He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
"Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
"Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.
"Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
"Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.
"But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
"Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.
"Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.
"Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets." Luke 6:17-26 (NRSVA)
As Jesus looked out over the crowd on the hillside he saw in the faces of, perhaps thousands, the expectant hope of one individual and corporate need; every one of them wanted happiness. No matter whom – every man, woman and child was after happiness in one form or another.
• The affluent were craving some kind of fulfillment their money couldn’t buy; the poor were looking to get rich.
• The blind wondered why they couldn’t see; the sighted were unhappy with all their eyes could see.
• The old longed for the days when young bones didn’t ache so much, and the young were fighting the "system" they figured was designed and run by the old.
Every age and arena of life has its dissatisfactions. The preacher of Ecclesiastes had nailed it: "All is vanity."
And are we really any different today? Some roles have switched....The old now fight the "system" (especially in America where we idolize youth); the affluent begrudge the welfare mother who just can’t seem to make it on $200 a week. Women demand a larger share of the power.
ALL IN THE NAME OF…
"GETTING MY SHARE OF HAPPINESS"
And in answer to the crowd’s expectant looks Jesus said, Blessed are you poor, the Kingdom of Heaven is yours. It is reported that Abraham Lincoln was seen carrying two of his young sons down the sidewalk. They were hollering at the top of their decibel-producing capacity. A friend saw Abe and asked why all the fuss? What’s the matter? Lincoln hollered back across the street, What’s the matter with the whole world... I’ve got three walnuts, and two boys here.
We seem to push from day to day, event to event, seeking just the right experience, a new way, a better balance....And, just over that hilltop there will be Oz, and we’ll live happily ever after! Only it doesn’t work that way, does it? With all our searching, striving, planning and diligence, the yellow-brick road just goes on and on; it is the treadmill to nowhere.
A BIG QUESTION
Does happiness really exist?
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus explained that happiness does indeed exist. He even went so far as to clearly show us where it is to be found...And how to get there.
Who is better qualified than Jesus to draw this map? Jesus was entirely a happy (blessed) person. Remember how the children surrounded Jesus, and the crowds that flocked to Him? Do you recall the parties and weddings? Jesus always seemed to be in the center of things. People don’t flock to people who only want to talk about their recent operations. "Woe, despair and agony on me" makes a funny song because it is somewhat of a relief to hear someone else has more problems than you do. Jesus wasn’t like that.
Our text says that the way to be blessed or happy is through poverty (a word never too high on my hit parade). We need to understand these words (blessed and poor) better:
Blessed...is a special word of joy. It describes a happiness that is enjoyed by content people. The Greeks had a revered place in the language for this word. The island of Cyprus is called makaria, which is the feminine usage of the word Jesus used to say blessed. It means "the happy island". The Greeks see this fertile, lovely, garden-like paradise as a place where no man ever needs to look further to find happiness. Blessed could be described by saying, "Oh the sheer joy..."
Poor in spirit...is the one that scares us. We like "happy" – "blessed"; but poor? This calls for special investigation.
IT DOESN’T MEAN FINANCIAL POVERTY
Whew! Right? This is logical. The Christ who strongly demands that we bring truth and light into the world does not advocate intentional financial poverty, complete with slums, filth and ignorance. Kingdom living is not hard core welfare mentality.
IT DOESN’T MEAN POOR-SPIRITED
Having no spunk, self-despising, groveling, or a lack of persistence or courage is a false picture of poor in spirit. Some people think you cannot have humility and a spine.
Remember the 10 spies who were sent to scope-out Canaan land? They took one look at the "giants" in the land, and complained to Moses that they were like grasshoppers next to them. They said, we’ll get creamed if we go up against them! They weren’t poor in spirit, they were just plain chicken!
Well, if the “blessed poor” doesn’t mean financial poverty or being a door-mat, what does it mean?
Poor in spirit is the opposite of what I saw one time as I watched a mother and her two-year old. Mom was attempting to button-up a winter jacket on the toddler. Every time she’d come to another button the little one would slap her mother’s hand away and shout, "Me!" The child wasn’t obedient or teachable.
The distinctive mark of the believer is that he WANTS to empty himself, and be filled with the Spirit of God. Happiness is a reality when we develop a teachable, obedient attitude towards God. It is a consistent learning to love to do His will.
In that way the joy isn’t dependent on the circumstances of life, or on people, or even on our own ways. It is entirely internal, automatic, just like breathing, and our heartbeat. It becomes a way of life.
After
In our text we could choose to focus on any word, but there is one that drives the others. It is the word after. It is in the accusative case, meaning the hungering and thirsting after righteousness is a wide-open throttle. Being blessed is a matter of craving the righteousness of God like a starving man wants a meal; like a runner wants the finish line!
What is the righteousness of God? It is simply the goodness you see in Jesus. Put in your mind the picture of a man obsessed with the character of goodness, desiring to make that goodness his own. Keep it in mind as we look at two KINGDOM PRINCIPLES about being God’s person.
