Luke 6:24 - 26
24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
25 “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.
“Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
26 “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
Questions:
ReplyDelete1. Is it wrong to be rich, not hungry, happy, and have people speak well of you?
My 2 cents:
ReplyDeleteThis is the flip side of the blessings. This passage should probably have been included with the last.
Please see https://lukeanalysis.blogspot.com/2020/11/luke-620-23.html for more context.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-6-commentary says:
ReplyDeleteLuke 6:24-26 is a "point-by-point negative counterpart of Lk 6:20-22."
When people are satisfied with the lesser things of life, the good instead of the best, then their successes add up only as failures. These people are spiritually bankrupt and do not realize it.
As Bock notes "One of the dangers of wealth is that it can lead one to believe a life of independence is possible--a view that Jesus teaches is arrogant and misguided (Luke 12:13-21). The world's values are not God's values. The reversal portrayed in the beatitudes and woes reflects the idea that "the one with the most toys" often loses. God's blessing can be found in surprising places. It rests on those who rest in him."
Steven Cole adds that "When Jesus says, “Woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full,” He is referring to those who are living as if this world is all there is. They are not rich toward God by laying up treasures in heaven (Lu 12:21). They are living for selfish pleasures and comforts and they are relying on themselves to gain these things. In light of eternity, it’s a foolish way to live.
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! 4 Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 5 You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you. (James 5:1-6+)
Rod Mattoon - What is this all about? Does this mean it is wrong to be rich? Is Jesus condemning wealth? No, that can't be true because some of the godliest men and women of the Bible were wealthy including Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Daniel, David, Job and Lydia. There are many godly, wealthy people today, whom God has used in a powerful way because they followed the Lord's leadership about their finances. They viewed their prosperity as a tool of blessing to be used to glorify God and help others. Those who try to find fulfillment through wealth and not the Lord, will find that wealth is the only reward they will ever get and that it does not last.
"You only go around once in life: Go for all the gusto you can." If you are destined to spend eternity in hell, that is not an unreasonable philosophy! Why? Because for unbelievers, this life is as good as it gets! On the other hand, for believers, this life is as bad as it gets!
The wealthy too often live for NOW (used in Lk 6:25), not THEN, for TIME, not ETERNITY! Is this true of all wealthy people? Of course not, because many wealthy Christians have laid up their treasures in Heaven. This is where their hearts are focused and where they have transferred their funds. The Bible speaks more about money (~2350 verses) than even faith and prayer combined. Jesus had more to say more about money than about both heaven and hell combined and so we do well to hear and heed His wise advice to the wealthy (and the poor)
A. W. Tozer suggested we may discover the answer by responding to four basic questions: What do we value most? What would we most hate to lose? What do our thoughts turn to most frequently when we are free to think of what we will? And finally, what affords us the greatest pleasure?"
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-6-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteWe must understand that materialism is not simply wrong. It is stupid. As Jesus once asked his profit-conscious audience, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
Scripture describes our lives as “like grass” and our achievements as “the flowers of the field.” The grass withers and the flowers fall—in the eyes of eternity this earthly life comes and goes in the blink of an eye (Isaiah 40:6-8).
The loss of tenacity in desiring God's best, and contentment with the mediocrity of carnal values, are elements of stupidity and absurdity, which will lead to anxiety, calamity, scarcity, perplexity, and futility because of foolish choices and goals, and the loss of future blessings in eternity.
Woe to you who are well-fed now - This word of warning is given in a sense as a prophecy to these disciples who had given up everything in order to follow Jesus. Those who are well-fed speaks of those who refused to give up anything to follow Jesus, like the Rich Young Ruler in Luke 18:18-30.
Woe to you when all men speak well of you - “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. (John 15:19)
Not only does the world hate Jesus' disciples but it detests their Gospel message that faith in Jesus Christ is the only Way to eternal life (Acts 4:12, Jn 14:6). They see that doctrine as narrow and exclusive and thus they do not approve of it.
Steven Cole sums up Lk 6:20-26 - Jesus’ teaching here presupposes and demands an eternal perspective. Without that, His words are nonsense. Why be poor, hungry, sorrowful, and hated in this life if that’s all there is? Critics of Christianity will often scoff, “You believe in pie-in-the-sky-when-you-die.” The proper response is, “Absolutely! And you’re a fool not to believe it!” The Bible is abundantly clear that the hope of the believer is with God in eternity, not in this short life on earth. “He alone is happy, who is happy for eternity”.
Yet, sadly, all too often there is no discernible difference between professing Christians and their worldly neighbors, except that the Christians go to church services. The worldly guy is living for personal peace and increasing affluence; so is the Christian. The worldly guy seeks pleasure vicariously by watching immoral, profane TV shows and videos; so does the Christian. The worldly guy spends his money to increase his own comfort and pleasure; so does the Christian, except for the two or three percent average that he gives. The worldly guy thinks that all good people who do the best they can will get to heaven; shockingly, so do vast numbers of those professing to be Christian.
To live happily ever after, you must live in dependence on God.
These poor, hungry, sorrowful, and rejected people Jesus refers to have abandoned the world’s support system and have cast themselves totally on God for their daily bread, for their personal and emotional needs, and for their eternal well-being.
“Do you want God’s blessing in your life?” Of course, we all instinctively want to answer, “Yes, of course I do!” But before you answer so quickly, stop and think about it. How you answer that question will make a huge difference in how you live. The person living for God’s blessing has deliberately decided to reject the world’s values and to live under the lordship of Jesus as King. Turning his back on this fleeting world and its pleasures, he is living in light of eternity. Letting go of self-sufficiency and self-confidence, he has cast himself on Jesus both for salvation from God’s judgment and for sustenance in this life.
Questions and findings:
ReplyDeleteQuestions:
1. Is it wrong to be rich, not hungry, happy, and have people speak well of you?
Once again, these are not speaking about worldly things, but things in the heart. Woe to us if we are rich unto ourselves, not hungry for Christ's righteousness, and not weeping because of our sin, because we have missed the kingdom of God - literally the only thing that's worthwhile in the universe. Woe to us when others don't see the evidence of God's kingdom in us (bringing the natural result of the world thinking poorly of us), because this natural reflection of Christ will occur if we are in His kingdom.
We do have to watch that we are not putting dependence on the things of this world; and naturally, if it's not possible because we don't have those things, we won't (although we will probably covet them instead).
We should not spurn wealth, food, happiness and people who love and/or admire us. All of these things are meant to help us build up the kingdom of God. We just need to be aware of when we are depending on those things, instead of on Christ Himself. Do not make the mistake of asceticism, confusing dependence on worldly things with using the things of this world. The things of this world are very useful for building up the kingdom of God. If we refuse to use them, we miss multiple chances to build the Kingdom - and that is unacceptable.