And this is an interesting question to think about. Kids are, by the way, welcome to take off for a kids church at this time. They’re eager to go. Let them run free. Jesus has been calling his apostles to himself.

He’s prayed all night before choosing them. And now we see he’s getting into really what is the meat of his kingdom message here beginning in this passage. And he talks about what is the good life, the blessed life. And so what comes to mind when you think of the good life? Is it, you know, someone who’s maybe got a big bank account?

Someone who’s driving a nice car, has a great career, has a beautiful house. Is that the good life? Maybe it’s it’s having family and friends that love you and care about you. Maybe it’s being in a healthy body, having a healthy mental state, healthy mind. There are many ways that I think our world can think of what that looks like as the good life is mentioned.

You can think of a happy couple who’s posting an Instagram picture of themselves and and they’re talking about how everything is perfect in their life. Everything’s going well. Their their kids are excelling in everything and they’re in front of their beautiful new house and they put hashtag blessed, right? That’s that’s how many of us would would see it. Or you might think of, you know, someone who’s getting a promotion or maybe a woman who’s been working towards a degree for a very long time and is finally there.

That could be called the blessed life. Basically, the blessed life is having all the things, at least this is how we commonly interpret it, having all the things we’ve most hoped for delivered. That’s when we can say we’re blessed. And of course, those are blessings. All those things I described, they’re they’re good things.

And it’s good to give thanks to God for every blessing he gives. We want to acknowledge him as the giver of all good things. But Jesus, as we’ll see in this passage, has a very countercultural message for us. And it’s jarring. It’s always jarring because Jesus comes to us with a message from heaven.

And it doesn’t always fit into our categories here on earth. We don’t always receive it very well because our natural inclination is to say, “No, things should work this way.” And Jesus says, “There’s a better way. There’s a higher approach to what I’m talking about. So I call these kingdom reversals.

And basically Jesus is challenging what common assumptions we have about reality. We live in a very secular culture. It tends to forget first of all that there is a God and that our existence can only be understood, our meaning can only be found in him. The Bible says we’re all going to give an account one day. But secularism says you are your own authority.

You get to decide what meaning you want to have in this life. You get to choose your identity. You get to choose what is good. You get to decide what the blessed life is to you. And the question is who’s right?

Is Jesus or our culture’s picture of the American dream more accurate? One says you can take up your cross and follow him. The other says you can take up a second mortgage for that granite countertop. One says it’s more blessed to give than to receive. The other says if you want it, you deserve it.

You get it. It’s all about you. Jesus says that following him may look like losing in the world’s eyes. It might look like you’re a reject. It might look like you’re an outsider, but in reality, you’re winning forever if you follow his path.

And in this p passage, he’s asking us to step into his kingdom vision. He’s saying, “If you will embrace what I’m telling you about my kingdom, you’re going to see the world from a completely different vantage point. You’re going to understand what true blessing looks like, and you’re going to experience the good life I have for you.” So, here’s the big idea this morning. King Jesus challenges the worldly assumptions of blessing and offers a radical new definition of the good life.

And it’s not just about eternity someday. It’s about eternity transforming the here and now world we live in today. So if you would please stand for the reading of God’s holy and perfect word. Luke chapter 6. And we’re beginning in verse 17 here.

Luke says, “And he came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the sea coast of Ty and Sid and who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases.” And whose were and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowds sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all. And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples and said, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, and when re and revile you and spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For so their fathers did to the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets. Thank you. You may be seated.

If you have a redletter Bible with you, then you’ll notice that we’re getting into a section that has a lot of red lettering. And that’s because in this passage beginning in verse 20 and going all the way to the end of the chapter, it is all rich with Jesus’s teaching, pure Jesus on the kingdom. We’ve seen him teaching before on this in Luke, but this is really where you get to the heart of it. And notice Luke says that Jesus is preaching on a level place. Now, what he’s doing there, Luke is calling attention to Jesus giving us a living demonstration of what he’s about to teach about.

We tend to put people in different levels, different hierarchies and assign different values to people in this world based on, you know, how much money you make, where you live, your your popularity, your good looks, your career success. We put people into categories. But Jesus says in his kingdom, the ground is level. And so, he’s even going to preach in a level place to emphasize it’s level. Rich and poor stand on the same footing.

