How Do Christians Survive in Middle-Class America?
00:00:00.000 | Does Jesus condemn the comforts of the middle-class American life?
00:00:08.720 | Some biblical texts seem to suggest so, particularly in Luke chapter 6.
00:00:13.280 | This is one of those really important questions we get all the time and today it comes from
00:00:16.680 | a listener named Lee from North Carolina.
00:00:19.920 | Dear Pastor John and Tony, I'm a long-time listener of the podcast and I want to thank
00:00:24.100 | you for giving me 10 minutes of spiritual food during hundreds of morning commutes.
00:00:29.400 | It has literally changed the course of my days as I drive to work.
00:00:33.460 | That's incredible, encouraging to hear.
00:00:35.200 | Thank you, Lee.
00:00:36.800 | This morning, he goes on to say, "I was reading through the Beatitudes in Luke 6, 24-26, and
00:00:42.360 | it struck me like never before."
00:00:44.200 | Verse 24, "Woe to you who are rich.
00:00:47.280 | I am rich by worldly standards.
00:00:49.000 | My wife and I do not live beyond our means, nor do we spend money frivolously.
00:00:52.480 | However, we do have good incomes and savings."
00:00:55.400 | Verse 25, "Woe to you who are full now.
00:00:58.600 | I have never been truly hungry in my life apart from voluntary hunger."
00:01:02.760 | Verse 26, "Woe to you who laugh now.
00:01:06.760 | I have a joyful life and try to laugh frequently.
00:01:09.720 | Can you put into perspective Jesus' woes that are seemingly directed right at my life?"
00:01:14.800 | And maybe contrast Luke's account against Matthew's who says, "Poor in spirit, hunger
00:01:19.560 | and thirst for righteousness, etc.
00:01:21.600 | I desire the blessings of Luke 6, 20-22, but I'm not sure how to reconcile all of this
00:01:26.840 | with my physical life.
00:01:29.080 | Matthew seems more directed to my spiritual life."
00:01:31.800 | Pastor John, what would you say to Lee?
00:01:33.920 | Let me read the text in just a second, and then, in case it's just not obvious, point
00:01:41.880 | out what the problem is as we compare Luke's so-called Beatitudes and woes with Matthew's
00:01:53.760 | Beatitudes.
00:01:54.760 | But let me preface it with a method.
00:01:58.480 | I don't think it's a good method to try to force similar sayings in two different
00:02:07.560 | Gospels to mean exactly the same thing, because Jesus spoke similar things in many different
00:02:17.760 | settings and meant different things by them—not contradictory things, but different things.
00:02:24.200 | So my approach—and I think it's wise and honoring to the inspired writers—that we
00:02:30.560 | let each Gospel writer report what he knows in a way that makes clear a particular meaning
00:02:39.160 | about those, rather than saying, "Well, Luke's has to be what Matthew meant, or
00:02:43.280 | Matthew has to be what Luke meant."
00:02:44.880 | And I would say, "No, that's not the case.
00:02:46.900 | They just don't contradict each other, but they might be different, significantly different,
00:02:51.480 | which they are here."
00:02:53.280 | So everybody knows Matthew's "Blessed are the poor in spirit"—that's really
00:02:58.600 | familiar—"for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," or "Blessed are those who mourn,
00:03:03.840 | for they shall be comforted."
00:03:05.200 | So here's Luke's version—I'll read the whole thing.
00:03:07.800 | "Jesus lifted up his eyes on his disciples and said, 'Blessed are you who are poor,
00:03:15.640 | for yours is the kingdom of God.
00:03:18.360 | Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.
00:03:24.520 | Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
00:03:29.120 | Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn
00:03:33.280 | your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.
00:03:36.040 | Rejoice in that day and leap for joy."
00:03:40.120 | I mean, that just seems over the top, right?
00:03:42.080 | "Leap for joy when you're slandered, for behold, your reward is great in heaven, for
00:03:49.000 | so the fathers did to their prophets."
00:03:52.720 | You can hear how familiar Matthew is to me.
00:03:55.280 | I tend to default into Matthew's version.
00:03:59.040 | Verse 24, "But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
00:04:05.880 | Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.
00:04:09.680 | Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
00:04:13.920 | Woe to you when people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets."
00:04:21.920 | So this is one of the classic places where Jesus speaks in a sweeping and extreme way
00:04:30.640 | and leaves you gasping, wondering if he could possibly mean what he seems to say in such
00:04:39.440 | a sweeping and seemingly unqualified way.
00:04:42.880 | For example, he said, "Blessed are the poor."
00:04:47.480 | No qualifications.
00:04:48.480 | "Blessed are the hungry now."
00:04:51.300 | No qualifications.
00:04:52.300 | "Blessed are the weeping now."
00:04:54.640 | No qualifications.
00:04:55.640 | "Woe to you rich," which is the opposite of poor.
00:05:00.080 | No qualifications.
00:05:01.080 | "Woe to those who are full," opposite of hungry.
00:05:04.900 | No qualifications.
00:05:05.900 | "Woe to those who laugh."
00:05:08.680 | No qualifications.
00:05:12.080 | What in the world are we to make of this?
00:05:13.920 | So here we really wonder, well, are there no qualifications?
00:05:19.520 | If there are no qualifications, then the wicked poor and the wicked hungry and the wicked
00:05:27.760 | laughing will all be blessed by God.
00:05:32.880 | And if there are really no qualifications, then there are no godly rich, and everyone
00:05:38.760 | with a full stomach or who laughs at a baby's giggle are cursed.
00:05:43.720 | Now I think our approach should not be first to say, "Well, he just can't mean that.
