Your Counterculture Calling

Well, if you like sermon titles, the title of our sermon today is Your Counterculture Calling. Your Counterculture Calling. And I invite you to open your Bibles once again, and let's turn to Luke chapter 6 verses 20 through 26. We're going to continue in our study series in the Gospel of Luke. We come to Luke 6, and the passage of Scripture study this afternoon will be verses 20 through 26. Here, Luke records a portion of Christ's Sermon on the Mount.

You know, the Sermon on the Mount, of course, that which is one of the most pivotal, one of the most quoted sermons of all the Bible. Matthew's recordings contain more of this sermon, but today we're going to focus on what is just this absolutely fascinating portion of Christ's Sermon as recorded by Luke. And before we get to verse 20, I want to set the scene a little bit for us in coming to this incredible sermon.

Jesus, the previous day, had gone up to the mountain. He did this often. He went to get away from the crowds, and He went to be with His Father. We see that fact, and if you allow your eyes to go up to verse 12, He went out to the mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God. This was a very important moment.

So this is all leading up to the words that we're about to read in just a moment. Then in the morning, verse 13, when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself, and from them He chose the twelve whom He also named apostles. This is a pivotal moment here. Then, later in the day, after choosing His disciples, He comes down from the mountain.

Verse 17, He's met by a great crowd. Verse 19, they tried to touch Him. Those who succeeded in touching Him were instantly healed. There was power flowing through Jesus Christ at this moment. So the power of God was absolutely present at this moment. He is now at the plateau here on the mountain side, and He begins to speak and to preach. And He's about to proclaim a counter-culture calling. Let's see this. Luke 6, beginning in verse 20. Then Luke records, He, Jesus, 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. Verse 24, 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.

And woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets. Let's stop there. So I'd like to begin our study by asking a question, and it is a which would you rather be question. Okay, so I want you to listen carefully here. You can choose one from this list of two. So it's a it's a list of four, and you can only choose one from these lists.

Would you rather be, okay, poor, hungry, sad, or hated? Okay, that's list number one. Or would you rather be rich, well-fed, happy, and popular? That's the choice. Okay, so think about it a minute, if you will. Would you rather be poor, hungry, sad, and hated? Or rich, well-fed, happy, and popular? Now, before you answer that question, I want to let you know that your answer, your answer as a called believer, your answer not only matters to the things of this physical life, but in fact how you answer ultimately hinges on the matters of your spiritual life and your your life eternal life. We want to bring this for today that your your answer to that question has great implications to you, the called believer.

Now, of course, physically speaking, I think we could all agree to the answer to that question is quite an easy one. Which would you rather be? I think I can answer it for us physically speaking. We would rather be rich than poor, of course. We would rather be well-fed than hungry, happy than sad, popular versus hated. And if you think about that, think about this, really the whole of the extent of how we set up this physical life, we set up our whole life really pointing toward and endeavoring toward the first list, don't we?

The extent of our whole life is set up to that first list. But here we have these striking words of Jesus Christ, and these words are in total contrast to our totality of our physical endeavors in this life. So let me ask, what if, what if we've got this whole thing upside down? What if we have it all wrong? Where our whole value system is at the beginning of our conscious life and looking to the future of our physical life, what if we have this completely dreadfully skewed?

Where the things in which we hold this priority and primary are the very things that should just be the opposite? We can think about that a little bit. You know, some question whether Jesus somehow has this all upside down. I mean, look at this. He says to his disciples, blessed, blessed are you poor. Blessed are you hungry. Blessed are you who weep now, and even blessed are you when you're hated.

And I want to make it clear to whom he's speaking here. It's no doubt he's speaking to you and I today. You know, verse 20, he speaks to his disciples. He lifted up his eyes toward, verse 20, his disciples. So he had just chosen these 12 disciples. He has chosen you today, and he looks to them. He lifts his eyes to them and now gives them this teaching that is in complete contrast. Complete contrast to anything they had heard. Complete contrast to even everything that's just part of our natural thinking here. So what is he saying? What could we, how could we summarize what he's saying here?