There is no ultimate spiritual advantage to being poor. There’s no ultimate spiritual advantage to being rich, last or first. And so here he’s standing on the level. And this is much of a a mirror of the sermon on the mount, although it’s a more shortened version of that same basic message. Jesus likely when he was traveling around would preach the same message in different places.

And so I would say that this is a different time from what Matthew has in five Matthew 5:7, but it’s the same basic message he’s teaching here. Jesus came down. He came down after praying all night. He comes down and he’s with the people. And even that is a picture of the kingdom, which is heaven coming down and invading our world and transforming our values, helping us see things from a different perspective because God is here.

In your notes. The kingdom of God is about the king descending to us in grace in order to raise us up. Christianity is all about grace. It’s not about are you religious enough? Are you good enough?

Do you measure up for God? It’s about God who is good, who has loved us completely and has done everything necessary to bring us into his kingdom through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. And we’re told that before preaching, Jesus was healing and casting out demons. In other words, he was showing the power of the kingdom before teaching on the kingdom. He’s telling us, “This is what I came to do.

I came to heal people.” Right now, in the Middle East, we have great need of healing. That this world needs healing. We need healing. And Jesus is that divine healer.

He came into our midst. He didn’t just stand from afar and tell us what we need to do to get to him. He came down. He descended all the way and he lived as a poor man. Jesus at one point said, “You know, foxes even have holes.

The birds have nests. The son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” He came not with some great wealth or great prestige. He came as the most simple and poor lifestyle. Luke says there was a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the sea coast of Ty and Siden.

And so people are are coming from Jerusalem. That’s the the place of course the capital of Israel, the the religious elites are coming. People who have made great wealth in the city there have come. People from Ty and Siden, modern day Lebanon are streaming. These are Gentiles now coming to hear Jesus teach.

They’re coming to be healed and to listen to him. And on this day, there were no doubts that Jesus has the power to heal. It says that people were even scrambling to get up close to him and touch him because just to touch him meant that his healing power would come out and restore them and make them whole. It’s this amazing picture of people just streaming to Jesus from all over the land and he’s about to teach them about the kingdom that he’s already shown them. He’s showing and telling what the kingdom is like.

So Jesus as he’s there, he’s he’s beginning by first challenging assumptions. And Jesus will do this all through the gospels. You know, just when the religious leaders think, you know, we can we can get this guy. We can we can get him trapped in his words. We can say just the right thing that’s going to mess him up and throw him off his game.

And Jesus always has this perfect response. And Jesus, when he’s teaching, when he’s bringing the offensive or bringing the the teaching that needs to be heard, he is often countering what everybody believes. He’s saying things that people wouldn’t think are true. Here’s what you need to know about the first century context. At this time, full bellies and big bank accounts meant you are blessed by God.

They understood this based on tradition and based on what was taught and on certain interpretations of Old Testament passages. The blessings and curses we see in Deuteronomy and other places kind of allude to this. But Roman occupied Israel at this time was a very stratified society. You had people of very very different income levels, very different life situations, all kind of living in a same the same area. You had the religious leaders, the tax collectors, and a group called the Sadducees who would eventually be exposed for who they were.

But they basically at this time were were making compromises, pretending, using their religious cards to get advantages and and get access to certain things like temple rights and things like that. But they were actually the ones who were basically bowing down to all that Rome asked. They were compromising with their Roman overlords and because of that they were doing pretty well financially. So these were the guys who were riding the camels called Tesla and they were the ones wearing the the Rolex watches and you know not the cheap knockoffs. These guys were doing well for themselves and it was all because of their compromising.

But for most of Israel, it was not a very prosperous time. The average person living at this time in Israel was destitute. They were commonly looking for the next meal. They didn’t know where that would come from. They would often because of the taxation that was so burdensome, they would struggle to put food on the table for their family.

They were the marginalized, the hungry, the hurting. These are the people that are streaming to Jesus right now. The people that were trampled by the Roman engine and they’re coming to Jesus in hopes that because he is the Messiah that he’s claiming to be the Messiah that he is going to set things right. He’s going to bring that hope and change that the Messiah is supposed to bring. On one level, we could say that just about everyone in the US is rich compared to the people at this time.

On another level though, with rising costs and groceries and housing and all the other things that are happening, many Americans today know what it’s like to have financial insecurity. In Portland today, there are about 12% of the population is below the poverty line. That’s 81,000 people who lack the income for meeting basic needs like food, clothing, and housing. 81,000 people. So, while it’s true there are other countries that have far worse poverty, we could gladly admit that.

