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20 Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22 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. 23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. ~ Luke 6:20-23
Luke 6:20-49 records the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew's gospel account, we are given more words of the Lord Jesus than what we have here from Luke. Now, Luke provides a more shorter version of the sermon, though it follows exactly the same pattern. In today's text, we are given a shortened version of the beatitudes. In it is provided a description of the process of a changed heart.
20 Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22 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. 23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. ~ Luke 6:20-23
Luke 6:20-49 records the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew's gospel account, we are given more words of the Lord Jesus than what we have here from Luke. Now, Luke provides a more shorter version of the sermon, though it follows exactly the same pattern. In today's text, we are given a shortened version of the beatitudes. In it is provided a description of the process of a changed heart.
In v.20 we read, “Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” The world and all its thinking is exactly opposite the truth. The word “blessed” used here by the Lord Jesus means “most favored.”
Matthew puts it this way, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Poverty in itself is not a blessing. He’s not talking about material poverty. He’s not talking about economics. God doesn’t bless people just because they’re poor. He’s talking about spiritual poverty.
We are all broken! But, do we own that brokenness. These poor in spirit understand their bankrupt condition before God. The most wonderful thing about our sinfulness is that it makes us so desperate that all we want is real. We understand that we have absolutely no resources with which to buy God’s favor. We understand that salvation is not by works, good deeds, righteous acts, ceremonies, rituals, religious thoughts, feelings.
The remainder of v.20 reads, “For yours is the Kingdom of God.” We become heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ, possessors of everything in His Kingdom, including eternal life, forgiveness, grace, mercy, joy, hope, security, comfort, peace, love, righteousness, all that is ours.
In the future millennial reign of Christ, we will reign in the earthy Kingdom of Christ for a thousand years. And beyond that, we will enjoy all of the riches of the eternal Kingdom in the new heaven and the new earth. The millennial and eternity are yet to come, but the Kingdom is ours now.
In the beginning of v.21 we read, “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.” This hunger is a product of our spiritual poverty. It is our desperation that creates in us an intense desire for righteousness. Out of spiritual bankruptcy, we conclude, "I am a beggar and I can not earn my salvation, but I hunger for righteousness or a right relationship with God.”
So the blessed are those who have a consuming longing for a relationship with God. We want to be right with God. We want fellowship with God. We want eternal life.
The promise of this hunger is that “you will be satisfied.” Satisfied means to be fulfilled. The idea is to be completely satiated with God, His way of thinking and His way of living.
According to the remainder of v.21, “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” Saddened by our condition of spiritual bankruptcy and the absence of righteousness, we weep. This hopeless condition produces an earnestness in us with reference to God. Humility is the product and this is laughable. This is the laughter of the forgiven. This is the laughter of the unburdened. This is the laughter of the free.
In v.22 we read, “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.” People do not like, they even hate what they do not understand. And so, since we reflect the presence of the Lord Jesus through our broken lives, those in the grips of the enemy hate us.
It is our brokenness that prepares us for a personal relationship with God and others. We naturally think that we will not have a relationship with God until we are better. But this is not true. Our relationship with God begins when we invite Him into our lives.
In reality, all of us are incomplete, we all need God to function, and it is this admitting that we need help and receiving the free gift from Him that changes everything. This enables us to love ourselves for the broken people we are. And, once we have received God's presence into our lives, we are enabled to love others for the broken and flawed people that they are.
In reality, all of us are incomplete, we all need God to function, and it is this admitting that we need help and receiving the free gift from Him that changes everything. This enables us to love ourselves for the broken people we are. And, once we have received God's presence into our lives, we are enabled to love others for the broken and flawed people that they are.
Accepting our own spiritual brokenness and dependency upon God is essential to participating in this beautiful reciprocal gift that we call life.
