Luke 6:24-26

http://biblehub.com/parallelgospels/The_Sermon_on_the_Mount.htm

Instant gratification is very attractive to most people.  Very few people are interested in suffering now in order to benefit in the future.  Jesus taught that present suffering should be a source of great joy because it will result in eternal rewards.  Those who are more interested in passing comfort on earth will miss out on eternal rewards in heaven.  This stands in stark contrast with to the blessings recorded in the beatitudes.  Luke records four blessings and four woes.  The blessings were about being faithful in the face of suffering.  The woes are about the negative consequences of living for the passing comforts in this world.  None of these woes are evil in and of themselves; but they can easily become idols in our lives and cause us to lose the blessings that are associated with following Jesus.  Though there are four woes, I think they divide naturally into two categories.  The danger of these things is that they are very attractive to us.  Which means we must intentionally guard our hearts against these areas becoming idols in our hearts.

PROSPERITY: Those who are wealthy in this world are said to be receiving their comfort in full.  The problem is not with wealth in and of itself.  The problem is when we use our wealth for the purpose of promoting our own comfort above the advancement of the kingdom.  Given the choice, most of us would prefer comfort over suffering.  However, God uses suffering to make us like Jesus, which is why joy and suffering always walk hand in hand in the Scriptures.  The other woe in this category is for those who are well fed.  Jesus teaches that they will be hungry.  This sounds like a complete contradiction in our minds because it does not make sense that the well fed could be hungry.  Obviously, we are not talking about physical hunger on this earth.  Jesus is explaining that those who live for accumulating wealth and eating the fines foods will suffer lose.  Those who live for the purpose of prosperity will always find themselves hungry because they will never be satisfied.  They will always want something that is bigger and better.  God wants us to be satisfied and grateful for all He has given us no matter how much or how little that might be.  Prosperity is not sinful but it commonly leads men into the sin of worshiping money or the things money can buy.  Lots of food and lots of money can be very dangerous to our souls.  If God grants prosperity; we can be assured He plans to use those resources to further His kingdom not for making our “kingdoms” more comfortable.

POPULARITY:  The last two woes are about laughing and being well-spoken of.  This cannot mean that God wants us to stop laughing and start trying to offend people so they hate us.  God commands us to rejoice and to be above reproach as examples to a lost and dying world.  However, we cannot live for these things as a priority in our lives.  Rejoicing in the Lord and all He has done is not the same as frivolity which lives only for the present without thought for the consequences for the future.  We have many reasons for rejoicing.  God has forgiven our sins, we have the promise of the reassertion, the Word of God has been translated into our language and we have freedom to worship God as we see fit.  The Bible teaches that all who will have been redeemed should be joyful.  We all like for others to accept us and there have been times where we want someone to go do something with us that we know is wrong.  Sinful people like to drag others down instead of building them up.  God calls us to not be concerned with what other people might say or think about us.  We cannot live with the fear of man as an idol in our lives and expect our lives to be pleasing to the Lord.  Popularity is very attractive to us but it can easily become an idol in our lives.  We must always be concerned with the well-being of others.  Just because something is popular does not make it right.  Political correctness might be very attractive to us and popular, but God calls us to holiness and discipline no matter what the cost might be.

APPLICATION: We must never live for the purpose of attaining prosperity.  We have been called to worship Him and seek to call others into a right relationship with Him too.  God’s kingdom must be more important to us than our own wealth.  We must not idolize popularity.  We must walk in the fear of God and not the fear of men.

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