What it means to be blessed
Scripture Reading: Luke 6: 17 - 26 (NIV)
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 coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, 18who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure 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 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. 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 everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.
Message: What it means to be Blessed (Heritage Sunday)
Heritage Sunday
Today is Heritage Sunday
Let’s take a look at the Google dictionary definition of the word heritage: “Heritage refers to the traditions, values, cultural practices, and artifacts that are passed down from previous generations.”
Yesterday I was standing here in the sanctuary with a groom and a best man waiting for a bride to arrive (we had some time on our hands…) and we started talking about the history of the Presbyterian church - the groom wanted their pictures taken in front of the stained glass windows
For me the definition of heritage is the simple question of where we come from?
What brought us to where we are today?
Faith - We believe in the Triune God - Father, Son, Holy Spirit
We are free - Jesus died on the Cross so that we may have life as God intended (God gave us free will, but God never intended us to be lost)
We choose to follow Jesus - Yes, we choose to follow Jesus in the way we live our lives - we allow the teachings and the example and encounters with Jesus to shape out lives
We have a living faith - Jesus is risen, we believe in a living God and our faith has relevance today
We are people of the Word of God - The Bible, the Holy Scriptures are important to us, we acknowledge the Bible as the Holy Word of God
We are people who have been saved by the grace of God - We are not who we are because of our own merits, but by the grace of God alone… It is God who took the initiative in our lives
And I would say, with this heritage, we are indeed blessed!
That brings us to our Scripture reading today, the Luke version of the beatitudes (more commonly known to be found in Matthew 5)
Numbers tell a story
These words of Jesus are part of the sermon on the mount
We read that a large crowd gathered - we don’t know the exact number who came to encounter the Rabbi Jesus, but considering that He fed 4000 and 5000 people on two other occasions, it gives you an idea of a probable number
Jesus chose venues with good acoustics to speak to the masses - the geographics of the area around the sea of Galilee close to Capernaum formed a natural amphitheatre - a rounded hill (the mount) with great acoustics so that it was possible for a large number of people to be able to hear Jesus speak
But the numbers also tell a story of people’s hunger to encounter Jesus
We read that people came from all over Judea to hear Jesus and to be healed and to be cured of impure spirits
And the words: “the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all”, tell us something about the desperation of the people who came and about the power of Jesus
I cannot help but wonder about where we are today when we say that numbers tell a story
Are the dwindling numbers of mainline churches saying that people are not hungry for God anymore?
I believe the contrary - people are more hungry for God than ever!
People search for God without realizing it - they hunger for God in their lives while being distracted by a wide range of elements…
We live in a confused world!
A world that is confused about God
Blessed and Woes
The Luke version of the beatitudes gives a unique perspective
It gives a contrast - blessed on the one hand and woes on the other
Blessed are the poor but woe to who are rich - the kingdom of God belongs to those who find their riches in God and not in their material wealth
Blessed are the hungry but woe to who are well fed - in this life we will always need God and we can never say that we don’t need God
Blessed are those who weep now but woe to who are laughing - this life is about much more than just happiness, our joy is to be found with God
Blessed are those who are hated but woe to who are liked - this life is not about how many likes you get on social media, or getting the apporval of people, it is about living your life in the presence of God (Coram Deo)
Blessed: Aligned with God
So what does it mean to live a blessed life?
I believe that Jesus is showing us a picture of allegiance
I believe the answer to what is means to be blessed has to do with where we stand before God
I truly believe that we are blessed when we intentionally align our lives with God
We are reminded today that blessing is found in living our lives aligned with the will of God and not with our own ideas of what is important
We are reminded that we need God to give us direction in life, and that without God we will miss the purpose of living
We are reminded that life is not always easy, but that with God we can be blessed even in tough times
May we discover what it means to be truly blessed
And may we continue find the blessing Jesus was talking about when we align our lives with the living God!
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