Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / Jesus’s Warnings to the Comfortable

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Jesus’s Warnings to the Comfortable · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Well. To live in the West is to be immersed
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  Speaker 1: in a world that is obsessed with wealth and status
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  Speaker 1: and money and greed and gambling in luxury. That's why
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  Speaker 1: we dedicated so much time here to discuss money and
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  Speaker 1: shopping and the prosperity gospel and what it means to
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  Speaker 1: live a wartime lifestyle in the midst of such a
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  Speaker 1: money loving culture. These perennial topics take up as much
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  Speaker 1: space and the APJ book as any other. For that reason,
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  Speaker 1: you can see my digest some pages ninety five to
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  Speaker 1: one twenty one. There's a lot to say. And if
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  Speaker 1: you're reading your Bible with us using the Navigator's Bible
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  Speaker 1: Reading Plan Saturday, we read Jesus's Woes to the Rich
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  Speaker 1: and the well fed and the Comfortable in Luke six
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  Speaker 1: verses twenty four to twenty six. So is this a
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  Speaker 1: condemnation of the comforts of our own middle class Western life.
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  Speaker 1: It's a great question, and it comes from Lee in
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  Speaker 1: North Carolina. Dear Pastor John and Tony. I am a
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  Speaker 1: longtime listener to the podcast, and I want to thank
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  Speaker 1: you for providing me ten minutes of spiritual nourishment during
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  Speaker 1: my hundreds of mourning commutes. That's wonderful, wonderful year. It
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  Speaker 1: has literally changed the course of my days. As I
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  Speaker 1: drive to work this morning, I was reading through the
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  Speaker 1: Beatitudes in Luke six, verses twenty four to twenty six.
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  Speaker 1: They struck me like never before. Verse twenty four says
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  Speaker 1: woe to you who are rich. I am rich by
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  Speaker 1: all global standards. My wife and I do not live
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  Speaker 1: beyond our means or spend frivolously. However, we do have
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  Speaker 1: good incomes and savings. Verse twenty five says woe to
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  Speaker 1: you who are full now. I have never been truly
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  Speaker 1: hungry in my life, apart from voluntary fasting. Verse twenty
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  Speaker 1: six says wo to you who laugh now, I have
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  Speaker 1: a joyful life and try to laugh often. Can you
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  Speaker 1: help put Jesus' woes into perspective, especially as they seem
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  Speaker 1: so directed right at my life? Can you contrast Luke's
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  Speaker 1: account with Matthews, which says, blessed are the poor in spirit,
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  Speaker 1: hunger and thirst for righteousness, etc. I desire the blessings
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  Speaker 1: of Luke six twenty to twenty two, but I'm unsure
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  Speaker 1: how to reconcile all of this with my physical life.
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  Speaker 1: Matthew seems focused on my spiritual life Pastjohn, what would
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  Speaker 1: you have to say the lead?
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  Speaker 2: Let me read the text in just a second, and then,
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  Speaker 2: in case it's just not obvious, point out what the
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  Speaker 2: problem is as we compare Luke's so called beatitudes and
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  Speaker 2: woes with Matthew's beatitudes. But let me preface it with
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  Speaker 2: a method. I don't think it's good method to try
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  Speaker 2: to force similar sayings in two different gospels to mean
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  Speaker 2: exactly the same thing, because Jesus spoke similar things in
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  Speaker 2: many different settings and meant different things by them, not
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  Speaker 2: contradictory things, but different things. So my approach and I
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  Speaker 2: think it's it's wise and honoring to the inspired writers
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  Speaker 2: that we let each gospel writer report what he knows
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  Speaker 2: in a way that makes clear a particular meaning about
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  Speaker 2: those rather than saying, well, Luke's has to be what
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  Speaker 2: Matthew meant, or Matthew has to be what Luke meant,
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  Speaker 2: And I would say, no, that's not the case. They
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  Speaker 2: just don't contradict each other, but they might be different,
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  Speaker 2: significantly different, which they are here, so everybody knows Matthew's
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  Speaker 2: blessed are the poor in spirit. That's really familiar for
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  Speaker 2: theirs is the King of heaven. Or blessed are those
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  Speaker 2: who mourn, for they should be comforted. So here's Luke's version.
