. You've heard the good news of Jesus himself, who has chosen his unexpected people, who has shown his supernatural power, who has started to tell you the realities of his kingdom in him. And maybe this is the day of your salvation where you go, "It's never made sense in my whole life until the Holy Spirit wrecked me in Luke 6. I'm convinced of Christ. How do I come to him?" Bump the person next to you. Pray during response.
Come see Nathan after. Come see me. We'd love to talk to you about putting your faith in Christ. For the rest of us, I hope you're just encouraged. I hope you're encouraged today that God uses unexpected people to do remarkable things. I can say this with 1,000% confidence: the best days of Milton Community Church are ahead of us. The best days.
It's a good thing. Where do you need to reposture this message? Rethink these realities? Repent of where you've mistaken and misstepped pursuing the things of the world, but you need to pursue the things of God. Does your conviction need strengthening? Does your life need to look a little different? Do you need to have a perspective changed today on the realities that are yours? And to make less of your suffering and more of Christ, and let that emotion weigh itself out in you.
Pray, and we're going to sing. Thank you for letting me come and stand and open this book on this day with you. Father, we love you. We need you. There are sheep who need the shepherd's voice deep in their hearts today. God, I pray that we are more convinced of who Jesus is because of what your word says today. And we know that there is work only the Holy Spirit can do now in this moment to call sinners to repentance, to respond in faith, to make much the name of Jesus.
And that's what we want to do. We want to sing in response what we believe in our heart. Not just repeat because it's what we do, but really, truly, deeply believe these words from our heart. May we talk with one another in our homes, in our small groups, with our friends about how God is shaping us through this text this week.
God, I pray that the Holy Spirit will haunt the people in this room this week with Luke 6. Something will be brought to mind. A text will be recalled and read again to change them, sanctify them until we gather on the next Lord's Day. So, God, I'm confident I can pray these prayers because of Jesus. I can stand here with this word that is not my own. God willing, it's faithfully preached from your inerrant, supernatural word that has been given to us in special revelation.
For the other churches around this community, I pray the gospel is clear and sure and true, and people would believe. You can make us different. You can make us stronger. God, may the realities of these blessings be our realities, and may the cautions and concerns of those woes be ours as well. We give you our day. We give you our time now as we close. In Jesus' name, amen.