Luke 6:43-49

  Luke 6:43-49

How many times have we heard after the conviction of a person for some horrible crime their parent, friend, or spouse or the convict himself/herself says he/she is not a bad person or protests they’re really a good person. Jesus takes a different position. Jesus says that the evil that we produce and manifest comes from that which we have stored up in our hearts. Behavior is the overflow of the warehouse that we call the heart. We are the ones who admit or reject the packaging or the cargo that comes to the warehouse of the heart.

There is an unbreakable link between our hearts and our behavior. Talk is cheap, especially religious talk. Mouthing the right religious or pious words without the heart commitment is in Jesus' opinion a perfect plan for disaster. When behavior does not conform to the will of the Lord (note He said nothing about words) it is like a house built on sand. Jesus says nothing about the motivation for such a building plan. He expresses the fact that ruin is the only possibility for a house built without a foundation. Comforting and pious words that are not true words, that do not warn, are the most deadly poison. While not stated directly, we can suppose without doing violence to the Scripture, that the man who built without a foundation was shocked. He had no idea that his home would be completely ruined. For him ruin was inconceivable, the inevitable never occurred to him.

What fills out heart inevitably comes out; that is inevitable. We need to learn to ignore our own pious words and take careful, serious inventory of our hearts.

“Lord, bring your judgment on the contents of my heart. AMEN”

Luke 6:39-42

 Luke 6:39-42

There is no point at which a disciple can say, “I have arrived.” A disciple will never surpass the one who is teaching them; the most we can hope for is to be fully like the teacher. As a disciple of Christ, I am therefore in pursuit of being fully like Christ. In my pursuit of being like Jesus others may help me, but if they are not in pursuit of Christ they will blindly lead me into a pit. They may have a piece of lumber in their eye as they try to correct my vision. Others may help me along as I follow Christ, but it is Christ alone whom I follow. It is also incumbent upon me that I make sure people do not follow me as my disciple; if they follow me it is only as we follow Christ together. 

“But everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.” What do the words “fully trained” mean? It is a little difficult to translate with a single English word. It could be translated fit, repair, perfect, bring to proper condition and adjust. It is a compound of the words meaning “down” and “complete” or “fitted”. An imperfect picture is that of a jigsaw puzzle-the right piece in the right place is the perfect fit. This is an imperfect description because the word implies that the piece is being shaped and does not come ready-made. Our role as a disciple requires our shaping. The word implies that there is a place in the puzzle for each disciple, but before they can be put into the puzzle they must be trimmed, cut down, or formed. This carries an implication beyond simply learning. We have assumed that becoming a disciple is almost synonymous with learning. Oftentimes discipleship training is a little more than an academic exercise. The reality is discipleship is about reshaping us to fit the shape of Christ.  It includes knowledge, attitude and actions in which we are to be reshaped to be like Jesus.  We will never fully arrive, but the goal and the direction is clear.

“Lord, shape me by whatever means necessary that I can be like Jesus. AMEN”

Luke 6:27-38

 Luke 6:27-38

Verse 38 is often used to motivate generosity and giving. More than a few ministers have used this verse to teach that if we put money in the offering plate God will bless us with fabulous wealth. The problem is, that is not the context of this passage. It seems unlikely that Jesus would suddenly break his train of thought to give a proof text about financial generosity.

Proactive mercy is a uniquely Christian concept. Some religions teach mercy or forgiveness in a limited way. Some actually teach revenge. Most support a negative form of the golden rule, “Don't do to others the things that you would not want them to do to you.” This passage is a radical departure from everything else we see in faith systems. Jesus calls for proactive mercy. Not just mercy in response to evil perpetrated against us, but mercy actively directed toward those who have or likely will hurt us.

Giving and sharing with people who are like us has no real proof of moral quality or character; child pornographers share their pictures with each other. If we share with those with whom we have much in common we are at least as good as a child pornographer. God gives to those who are His enemies even while they are His enemies. He is kind to ungrateful and evil men. So, that is my goal, to be like my Father and to be kind to those who hold me with some antipathy. The last line in verse 37 is unnerving, “pardon and you will be pardoned”. This is not talking about earning salvation by forgiving, but rather, if we don't forgive we become a person so twisted that we will not want to be forgiven. But as we forgive we realize how precious it is and we begin to desire it. We desire it even for others. If verse 38 were paraphrased to include the context, it might read, “Give loving kindness and it will be given to you; loving kindness will fill every corner and crevice of your life and then more. The way you pour it out is the way you will want and get it.”