00:05:51.480 | I mean, he just can't mean that," and call it exaggeration or literary device or something
00:05:58.080 | like that.
00:05:59.360 | Rather, I think we should look for clues in the context.
00:06:05.120 | Look very carefully.
00:06:06.720 | Stare until we see them, which he expects us to find, so that we can know there are
00:06:14.240 | qualifications.
00:06:16.520 | Not all the poor are blessed.
00:06:19.320 | Not all the weeping are blessed.
00:06:22.100 | Not all those with a full stomach are cursed.
00:06:24.560 | Not everyone who laughs is under judgment.
00:06:28.240 | How do we know that?
00:06:29.240 | I mean, there you go, laying your predisposition piper on top of the text and won't let it
00:06:34.720 | say what it wants to say.
00:06:37.080 | Well, I hope not.
00:06:40.080 | Here's the clue.
00:06:41.440 | Jesus says in verse 22 that when people hate you on account of the Son of Man, you should
00:06:49.880 | rejoice on that day and leap for joy.
00:06:54.920 | Picture yourself leaping for joy.
00:06:57.360 | What does it sound like out of your mouth?
00:06:59.880 | There's laughter and shouting.
00:07:04.420 | So Jesus is saying loud and clear that in this age, there is a time and a place and
00:07:12.160 | a circumstance for great rejoicing and leaping for joy.
00:07:18.760 | Not the place that the world expects, but a real time and real place for much joyful
00:07:27.320 | leaping and laughing, namely when you are persecuted for the Son of Man.
00:07:33.480 | So when he gets to verse 25 and says, "Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn
00:07:41.560 | and weep," we know he must mean a kind of laughing that isn't the same kind as the
00:07:50.280 | joy and the leaping that he commanded in verse 22.
00:07:54.720 | He doesn't speak out of both sides of his mouth.
00:07:58.120 | He's not confused.
00:07:59.120 | He's not schizophrenic.
00:08:01.340 | When he says, "Leap for joy," and then condemns laughter, we know one of them is
00:08:09.360 | different than the other.
00:08:11.560 | There's a distinction being made.
00:08:13.360 | That's the clue, at least one, that he wants us to pick up.
00:08:18.040 | There are others.
00:08:19.540 | And so we should apply the same thing to the poor and the rich.
00:08:25.040 | Is it all poor, just like is it all laughter?
00:08:28.540 | No, it's not all poor, just like it was not all laughter.
00:08:32.300 | All the rich are condemned, just like all laughter is not wrong.
00:08:38.740 | No, not all the rich.
00:08:40.980 | Each one we pick up on and apply the same clue that we saw with regard to laughter.
00:08:48.100 | So what's the key that makes some laughter blessed and some woeful?
00:08:54.900 | And the contextual answer is, are you laughing or leaping on account of the Son of Man?
00:09:03.020 | Because that's the criterion for the first command for joy, when it is done in response
00:09:09.940 | to living according to the Son of Man.
00:09:13.420 | Is your poverty an expression of your devotion to the Son of Man?
00:09:18.260 | Is your hunger an expression of your love and devotion to and following the Son of Man?
00:09:24.300 | Are your riches owing to indifference to the teachings of the Son of Man?
00:09:30.060 | If so, you're under a woe.
00:09:32.100 | Is the fullness of your stomach evidence that you are for or against the Son of Man?
00:09:39.620 | So my answer to Lee's question is this, that Jesus has given us clues in Luke's text to
00:09:47.140 | keep us from treating these beatitudes and curses in an unqualified way.
00:09:57.180 | Poverty and riches, hunger and fullness, weeping and laughter may be signs of blessedness,
00:10:04.700 | or they may be signs of condemnation, depending on how they relate to our devotion to Jesus.
00:10:12.780 | If we are utterly devoted to Him, no poverty, no hunger or weeping can steal our blessedness.
00:10:21.500 | I think that's what he means by the blessings.
00:10:24.120 | If you're my disciple and you are acting in accord with your love for the Son of Man,
00:10:30.540 | you may be poor, you may be hungry, you may be weeping, but you are blessed.
00:10:35.780 | And if we are not devoted to Him, not following the Son of Man, no riches, no fullness, no
00:10:44.260 | laughter can keep us from condemnation.
00:10:48.420 | That's very helpful, Pastor John.
00:10:50.760 | Thank you.
00:10:51.760 | Thank you, Lee, for that question and for listening to episodes on your way to work.
00:10:55.920 | That is so encouraging to hear from our listeners, isn't it, Pastor John?
00:10:59.180 | It is.
00:11:00.180 | I pray this blesses you on your way to work today, Lee.
00:11:03.300 | Amen.
00:11:04.300 | Thank you for listening wherever you are, driving errands, commuting to work, doing
00:11:07.980 | chores around the house, or walking, running, jogging, doing your gym routine, wherever
00:11:12.620 | and whenever you listen to us.
00:11:14.140 | Thanks for making us a part of your weekly rhythms.
00:11:16.780 | It truly is an honor that we do not take for granted.
00:11:20.620 | Well to search our archives and read transcripts of episodes in the past, or to send us a question
00:11:24.980 | of your own, go to our online home at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.
00:11:27.140 | Well, did God make me to punish me, and why did he create me in the first place?
00:11:36.780 | Huge, massive questions like these arrive every day in our inbox from you.
00:11:42.340 | And those questions, in fact, are on the table next time.
00:11:47.060 | Why did God make me, and did he make me just to punish me?
00:11:50.340 | Heavy, heavy questions.
00:11:51.900 | Those are next time.
00:11:52.900 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:11:53.900 | We'll see you back here on Friday.
00:11:55.060 | God bless.
00:11:56.060 | God bless.
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