The Great Reversal

It's good to see you. Welcome everybody. All locations, those of you in St. Louis, those of you in downtown Suffach, Western Branch, everybody online. We're continuing a series today through the Gospel of Luke, a series called Authentic, learning the unfiltered story of Jesus. Today, it's going to be uh it's going to be a little teachy. What's what's fun about this series is I feel like every weekend lines itself up uh to some degree based on we're just following where the scriptures are taking us and uh there's some that are that are preach heavy and there's some that are teach heavy and more pastoral and you really just see so much of what Jesus was showing us and teaching us and so excited to teach this today. I would ask you all locations would you go ahead and stand again to honor God's word. We're going to be in Luke chapter 6. Luke chapter 6. And I'm going to start in verse 17 and we're going to read through verse 26. Today we're going to go all the way through verse 42. It's going to be incredible. It's going to be fast. So, let's go. Be ready to take notes. You got to write as fast as I'm preaching today. So, we got to be ready. Jesus talking here in just a moment. Luke 6:1 17 talking about him. First, Luke says, "He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea from Jerusalem and from the coastal region around Tyrie and Sidon who had come to hear him and be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured. The people all tried to touch him because power was coming from him and healing them all." looking at his disciples, he said, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy because great is your reward in heaven for that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets. God, we thank you that we have your word. And I ask you, Holy Spirit, would you teach us? Would you reveal yourself to us through these words? May we know what they mean in this moment for our life, God? Would you change us? Would you make us better by your word and by your spirit in Jesus name. Amen. Can have a seat. Somewhat of a parallel passage here in Luke chapter 6. what's commonly referred to as the biatitudes in Matthew chapter 5 when Jesus teaches the sermon on the mount. Luke who wrote the gospel of Luke, he's the one though that really goes after this thing, these these woes. And I don't know if you read that text like me, but when I read those words, having uh read them so many times, especially over the past couple of weeks, I'm like, this is very complicated for my life right now. I want to be not I want the blessing to be on the woes and the woes to be on the blessings. Most of us, if we're honest and we read this scripture, we wouldn't want to agree with what Jesus is saying. And if we're not careful, it could cause any of us to go into, I don't want to say, panic, but it would cause some of us to say, "Well, what does it really look like then to follow Jesus?" I would offer to us that at least in my lifetime and maybe then for you that are in the same generation as me, we often just take the scriptures and we just ignore them if we can't figure out what it means. >> We often come to the Bible and we just pretend it was for back then and not for now because we can't understand what would it be that Jesus is trying to teach us today. This is Jesus in the somewhat beginning of his three years of earthly ministry where he's revealing himself. He's revealing the kingdom of God. He demonstrates that he came to the poor to show that the gospel to show that he Christianity, the way of Jesus was for all people, that it wasn't reserved for those who were the elite, for those who were the wealthy, but that if it's good news, it had to be good news for the poor. also the people he calls to be his disciples. Uh some were were were uh somewhat maybe we would consider middle class but some were very poor. He's he's not looking to go who already has influence that I could bring into my group of leaders. He calls and he's demonstrating that the way Jesus works is not the way of the world. Now if we can pause and think about this, we're talking about 2,000 years ago. There has already been thousands of years of history. There already is a belief. So here's what happens to us. Um we all think we're living in the smartest generation. >> And this has happened in every generation. So recognize around 30 AD, you know, so what is that 1,996 years ago when Jesus is is talking and this is happening, there has already been thousands of years of technological advances. There has already been culture as far as it was known moving forward. This isn't like nothing existed and then Jesus was born and then Jesus starts talking to all these people that just plopped on the earth. No, they have ways of life. They have dreams. They have desires. They want to be successful. They want their family to be healthy. They want to know. The Jewish people, they want to know what does God want them to do? They're trying to figure out life much of the same way you and I are trying to figure out life. And Jesus is doing this teaching here. we see in Luke chapter 6 again referencing a parallel from Matthew chapter 5 going I want you to know what I'm bringing to bear right now is totally different than all the advances and all the understanding you've known before that the goal of life changes now that the purpose of life we must understand completely transforms and changes right now Jesus is bringing a great reversal to the mindset of humanity in Luke chapter that what you thought you were supposed to go after in life is not what you're supposed to go after in life. That the idea that you need to be blessed the way the world calls blessing is not what I call blessing. talked about this some back in December when we started this series about the angel coming to Mary and talking about her being favored and we what is the favor of God, right? The favor of God. If you were here, that was a few months ago now when we started this series, but if you were here a few months ago, we talked about how we talk about the