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Scripture Reading: Luke 6:12-49
In this message we come to 6:12-49. This portion of the Gospel of Luke covers two matters: the Lord’s appointing twelve apostles (Luke 6:12-16) and His teaching His disciples the highest morality (Luke 6:17-49).
Luke 6:12 says, “And it came about in these days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.” On the next day, He called His disciples and chose twelve to be His apostles. The Lord Jesus prayed in order to have fellowship with God and seek God’s will and pleasure concerning His ministry. The Man-Savior did not carry out His ministry by Himself in a way that was independent of God or according to His own will. Rather, He fulfilled His ministry according to God’s will and pleasure by being one with God to fulfill His purpose. In particular, the Lord Jesus did not appoint the twelve by Himself. In this matter He acted as a man who was one with God.
When the Lord Jesus was baptized, He put Himself aside. This indicates that in His ministry He would not do anything by Himself, but would do everything by God and with God. In 6:12 we have the application of the Lord’s baptism. In His prayer the Lord rejected Himself and put Himself aside. In the crucial matter of appointing certain ones to be His helpers, to be the apostles sent out to reach others, the Lord did not act in Himself or by Himself. He did this absolutely in God and with God. The main point in the choosing of the twelve as described in 6:13-16 is that the Lord Jesus set Himself aside and did not act by Himself. In appointing the twelve, He acted in God, by God, and with God.
In 6:17-20 we see that the Lord’s word in the remainder of this chapter was addressed to His disciples (v. 20) in the presence of a great multitude (v. 17), probably composed largely of unbelievers. Hence, there were two groups with the Lord as He was teaching. The first group was His disciples; the second was the crowd of unbelievers. We need to remember this if we would understand the Lord’s teaching here. Sometimes His word refers to the believers, and at other times it refers to the unbelievers.
Much of the Lord’s teaching in 6:17-49 is similar to that in chapters five through seven of the Gospel of Matthew. Whatever is decreed in Matt. 5. Matt. 6, Matt. 7, as the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens, constitutes the reality of the kingdom of the heavens. Whatever is cited in Luke 6:20-49, as principles of the character of God’s children, governs and measures the behavior of the believers, who have been born of God and possess His life and nature. At the time of speaking, this portion, except verses 24 through 26 and 39, applied to the believing remnant of the Jews.
We have seen that in chapters five through seven of Matthew we have the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens. The teaching in chapter six of Luke is not a constitution, but it is the principles of the character of those who believe in the Lord, of those who have been born of God and possess His life and nature. As those who have been regenerated by God, we, the believers, have God’s life and nature. Now we need to see what principles should govern our character, our behavior. How should we conduct ourselves? How should we act and have our being? The principles given in this chapter answer these questions. All the aspects of the Lord’s teaching here are principles that should govern our Christian behavior. If we see this, we shall see the difference between the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens in Matthew 5 through 7 and the principles of Christian behavior in Luke 6.
The first principle in these verses is that we who believe in Christ and who have been born of God should be a people blessed by God. We should be a blessed people, not a cursed people. As a result of the fall, mankind came under the curse. But in the jubilee of grace the Lord Jesus has rescued us from the curse and has brought us into God’s blessing. Hence, we should be a people blessed by God. In 6:20-23 there are four characteristics of blessed people.
In verse 20 the Lord Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” In this verse “poor” has two denotations. First, it denotes poor in material things; second, it denotes poor in spiritual things. Therefore, the word poor here indicates poor in earthly, material things and also poor in heavenly, spiritual things.
It is often difficult for those who are rich in earthly, material things to be poor in heavenly, spiritual things. If someone chosen and called by God becomes rich in material things, it may be very difficult for that one to become poor in spiritual things. It may even be necessary for God to take away that person’s material riches in order that he might become poor in relation to spiritual things.
If we would be a blessed people, we need to be poor. Mainly we need to be poor in spiritual things, in heavenly things. Concerning spiritual things, we should sense that we have nothing, that we are poor.
Matthew 5:3 speaks of being poor in spirit. To be poor in spirit is not only to be humble, but also to be emptied in our spirit, in the depths of our being, not holding on to the old things. To be poor in spirit also means to be unloaded to receive new things.
Our human spirit, the deepest part of our being, is the organ for us to contact God and to realize spiritual things. We need to be poor, emptied, unloaded, in this part of our being so that we may realize and possess the kingdom of God. All the time we need to be poor in our spirit, having the sense deep within that we are poor in relation to spiritual things, in relation to the things concerning God. If we are poor in this way and humble, immediately the kingdom of God becomes our blessing.
The second characteristic of a blessed people is to hunger now: “Blessed are those who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied” (6:21a). This verse speaks of spiritual hunger. First we realize that we are poor in spiritual things, and then we hunger after the things we lack in the spiritual realm.
The Lord says that those who hunger now will be satisfied. When we hunger, we shall be filled. We shall be satisfied with the spiritual riches of Christ.
In 6:21b the Lord Jesus says, “Blessed are those who weep now, for you shall laugh.” This is the third characteristic of those who are blessed by God. In this verse to weep means to repent and to regret. To weep in this sense means that we are not happy about our spiritual situation and condition. Therefore, we regret and repent and desire to have a change in our spiritual condition.
