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Bless This Mess

In our last series, Heaven Help Us, we learned that even the earth is destined for renewal. Our world cannot satisfy us as it is. We were created for more. It was made for more, and yet it endures the curse of sin until it is made new. In this new series, we will undertake the study of how God’s blessing comes to us even still.

The Blessing of Rejection

 — Dale Beaver

Message Notes

Luke 6:20-23

Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “God blesses you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. God blesses you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied. God blesses you who weep now, for in due time you will laugh. What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way.”

 

Luke 6:24-26

“What sorrow awaits you who are rich, for you have your only happiness now. What sorrow awaits you who are fat and prosperous now, for a time of awful hunger awaits you. What sorrow awaits you who laugh now, for your laughing will turn to mourning and sorrow. What sorrow awaits you who are praised by the crowds, for their ancestors also praised false prophets.”

 

Luke 6:22

What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. 

 

Hate is not the opposite of love but the reaction to fear.

 

Be sure you know why you are being canceled.

 

 “………because you follow the Son of Man.”

 

Luke 6:23 

When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way.

 

The blessing of cancellation is the affirmation of citizenship.

 

Luke 6:26

What sorrow awaits you who are praised by the crowds, for their ancestors also praised false prophets.

 

John 15:18-19

“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.”

 

The Blessing of Sorrow

 — Dale Beaver

Message Notes

Luke 6:10-26

Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “God blesses you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. God blesses you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied. God blesses you who weep now, for in due time you will laugh. What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. 

And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way. What sorrow awaits you who are rich, for you have your only happiness now. What sorrow awaits you who are fat and prosperous now, for a time of awful hunger awaits you. What sorrow awaits you who laugh now, for your laughing will turn to mourning and sorrow. What sorrow awaits you who are praised by the crowds, for their ancestors also praised false prophets.”

 

God leverages the mess around us to bring the blessing of refinement.

 

Luke 6:21b

God blesses you who weep now, for in due time you will laugh.

 

Isaiah 61:1

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.

 

Isaiah 53:3a

He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.

 

Matthew 5:4

God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

 

Romans 12:15

Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep.

 

2 Corinthians 1:4

He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.

 

We bring companionship to those who are grieving.

 

Luke 6:25b

What sorrow awaits you who laugh now, for your laughing will turn to mourning and sorrow.

 

We pity the guilty who refuse to grieve.

 

The Blessing of Dissatisfaction

 — Dale Beaver

Message Notes

Luke 6:17-21

17 When they came down from the mountain, the disciples stood with Jesus on a large, level area, surrounded by many of his followers and by the crowds. There were people from all over Judea and from Jerusalem and from as far north as the seacoasts of Tyre and Sidon. 18 They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those troubled by evil spirits were healed.

19 Everyone tried to touch him, because healing power went out from him, and he healed everyone.

20 Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said,

“God blesses you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours.

21 God blesses you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied.

The blessing of dissatisfaction is a reminder that this world is not enough.

Luke 6:21, 25a

21 God blesses you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied.

25 What sorrow awaits you who are fat and prosperous now, for a time of awful hunger awaits you.

Woe to you who forget that ____________ is not a substitute for ____________. (25a)

Matthew 5:6

God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.

John 6:35

Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Knowing what you’re hungry for makes all the difference.

Psalm 42:1-2

1 As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.

2 I thirst for God, the living God.  When can I go and stand before him?

3 Day and night I have only tears for food, while my enemies continually taunt me, saying, “Where is this God of yours?”

The Complexity of Poverty

 — Dale Beaver

Message Notes

Luke 6:17-20

17 When they came down from the mountain, the disciples stood with Jesus on a large, level area, surrounded by many of his followers and by the crowds. There were people from all over Judea and from Jerusalem and from as far north as the seacoasts of Tyre and Sidon. 18 They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those troubled by evil spirits were healed. 19 Everyone tried to touch him, because healing power went out from him, and he healed everyone. 20 Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “God blesses you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours.”

 

Gospel Perspectives

Matthew—Jesus is the King with a Kingdom. He is rejected.

Mark—Jesus is the Servant of All. He is in action.

Luke—Jesus is the Ultimate Man. He is the best of us.

John—Jesus is One with the Father. He is God.

 

Luke 3:38

Kenan was the son of Enosh. Enosh was the son of Seth. Seth was the son of Adam.   Adam was the son of God.

 

Is there a way to summarize what the gospels say about Jesus?

 

Philippians 2:5-7

5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

 

What does this “same attitude as Christ” mean for us?

 

Luke 6:20, 24

20 Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “God blesses you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours.”

 

24 “What sorrow awaits you who are rich, for you have your only happiness now.”

 

Woe to you who are rich, for this is as good as it gets.”  

 “Happy are you who have not, for in your emptiness there is room for God to fill.”  DBT

 

It is through our awareness of need that creativity and generosity are born.

  

In 12 years we have given $675,000 to stock local food pantries.

 

Compassion & Command Luke 6:17-19

 — Dale Beaver

Message Notes

Luke 6:17-19

When they came down from the mountain, the disciples stood with Jesus on a large, level area, surrounded by many of his followers and by the crowds. There were people from all over Judea and from Jerusalem and from as far north as the seacoasts of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those troubled by evil spirits were healed. Everyone tried to touch him, because healing power went out from him, and he healed everyone.