But in our country, we do have poverty. We do have people struggling. We do have people wondering, “How do I make ends meet?” And Jesus cares about the poor. They’re made in God’s image and they matter to him.

He doesn’t look at people and say, you know, you have more value because of what you make or you have more value because of what you own. In fact, he says to his disciples, verse 20, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.” What Jesus says here would have sounded radical.

It wouldn’t have made sense. It was the opposite of their expectations. In their minds, the blessed are the healthy, wealthy, and comfy. And Jesus says, “Actually, I’m going to turn that on its head.” So, how can that be?

What Jesus is doing here is he’s calling us to a whole new way of life. Seeing the world from a whole different lens than what we’re used to. And this passage is called the beatitude. That means the the attitude or the state of blessing or happiness. He wants us to see that true blessing is found in a relationship with him.

It’s found in his kingdom. It’s about inheriting a kingdom that will last forever, but it’s available right now. He says it’s not just the kingdom someday. It’s the kingdom that is yours. He uses the present tense.

It’s yours now, not yours someday in the distant future. This isn’t pie in the sky by and by when you die. This is Jesus talking about reality here and now. This is available to you. He says, “The kingdom that I bring is not just this distant reality.

It is here. I’ve announced it and I’ve brought it. So in your notes, the kingdom belongs to those who suffer loss for the sake of King Jesus. Now the reason this can be is that Jesus himself has brought the kingdom and his person and work. But he’s made it very clear the only way to go go in the only way to enjoy this kingdom and have these blessings is you have to go through him.

He uses pictures like he talks about the narrow gate that leads to life and the door that opens for the sheep to go in and have pasture. And he uses all these different symbols to say if you want in on this kingdom. If you want to know what life is really all about, you have to go through me. I am the way. He says, and by offering the kingdom, he’s offering us the greatest reward imaginable.

He says, ‘If you understood what the kingdom on offer really is, you would be willing to give up everything, you would be willing to sacrifice all that you have and throw it to the side just to get in on this kingdom. And he uses the word blessed here or blessed. The Greek word is macarios. Now, we hear the word blessed and you know that’s kind of a Christian word. We a lot of times, you know, you hear someone say, “I feel blessed.”

that’s an indication. They’re they’re probably either Christian or Mormon or something like that, right? But we also think of it as something that’s like a southern expression. People use that in the South. Bless your heart, which usually means there’s nothing I can do to fix you.

But let me see if I can explain that word macarios because it shows up a lot in the Bible. To be blessed in the biblical sense is to be loved by God and welcomed in by God. The simplest definition of the word is happy. We’re often hearing the statement that, you know, happiness is about what happens to you and and joy, well, that’s eternal. That is what lasts forever.

But that’s actually a bit of a modern idea. If you look back at all the great theologians from the past, they will gladly use the words happy or happiness and joy interchangeably. They will say things even sometimes they will say happy is a better translation of this word. Let me just give you a sampling of definitions for macarios or or blessed that have been offered by scholars over the years. William Hendrickson said macarios in the biatitudes here means happy in the most exalted sense of the term.

John MacArthur says Macccarius means happy, fortunate, blissful. John Piper echoes him saying the word means most happy and fortunate. Warren Wearsby says the word Macarios in the biatitudes was a powerful word to those who heard Jesus that day. To them, it meant divine joy and perfect happiness. G.

Campbell Morgan even went so far as to say, I wish we were brave enough to write in our Bibles happy because he says that’s the right translation for the word. Now, I share all that to say this isn’t my idea. Happiness being the the reward of knowing Jesus, the reward of being in the kingdom is something that dates all the way back. You look at guys like Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, all these people, they were more than happy to to use that word happy and to say that we were made for an eternal kind of happiness. So, it’s not so much that there’s a a big difference between blessing and happiness.

The real difference is where are you turning for happiness? Where are you looking to be happy? And Jesus is saying that both he and his kingdom are available right now. You can be happy. You can know true joy and you can know the God who is supremely happy.

Some people still struggle with this. They say, “No, see it can’t mean happy.” Because look at what Jesus says. He says, “The blessed are the poor, the hungry, the weeping, and the hated. How can you say those guys are happy?”

But see, when we say that, we’re not letting Jesus’s words fall on us with its full weight. It should almost sound like Jesus is saying up is down. That’s the point. The paradox is that the truly happy, the truly blessed, the truly joyful are those who look like outsiders and rejects in this life. They they look like those who don’t seem to ever fit in.

