Transcript
Luke chapter 6. And we want to begin reading at verse 20. Luke 6, verse 20.
Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples and said,
Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, for in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.
But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets.
It wasn’t supposed to turn out that way. And if Michael Thomas had known that it would, he would never have made the bet.
It all started one Wednesday afternoon just this past August when three men were drinking beer on the shore of Bachman Lake. One of them was twenty-two-year-old Michael Thomas who lives in the 7,500 block of West Moreland Road. And after a while he and one of his drinking companions, a perfect stranger to him, began to brag on their athletic abilities.
Thomas described it this way. He said, “I’m an athlete. I can run. I can jump. I can swim.” He was six foot two and two hundred pounds, a little bigger than me. But when he wanted to bet fifty dollars that he could beat me swimming across the lake, I knew he was wrong.
The third member of the trio was twenty-four-year-old George Nellams, an employee of the Mayflower Van Lines. And Nellams tried to talk the other two men out of their wager but without success.
Instead they both jumped into the waters of Bachman Lake. And the bigger man took a lead. “We were about sixty yards out,” Thomas said, “and he was in front of me when he said, ‘Man, I can’t make it.’ I said, ‘You can swim back then.’ And I turned around and went underwater.
“When I came up,” said Thomas, “I saw a man diving into the water and I asked him why he was doing this. He told me that the bigger man had gone under, so I turned around and helped him search.”
The diver turned out to be George Nellams. According to Nellams the big man went under very shortly after the two of them went into the water. Some of the people along the shore noticed him but they may have thought that he was joking because they didn’t move.
Nellams said he kept saying, “Come on! Help me! Help me!” But nobody did. So Nellams decided to jump into the water. But when he reached the area where the man had been the people on the shore told him that he had passed him.
“When I looked behind me,” said Nellams, “I saw him. But then he went down and never came back up.” And Nellams added, “I tried to help. I feel terrible. I saw the dude’s eyes. I didn’t want to jump in the nasty water but I saw tears in his eyes.”
Fire department scuba divers recovered the body. But by nightfall the dead man was still unidentified. And so for a little time at least he remained an anonymous person who had gambled his life and lost for a miserable fifty-dollar bet.
Now probably when we hear a story like that most of us are tempted to say, “Well that’s what drinking will do for you. Drinking will make you act like a fool. And sometimes you have to pay the consequences for your foolishness.” And I certainly wouldn’t want to argue with that.
But do you realize that there are actually a lot more intoxicated people all around us than we sometimes think? In fact there are lots and lots of people who are intoxicated with their earthly experience. They are intoxicated with the things of the world. They are drunk with the pleasures of life.
And the result is that they are engaged in a big gamble with their lives. And they are involved in a bet which they cannot possibly win. And let’s not kid ourselves. Some of those people are born-again Christians who are really saved and who are really on their way to heaven.
And because this danger is so real the title of my message this morning runs like this: Your Life: What Is It Worth? Your Life: What Is It Really Worth?
You know every Sunday night on Channel 5 after the Perry Mason show a program comes on which has a title which I think is going to become a permanent expression in the American language. I’m betting that you have heard the title even if you’ve never seen the show. The name of the program is Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.
Robin Leach is the host of this program. And he is the celebrity interviewer who flies all over the world to interview the beautiful people both here and abroad. His camera crews take reels of film of the lavish, expensive, exotic homes and surroundings in which these people live.
And you know it’s probably a good thing that I usually fall asleep during the trial scene on Perry Mason because by the time Lifestyles comes on I’m just about ready to go to bed. And you know if you watched a program like that regularly and if you took it seriously you could get a very wrong idea. You could get a very twisted and distorted notion of what life is really all about.
You know to hear Robin Leach tell it the really successful people in this world are the people who have got it made. They’re the people who have lots of money. And they are living in their dream houses. And they can travel all over the world. And they have plenty of time to play and to party.
And if Robin Leach really believes the stuff that he says about the rich and the famous then Robin Leach has got it all wrong. And Robin Leach doesn’t have the foggiest notion of what real success is all about.
You see Jesus Christ had an entirely different view of success. And if Jesus were to serve as the host of a television program the title of the television program might be something like this: Lifestyles of the Poor and Powerless. Lifestyles of the Poor and Powerless.
I want you to notice very carefully this morning that when Jesus begins to preach His famous Sermon on the Plain His opening words are like a great big electric shock. It is just as if Jesus began this sermon by saying, “Congratulations to you people out there that are poor. Congratulations to you people who are hungry. Congratulations to those of you who are weeping and who are rejected by other people.”
And then it’s just as if He said, “Congratulations to all of you because you are a great success. You are a great success.”