favor of God as I got a promotion at work. I got a big raise, I got a good parking spot, I got all that. But in the Bible, we often see the favor of God is really complicating your life, having to go through hell on earth. Jesus is doubling down. He's like, "Listen, there's a blessing when it seems like things aren't going well." And I'm like, "No, that's not a blessing. A blessing is promotion. A blessing is health. A blessing is increase." Here's the reason this really matters everybody. Is if we say this, well, I'm blessed by God because I didn't get that because I got that job. Does that mean the person who didn't get that job is not blessed by God? >> If we decide to build a theology that says the blessing of God is the same as the American dream, we are not following the Bible. at all. So Jesus is working this great reversal here in Luke chapter 6 to say I want you to understand something. My blessing comes to people who are dependent on me. Who's dependent on God? The poor. Who's dependent on God? People who find themselves with other people who always seem to be against them. Who's dependent on God? People who are just hungering. It's like, Lord, I need you. I want to see who is who is blessed. The people who are dependent on God. But he uses the word woe. I don't like that word. >> Preferably he would say like things won't go as well potentially, maybe, perhaps. >> But no, he just comes out swinging. Wo to you who are rich, you've already received your comfort. Wo to you who are wellfed now you will go hungry. Wo to you who laugh. You're going to mourn and weep. This is not fun Bible. Now let's be clear. Jesus is not saying it's awesome to be poor and terrible to be rich. He's not saying that grief is fun. He's not saying hunger is enjoyable. What Jesus is saying is that your blessing is not dependent on your conditions. What Jesus is saying, by the way, the word blessing here, people debate this all the time, but it is it was often used in the original language to mean happiness. What Jesus is saying is your happiness is never circumstantial if you're in the kingdom of God. Now, he addresses these woes because of the same reality that you and I live with today. We believe that blessing is when you don't need God. >> Think about that for a moment. We believe we're blessed when we have perfect health, big bank accounts, everything in our relationships is going awesome. We're like, I mean, yeah, I love God, but I mean, like, everything is perfect. And you know what? There's been a danger for thousands of years when everything is perfect. The human response is to start to go, I got this. Maybe I don't actually need to surrender my life to Jesus. Which by the way, being Christians in 2026, it's why the pattern at least again 15 years of pastoring, what I've watched happen is people will be in church and then things start to go good with their life and then they will leave church and then they get a difficult situation again and then they come back to church because there's this knowing all of us have a we all know there's a gap if God's not filling it. We don't all know how to verbalize that. But the human condition, right, is if it's good, I think that I'm good. But when it's not good, I want some help. God wants us to know. The danger of everything going well is that you start to believe that is where your comfort is. That is where your life is. That is where happiness is. That is where blessing is. And you almost turn your back on God. Here's how I'd love for you to write it down this weekend. Dependence on God is greater than comfort without God. Dependence on God is greater than comfort without God. I personally want to be comfortable. I want everything to go great in my life. I'm really frustrated when it's difficult. I want to get to the place to be like what Jesus is teaching where I'm convinced that my happiness is not circumstantial. where I'm convinced that my comfort doesn't come from material things. Was doing a little research to try to see how science is proving the Bible. It's what science does if you didn't know. In psychology, there's a concept called the hedonic treadmill. [snorts] It's the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive events. When we get wealth, promotion, or comfort, our baseline just shifts. We adapt. We get bored and we we need more of the same to feel the same high. Yeah, >> man. If I had $1,000, I would be ultimate happy. And then you get $1,000 and you're like, if I get $10,000, I will be ultimate happy. And we keep thinking, right, it's just that thing. It's just that. And this is what we do. And that's what Jesus is addressing. Woe to you who think that's the thing because if you do, you will always miss the blessing of God on your life. It's a reversal Jesus is bringing to our life. Then he jumps to verse 37, 27, sorry, verse 27. We can't skip this section. It's like three passages we're walking through today. Giving myself an hour for each. It's verse 27. Totally kidding. For those of you that are new, you're like, "Oh my gosh." Um, he Jesus says in the beginning of verse 27, "But to you who are listening, I say Jesus was already addressing the reality that there's some of you right now who hear my voice and are not listening." but to you who are open, to you who actually want to hear what Jesus has to say. And so, as I studied for today, I I simply wanted to throw this out there for us as a church and for each of us individuals, as men and women, are you open to the Holy Spirit changing your mindset? >> Are you open to the scriptures actually being the truth that you live by? Are you open to the fact that what Jesus says is actually the best way you could live your life? So Jesus says, "But to you who are listening, I say love your enemies." I kind of want to go back to the woes. He says, "Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. Someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you. And if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others what you would have them do to you. Isn't it interesting? This is just