You Who Weep Now

“And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said:

‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

‘Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.

‘Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

‘Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.’” (Luke 6:20-23 ESV)

Based upon what this is teaching, the “poor” here must be interpreted as the “poor in spirit,” i.e. those who are humble and submissive to the Lord Jesus. For to be physically poor does not promise you that the kingdom of heaven is yours, but only if you humble yourself before the Lord in submission to him as Lord and you repent of your sins and you surrender your life to Christ and so you die with him to sin that you might now live to him and to his righteousness – all in his power and strength, and as persuaded of God.

The same applies with hunger. This is not speaking of physical but spiritual hunger, hungering and thirsting after righteousness and after the word of God with a desire to know God and to obey God and to live the kind of life that Jesus died to give us, by God-given and God-persuaded faith in the Lord. He alone is our hearts’ desire and we long to worship (obey, follow) him. And he will supply us with all that we need to live for him, and no longer for self, and to obey him and to walk in his ways and in his truth.

And what is the weeping that this is talking about? Initially I believe it has to do with us weeping and being sorrowful over our sin to the point of genuine repentance (turning from sin to God; change of heart and mind away from sin to following the Lord in obedience to his commands). That weeping will turn to joy when the Lord cleanses us of all unrighteousness and he fills us with his Spirit and he now empowers us to walk in righteousness, in moral purity, in honesty and integrity, in faithfulness, and in obedience to him.

But there is another kind of weeping, and this has to do with suffering for the sake of righteousness, for the sake of the gospel, and for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ because we are following the Lord in obedience, and we are walking in his ways and in his truth, and we are no longer walking in sin. But now we are serving the Lord Jesus with our lives in ministering his love and grace to others and in the sharing of the truth of the gospel and in refuting the lies of the enemy – all as led by and as empowered by God.

Because this is how we live, in daily practice, we will be hated and excluded and rejected and cast aside and ignored and falsely accused of evil and reviled and scorned and persecuted like Jesus was. We will have people cut us to the heart and stab us in the heart because we worship the Lord Jesus and we follow him with our lives in the way that the word directs us that we are all to do if we are of genuine faith in the Lord. But we are to rejoice for our reward is great in heaven, for this is how they also treated the prophets.

“’But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

‘Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.

‘Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

‘Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.’” (Luke 6:24-26 ESV)

Having material wealth is not a sin. It is what we do with what we have been given that matters for eternity. So just as some of these other words are intended to be taken more symbolically, I believe this is, too, in that it has to do with those who are self-sufficient, who see no need of God. And “well-fed” would seem to indicate that they have no need to hunger and thirst after righteousness. And those who laugh now would be those who do not weep now over their sins, but who take God and his word more casually.

This is speaking of those who are driven by the flesh, and not by the Spirit, who are self-sufficient, and who see no need of God in their lives, even if they give lip service to the contrary. For they do not honor God with their lives, and they have not died with Christ to their sins or if they have, they have since gone back to walking in sin and in the ways of the flesh and of the world. They are living in the past and not in the present for they have gone back to their past lives and they have remained there.

They have sidestepped (evaded, bypassed) death to sin and living to God and to his righteousness. And the exchange from their old lives of living to the flesh to now living to God and in obedience to his commands, they have skirted (bypassed). Although they may give lip service to our Lord, calling him “Lord,” they are not walking in obedience to his commands, and they are not living to please the Lord but to please their flesh. And so they keep repeating their past, for their past is still what they are living in the present. 

And, although we are all responsible for the choices that we make in this life, part of why so many people have gone back to living in the past, in sin, and in worldly living, is because many “shepherds of the sheep” are teaching them that God is okay with that. For so many of these shepherds are wolves in sheep’s clothing who serve Satan with their lives who is out to destroy all who worship the Lord Jesus and to either lead them back into sin or to persecute them if they walk in righteousness and in obedience to the Lord.

Now those who have returned to walking in sin, or who never did really, in truth, die with Christ to sin that they might live to him and to his righteousness, will sometimes be those who others speak well of because they are like the world in the things that they practice, and so the ungodly of the world accepts them. And then those who are living righteously and who are walking in the ways of the Lord will sometimes be spoken of as evil because they take God and his word seriously, and they will be rejected.

But for those who walk in sin, for whom sin is their practice, regardless of what they profess with their lips, they will not inherit eternal life with God unless they humble themselves before God and respond to the call of God on their lives to repent of their sins and to walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands. Yet for those for whom righteousness and obedience to the Lord is their practice, in the power of God, heaven is promised them for eternity. They have the hope of salvation from sin and eternal life with God.

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 10:23-31; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]   

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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