We might be able to summarize it a few ways, but I think ultimately what he's saying now to his disciples is that when God the Father has given you to me, Jesus says, at that time you're going to have to start thinking differently. And I don't mean a little bit different. I mean a whole cell, whole cell radical transformation to our natural thinking. It is, it is maybe an understatement to say that Jesus Christ's disciples, you and I, we must think differently. And all of these matters here on earth. And if you look at church history, it seems to make sense. If you look at the church history, you discover that the church was what it was at its most effective when the people of God were so radically different than the society around them. You see that over and over again. And God has planned it so. You know, God since the beginning chose a people and he set them apart. He set them apart to, and he set them apart from the world, and he set them apart to himself. He sets them apart from sin. He sets us apart from the world again. He sets us apart from our own natural inclinations. He sets us apart from our own desires and sets us apart to his thinking. Sets us apart to his purposes. Sets us apart to be different. And we find this endeavor by God found throughout all the scriptures. The scriptures are replete with that. I'm just going to show you two examples. One in the Old Testament, one in the New Testament, just to really nail this down for us. So if you'd like to keep your marker here, let's turn for a moment to Leviticus 18, if you will. We're going to come back to Luke in just a moment. But Leviticus 18 verses 1 through 5. Here is a striking, clear example that we're supposed to be set apart from and set apart to be different. Leviticus 18 verses 1 through 5. We are to be counter, completely counter to the surrounding culture. Here it is. Listen to this. Leviticus 18 verses 1.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, speak to the children of Israel, that's God's called people, speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, I am the Lord your God. According to the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall not do. And according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I'm bringing you, you shall not do, nor shall you walk in their ordinances. Rather, verse 4, you shall observe my judgments, keep my ordinances, and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes, my judgments, which is if a man does, he shall live by them. I am the Lord. Let's stop there. So he goes on to express the outworkings of that principle here, but here it is. You know, I've set you apart from anything that you've known before. So I'm pulling you out here, and you shouldn't do what they're doing. And I'm even going to place you in a new land, and I don't want you to do what they're doing either. You're now mine, and you now do my purposes. You live my way. I'm setting you apart from them to myself, the Lord says. What happens is, throughout the generations, and you can go on to read, many did not respond to this counterculture calling, and they were absorbed in the culture, and therefore useless, not as purposeful in God's plan. God calls us to be holistically different. One more, this time from the New Testament. Let's turn to Romans 12, verse 1 and 2, if you will, where we see another example. Romans 12, verse 1 and 2, another example here. We are called to be different. We are called to be counter to this world. This is one of the most classic examples here of this teaching, and we could have turned to so many different passages. Romans 12, verse 1 and 2, called to be different, called to be counter to this world. Romans 12, verse 1. Paul writes, I beseech you therefore, brethren, that's a term of endearment, God's called ones, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to the culture. No, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And here it is, verse 2, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove, give evidence, what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. It's not there. So that you might prove. So this is the understanding as to why we are to be counter to this culture. I believe the largest reason for the ineffectiveness of the church today is a failure in this area, a failure to be different. But this is what we're called to do. And as we are not distinct from the culture, well, we're not fulfilling, we're not showing evidence of what is the good and acceptable, perfect will of God. In fact, as we are absorbed in the culture, you will find that your voice for God is really silenced. We could say, you know, what does the called of God businessman, what is that child of God in his business element when he cheats his customers or bends the truth?

Then what right does that man have to say to his co-worker about the issues of integrity, you know, or to our young people amongst their peers, the young person that's being called by God?