They don’t seem to belong in this world. They’re the truly happy. Jesus is telling us that there is a supreme kind of happiness. Not that the world offers, but that he offers. And it’s available even in the hardest times, even in the deepest heartbreak.

Even when you’re going through something that you never imagined you would have to go through, that happiness is available even now on earth. The Apostle Paul understood this. He talked about being sorrowful. He knew sorrow. He experienced it.

But always rejoicing. He said, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” Not Not that there’s certain times where rejoicing doesn’t make sense and so put that to the side and just mourn. He says you can mourn and always be rejoicing. And so it’s a counterculture cultural perspective that the kingdom brings.

And see, how you view God really matters. Jesus saw God as a father who is the source of everlasting joy. Many people in the world would say, you know, God, isn’t he the one that is grumpy and cranky all the time? He throws down lightning bolts or whatever when he gets angry and he’s quick to anger and he was ready to smite me. But see, the the God of the Bible is a supremely happy being.

When you picture God, picture one who is full of joy. His heart is overflowing with happiness and he wants to share that happiness with his children. The Bible says God is slow to anger [snorts] and nothing compares to the joy available in Jesus Christ. That’s the point. And just like in the parable that Jesus gives, he says there’s a man who who finds this field and in that field is a treasure.

And he finds that buried treasure and then he goes and he sells all that he has. He’s willing to sacrifice everything he owns so that he can have that one field. Jesus says that’s what it’s like when you find the kingdom. When you discover it, because you’re willing to give up everything for it, there’s no dollar amount that you can put to it because this is what you were made for. And so that’s why Jesus calls attention to these kingdom reversals.

He’s challenging our perspective and he’s saying the kingdom really is available to everyone. Even the people who look most destitute, most hurting, most lost, it’s available to them. So for those who are poor but have faith in Christ, they’re truly happy because they have eternal wealth in the kingdom. For those who have grumbling tummies and aching joints and sore bodies and diseased bodies, if they have Jesus, they will one day be fully healed, fully satisfied. They’ll be laughing.

Their body might be breaking down right now, but their soul is growing strong in the Lord because they have Jesus. Those who are weeping over the brokenness of the world, over the injustice that’s been done to them and over their own sin, those people who weep and mourn over these things, they one day will see because of what Jesus accomplished for them will have all that they need and God is better than they could have imagined. In the kingdom, it says, “We will all sit down to feast and laugh with Jesus.” Jesus also addresses those who suffer for him. This could be persecution or this could be being insulted or rejected because of your devotion to Jesus.

And in many ways, Jesus followers, we’re always going to be outsiders. The Bible calls us strangers and sojourners in this world. We’re never going to fully fit into the mold that this world has. We’re called to live distinct lives as salt and light. And we’re not to compromise.

We need to reject the myths of naturalism, secularism, relativism, all of that. And as we do that, we’re pointing people to a better kingdom. We’re saying that the kingdom that you are building here on earth, your great empire or your wealth that you’re amassing, it does not matter in eternity. What matters is who you know. And because of that, it’s an offensive message.

And Jesus says they will hate you. They will malign you. They will persecute you. But then Jesus says, “When that happens, rejoice in that day and leap for joy.” Just think about having so much joy and excitement bound up in you that you can’t help but jump leap for joy.

I think of my daughter Bethany when she is, you know, told that we’re going to go to the park, she has like a a bounce in her step. She’s ready to just jump out the door. That’s what Jesus is saying. When you are maligned for me, that is the time to throw a party. That is the time to really celebrate because you’re in good company if you suffer for Jesus.

Who cares if the world cancels you if heaven is cheering you on? So, your willingness to to make sacrifices and live sacrificially, giving things away and serving others, that tells you whose kingdom you’re living for. Most people would say they want God to bless them. But how many people are willing to live the Christ centered life that God has already promised to bless. Now that alone is hard for many to swallow to hear that, you know, Jesus is blessing the poor, the marginalized.

But then he goes on and he’s he brings in these woes. And this is where the the offense just gets amped up all the way. He says, “Those who have it made in this life, those who look like they’re on top, who look like everything is going their way, those I say, woe to you.” In your notes, the kingdom mandate is to reject material prosperity and social approval as the basis for your hope. Listen to these words from Jesus.