fun to me. Verse 31. This might be your first Sunday in church, but you probably have heard the golden rule. >> Do to others as you would have them do to you. Coming right on the heels of Jesus saying, "Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. If you get slapped, turn it off the other cheek. If someone steals something from you, give them something else." We don't see those things quoted near as often as the golden rule. He goes, "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the most high, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your father is merciful. That's a lot. That's a lot. Here's what I noticed in this text. Jesus doesn't tell us what to feel. Jesus tells us how to act. Jesus does not tell you and I what to feel. He tells us how to act. Which is important right now because we are living in the feelings generation, which I think is honestly just response to the suppress all of your feelings generation. But as a result, what's happened is even when it comes to following Jesus, we have elevated our feelings often above truth. and what God has for our lives are not going to be walked out by us fully if we decide what we're going to do or not do based on how we feel. Some of you came to church today not because you felt like it, but because you love Jesus. You're a Christian and you go, "I go to church on Sunday." You didn't have to feel like it. You just said, "I'm going to go ahead and do the action. I know that I do because I love Jesus." It's almost formulaic, I think, what what Jesus shows us here in this passage. And I want to walk through each thing he said really quickly and talk about how it's a a literal part of our of our very being. We love from the heart. In fact, will you put that slide up real quick? Um, so we love from the heart, right? We do good with our hands. We bless with our mouth. We pray with our eyes. We lend with our resources. Let's talk about each one quickly. First, he says, "Love your enemies." There's three common words in the New Testament, in the Greek language for the word love that are translated. They mean three different things. One word uh speaks to romantic love. One word speaks to brotherly love. The other third word, this word agape, speaks to sacrificial love. Jesus does not say when it comes to your enemies be be like a friend to them. Jesus says love them as a decision point of sacrifice. That it is not emotion. It is not warm fuzzy feelings. It is a decision first love. He doesn't say feel love. He says act. He doesn't say just pretend. He says just decide and do it. Love doesn't mean that you agree. Love doesn't mean that you just stay silent on conviction. It doesn't mean that you pretend truth doesn't matter. Love means you don't mock them. Love means that you don't call them names. Isn't it hilarious as adults? Which I know there's, you know, younger people in the room, too, but isn't it hilarious as adults? I remember growing up as a kid being told not to call people names. Like if you have ever in your life watched any news or seen any social media, I'm like, "Oh my gosh, everybody just calls people names." I feel like it's crazy. Sorry, I'm just having a moment of realization right now. Love means you don't do that. like you genuinely don't do that. Love means you don't reduce people to a label. You love from your heart. Love means you don't just try not to go off on somebody and then go, "Oh, good. I love them." Love is not anger repressed. I'm thinking about this of I think that if we're not careful, we think we're loving because we don't say what we really think. But the loving aspect God is after is that we change what we think. How miserable it would be for us to try to live just suppressing what we really think and feel so that we could say we love. [snorts] So God's like, we got to get this heart By the way, the context of this love your enemies and you read what Jesus said, he's making this assumption based on the second part that we would already do this for the people we love. So even as I talk about this today, let's remember that when we say love our enemies in this way and what it means it also means we should love our spouse and our kids and our friends and our family. It says do good. Do good with your do good is the action. It's what how do how do we actually do something to help people? How do we share information to help people succeed? How do we make sure we're not secretly sabotaging people? We're not passive, but it's active good. Our tendency when it comes to people who are against us or people who are enemies, we just if we just avoid them, good. Jesus is like, "Hey, here's the thing. You need to do good for them. Help them get a job." No. Serve them. I would rather not. To do good means not just to avoid but to actively pursue their good. I'm teaching the text today, not what I think is easy, just for clarity. The next thing he says is to bless them. Bless those who curse you. We bless with our mouth. Blessing means you declare verbally what could be, not that you build a case against what's happened. We'll talk about this in a couple weeks, but your heart and your mouth, by the way, must align because ultimately whatever's in your heart is going to come out of your mouth. I was thinking about this just from a kid's perspective. Just something something for parents, you know, when your when your kid disrespects you, they feel like an enemy. I think sometimes we need to it's it's all right just to be honest and be like when people don't treat you the way you want to be treated they're not doing the golden rule therefore they're acting like an enemy. An example that I know I think about as a parent is you could say you're always like this or you could bless them and say I know what God has for you and it's good. When you think about the words that come out of your mouth to enemies, to those closest to you, to the moments that go well and don't go and and aren't what you would choose, are the words coming out of your mouth prophetically declaring the blessing of God. This is what Jesus said his