What right does a called young person have to say about the purity of God if they are living in a way where they're absorbed in the culture and they're observing practices that are not acceptable to God prior to marriage? What right does that individual, that young boy or young adult girl, have to say to their peer about the issues of integrity? You see, what right does a man who or woman who spreads gossip and tears people down, then what right does that called believer have to say about the transforming mercy of God and his grace? Not much. You know, if you're like me, I have seen individuals who needed to come, you know, needed to get back on track and I'm just about to say something to them. And then all of a sudden I'm struck because I know my own mix in the culture today. So it almost shuts my mouth in a way because there would be a hypocrisy that came forth. So I'm silenced. If I'm in the culture and not out from the culture, I'm silenced. I am not able. God is not able to use me to prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God. You see, it makes us less effective. We're exactly the same as the culture that we're attempting to speak against, you see. So we're supposed to be different. We have to be different so that God can use us in a mighty way and so that our voice will have authenticity. Our voice must have authenticity. When I'm dealing with the young people, they pick up on a hypocrisy very quickly, very quickly. If you're not living it, they're going to pick it up. So an authentic word is key. So in preparation to teach our young people, I spend just as much time on my knees asking for God for forgiveness of my own personal missteps as I do on the message that I'm trying to deliver to them. Because God can fill their little hearts and minds with whatever his words say. It's not me. But God needs a vessel to which to work through, as clean a vessel as possible. So I don't want to hinder God in any way in doing his work. And that starts with me coming out of and responding to this counterculture calling here. So in turning back to Luke 6, if you'd like to turn back there now in verse 20, we are entering into a dimension of spiritual geography here that we might enter into in a total different way here. A whole new way of thinking here. If you'll notice here in chapter 6 in this passage, what Jesus Christ is essentially doing is he's describing a value system which is in complete opposition to that which he's speaking into the culture here. Macarios is the word. Blessed. That's the word. Macarios. Be attitude. Happy. A state of well-being. Is it being expressed here? He's exalting that which the world despises, and he's rejecting that which the world admires. And here he goes, beginning in verse 20. Blessed are you poor. Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Let's consider this. So what is he saying? What is Jesus Christ saying with this statement? Is he suggesting that deprivation, physical deprivation, is the key to the kingdom of God. So if you are physically poor, you ought to be really happy, because you're in. If you're poor, blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Well, no. Of course not. Why? Ultimately, that would be external thinking.

To think this is only speaking of poor physically, that would be solely external thinking. Most often, while there is an absolute external component to God's way, most often he's speaking to the heart internally. Being poor physically, that's not necessarily counterculture. There's plenty of us that have been poor, and plenty in the world that have been poor physically. What he's saying is those who have come to the awareness of their poverty spiritually, those who come to the awareness of their poverty spiritually, those are the beneficiaries of the kingdom of God.

Now, as a side note, I will tell you outward physical poverty may be the means for a spiritual blessing. Absolutely. Those who are physically poor and receive the call of God, they actually might garner a far greater response than those who are living in an affluent way. For example, the rich young ruler. We all know that story. We won't take the time to turn there, but he comes up to Jesus Christ, gets on his knees, good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Within a few minutes, he's going down the road sad and sorrowful. And Jesus Christ says the striking words, I tell you truth, it's hard. It's hard for a rich man, physically rich man, to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And then he says, further, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. You see, the rich young ruler could not see the desperate spiritual poverty that he situation that he was in. He wasn't able to see it. If he saw his poverty, spiritually speaking, there would have been no physical riches which would have stood in the way of him obtaining the spiritual riches that he needed. And I just believe that the reason why, and I do put this forward to our young people, I believe one of the primary reasons why there are many who are called and few who are chosen, really speaks to this essence.