Now please don’t think for a single moment that these words are addressed to all of the poor people on earth or to all of the people in the world who are hungry or weeping or rejected by other people. No indeed.
Remember that Jesus has just come down from the mountain where He spent all night in prayer to God. And early that day Jesus has selected the twelve men who will be the innermost circle of His disciples. And when He comes down from the mountain and stands on the level plain yes there’s a big crowd of people around Him but we are told that there is a crowd of His disciples, a crowd of His other disciples.
And the Bible says that Jesus lifted up His eyes toward His disciples. He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples. And He said to His disciples,
Blessed are you when you are poor, when you are hungry, when you are weeping, and when you are rejected by men.
Don’t you see the point of this is very simple? If you are a dedicated disciple of Jesus Christ and you experience poverty or hunger or if you experience sorrow or rejection by people then you are a great success.
Why? Why is this true? Well if a disciple is poor he’s blessed because someday he’s going to be rich. The kingdom of God belongs to him. And someday he will help rule the world in association with the King of kings.
If you are a disciple and you are hungry that also is blessed because you are headed for an experience of rich satisfaction and fulfillment. And if you are a disciple and you are weeping now that also is blessed because you are headed for wonderful joy and laughter.
Mark it well. Mark it well. Wrapped up in these astounding words is one of the most important principles of Christian living that you will ever learn. The principle is this. If you are a born-again person who has received from Jesus Christ the free gift of everlasting life, if you know that you’re on your way to heaven, and if in addition to that you are a disciple of His, you are following Him, then the principle is this: Every negative experience is a doorway to success.
May I repeat that? It’s very, very important. If you are a disciple every negative experience is a doorway to spiritual and eternal success.
One time there was a missionary lady who was seriously ill in the foreign place where she was serving the Lord. To add to her burdens her check hadn’t come. And day after day she had to exist off of oatmeal and canned milk. She was unable to get the good food which she felt she needed.
But despite everything the missionary lady got better. After thirty days of living off oatmeal her check finally arrived and she was finally able to put something else on the table. Needless to say during her sickness she sometimes suspected that the Lord wasn’t doing her right.
But after she went home on furlough on one occasion she was telling about this experience and talking to an interested crowd of Christian hearers. When the meeting was over a kindly doctor came up to her and inquired what the nature of her sickness had been.
When he found out that it was a certain kind of digestive trouble the doctor said to the missionary lady, “If your check had come you wouldn’t be standing here talking to me today. The diet that we always prescribe for this kind of trouble is a thirty-day oatmeal diet.”
Sometimes, my friends, when we are following the Lord we do not like the menu that is served up to us by life. Sometimes we don’t have enough money. Maybe we don’t have enough to eat. Maybe things happen in our lives that make us cry. And any number of other things can take place.
But let me assure you of this. That the menu, the diet, of a disciple of Jesus Christ is always planned by God. And it is always a prescription for spiritual health and for spiritual success.
The famous oriental philosopher whose name was Lokman was at one time a slave. On one occasion his master brought him a bitter melon. And Lokman took the melon and he ate it up completely.
And his master was astounded. He said to Lokman, “How is it possible for you to eat such a nauseating fruit?” And Lokman replied, “I received so many favors from you that it’s no wonder if for once in my life I should eat a bitter melon from your hand.”
The story is that his master was so impressed with this answer that he immediately gave Lokman his freedom.
My Christian friends, if I were to tell you this morning that there were no bitter melons in the pathway of Christian discipleship I’d be lying to you. I’d be lying to you. Of course there are bitter melons in that pathway.
But if we are willing to eat the bitter melons of life because of our dedication to our Lord and Master, we are willing to do that, then we are rewarded both now and in the life to come. When we eat the bitter melons of life for God we are a great success.
But you know there are some people who can take a little bit of poverty and a little bit of hunger maybe and a few sorrows here and there. But the one thing they can’t stand is rejection by other people. Did you ever hear of peer pressure? Sure you did.
Peer pressure is what you feel when everybody in your group is drinking a beer and you don’t want to drink a beer. Peer pressure is what you feel when everybody down the office is cheating the company and you’re trying to be honest. Peer pressure is what you feel when everybody around you is laughing their heads off at a dirty joke and you don’t think it’s funny.
And you know it’s amazing what people will do in response to peer pressure. Things that they wouldn’t even think of doing on other occasions.
And I think it is really impressive to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak these words: “Congratulations to you when men hate you, when they exclude you from their company, when they run you down to the ground with criticism, and when they cast your name out as evil for My sake. When that happens to you be very, very happy and jump for joy because you have a great reward in heaven.”
That’s exactly the way they treated God’s prophets in days of old. And listen. One of the best things that can ever happen to you as a Christian person is to have somebody reject you for your Christian faith and for your commitment to Jesus Christ.