The fourth characteristic is found in verses 22 and 23: “Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they separate you from them and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for in the same manner their fathers did to the prophets.” Here we see that it is a blessing to be hated and reproached for the sake of the Son of Man. We, however, like to be praised by others and to be valued, honored, and highly regarded by them. We need to realize that believers will be hated and evil spoken of by the world. The reason for this is that the entire world is following Satan, and we are following the Lord to go in the opposite way. Because our way is opposite to that of the world, the worldly people will hate us and speak evil about us.
In verses 24 through 26 the Lord speaks to the multitude of unbelievers present. In verse 24 He says, “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.” The Greek word for “but” also means however, yet. Verses 24 through 26, at the time of speaking, could apply to the unbelieving Jews, who hardened their hearts to reject the Savior.
In verse 24 the Lord pronounces a woe to those who are rich. He tells them that they have received their consolation. The Greek word for “received” was used in a commercial sense to acknowledge receipt of full payment.
In verses 25 and 26 the Lord went on to say, “Woe to you who are satiated now, for you shall hunger. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for in the same manner their fathers did to the false prophets.” Here we see that those who desire to be praised by others and highly regarded by them will be like false prophets.
In 6:27 the Lord turns from the outsiders to His disciples. Verses 27 and 28 say, “But to you who hear I say, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray concerning those who revile you.” In verse 27 the ones who hear are those who believe, those who receive the Lord’s word.
In verses 27 and 28 we see the highest standard of morality. To love our enemies and to do good to those who hate us is the highest standard of morality. It is also the highest standard of morality to bless those who curse us and to pray concerning those who revile us. Although it is easy for us to read these verses, it is extremely difficult for us to practice them. Actually, in order to fulfill these words, we need to be a God-man, a person saturated with God and mingled with Him.
In verse 29 the Lord says, “To him who beats you on the cheek, offer also the other; and from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either.” To offer the other cheek to the one who beats us proves that we have the power to suffer instead of resisting, and the power to walk neither in the flesh nor in the soul for our own interests, but in the spirit for the kingdom of God.
The “cloak” in verse 29 is an outer garment, and the “tunic” is a garment worn next to the body. Here the Lord says that from him who would take away our outer garment we should not withhold our inner garment. However, to conduct ourselves in this way we need to be saturated with God.
In verse 30 the Lord goes on to say, “To everyone who asks of you, give; and from him who takes away your things, do not require their return.” To give to everyone who asks us and not to require the return of our things proves that we do not care for material things and are not possessed by them.
Verse 31 says, “And even as you want men to do to you, you do to them likewise.” This indicates that what we want others to do to us we should first do to them.
In 6:32-34 the Lord Jesus says, “And if you love those who love you, what thanks is it to you? For even sinners love those who love them. For if also you do good to those who do good to you, what thanks is it to you? Even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what thanks is it to you? Even sinners lend to sinners that they may get back an equal amount.” In these verses “thanks” corresponds to reward, and “what” refers to the quality of the reward. Hence, “what thanks” denotes what kind of reward.
To receive thanks is to receive a reward. If you do something good for a person and he gives you his thanks, that “thank you” is a reward to you. In these verses the Lord is asking what kind of thanks, what kind of reward, it is to us if what we do to others is the same as what sinners would do. Even sinners love those who love them, do good to those who do good to them, and lend with the hope of receiving back an equal amount, if not more.
In verse 35 the Lord continues, “But love your enemies, and do good and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the unthankful and evil.” In this verse we have the secret of living the kind of life described here. The secret is the life of God. If we would fulfill all these principles, we must have the life of God. We must be born of the Most High, born of God, and thereby become sons of the Most High.
As those who have been born of God, we are able to love our enemies. God loved us even when we were His enemies (Rom. 5:8). We need to be impressed with the fact that God loved us while we were yet His enemies. Now His love has been imparted to us. The love with which we love others, therefore, is the love of God our Father.
The Bible tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8). As Spirit is the nature of God’s Person, and light is the nature of God’s expression, so love is the nature of God’s being. Hence, if we have been born of God, we surely have been born of the nature of God’s being, which is the divine love. As those born of God, we have His life and nature. Spontaneously we are now able to love our enemies even as God our Father loves them. This is the reason the Lord tells us to love our enemies so that we may be the sons of the Most High, the One who is kind to those who are unthankful and evil.
In 6:36 the Lord says, “Be full of pity, even as your Father is full of pity.” Pity surpasses love and mercy. It is possible to show mercy to someone without being full of pity. It is actually easier to love others than it is to be full of pity toward others. The reason for this is that often we love those who are good. Pity, however, goes much farther than love. We need to exercise our mercy in order to reach those who are in a pitiful condition.
According to our natural understanding, we may think that to be full of pity toward someone is to have mercy on a person who is sick or in poverty. But this is not the meaning of pity according to the context in this chapter. The context indicates that a person who hates us and who reviles us is in a pitiful condition. Therefore, toward such a person we should not only have love, but should also be full of pity. We need to pity the one who is evil and who is altogether not lovable. As those who have been born of God, we should be full of pity even as our Father is full of pity.