Those who are called and don't make the step to being chosen very often are too self-rich. They're too self-satisfied. They're too self-healed. They're too self-assured. You see this time and time again. Too rich in themselves. Too rich in themselves. Unwilling to admit their spiritual poverty. One of the aspects that we try to get our young people to really get is not that they want this this life or that they want what Jesus Christ has to offer. It's that they need. They need Jesus Christ. That is the most difficult moving them from wanting or looking to desire and trying to garner up the desire in themselves to realizing they need. They need it like they need food. That's how much they need Jesus Christ in this way of life. And we need God's mercy to be poor in spirit. It is he or she who will enter into the kingdom of God. So blessed are you if you're in that state. Same blessing here. Now verse 21. Blessed are you who hunger now for you shall be filled. So just as Jesus was not suggesting that being physically destitute is the key to an ultimate blessing, neither is physical starvation blessing as well. If we looked at these two scriptures solely from the physical standpoint, I would say, let's convene here, go home, sell your homes, put them up for sale immediately, let's empty out the cupboards. I'd like you to go out under a tree and sit there. It's not too far fetched. You see the individual lying on a bed of nails. That's the principle to which they garner incorrectly from these scriptures. You know, give it all away. Strip down to the bare essentials of starve, and there you will enter into the kingdom of God. You know, it's nonsensical. Why wouldn't that work? Why is that not the key? Well, pride, pride, ultimately is not removed with the removal of physical stuff. Okay, pride is not ultimately removed simply by removing physical stuff. Spiritual fullness is not ultimately dealt with in getting rid of material things. Why? These are heart issues. This is not external. It's internal that we're speaking about here.

Second part of verse 21, same thing with sadness. Second part of verse 21, second part of verse 21, blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

You know, this is again, this is so counter-cultural in its thinking here.

But I'll tell you the truth so I don't neglect to give it at some point in this message. I'm going to tell you what the gospel message is. The true gospel message ultimately is sacrifice now for the ultimate blessing later. To the called believer, it is in this life sacrifice now for the ultimate blessing later. Are you willing to think in this way?

If you're honest with yourself, you'll know that that is the truth.

Think about the spiritual, most impactful spiritual moments in your life. Almost always they come not from the sunshine moments. They come from clouds and rain and sometimes tsunamis, you know, in our lives. I know that's the case in my life. If you look back, that's when the most spiritual transforming moments came, is in those in the inclement weather. You might think about it in thinking about the sermonette and putting on the garments and the armor of God. In adverse weather, what do we do? We start to put on things. We put on the coats and if it's cold, we put layers on. You could liken that to God's spiritual clothing, His character, and how we put on. Most often we put on those garments, those righteous garments in inclement weather in our lives. Physically, that principle certainly carries over spiritually. So, are we willing now, today, in this physical life, to be poor, humble, hunger, not for the things of the world, but rather hunger for Him, to be filled by Jesus Christ, willing to sacrifice everything, even to the point of sorrow, to weeping, willing to sacrifice everything, and even until that point where we say, I'm willing to do whatever. You know, I think back on Jennifer and I's life, when we were most well fed by the culture, is when we were furthest away from God. It is just, that's just the way it was. Most talked about well and most fed and all those things by the culture, most rich, furthest away from God. What a blessing it was, that all of it was taken away in an instant. You know, God had began to call us. We were baptized and I was trying to get a business off the ground. I wasn't making very much money. Jennifer was bringing in all the money, six figures. We were living high. She gets fired, pregnant with Kate. There goes all the money. And there goes the house. That house was gone. I remember having the conversation with Jennifer, should I just leave the keys in the car to make it easier for the repo man when he comes? Literally, we had that discussion. Should I drive it down to the dealership? Just beat them to the punch or do I leave the keys in the car? You know, the BMW had a nice F-150, by the way. Oh, it was so pretty.

And I remember leaving the keys in the car and there it goes down the road. You know, we didn't know where our next meal was going to come from. Where were we going to live?