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  Speaker 2: I'll read the whole thing. Jesus lifted up his eyes
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  Speaker 2: on his disciples and said, Blessed are you who are poor,
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  Speaker 2: for yours as the King of God. Blessed are you
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  Speaker 2: who are hungry, now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed
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  Speaker 2: are you who weep, now for you shall laugh. Blessed
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  Speaker 2: are you when people hate you, and when they exclude
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  Speaker 2: you and reviled you and spurn your name is evil
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  Speaker 2: on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that
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  Speaker 2: day and leap for joy. I mean that just seems
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  Speaker 2: over the top, right, Leap for joy when you're slandered,
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  Speaker 2: for behold, your reward is great in heaven. So for
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  Speaker 2: so they persecute, For so the fathers did to their
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  Speaker 2: profits Verse twenty four. But woe to you who are rich,
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  Speaker 2: for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who
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  Speaker 2: are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to
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  Speaker 2: you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
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  Speaker 2: Woe to you when people speak well of you, For
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  Speaker 2: so their fathers did to the false prophets. So this
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  Speaker 2: is one of the classic places where Jesus speaks in
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  Speaker 2: a sweeping and extreme way and leaves you gasping, wondering
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  Speaker 2: if he could possibly mean what he seems to say
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  Speaker 2: in such a sweeping and seemingly unqualified way. For example,
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  Speaker 2: he said, blessed are the poor, no qualifications. Blessed are
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  Speaker 2: the hungry, now no qualifications. Blessed are the weeping, Now
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  Speaker 2: no qualifications. Woe to you rich is the opposite of poor,
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  Speaker 2: no qualifications. Woe to those who are full, opposite of hungry,
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  Speaker 2: no qualifications. Woe to those who laugh, just laugh, no qualifications.
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  Speaker 2: What in the world are we to make of this?
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  Speaker 2: So here we really wonder, well, are there no qualifications?
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  Speaker 2: If there are no qualifications, then the wicked poor, and
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  Speaker 2: the wicked hungry and the wicked laughing will all be
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  Speaker 2: blessed by God. And if there are really no qualifications,
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  Speaker 2: then there are no godly rich, and everyone with a
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  Speaker 2: full stomach or who laughs at a baby's giggle are cursed. Now,
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  Speaker 2: I think our approach should not be first to say, well,
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  Speaker 2: he just can't mean that. I mean, he just can't
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  Speaker 2: mean that, and call it exaggeration or literary device or
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  Speaker 2: something like that. Rather, I think we should look for
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  Speaker 2: clues in the context, look very carefully, stare until we
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  Speaker 2: see them which he expects us to find, so that
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  Speaker 2: we can know there are qualifications. Not all the poor
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  Speaker 2: are blessed, not all the weeping are blessed, Not all
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  Speaker 2: those with the full stomach are cursed. Not everyone who
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  Speaker 2: laughs is under judgment. Now do we know that? I mean,
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  Speaker 2: there you go, laying your predisposition by on top of
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  Speaker 2: the text and won't let it say what it wants
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  Speaker 2: to say. Well, I hope not. Here's the clue. Jesus
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  Speaker 2: says in verse twenty two that when people hate you
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  Speaker 2: on account of the son of Man, you should rejoice
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  Speaker 2: on that day and leap for joy. Picture yourself leaping
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  Speaker 2: for joy. What does it sound like out of your mouth?
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  Speaker 2: There's laughter and shouting. So Jesus is saying loud and
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  Speaker 2: clear that in this age there is a time and
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  Speaker 2: a place and a circumstance for great rejoicing and leaping
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  Speaker 2: for joy, not the place that the world expects, but
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  Speaker 2: a real time and real place for much joyful leaping
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  Speaker 2: and laughing, namely, when you are persecuted for the son
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  Speaker 2: of Man. Oh, when he gets to verse twenty five
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  Speaker 2: and says, woe to you who laugh now, for you
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  Speaker 2: show morn and weep, we know he must mean a
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  Speaker 2: kind of laughing that isn't the same kind as the
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  Speaker 2: joy and the leaping that he commanded in verse twenty two.