followers are called to do. Speak life, not labels. We pray with our eyes. I was thinking about this one and I was like, well, if we love with our heart, we bless with our mouth, what do we pray with? Here's why I believe we pray with our eyes. [snorts] The scriptures tell us to fix our eyes on Jesus. When we pray, the way that God calls us to pray, when we pray, we're looking to Jesus in the context of Jesus teaching about your enemies. Here's why this matters. Because if the person who feels like your enemy is right in front of you in this moment and you're like, I'm going to pray for them, you better stop looking at them. Because if you keep looking at them, let's just This is just all friends. We're all friends right here. If you just keep looking at them, you might prefer to slap them. But the context does, the scriptures didn't say slap them. It said pray for them. I've got to get my eyes off of them and up to Jesus. >> And if I'm willing to get my eyes off of them and up to Jesus, then I can actually see God begin to work. Right? Write this down. When you pray, you are looking at Jesus, not the person. And this is true for anyone. When you pray, you're taking your eyes off the person. You're taking your eyes off the problem. And instead, you're getting your eyes on Jesus. The person and the problem is not going to solve it. Jesus is going to solve it. When we pray, we're pulling the power of heaven into the earth. When we pray, we're saying, "God, I need you to move in this situation." We pray based on our eyes. You know that old song, turn your eyes on Jesus. Don't have time to sing it, but I singing it in my head. Then he says, lend, give with your resources, with your assets. [snorts] Jesus is asking this question to us. Where is your security? Where is your ultimate security? Most relationships in life are 50/50. I'll give if you give. Jesus says, "Give even if you don't get. Be free. Be generous. It's about your heart. It's about your hands. It's about your mouth. It's about your eyes. It's about your resources. Now, why does this matter so much? Well, I want to draw us back to verse 30. [snorts] Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great. John who wrote the Gospel of John 1, 2, and 3 John said this in 2 John 8. Watch yourselves so that you don't lose what we have worked for, but that you may receive a full reward. He said, "Watch yourselves so that you may receive a full reward." Jesus is saying you need to not be focused on yourself. You need to be focused on others [snorts] so that you will get the reward God has for your life. In context, all of this feels very complicated and difficult to me if I'm honest. to love and to do this. But I have this desire in my heart and maybe you would have it in your heart. I want the full reward. >> I want the full reward that God's offering. He said it in Luke chapter 6 that there is the reward from the father. And then John said that there's a full reward available to the believer. And I'm saying, God, I want I want the reward. I don't want the temporary earthly reward. Help me get my faith in the right place. Help me get my focus in the right place. I want the full reward. And then he finishes the last part of today's message. [snorts] Verse 37. It just gets harder. Do not judge and you will not be judged. Which is where we get only God can judge me right across our chest tattoos. If you have that, happy for you. Glad you're here. Don't need to show me right now, but [clears throat] do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and it will be given to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Then he told them this parable. Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, "Brother, let me take that speck out of your eye when you yourself self fail to see the plank in your own eye, you hypocrite. First take the plank out of your eye, then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." maybe one of the longest passages today 17-42 of Jesus that I feel like is just so power punched. You've got to reverse the way you think and way you live. >> The way of Jesus [snorts] is just it is so different. >> He says, "Judge, real quick, I want to look at these three words." He says, "Do not judge." To judge means to separate, evaluate, to decide, to pass a verdict. Typically used in a legal context, it means that you are the one who has the authority to pass a final sentence on someone. What Jesus is saying is you are not the one who is the final authority on someone else. He's targeting this posture of superiority. He's targeting this posture where we begin to look at people and say, "I know what your motive was. I know why you did what you did." Jesus says, "Don't judge." Why? Because you don't want to be judged. Then he says, "Do not condemn." So judgment saying, "Do not judge." Jesus says don't put yourself as the one who is the authority in someone else's life to to say I get to say why then he says do not condemn which is just the next step of going if if you've said you're the judge right don't condemn and say I get to say you're guilty I get to say you're wrong I get to say here's the sentence for all your wrongdoing if you want to think about it like this to judge is to form a verdict. To condemn is to hand down the penalty. And Jesus goes, "This isn't how it's going to work in my kingdom amongst each other." So he says, "Do not judge. Do not condemn." And then he throws the word in, "Forgive." Again, primarily thinking through a legal context, to forgive means to release, to set free, to dismiss, to let go. So Jesus says, "Here's how my follower to those who are willing to listen. Love your enemies." All that we just went through. And here's the other thing. Do not judge. Don't put yourself as the superior authority over someone else. Don't put yourself as the one who condemns another human. If you ever maybe even start to feel that way, let me remind you, forgive. Just forgive. It's why I've said for years, and it is not easy, but I am committed as best I can to live an unoffendable life. Jesus calls you and