Sermon

February 11, 2001
Epiphany 6

Christian, You're a Contradiction in Terms!

(Luke 6:17-26) 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 coast of Tyre and Sidon, ¹⁸who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil spirits were cured, ¹⁹and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all. ²⁰Looking at his disciples, he said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. ²¹Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. ²²Blessed are you when men 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 fathers treated the prophets. 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.

In Christ Jesus, the great Healer of all that ails us, dear fellow redeemed,

Someone once observed: "A Christian is an odd fellow. He dies so he can live; forsakes in order to have; gives away so he can keep. The Christian sees the invisible, hears the inaudible, and knows those things which transcend all understanding."

Yes, when you think about it we Christians must seem incredibly odd to the world around us, but that's all right. Jesus says so here in our text. Today we shall consider his words, taking as our theme: "Christian, You're a Contradiction in Terms." For you are poor, yet rich; hungry, yet satisfied; weeping, yet laughing; excluded, yet included.

Today we find Jesus coming down from a mountain-top retreat. He has just appointed the Twelve to be his apostles and now the opportunity immediately presents itself to continue their seminary training. Luke tells us: "[Jesus] went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of [Jesus] disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon,18 who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases" (vv.17-18). Jesus showed his newly appointed apostles what ministry is all about-caring for helpless sinners. The Savior demonstrated his love for those who had been ruined by the hurt and pain sin and Satan have brought to this world. Jesus healed their diseases and drove out the demons that possessed them. But as always, the Savior's miracles were the backdrop for something even more wonderful, his gospel. Luke tells us that the crowd had come to hear Jesus. The Savior did not disappoint them. "Looking at his disciples, [Jesus] said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God" (v.20).

Perhaps Jesus' words have all of us totaling up our bank balances to see if we qualify for this blessing of his. But Jesus isn't speaking of a material poverty as we learn from his Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus explains, "Blessed are the poor in spirit..." (Matthew 5:3). Jesus is speaking of spiritual poverty. The spiritually poor are those sinners who recognize that by nature they have not one redeeming quality about them in the sight of Holy God.

Are you spiritually poor? Listen to Jesus' words in verse 24: "But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort." Jesus is warning all of us who have ever thought that our kind words or our thoughtful actions have somehow endeared us to God that we are dead wrong. If we spend our days patting ourselves on the back for thinking or saying or doing things that we believe improve our chances of getting to heaven, then we should know, these pats on the back are all the comfort we're ever going to get. Our own good works, no matter how rich in value they may be in our sight are nothing more than counterfeit currency in the sight of our God. Counting on these works to buy us heaven will most certainly earn us the punishment of hell. I ask again, are you spiritually poor? Unable to live up to the perfection God demands of all of us, each of us must declare him or herself a spiritual beggar by nature who can do nothing but plead, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner" (Luke 18:13).

Jesus brings us to our knees and, then, calls us blessed. Do you see why? With his law Jesus empties the vault of our hearts of all sinful pride and self-righteousness, and makes room to fill our hearts instead with the riches of his kingdom, riches that Jesus goes on to describe by saying: "Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied" (v. 21).

Once again, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount gives us insight into the meaning of his words and the nature of this hunger. There Jesus said: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6). Jesus is talking about a spiritual hunger for righteousness. To be righteous means to be right with God, to have a life that is holy and right in his eyes. Jesus has already showed us that we sinners can produce no such life. He further warns in verse 25 that those who are well fed, that is, full of their own righteous works here and now are going to spend eternity hungering for a taste of heaven, a taste they will never get.

