This Sunday - You Say You Want A Revolution???

Great music, but that's not a Revolution.

This is:

20 Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said,

“God blesses you who are poor,

for the Kingdom of God is yours.
21 God blesses you who are hungry now,

for you will be satisfied.

God blesses you who weep now,

for in due time you will laugh.

22 What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man.23 When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way.

24 “What sorrow awaits you who are rich,

for you have your only happiness now.
25 What sorrow awaits you who are fat and prosperous now,

for a time of awful hunger awaits you.

What sorrow awaits you who laugh now,

for your laughing will turn to mourning and sorrow.
26 What sorrow awaits you who are praised by the crowds,

for their ancestors also praised false prophets.

27 “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you.28 Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also.30 Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back.31 Do to others as you would like them to do to you.
32 “If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them!33 And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much!34 And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return.
35 “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked.36 You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.

37 “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven.38 Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back. ”
39 Then Jesus gave the following illustration: “Can one blind person lead another? Won’t they both fall into a ditch?40 Students are not greater than their teacher. But the student who is fully trained will become like the teacher.
41 “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?42 How can you think of saying, ‘Friend, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.

43 “A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit.44 A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs never grow on thornbushes, nor grapes on bramble bushes.45 A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.

46 “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say?47 I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it.48 It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against the house, it stands firm because it is well built.49 But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”
Luke 6:20-49 (NLT)

Living Life Upside Down

I keep reading the beatitudes and marveling at how radical they were/are. If we had someone at New Hope that could pull it off, I'd get them to sing this old Truth song tomorrow right after I read the text out loud.

We lose perspective. We just lose the ability to see ourselves and our lives as God sees them. Yeah, prone to wander. All we like sheep - yeah, that too.

“LIVING LIFE UPSIDE DOWN” lyrics by Russ Lee

John has a new way of looking at life
He’s tired of his job, his kids and his wife
He says the secret to his success
Was in leaving and finding himself
Now he’s someone to somebody else.
And you say we’ve risen to a new age of truth
You’re calling it a spiritual Godly pursuit
But I say, I say,

(chorus)
What if we’ve fallen to the bottom of a well
Thinking we’ve risen to the top of a mountain
What if we’re knocking at the gates of hell
Thinking we’re heaven bound
What if we spend our lives thinking of ourselves
When we should have been thinking of each other
What if we reach up and touch the ground
To find we’re living life upside down.

We’ve got a program for saving the earth
While unborn children are denied their right to birth
One baby’s blessed, another cursed
Have we made this world better or worse
Now that the life of a tree comes first
And you say we’ve risen to a new age of light
You’re telling me what used to be wrong is now right
But I say, I say,
(repeat chorus)

What if we’re living, what if we’re living,
What if we’re living life upside down.

"Then Jesus sat down and began to teach them."

Lord speak tomorrow. Help us see what you see so we can live as you lived.

Love or something like it

Today has been one dreary mess here. Great weather to sit inside and work on tomorrow's sermon. All week long I have been reading and rereading the passage in Matthew commonly known as the "beatitudes".

You remember - the "Blessed are you..." part.

The biggest challenge tomorrow will be trying to get the hearers to grasp just how revolutionary Jesus' words were.
We have such a tendency to take all the "heat" out of Scripture that would have scalded anyone who originally heard it.

One writer said that what Jesus said would have the same impact as the "new math" did in his days in school. He could remember sitting in class having just learned how to do "long division" and the teacher telling him that though he may have gotten the right answer, he was doing it all wrong. Maybe that guy has a real math phobia. Personally I think that's too weak.

Another said that Just using the word translated "blessed" would have had people scratching their heads. They believed gods were blessed, the rich were blessed, and the dead were blessed. But the poor, hungry, meek, merciful and the like? The world doesn't work that way. Didn't then, doesn't now.

True.

Unless Jesus shows up. Then the world as we know it yields to the One who created it.

So many people today are trusting in everything except the grace of God.

Love Him. Love Jesus. Trust Him. Trust Jesus. Don't focus on what's happening anywhere else except between you and Jesus. There's no safer place in the world than the center of the will of God.

Be blessed!

Who are God's people, really?

5:1-12 When Jesus saw the large crowd, he went up the hill and sat down. His students gathered around him, and he began teaching them. This is what he said:

"The spiritually humble are God's people, for they are citizens of his new order.
"They who are deeply concerned are God's people, for they will see their ideas become reality.
"They who are gentle are his people, for they will be his partners across the land.
"They who have an unsatisfied appetite for the right are God's people, for they will be given plenty to chew on.
"The generous are God's people, for they will be treated generously.
"Those whose motives are pure are God's people, for they will have spiritual insight.
"Men of peace and good will are God's people, for they will be known throughout the land as his children.
"Those who have endured much for what's right are God's people; they are citizens of his new order.
"You all are God's people when others call you names, and harass you and tell all kinds of false tales on you just because you follow me. Be cheerful and good-humored, because your spiritual advantage is great. For that's the way they treated men of conscience in the past.

Clarence Jordan, Cotton Patch Gospels

We've been looking at the "red letters" for the last few weeks at New Hope, and I think Clarence Jordan would approve. He was famous for writing about "Jesus' Doings' and Sayings'"

I was wondering a little while ago about the effect on a person who knew nothing about Christianity, Jesus, or the church if you were to give them this as a guideline as to what a person who wanted to relate rightly to God would find themselves doing.

Would they turn out as the typical person who joins the church does?