But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your conver consolation. We read those words and our first impulse is deflection. Oh, Jesus is talking about the super rich, not me. Or we say, “Yeah, down with the rich. Those are the greedy guys.”

We assume he can’t be talking about us. Honestly, if we’re not a little bit offended by Jesus, I don’t think we’ve heard him right. The truth is we live in a secular culture that trumpets all these things and obsesses over wealth and comfort, entertainment, and fame. We’re constantly bombarded with the messaging that we can make more money or we can be more comfortable, we deserve more comfort, we deserve more. So much of what we call entertainment either mocks God or it just ignores him altogether, pretends he doesn’t exist.

And so because that’s the air we breathe and those are the idols of this age, we shouldn’t assume I’m not prone to those idols. We’re surrounded by them. We are inundated with this messaging that says things like money, sex, approval, power, these will give you what you most want. And Jesus says later on in this chapter, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I tell you? Jesus could ask the same question today.

He could say, do you really believe I’m Lord? Do you really believe that I rose from the dead? That I am the Lord of this world, that I own everything, all authority in heaven and on earth belongs to me. If you do, are you going to base your life on my teachings? Are you going to live as if everything I said is right?

Because to be a Christian is to believe that Jesus is right about everything. He didn’t get anything wrong. At the end of the sermon, Jesus will say, “Those who hear my words and put it into practice are like those who built their house on a rock. And the winds and the rain came.” Just like we sang they came but that house stood firm because it was on the rock foundation.

And Jesus is saying stop measuring your life based on all the things that our world tells you to measure by comfort, wealth, prosperity, possessions. Don’t let the world define the good life for you. I am telling you what the good life is. Worldly messages of success will steal your focus from what truly matters. Things like your purpose, why you’re here, what we’re called to to live for and and give our time to and our possessions toward and what happens when this life is over.

And understand that when Jesus uses that word woe, some people think, you know, this is Jesus just calling down a curse on people. The way I read it, he’s not so much calling down a curse on people. He is expressing the tragedy. He’s saying, “Whoa, this is this is the the horror of missing out on what life is really all about.” He’s not so much condemning people and putting people to the side.

He’s saying if you go this route and you believe the world’s messaging on what the good life is, you have missed the point of your existence. He says that would be a tragedy. He’s not condemning all who have wealth. That’s important to see. In fact, later on, a little guy named Zakius will show up and he’s a wealthy man.

Jesus intentionally goes after him and he wants to spend the day with him, wants to get to know him. And Zakius at the end of their time together says, “I’m ready to give away four times what I’ve taken from others. I want to give away half of my possessions. I want other people to be blessed through my wealth because of what Jesus has done in my life. That’s the effect that Jesus has.

And so he’s lamenting those who base all their hopes on fame and riches. He’s saying such people who if they’re living for the next big toy, the the next flashy car, the next relationship, the next video game, the next vacation, the next experience that money can buy, if that’s all you’re living for, well, you’ll never have enough. So, woe to you. They’re missing out on the life Jesus is offering. He’s saying, you don’t have to climb the social ladder.

You don’t have to reach a certain income level. You don’t have to reach a certain status level before you’re welcome in my kingdom. I’m going first to the poor. I’m saying you guys can come into the kingdom. If Jesus were here today, he’d say something like, “Woe to you who have all that money can buy, have all the latest cars, newest tech, worldly success, thousands of Instagram followers, and full tummies, but empty souls.

Who have missed the purpose of your existence. Missed where true life is found. You’ve already cashed your check. Jesus loves us too much to let us waste our lives on worthless pursuits. He goes after us.

And yes, he offends us. He says things that sound harsh at times. And he says things that are a little bit against the grain of what we want to believe. It’s because he knows that we are so easily prone to follow the idols of this world. He says the truly blessed person is not someone who can have what they own and and their identity stripped away.

If your identity is in your possessions and your wealth and your house and and all these things that people call the good life, once that gets stripped away, what do you have? Success is exciting. Cash flow is exciting. Popularity is exciting. But only for a moment because all of that can be stripped away in the blink of an eye.

If not before then, then at at death certainly it is. So Jesus is saying, why stake your hope on something that is so fragile and so fleeting? He’s saying, don’t you see how foolish that would be to live for those things when I am offering you a kingdom that lasts forever? It gets better and better throughout all eternity. There’s a reason why despite being one of the most prosperous countries, we’re one of the most spiritually empty.