But you, dear Christian, thanks to Jesus, you're a different story. You're a contradiction in terms. You are hungry, yet satisfied. How so? By convicting you and me of our sinfulness, by convincing us that we have no righteousness of our own, Jesus has created a void in our hearts that he himself promises to fill-a hunger that he alone can satisfy. You see, Jesus is the only person who has lived a life that is right in God's sight. Jesus alone has the righteousness we sinners need, the righteousness we hunger for so that we may be at peace with God right now and live with him forever. But how does Jesus' righteousness satisfy our cravings? Here's the good news Jesus has for us today and every day, the good news that he gives us his righteousness as a free gift through the faith he's worked in us by means of this very promise. Isn't it wonderful! God causes us to hunger for righteousness, and God satisfies our hunger by giving us credit for his Son's holy life. This is what Paul means when he says in 1 Corinthians 1:30-31"It is because of [God] that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become...our righteousness, holiness and redemption. ³¹Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." As often as we feed on God's Word and Sacrament we are filled to satisfaction with this assurance, we can boast in the righteous life of Jesus, claiming his perfection as our very own.

What a gracious Savior we have. Not only does he satisfy our spiritual hunger pangs, he even blesses the tears of all his people. Jesus says to his disciples: "Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh" (v. 21). Here's more evidence that we Christians are a contradiction in terms. We weep, yet we laugh.

The tears to which Jesus refers are the tears his people shed over their sins, the tears that accompany repentance. How are such tears a blessing? Consider what it means to have no such tears. Jesus says in verse 25: "Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep." Our world is filled with sinners who take great delight in sinning. They find joy and pleasure in gossiping, in stealing, in committing adultery, in hurting others, in thumbing their noses at authority. They have no regrets just excuses, the ones they offer to silence what's left of their conscience. But their excuses don't wash with Jesus. He will sentence all who live to break his commandments to the prison he built for Satan where there will be eternal weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Realize that Jesus isn't just talking to the world out there. Jesus speaks these same words to us so that they might serve as the microscope under which we examine our own lives. Is there some sin from which we are seeking pleasure, a commandment we delight in breaking? Jesus wants us to know that he won't be mocked in this way not even by those who consider themselves his closest followers. He speaks these words to lead us to fear his anger and to bring us to tears of repentance. And he means for us to hear these words again tomorrow and the next day and the day after and every day of our lives, so that he might always work in us a godly sorrow over sin, a sorrow that finds us wanting nothing more to do with sin except have it forgiven by the very Savior who promises us that he wept in hell in our place until he paid for every last one of our sins. It is the Savior's sweet forgiveness that brings us laughter now and it is his forgiveness that guarantees our eternal laughter in heaven. What a blessing it is from God to have his powerful law bringing us to tears of repentance even as his good news that we have complete pardon and peace in Christ Jesus turns our tears to laughter again and again.

It is this powerful good news alone that saves us and that moves us to live for our Savior in the face of all opposition. Jesus knows that this is how we want to live and so he offers here a final blessing: "Blessed are you when men 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 fathers treated the prophets" (vv. 22-23).

Every day of our lives we are tempted to win people's favor by hiding our religious beliefs. To this end we keep from pointing out sin where we see it and to this end we refrain from sharing the Savior with people who may mock us for doing so. Like Peter in the courtyard of the High Priest time and time we have disavowed any and all knowledge of the one named Jesus. Today we have been assured again that these sins are not held against us. The righteousness of Christ covers us. His blood washes away even our shameful sins of denial. And now he who as secured this forgiveness and spoken it to us gives us the power and desire to live our lives to his glory. He gives us the wisdom to see through what seems like a contradiction in terms-to see that what we often think is horrible is really very good. When people are busy insulting and excluding us here on earth because our words and our actions bring to light both their sin and the Savior they need, this is not something terrible. This is badge of honor and a joyful reminder that earth is only our temporary residence. Heaven is our home. Like the prophets and apostles before us, we who are excluded here for living our faith are included on the list of those who will live in heaven forever-included not because our brave testimony has earned us a place above, but because Christ has earned it for us. The great reward in heaven of which Jesus speaks is the trophy Jesus won in our name as our substitute, the trophy he now graciously gives us. This is why we want to live for him. This is why we want to speak his will and proclaim his name to all-to thank him who blesses us poor sinners with all the riches of his kingdom now and forever. Amen.