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  Speaker 2: He doesn't speak out of both sides of his mouth.
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  Speaker 2: He's not confused, he's not schizophrenic. When he says leap
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  Speaker 2: for joy and then condemns laughter, we know one of
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  Speaker 2: them is different than the other. There's a distinction being made.
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  Speaker 2: That's the clue, at least one that he wants us
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  Speaker 2: to pick up. There are others, and so we should
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  Speaker 2: apply the same thing to the poor and the rich.
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  Speaker 2: Is it all poor? Just like is it all laughter? No,
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  Speaker 2: it's not all poor, Just like it was not all laughter.
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  Speaker 2: All the rich are condemned, just like all laughter is
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  Speaker 2: not wrong. No, not all the rich. Each one we
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  Speaker 2: pick up on and apply the same clue that we
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  Speaker 2: saw with regard to laughter. So what's the key that
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  Speaker 2: makes some laughter blessed and some woeful? And the contextual
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  Speaker 2: answer is are you laughing or leaping on account of
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  Speaker 2: the son of man? Because that's the criterion for the
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  Speaker 2: first command for joy when it is done in response
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  Speaker 2: to living according to the Son of Man? Is your
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  Speaker 2: poverty an expression of your devotion to the Son of Man?
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  Speaker 2: Is your hunger and expression of your love and devotion
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  Speaker 2: to and following the Son of Man? Are your riches
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  Speaker 2: owing to indifference to the teachings of the Son of Man?
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  Speaker 2: If so you're under a woe, is the fullness of
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  Speaker 2: your stoe evidence that you are for or against the
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  Speaker 2: Son of Man. So my answer to Lee's question is
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  Speaker 2: this that Jesus has given us clues in Luke's text
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  Speaker 2: to keep us from treating these beatitudes and curses in
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  Speaker 2: an unqualified way. Poverty and riches, hunger and fullness, weeping
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  Speaker 2: and laughter may be signs of blessedness, or they may
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  Speaker 2: be signs of condemnation, depending on how they relate to
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  Speaker 2: our devotion to Jesus. If we are utterly devoted to him,
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  Speaker 2: no poverty, no hunger, or weeping can steal our blessedness.
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  Speaker 2: I think that's what he means by the blessings. If
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  Speaker 2: you're my disciple and you are acting in a chord
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  Speaker 2: with your love for the Son of Man, you may
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  Speaker 2: be poor You may be hungry, you may be weeping,
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  Speaker 2: but you are blessed. And if we are not devoted
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  Speaker 2: to Him, not following the Son of Man, no riches,
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  Speaker 2: no fullness, no laughter can keep us from condemnation.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, devotion to Christ is the key to it all.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you Bestor John for this and for all that
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  Speaker 1: you have covered over the years on money and shopping
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  Speaker 1: and the prosperity gospel and what it means to live
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: a wartime lifestyle in the midst of such a greedy
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: world around us. These perennial topics take up about as
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: much space in the AVJ Book as anything else. For
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: that reason, so much ground has been covered. See my
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  Speaker 1: digestive episodes on pages ninety five to one twenty one
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  Speaker 1: to appreciate the ground that we've covered and to catch up.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you Bestor John, and thank you for joining us today.
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  Speaker 1: If you have a question to ask Pastor John, find
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  Speaker 1: a link to email us and find our complete episode
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  Speaker 1: archive at Askpastor John dot com. Every episode with audio
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  Speaker 1: and full transcripts available for you. Twenty four seven. Well,
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  Speaker 1: speaking of perennial topics and crude joking, how do we
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  Speaker 1: live holy lives when we are inundated by so much trashy,
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  Speaker 1: crude media all around us. Great question up next, I'm
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  Speaker 1: Tony Rinky. See you on Monday.