Pros
update
26 April 07
Hard Truths – Luke 6:24-26
24"But
woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
25Woe to you
who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
26Woe to you
when all men speak well of you,
for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.
Last week as we looked at the opening section of this great speech by Jesus we saw that Jesus is motivating his followers by telling them about the kingdom of God: a place of joy both now and ultimately in a real world to come where wrongs will be made right because Jesus will perfectly rule it. This week we have to face some harder sayings from Jesus as he develops this idea further and points out the consequences for those who aren’t part of the kingdom of God.
Hard truths
We know that in sport for a team to function properly then sometimes we have to tell each other hard truths. Of course it’s vital that we do it in the right way, but caring for each other means that where appropriate we’re prepared to say negative things as well as positive things – otherwise how will players correct wrong aspects of their game?
On a much more serious level, Jesus doesn’t just present us with the kingdom of God as a ‘nice to have’, in a kind of “you can take it or leave it way”. The blessings for following Jesus by faith, are as great as the costs of not choosing to follow him – and in this section he spells them out for us.
What are you living for?
We need to understand these words rightly: Jesus does not have a downer on good things in this life. After all he created them and he gifted them to us. He’s not anti-rich or anti-laughter, otherwise it would be very odd that the kingdom of God is described as a lavish banquet of unceasing joy. What Jesus is saying, is that if living for being rich now (vs 24), or having our fill in this life (vs 25), or having a good reputation on earth (vs 26) is incompatible with following Jesus and that ultimately those who won’t follow Jesus are excluded from his kingdom both now and for eternity.
A choice to make
So just as for those who see how amazing Jesus is and follow him now, experience lasting joy and satisfaction in a world to come called heaven, so those who reject Jesus will be shut out from such a world. In that place of exclusion, the place that Jesus calls hell, people will be cut off from Jesus himself the source of all good things; so there will be no comfort, only dissatisfaction, mourning and weeping.
Jesus only tells people these realities to warn them, to encourage Christians to keep following him and to plead with those who don’t know him to come to him. So if you are following Jesus ask him to keep you and thank him for rescuing for heaven, and if you aren’t in the kingdom then please take the warning and turn to him in faith. There’s always a spare seat at his banquet.
Pete
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