In the city of Enterprise, Alabama in Coffee County there is a monument which is said to be the only monument ever erected to an insect pest. You see in 1915 Coffee County was invaded by an army of boll weevils. At that time it was a one-crop county and the boll weevils wiped out sixty percent of the cotton crop.
But as a result of the boll weevil invasion the farmers in Coffee County began to diversify their crops with special emphasis on peanuts. And by 1919 Coffee County was harvesting more peanuts than any county in the whole country. And they were enjoying an upsurge in prosperity.
And so out of gratitude to the boll weevils on December 11, 1919 they erected a marker in the main street of Enterprise, Alabama. And it read like this: “With profound appreciation to the boll weevil for what it has done as a herald of prosperity.”
I like it. Don’t you? “With profound appreciation to the boll weevil for what it has done as a herald of prosperity.”
You know if you can think of anybody this morning who doesn’t like you because you’re a Christian or if you can think of somebody who won’t have anything to do with you because you’re dedicated to Jesus Christ you know what you ought to do? You almost ought to build a monument to them.
You really should. And on the monument you can have this inscription: “With profound gratitude for so-and-so for what he or she has done as herald of eternal reward. As a herald of eternal reward.”
Folks, congratulations! If there’s anybody who rejects you for being a Christian because that makes you a great success.
Now I can almost hear somebody saying, “Well Zane you make it sound pretty good. But if I were to be perfectly honest with you I would say that I still prefer the lifestyles of the rich and the famous.” Do you? Do you really?
Then listen to these words: “But woe to you who are rich. You’ve already received your fulfillment. And woe to you who are full because you will be hungry. And woe to you who laugh now because you will weep. And woe, woe, woe if everybody says only nice things about you because that’s what they did to the false prophets long ago.”
Do you get this point? It’s almost as if Jesus had said, “I almost cry. I almost weep for you folks who have it made. You have my profoundest sympathies. You have my deepest condolences because you’ve missed it. You’ve missed it. And you will never, ever experience the rewards that belong to My faithful disciples.”
And folks let’s not kid ourselves this morning, shall we? There will be real born-again Christians standing at the judgment seat of Christ someday. And the tears will be rolling down their cheeks when they realize how tragically they have failed. And when they see the wonderful rewards that are given to the faithful servants of Christ they’ll hunger for those rewards but won’t be able to get them.
Oh yes they’re really saved. Yes they’ll be living in the kingdom of God forever. And yes God will even wipe away the tears from their eyes. But when it comes to the splendid and glorious experience of faithful disciples of Jesus Christ they’ve missed it and they’ve missed it forever.
Lifestyles. Everybody’s got one, don’t they? So the question is, “What is your lifestyle like this morning?” Or perhaps even more important, “What is your lifestyle really worth?”
Quite a few years ago in England a man by the name of Whitefield and a friend of his were taking a trip on horseback. They had just visited a widow. And they had given her five guineas which was a large sum of money in those days. And she needed it because she had a large family.
And as they proceeded on their journey they were suddenly stopped by a highwayman on horseback who demanded their money. So they dug out all the money that they had left on them and gave it to the highwayman and he rode off.
And then Whitefield turned to his friend and pointed out that it was a whole lot better that they had been robbed by the highwayman after they visited the widow because the widow had the five guineas instead of the highway robber.
They were proceeding on their way and they hadn’t gotten very far when the highway robber came riding back to them. And this time he demanded Whitefield’s coat which was a whole lot more respectable looking than the robber’s own. So Whitefield gave him his coat and he accepted in exchange the tattered coat which the highway robber was wearing.
They proceeded on a little further and the next thing they knew here was the highway robber riding back toward them at a furious pace. Now they were a little fearful for their lives and so they spurred their horses. They were able to reach some cottages before the highwayman could catch up with them.
The highwayman was blocked and he had to ride off. No doubt deeply frustrated because you see when Whitefield took off the tattered coat that the robber had given him he found in an inside pocket a neatly wrapped package containing one hundred guineas, twenty times the amount that they had given to the widow.
And sometimes, folks, when we’re trying to do the right thing it looks like life is treating us like a highway robber. It seems that we are being robbed of the beautiful and valuable things of earthly life. But let me assure you that inside the tattered garment of our earthly troubles there lies concealed the amazing wealth of everlasting reward.
So folks forget about Robin Leach. Forget about the lifestyles of the rich and the famous. Don’t gamble with your earthly life. Invest it! Invest it in discipleship to Jesus Christ because believe me all of the real winners, all of the real winners on earth do exactly that.
Shall we pray? Father, we thank You for Your view of life, for Your view of experience, and for Your view of eternity. Make that view our view. Let it be reflected in our lifestyle. We pray this in Christ’s name. Amen.