Spiritual Kingdom Principle #1.
A GOOD APPETITE IS A SIGN OF HEALTH
The number one spiritual thermometer to measure the health of your spiritual life is your appetite for spiritual things. Let’s take the temperature.
• Do you love to study God’s word?
• Do you have a deep desire to have the blessing of God on your life more than watching TV, sleeping-in?
• Is it one of the great joys of your life to be around God’s family?
• Do you love to give testimony of what God is doing in your life?
Jacob wrestled fiercely with the angel of God all night long, vowing he would never let go until he had the blessing of God. John Knox hungered and thirsted after God so intensely he cried, "Give me Scotland, or I die."
It is the NORMAL CONDITION OF A HEALTHY MORAL SOUL TO DESIRE SPIRITUAL GROWTH.
A child in the crib demands to be fed; he lets the whole county know how he feels about it. That child is healthy! Loss of appetite is a danger signal.
A common beech tree will drink 65 gallons or more each day, drawing it sometimes over 100 feet to the top branches. We still don’t know how that really happens, but the tree hungers and thirsts for it. When it stops, it is a signal that it is dead...Not dying, DEAD!
There is a parallel. You may have once realized your need, been poor in spirit; you may, in spiritual mourning over your sins been born into the kingdom; in true meekness you became a servant of God. But then, did you lose your appetite for the water of life somewhere?
You started with promise, but are you STILL hungering and thirsting for God’s Word, His righteousness? Are you serving and seeking Him like a starving, thirsting, desperate man? Or are you ignoring the hunger? Have you become spiritually-anorexic?
If so, there is still time to change. "Taste and see that the Lord is good" Said the Psalmist (Ps 34:8). Let God reclaim your appetite. Obey one Biblical truth starting today, and see what nourishment comes of it. Begin-again the growing of spiritual poverty in your soul…the hunger after God.
Spiritual Kingdom Principle #2.
YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT
Spiritually, the world is junk-food oriented. The reigning diet of perversion in America today pushes
• women as sex objects,
• materialism as the highest goal
• and personal gratification at any cost.
We have a culture of violence, porn and selfishness which are the swill that rots a believer’s spiritual digestion. There is no spiritual nourishment on the world’s diet!
Today’s average American takes in over 6 hours of TV and videos every day. In the language of nutrition we are eating the emptiest of calories. We are riding the porch rocking chair to spiritual nowhere!
You probably haven’t heard of the nardoo plant; it is native to Australia. You can grind it into a flour-like powder and bake it. It tastes fine, but has no nutritive content whatsoever. You can satisfy your appetite, and starve to death.
In the 1860’s Burke and Wills were two explorers in the Australian wilderness. They ran out of food and had to live off the land. Their journals show that between the two of them they consumed 4-5 pounds of nardoo a day…and wound up starving – literally – to death.
Listen to the last few day’s entries:
• June 14.... "I feel weaker than ever, and both Mr. B. and King are beginning to feel very unsteady in the legs."
• June 15.... "I have determined to chew tobacco and eat less nardoo, in hopes that it may induce some change in the system….
• June 20...."…I cannot understand this nardoo at all; it certainly will not agree with me in any form. We are now reduced to it alone, and we manage to get four to five pounds per day between us."
• June 23.... "All hands at home. I am so weak as to be incapable of crawling out of the Mia Mia."
• June 28, the last entry in his journal.... "Nothing now but the greatest good luck can save any of us; and as for myself, I may live four or five days if the weather continues warm. My pulse is at forty-eight, and very weak, and my legs and arms are nearly skin and bone….Starvation on nardoo is by no means very unpleasant, but for the weakness one feels, and the utter inability to move oneself, for as far as the appetite is concerned, it gives me the greatest satisfaction.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke_and_Wills#The_Dig_Tree)
In physical terms, a person would be incredibly stupid to go on eating like that. For a Christian to spend his time on worldly things it is the same death to the soul.
Jesus told the disciples at the well of Samaria that he had meat to eat they’d not known, doing the will of His father. Jesus wasn’t interested in chasing money, power, or material things. Rather, he was hungering and thirsting – as only a desperate man knows how – after the meat of the kingdom.
How’s your appetite? Will it be 30 hours of TV again this week? My friend, don’t settle for junk food, when Jesus has that which is able to make you strong.
Remember Daniel; he wouldn’t settle for the best food in all of Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom. He ate from God’s table - and even after just a few days he and his men looked better (and were better) than the king’s best.
What are you hungering and thirsting after? Does it satisfy? What do you want to be? It makes a difference, because you ARE what you eat!
What would you give to be happy? Jesus said, "Blessed ARE..." The present tense means it is an immediate reality for those who will come to Him with a humble, obedient, teachable heart.
He said "I will feed you"...but it won’t be with the spiritual "nardoo" of worldliness...it will be with the bread of life, washed down with the living water!