In hindsight, blessed were we. So blessed. It was like a cleansing. I just get it all away. Man, straight and correct my perspective on things. I was so askew. Jennifer was so askew. We had been well fed by the culture's way of thinking. The biggest blessing in our lives. And so now when things are taken away, it's like, oh, okay. I know this is going to be good. And with that perspective, you know, our first, we've said this before, our first initial prayer isn't always, God, remove this trial, make us well fed again, make us healthy. That's not always our first prayer. Our first prayer is, help me to learn from this. Help me to put on the spiritual garments that you want me to know from this. And please be merciful, you know. It's okay to ask for healing. It's okay to ask for the job. You've been laid off from the job, ask for another job. All that is proper and good. But make sure you understand that you're blessed in these conditions. You're blessed in a poor condition. You're blessed in these areas when you're hungry. You're blessed. I haven't gone to the extent to, you know, if someone's going through a trial to say, oh, well, you're blessed, you know. It's, you have to pick your timing, those kind of things. And often to a person, and I know there's several examples in this room, I will go to you and I'll have these conversations and you will say exactly what I'm saying. How blessed were we during the leanest times?

This is the counter thinking that we're speaking about today. Same here with the issue of popularity. This might be a big one to our young people. Verse 22, blessed are you, verse 22, 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. So we want to be not accepted by the culture. Being unpopular now. And I think the key phrase here that you'll notice here is just that. When they revile you, why? Well, the key phrase is, for the Son of Man, safe here. Happy are you when they hate you, reject you because of your relationship with Jesus Christ.

So the true Son of God, true daughter of God, they should, it should be a cause of joy when they're on the receiving end of persecution for the sake of Jesus Christ and God the Father.

You know, we're seeing a lot of persecution with individuals in their workplaces today. Well, you're blessed, particularly because you're doing it for Christ's name and His way of life. So you see, how we perceive these things is so crucial, our perspective.

Going on to verse 24 through 26, there's a shift here. It really is a reiteration of what Jesus Christ just said. Perhaps now, beginning in verse 24, He lifts His eyes to the greater crowd. The disciples were not rich. And so maybe He lifts His eyes here when He begins to speak verse 24 to the greater crowd. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. That's comfort there. The paraphrase here, this woe, another translation is, how miserable or even how terrible or how disappointing. So there's a little bit of compassion here in Jesus's words, I believe. Oh, what a dreadful thing. What a dreadful thing if you're receiving your comfort in this lifetime. That's what He's saying. I'm so glad that God the Father took Jennifer and I out of the consolation that this world was giving us. I don't want, ultimately, I don't want that comfort. I want the eternal comfort to come in His Kingdom.

Oh, how sad this is that you're receiving your comfort now, He says.

Now, I want to just state that riches, if you're in a season of riches, riches in and of themselves is not an element of exclusion in the Kingdom of God. We know that. There's been plenty of rich, affluent, called men and women. Lydia was a rich woman from Philippi, very prosperous. Her eyes were opened. Many other examples. But it's the understanding that those who are in a season of affluency, it's the understanding that it's a gift from God. It's an absolute gift from God. You know, when we were working up the ladder and making more and more money, the very mind that I used to head up the ladder, put more zeros behind the salary, that very mind is a gift from God.

The very mind that I used to ignore Him during that time, that very mind that I used to deny Him was a gift from God. All of it. Success is failure. It's all a gift from God. So if you've been in a rock bottom position, God loves to call individuals or bring individuals to their knees because He can do something with that woman or that man. Because they know as they begin to have influence or success, they know they give God all the credit. Because while nobody else may know who they actually are deep down inside, they do. I know who I am and where I came from. All this is a blessing from God. And so God gets the credit for it all. So God blesses His called believers by creating an environment where they're poor and they're hungry. And so that they will look to Him and start to put on that inclement weather clothing that He wants to put on them. We can't be rich and ignore God. If you want to just take a moment to turn to Luke 12. Luke 12 verse 20. This understanding is really brought out here by the rich fool. It's okay to be rich. Don't be a rich fool is what the Bible says. Here's a parable here found in Luke 12 verse 20 and 21. Let me lead you up to this. This rich man said, I've got it made in the shade. I could tear down barns. I can build them again. I've got laid up things for many years. Take life easy. Eat, drink, and be merry. And God says to Him here, Luke 12 verse 20 and 21. But God said to him, fool, this night your soul will be required of you. Then whose will those things be which you have provided? So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God? Okay, so that's that's not there. That's the risk. If you're in a rich season of your life or rich in different ways, maybe physically rich, maybe going through some sunshine days, those are wonderful. Pray for those days, but be careful that you don't become rich toward yourself, you know, but rather stay rich toward God. Woe to you who are rich because you're receiving your comfort, the extent of your comfort now. Same principle follows in verse 25 verse 25. Woe to you who are full. Be careful during those times in which you are well fed. You may be under the delusion that you have no need of God. One day you may go hungry spiritually. Continuing verse 25. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Of course, laughter is good. Again, tragedy and trial, the way God has designed it, tragedy and trial will bring you closer to the kingdom. I can say far more than sunshine. That is certainly the case in my life. I think you might say it in your life. And so blessed are you who mourn and weep. Who are sorrowful in this way. Blessed are the poor. Blessed are you who hungry. Blessed are you who weep now.