I to live an unoffendable life. If you and I want to feel a bit more happy, we need to live an unoffendable life. Because just like Jesus said in the Gospel of John, trouble was sure to come. Reason to be offended is sure to come today and tomorrow. Condemnation change people chains people to their worst moments. That's why we don't condemn you and I. We don't want to be judged by our worst moment. If I said, "Who thinks that that we should be judged by our worst moment?" We'd all say, "No, I wasn't. I'm still not at my best. I'm still trying to get there. When we condemn, we say, "That's who you are." You know who you see this the most, by the way? Traffic. Here's what it looks like in case you've never been in a car. You're driving in the You're driving on the highway. Car cuts you off and almost hits you. You idiot. You don't know how to drive. How'd you even get a license? My kids are in the car. You could have killed us. What's wrong with you? YOU KNOW, WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING. Then you're driving. You accidentally start to cut somebody off. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, they can't hear me. I didn't mean to do that. Those emotions are very different. >> I feel that you probably don't talk to yourself the same way you talked to the other driver. People [snorts] tend to judge others [snorts] character based on their behavior. And we tend to ask other people to only ever judge our character on our character, our behavior on our behavior. Final thing that Jesus said before he went to the parables here is he says, "Give and it will be given to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together, running over." By the way, you know, because I've been doing this for a minute, Luke 6:38 [snorts] has been used as the tithing verse so many times, which just makes me smile because it is true about money in context right here. It's just as much true about judgment and it's just as much true about condemnation and it's just as much true about forgiveness. Luke 6:38 is really the summary of this whole passage. I believe Jesus is asking the question, what world do you want to live in? What world do you want to live in? Because what you and I get to decide is we get to decide what measurement we will live by. You and I get to decide the measure of judgment we give. You and I get to decide the measure of condemnation we give. You and I get to decide the measure of forgiveness. You and I get to decide the measure of generosity we live from. Nobody else can decide that for us. We individually today, no matter how old you are, we get to decide the measure of those things that we give. And the promise from Jesus in Luke chapter 6 verse 38 is he says which whatever you choose the way you give it will be given to you good measure pressed down shaken together running over and poured into your lap for with the measure you use it will be measured to you which when you think about that and you go back to love your enemies when you think about that and you go to pray for those who hurt You you go, "Well, I want to be receiving the prayers of people." When you think about judgment, I don't want to receive judgment pressed down, shaken together, overflowing in my lap. I would sure like to receive forgiveness pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing in my lap. You can write it down like this. The measure you use becomes the world you live in. What world do you want to live in a life church? What world do you want to live in? It's one of my favorite verses. Proverbs, the world of the generous gets larger and larger. That's why I when when when I personally I mean Megan and I, we do our best to be as generous as we can because we've watched this play out in our life, but when I'm around people too that practice radical generosity with their finances, it's incredible because I watch how their world is always getting bigger and bigger, relationships, people. I I I think if if we combine that with what Jesus said, man, those who are who are so generous with forgiveness, maybe the world gets bigger and bigger. Those are those who are so generous with love, the world gets bigger and bigger. Generous with doing good, gener generous with prayer, generous with blessing. One prophetic word out of our mouth over somebody else could change everything about them. Do you know how many few people are ever blessed personally by someone else that just says, "I see you. I believe God's got good for you. You're a son of God. You're a daughter of God. Never turn your back on him. He's with you." Just to hear that spoken over you. Everybody needs if there's pe family members in your life you've never said that over them say that over them today. Friends that you're close to, say that over. Make sure they know. Make sure they receive a blessing over their life. It could change everything. Would you close your eyes with me? Lord, I'm asking you with all the faith I with all the faith I have to help us as a community to live out this teaching. Jesus, I pray that you would help us truly know how to understand it's so much better to be dependent on you than to be comfortable without you. Jesus, would you help us understand how to view those who they seem to be against us? God, would you would you help us by your spirit respond to them in the way that you call us to respond to them? God, would you give us the ability to love, to not judge, Lord, the ability to to not condemn, but to give grace. I pray you'd help every one of us in this room, some, Lord, that are holding on to an offense that right now just release it. Would you help them, Holy Spirit, release it and walk in the freedom of forgiveness? Let it let it completely leave them. I pray. I pray for generosity for the spirit that says these these resources are from God for God. Freely I've received freely I give. I ask you Lord that we would measure how we live and how we give based on this scripture to mark our lives. May the blessing of God which is dependence on you rest on everyone here today in Jesus name. Amen.