It’s because secularism offers all these grand promises of here’s happiness, here’s joy, and here’s peace. And in reality, it just sucks it right out. It it saps us of the peace that it promises. So, right now, you might be here and you’re you’re mourning the loss of something. Like my my brother Daniel, he is mourning the loss of his wife Nancy.

I’m so thankful that you’re here, Daniel. And know that if you are in that same company and you have lost someone you love or or maybe the life that you had pictured for yourself, it’s it hasn’t materialized and you’re wondering where do I go now? What’s the next step? How can I keep moving forward? Well, the first thing is you need to learn to lament.

And see, sometimes we want to skip past what Jesus says here about those who weep today as if there’s no weeping. But we need to grieve what we’ve lost. Let the tears fall. That the tears can help wash away the pain. It’s okay to cry.

Jesus cried. Jesus grieved. And Jesus says, “You know what? If you’re weeping now, know that one day we’re all going to be together and we’re going to be laughing. We’re going to have this joyous celebration together.

And secondly, take time to thank God for all that you haven’t lost. Think about all the good gifts God has given you. Things that you just take for granted, maybe you forget about. Remember, all of those are traced back to his hand. And remember, God is near the brokenhearted.

He’s near. He draws close to those who are suffering, those who are wounded, those who feel lost. So whatever you’re going through right now, know that God will use your pain for good. It’s never pointless. It’s never purposeless.

He has a purpose and so your scars will be used for good. And third, remember that the things that are eternally true about you can never be taken away. Remember things like you have a hope that outlasts everything this world throws at you. And you have a God who is so committed to you. He has pledged himself to you in a covenant.

He has bound himself to you and said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you. I will love you and never let you go.” By framing everything in this way, Jesus also levels the field so that we see all people, rich and poor, are equally sinners desperate for redemption. Every single last one of us. We’re morally lost until we meet Jesus.

Until we are reconciled to God through faith in his death and resurrection, we’re lost. And Jesus says it doesn’t matter how much you acrew in this life. That’s not going to save you. It doesn’t matter how popular you are on earth. What matters is are you reconciled to the one in heaven.

That’s what will matter in the kingdom. What matters is not where you park your car, but where you’ll spend eternity. CS Lewis expressed this so well, and I just want to quote him in full right here. He says, “There are no ordinary people. You’ve never talked to a mere mortal.

Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations, these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit. Immortal horrors or everlasting splenders. See, all our lives, we’re wanting to know that our lives are significant, that we really do matter. That’s why we fear rejection from others.

And that’s why we we long for approval from others. And what we’re really hungering for, Jesus saying, we’re really hungering for the blessing of God. We want to know that God is looking at us with love and that he’s accepted us and that no matter what is taken away from us in this life, no matter who rejects us, we will always have God the Father looking at us in love. That’s when we’re safe. So ask yourself, if everything in your life was stripped away, all your money, your possessions, your house, your career, if all of it was just taken away in a moment, would Jesus be enough for you?

If he is, then you can generously give away your money and possessions to others who need it. You can help those. You can give your time because you have all you need in Jesus. Are you willing to put all your stock in the kingdom of God? Kingdom citizens are called to give generously and embrace the eternal blessing Jesus offers.

And the beauty of the gospel is that all these things that the idols of this world are pulling on us and and showing us what we’re longing for, what we’re desiring, all those things are ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ. You think about the rich. Well, while the riches of this world aren’t going to satisfy, Jesus came and he didn’t just come to love the poor, he identified with the poor. And the Bible says, though he was infinitely rich, he became poor so that through his poverty, we might become rich in him. And while we sometimes turn to food to not only fill our stomachs but to fill our hearts, the gospel assures us that our Lord is also a servant.

And he says, “One day I am going to serve you a banquet and we are going to eat and drink together in the kingdom of God.” And though we [snorts] weep over our sins today, we weep over the injustices of the world because of the cross and resurrection. When Jesus comes back, the Bible says we’re gonna be like him because we’re going to see him as he truly is. So imagine that one day you will be completely free of all sinful thoughts, all sinful desires. They will be completely washed away and you will be like Jesus, pure, spotless.

You’re going to have the glow of heaven about you forever. Our minds are going to be fully renewed in the love of God. [snorts] And though we mourn when we say goodbye to loved ones today, Jesus says, “Those who weep today, remember this. A great reunion is coming.” And

Transcript machine-generated from the sermon audio, so it may contain errors. 6,550 words.