“God grant that I will be  person of Your kind of mercy. AMEN”

Luke 6:20-26

 Luke 6:20-26

The Sermon on the Plain is very like The Sermon on the Mount, but with a different context. Both were directed at Jesus' disciples. In this context, Jesus has just begun to be rejected by the religious elite and they were filled with rage beginning their discussions that would one day lead to his murder. Having been rejected and then appointing His apostles, Jesus tells his disciples that a completely different system of values and priorities needs to be theirs.  Notice the contrast that Jesus sets up:

Blessed are you who are poor         vs Woe to you who are rich!

Blessed are you who hunger         vs Woe to you who are well fed! 

Blessed are you who weep         vs Woe to you who laugh! 

Blessed are you when men hate you vs Woe to you when men speak well of you!

The list could have been nearly endless, but Jesus provides examples enough to demonstrate that the values of the world’s system are the opposite of the values of His kingdom. We ought to also note that the blessings are kingdom values, and relative to behavior. If a person is poor because they have given up all for the kingdom, they are blessed. But if they are poor as a result of addiction, or gambling, or investments and get-rich-quick schemes, there is no blessing there. These are kingdom values not circumstantial ones.

The four woes Jesus presents are a near perfect description of any self-centered culture especailly ours. What more could a person want other than to be well off, satisfied, having fun, and well liked? How much of our energy is directed at one of these four? But the result is that in the long run, none of them lasts. They all end in vanity and emptiness.

The Lord points out that with every blessing or woe there is a judgment. With each statement there are two parts-the current situation and the end result. The values of the world will always focus on the current condition. The disciple will always focus on the Kingdom condition. If all we look at are the current conditions, it makes no sense to be a disciple.  But if what Jesus says about the Kingdom condition is true only a fool would desire the values of this world.

Blessed are you who are poor, you possess the kingdom of God.

Woe to you who are rich there is nothing more for you.

Blessed are you who hunger now, you will be satisfied.

Woe to you who are well fed now, all you have to anticipate is hunger.

Blessed are you who weep now, you will one day laugh.

Woe to you who laugh now, you will live in deep regret. 

Blessed are you when men hate you, in the Kingdom you will be in great company.

Woe to you when men speak well of you, popular opinion is wrong and you are in the wrong company.

“Lord, help me to live the values of Your Kingdom and not this world. AMEN”

Luke 6:1-19

 Luke 6:1-19

In this passage a subtle shift occurs. The opposition of the Jewish, religious elite becomes more public. Their efforts to “get” Jesus are more pronounced, determined, and open. Why did they notice that Jesus' disciples were eating on the Sabbath? Like tattletale children they were watching for something about which they could complain. 

Was the man in the synagogue brought there as bait for an attack? Clearly, they paid close attention to him looking for a reason to attack Jesus. For Jesus, Sabbath was a good time to restore or to give life. For the religious elite, it was a good time to conspire to destroy a person. In verse 11, Luke tells us they were filled with rage. The word literally means “madness”.  It is a compound word. The first part is negative and the second is the word for reasoning facilities. They were so angry; they had lost their mind. They gave up their capacity to think.

Sadly, this malady is still with us.  Our emotions drive us to a course of action that is nothing less than idiocy. Marriages, churches, families, and friendships infected with emotional excess results in people wrecking themselves and their relationships because they lose their minds. In this case, faced with the threat to their control of the synagogue the religious people lose their minds and will ruin themselves and anyone else to protect their power and control. The problem with the fit of rage or madness is that once we have indulged in it, it becomes invasive, spreading in our lives.  It is easy to express again and again and it stays with us longer each time. The mad fury expressed here in the synagogue will finally express itself in the murder of Jesus on the cross.

“Lord, grant that my acts of kindness are so many and so obvious that they drive Your enemies to madness.  AMEN”