 

God’s blessing is expressed in compassionate provision.

 

Luke 6:17

When they came down from the mountain, the disciples stood with Jesus on a large, level area, surrounded by many of his followers and by the crowds. There were people from all over Judea and from Jerusalem and from as far north as the seacoasts of Tyre and Sidon.

 

Luke 1:1-4

Many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples. Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write an accurate account for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught.

 

Acts 1:8

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

 

Matthew 11:21-22

“What sorrow awaits you, Korazin and Bethsaida! For if the miracles I did in you had been done in wicked Tyre and Sidon, their people would have repented of their sins long ago, clothing themselves in burlap and throwing ashes on their heads to show their remorse. I tell you, Tyre and Sidon will be better off on judgment day than you.”

 

Luke 6:18

They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those troubled by evil spirits were healed.

 

Isaiah 53:4-6

Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;

    it was our sorrows that weighed him down.

And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,

    a punishment for his own sins!

But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins.

He was beaten so we could be whole.

    He was whipped so we could be healed.

All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.

    We have left God’s paths to follow our own.

Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.

 

Jesus has command of holistic healing.

 

Colossians 2:13-15

You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

 

Luke 6:19

Everyone tried to touch him, because healing power went out from him, and he healed everyone.

 

Psalm 107:19-21

“Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble,

    and he saved them from their distress.

He sent out his word and healed them,

    snatching them from the door of death.

Let them praise the Lord for his great love

    and for the wonderful things he has done for them.

 

Luke 16:31

If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.

 

The Teacher's Twelve -Luke 6:12-16

 — Dale Beaver

Message Notes

Luke 6:12-16

One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. t daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles. Here are their names: Simon (whom he named Peter), Andrew (Peter’s brother), James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (who was called the zealot), 16 Judas (son of James), Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).

 

Luke 6:12-13

One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles. Here are their names:

 

Ephesians 2:14-16

For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.

 

Ephesians 2:20 

Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.

 

Simon (Peter)

 

Matthew 16:13-18

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

“Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”

Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.”

 

Andrew and Philip 

 

John 12:20-22

Some Greeks who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration paid a visit to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee. They said, “Sir, we want to meet Jesus.” Philip told Andrew about it, and they went together to ask Jesus.

 

Bartholomew (Nathaniel) and Thomas

 

John 1:43-46

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Come, follow me.” Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter’s hometown. Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.” “Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” “Come and see for yourself,” Philip replied.

 

James and John

 

Luke 9:53-54

But the people of the village did not welcome Jesus because he was on his way to Jerusalem. When James and John saw this, they said to Jesus, “Lord, should we call down fire from heaven to burn them up?”

 

Acts 12:1-2

About that time King Herod Agrippa began to persecute some believers in the church. He had the apostle James (John’s brother) killed with a sword.

 

Matthew (Levi)

 

Matthew 9:5-6a

“Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’? So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.”

 

James (son of Alphaeus; the Less) and Simon (Zealotes)

 

Judas (Thaddeus)

 

John 14:21-22

“Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.” Judas (not Judas Iscariot, but the other disciple with that name) said to him, “Lord, why are you going to reveal yourself only to us and not to the world at large?”

 

Judas (The Betrayer)

 

Luke 6:1-11

 — Dale Beaver

Message Notes

Luke 5:33-34

One day some people said to Jesus, “John the Baptist’s disciples fast and pray regularly, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. Why are your disciples always eating and drinking?” Jesus responded, “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

 

Luke 5:35-38

Then Jesus gave them this illustration: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and uses it to patch an old garment. For then the new garment would be ruined, and the new patch wouldn’t even match the old garment. “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins. But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is just fine,’ they say.”

 

Do you have the courage to quote scripture in the face of peer pressure? 

 

Luke 6:1-5

One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, his disciples broke off heads of grain, rubbed off the husks in their hands, and ate the grain. But some Pharisees said, “Why are you breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?” Jesus replied, “Haven’t you read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests can eat. He also gave some to his companions.” And Jesus added, “The Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath.”

 

The Mishnah (Traditional Rules of Judaism)

“Do not reap, thresh, winnow or store food”  Shabbath 7:2

 

Matthew 12:5-7

And haven’t you read in the law of Moses that the priests on duty in the Temple may work on the Sabbath? I tell you, there is one here who is even greater than the Temple! But you would not have condemned my innocent disciples if you knew the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ (Hosea 6:6)

 

Mark 2:27

Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.”

 

Luke 6:6

On another Sabbath day, a man with a deformed right hand was in the synagogue while Jesus was teaching. The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees watched Jesus closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath.

 

Luke 13:14b

“There are six days of the week for working,” the synagogue leader said to the crowd. “Come on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath.”

 

Luke 6:8-9

But Jesus knew their thoughts. He said to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand in front of everyone.” So the man came forward. Then Jesus said to his critics, “I have a question for you. Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?”

 

Mark 3:5

He looked around at them angrily and was deeply saddened by their hard hearts.

 

Do you have the courage to obey scripture in the face of peer pressure? 

 

Luke 6:10-11

He looked around at them one by one and then said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was restored! At this, the enemies of Jesus were wild with rage and began to discuss what to do with him.