Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20090218.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Luke: Jesus, The Son Of Man For All Mankind
Part XIX: Christ's Identity As The World's Savior By The Value System In His Kingdom
(Luke 6:20b-26)
  1. Introduction
    1. As we learned in our last lesson, Luke 6:17-20 introduces Jesus' "sermon on the mount" that detailed the righteousness of His coming messianic kingdom.
    2. Luke 6:20b-26 enumerates parallel blessings and woes of Christ's kingdom, revealing the value system in His reign that separates it from evil world kingdoms, and shows Him to be God's Savior of the world:
  2. Christ's Identity As The World's Savior By The Value System In His Kingdom, Luke 6:20b-26.
    1. Jesus portrayed those who would be blessed in His coming messianic kingdom in Luke 6:20b-23:
      1. Those who recognized and acted upon their poverty in spirit would possess the kingdom, Luke 6:20b:
        1. Luke 12:21 and 16:11 qualify the "poor" in the context of God's righteousness in Luke 6:20b to be the spiritually poor, for mere financial poverty is not itself a righteousness, cf. 1 Kings 3:5-13. (Henry Alford, The Greek New Testament, 1854, vol. I, p. 447)
        2. Matthew 5:3 verbally qualified the "poor" in Luke 6:20b to be those who were "poor in spirit", folk who saw they were spiritually needy, and sought God's fulness by grace versus human merit.
        3. Thus, for those who have trusted and heeded Christ for spiritual fulfillment, Jesus taught in Luke 6:20b that theirs would be the messianic kingdom of Christ as a reward for this faith!
      2. Those who spiritually hungered and sought for Christ's truth would be filled in His kingdom, 6:21a:
        1. Again, similar to the way "poor" in Luke 6:20b were identified, the "hungry" in Luke 6:21a were those who saw their hunger for Christ's spiritually fulfilling truths, and so heeded them by faith.
        2. Thus, for those who acknowledged their need for God's truth and accepted Christ's teaching by faith as opposed to the world's ideas, they would experience fulfillment in His kingdom, Luke 6:21a.
      3. Accordingly, those who wept over their own and the world's unrighteousness and looked to Christ for His provision of righteousness would laugh in joyful fulfillment in His kingdom, Luke 6:21b.
      4. Then, those who were hated, alienated and reproached for the sake of trusting in and obeying Christ were to rejoice, for their reward in heaven was great, for the godly prophets of old faced the same persecution by the ungodly forefathers, Luke 6:22-23; cf. 1 Kings 22:13-24, 26-29, 34-37.
    2. Jesus depicted those who would be cursed when His coming messianic kingdom arrived in Luke 6:24-26:
      1. The Luke 6:24-26 woes contrast with the Luke 6:20b-23 beatitudes; Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 220.
      2. This fact equips us to discern the meaning of these woes as contrasts of the blessings above as follows:
        1. Those who relied on their own spiritual resources for merit were cursed, for their only consolation was their false sense of security that would evaporate in the judgment to come, Luke 6:24.
        2. Those who were content with what they believed was the truth without leaning on Christ's truth were cursed, for they would hunger when the judgment came and they lacked salvation, Luke 6:25a.
        3. Those who laughed in smug self-confidence in their standard of righteousness instead of looking to God for His righteousness would mourn and weep upon missing Christ's kingdom, Luke 6:25b.
        4. Those who saw the godless world speak well of them for conforming to its errors and acts would be cursed, for the ungodly treated the false prophets the same way, Lk. 6:26; 1 Kings 22:11-12, 24-25.
Lesson: Christ is God's Savior of the world, for, unlike the kingdoms of this present, evil world, HIS kingdom will be one where (1) those who recognized their spiritual poverty have relied on Him for salvation only to be enriched opposite the end of those who relied on human merit; where (2) those who hungered for God's truths would be filled opposite the lot of those who relied on man's false beliefs; where (3) those who grieved over the unrighteousness they saw in themselves and the world would be filled with Christ's righteousness opposite the destiny of the self-righteous who would be condemned and where (4) those who had been mistreated for righteousness' sake would be rewarded opposite the fate of those who conformed to the world for its approval only to miss Christ's blessing.

Application: May we adopt and live by the value system of Christ's kingdom versus this world's values!