It's effective toward eternal matters. The last woe here is popularity. Verse 26. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for did their fathers to the false prophets.

This may be another message to the young people. You know, ultimately a disciple of God is far too uncomfortable to be popular. It is just the case. And so you have the cafeteria table. I've spoken to many of our teens where they're not welcomed to. They're reviled behind their backs. They're talked as if they're, you know, an alien because they're different.

And they're spoken evil against and the gossip. And it's really difficult for our young people. But that's kind of the way it is. If you're a true disciple of God, you're far too uncomfortable to be popular. And maybe woe to you if you find yourself in sync with those things and popularity. But what I found is, and I try to tell the young people this, there is something remarkable that happens. And a few of them have felt this. As they are pulling back from their culture, and school culture is a very difficult one. They're all going through a lot of trials right now.

School culture. But as they pull back and are willing to be unpopular, they're willing to have bad things said about them. Innately, there's something real that those who are reviling them, there's something about that is attracting to them. And I have seen it where the one walking in step with God, deep down inside those who are reviling them, there's something that actually is attracting them. They're like, wow, that's who I want. What's special about them? That's who I want to marry. And they're participating in the culture. But there's just something really attractive about that called young man or called young woman. And what they're seeing and feeling is God. They're showing God through themselves as they swim upstream in the school culture. It's very difficult. Be praying for our young people. But He has set us apart to live counter to this culture. And inevitably, we will garner disfavor in the society around us. So as we are doing a work for God, just be ready. We will fall out of favor and we will fall into disfavor, to say the least, with the culture around us, as the line becomes deeper and more ingrained that we are different. Then we're not going to go with the culture. But we'll be doing a work.

Well, there you have it. Make no mistake, here Jesus Christ is elevating those things which the world rejects. And He is rejecting the things which the world elevates. So we want to start thinking differently. If your natural thinking is this, maybe consider that it might not be the right thinking. We need to be counter in our thinking in all things. We are to be marked with poverty, hunger, sadness, and the experience of being hated. But just know, just know that great blessing is coming from that sacrifice. There are plenty of places to sign up, plenty of booths to sign up for in this world for the One List, to be fed and happy and popular and rich, the American Dream, if you will. There's only one booth to which to sign up for this other list. And that's at the foot of Christ's crucifixion, His sacrifice. That's where we sign up for this other list, and we bow before His sacrifice. And it's so wonderful because we know we're bowing to someone who became poor for our sakes. Through His poverty, through Him emptying Himself and experiencing all these things from this second list, He did so that we could experience the eternal riches of eternal life and grace and forgiveness and enter into His Father's Kingdom. So sacrifice now. But just wait. Just wait. We are going to have so much poured onto us, so much blessing. It's beyond our belief and beyond our understanding. And we're going to leap for joy because great will be your reward in heaven. So let's pray that God will help us to this endeavor. Let's truly grab a hold of this perspective and consider yourself blessed when you find yourself in this list. And let's pray that God will help us to fully accept and fully live and fully answer this counterculture calling.