Episode 1516: Rejoice in that Day

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 1516 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:00:10] Michael DeLon: I'm Michael DeLon, and I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence, and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures. to live out your calling. Having the ability to build your credibility is key. And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this.

[00:00:32] The Inspired Stewardship Podcast with my friend, Scott Maderer.

[00:00:45] Scott Maderer: We may not have the solution. We certainly don't have them quickly or easily. We can't just snap our fingers and make it all go away. But we can put our arm around someone's shoulder and say, we can go through this together. And in [00:01:00] doing that, we celebrate the presence of Christ. Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:01:11] If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, you'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others, and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:40] In today's Spiritual Foundation episode, I talk about Luke chapter 6, verses 17 through 26. I share how these pearls of wisdom are very useful, but difficult to hear. And I also share how these very messages are about growing ourselves in our relationship with others and with God. [00:02:00] Luke chapter 6 verses 17 through 26 says, 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, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyria and Sidion.

[00:02:16] They had come to hear him and be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. Then he looked up at his disciples and said, Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

[00:02:34] Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day, and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven.

[00:02:53] For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your [00:03:00] consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

[00:03:16] You may be familiar with what's called the Beatitudes from Matthew and this version also called the Sermon on the Plain instead of the Sermon on the Mount from Luke. There's definitely overlap between those two, but there's also significant differences. And these are sayings and expressions that if you're a follower of Christ, you probably have turned to for comfort, to find blessing in our everyday life.

[00:03:44] And there's definitely power in them to do that, but there's also Some things in here that are a little hard to take, a little hard to swallow, where Jesus says rejoice in that day. And he's not talking about good things happening, but about suffering, about [00:04:00] being hated, about being rejected. And that's not something that we normally feel joy about.

[00:04:07] And yet there's also an invitation here as well. Scholars tell us that both Matthew's Sermon on the Mount and Luke's Sermon on the Plain are most likely compilations of Jesus's sayings over a larger part of his teaching ministry rather than actually one sermon. They're, they're kind of Jesus's greatest hits, so to speak, pulled together and then put into a passage or a sermon by Matthew and by Luke.

[00:04:36] It's a, Very possible that at various times, Jesus stood or sat to teach and put together these various thoughts in one large teacher moment, because that is actually a moment that rabbis were then and are now using called stringing pearls. Of course, the problem with this particular string of pearls is that some of these [00:05:00] pearls are really hard to hear.

[00:05:03] Blessed are you when people hate you. I mean, really? Is that something we should aspire to? Something we should work towards? Rejoice in that day, that day that people hate you, and leap for joy. You know, that is something that's kind of difficult to claim in our faith. If our faith is about loving others, it feels like as well that they should love us.

[00:05:30] But we're not actually promised that. As a pastor, as somebody who preaches, as somebody who's been a Christian for a long time, I've heard that expression, you know, if you're a pastor and people aren't upset by what you're doing, then maybe you're not really doing enough. And well, I don't know about you, but I'm sure that I've done enough some days, because I've gotten some people very upset with me.

[00:05:58] But maybe that's not really what [00:06:00] Jesus is talking about here. It isn't Being set out or going out and trying to upset people or doing whatever it takes to get us hated if that were the case then Those who hold up signs in hate Using Jesus's name are on the right track. The people that say, we should hate each other, we should hate those that are different, we should mistreat other people, we're being mistreated, so therefore to defend that power, that right that we have, we should harm others.

[00:06:33] And that's not the right way, according to the words of Jesus. There's no way that that makes sense. Jesus goes on and says, blessed are you who are poor, blessed are you who are hungry. So, I mean, if poor and hungry is a blessed state, we should just let them have that state, right? Because someday there will be a change in their circumstances.

[00:06:58] We shouldn't do anything [00:07:00] about it, because that's just their state. Or rather, is it, wait, there will be a change in their circumstances and maybe we're called to be part of that change. The promise that Christ is giving that there will be change in those difficult circumstances. We at times are part of the instrument of that change.

[00:07:22] Not that we do it all by ourselves, but in partnership with God, we're called by Christ to do that. We're called to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. We're part of the promise of the kingdom of God. And the kingdom of God, by the way, we talk about it like, Oh, it's far off in the future. You know, in heaven, everyone will be equal in heaven.

[00:07:45] No one will go hungry in heaven. It will be a blessed day with no racism and no hatred and no anger. But kingdom of God is something that we're said, Hey, it's here. It should be here [00:08:00] now. It's the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. We're to bring that kingdom about here on Earth. And we can't bring it about through hatred and fear and anger.

[00:08:12] No, we bring it about by caring and loving each other. We deal with people who are grieving, who are weeping, who are broke at all times. And I don't know about you, but it's really difficult for me to be around those who are harmed, who are grieving, who are crying, because I never know what to say. And saying blessed are you who weep now for you will laugh doesn't seem like the right answer because that's not really saying that we don't know what's going to happen.

[00:08:48] We don't know that there's a happy ending and yet there is hope in that as well. There is a promise that, you know, your grief will not last forever. [00:09:00] Not to say that you get over it, not to say that you're not still sad, but you also will come to find moments of joy within it. Even in the most complex, the most broken of situations, there is resolution in faith and hope.

[00:09:16] That's what drives us to keep going. Even when things look the darkest, even when things look like they're falling apart, there is still hope. But hope comes packaged in a relationship. Yours is the kingdom of God, it says. Even the most desperate people, even those who look like they don't deserve it in any way, shape, or form are still worthy of love, welcome, and hospitality because they still have God within them.

[00:09:48] There's always room at our table. There's always room in our inn. There's always room in our circle. Even for the hurting. Even For the weeping [00:10:00] This is why when folks are hurt and they pull back from community the healing takes so much longer I tend to do that when i'm hurting I like to seclude myself, but seclusion is detrimental to hope And the kingdom that is offered is a community a relationship of healing and hope and that relationship is of course first and foremost with jesus the christ The Arthur of hope, the source of healing.

[00:10:30] But it's lived about in the here and now in the every day within the human community, that human thing that we call church. It should be a place of acceptance and inclusion, not a place of hatred and exclusion. At least that's the hope. That's what we strive to be. That is when it's a reflection of the kingdom of God.

[00:10:59] And the, [00:11:00] some of these verses are in future tense, you notice, they, you will be filled, you will laugh, but others are in the present tense, yours is the kingdom. We can right now, this moment, be part of the place of healing and learning and feeling and laughing. No, that's not to say we can fix the problems with the snap of the finger, but we can certainly be part of the solution if we're a community together.

[00:11:33] That rejoicing is about recognizing an opportunity to grow closer, to deepen our relationship by entering into the brokenness and standing with those who have been hurt. We may not have the solution. We certainly don't have them quickly or easily. We can't just snap our fingers and make it all go away, but we can put our arm around someone's shoulder and say, we can go through this together.

[00:11:59] And in [00:12:00] doing that, we celebrate the presence of Christ. And that's what it means to be made into disciples of his kingdom. Thanks for listening.

[00:12:19] Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor, go over to Facebook. com slash Inspired Stewardship.

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