Commitment to Truth

Cedrick Brown: Good afternoon, good evening, whatever it is. Buenas tardes, mis hermanos, hermanas. Thank you so much for hanging out with us and pivoting. Hopefully, this was convenient for some of you. It probably makes sense to pivot this way anytime we get snow on the horizon. What do you think? Want to take a church vote real quick? No.

It seems like it may be a little less stressful, at least on me, waking up and wondering what we're going to be doing on Sunday morning or not. So, we need to prayerfully consider that being an option. I just want to echo a couple of things. First of all, the marriage seminar. Please sign up. We also are providing childcare for a small donation to those who are watching your children.

If you want more information about this, and about childcare in particular, feel free to see the children's ministry leaders. They'll give you more information as far as the cost, or call the church office, email us, or something like that before the conference. You can go on to the church app and sign up right away because we need to order books for you and take a head count for the meal.

For the men's conference, even though it says if you like to commute, we want to hang out on the bus together. So, don't commute. Get on the bus. It's only 55 bucks, but again, seminally, we need to get head counts. I know guys, we process for a little while, but if you could process it real quickly, get on the app and sign up as well.

The other thing was, Pastor Mike, please, we have a youth conference coming up in March at that place in the Poconos. It's a pretty cool place.

Guest (Male): Kalahari Resort.

Cedrick Brown: Kalahari Resort. The church is sponsoring some youth, so get your kids signed up. There are limited spaces as far as the church sponsorship. So, please see Pastor Mike right away.

Today, I just want to add one special announcement. Is Tuwanda here? I know she said she was going to stick around. Stand up, Tuwanda, I’m going to put you on the spot. Can everyone give her a hand? She oversees our cleaning ministry. Tuwanda needs help.

We were talking a little bit in between the new members' class and this evening service. I said I'm going to try to communicate tonight for you that you need help desperately. She won't say that, but I'll say it for her. It's once a month. Just get on the schedule to do some cleaning within the church to make sure it's presentable for you and all of us when we show up for worship.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank You so much for the opportunity to worship You. Thank You that Your people have been willing to shift to gather a day earlier, knowing that the coming storm is on its way. Lord, we pray even for that, that You protect everyone—all of Your church, all of Your people, our families and friends, and even those who are not.

God, we know that You are the keeper even in the storms. So Father, we lay this at Your feet as well, that You give us peace in all of this. Lord, today as we turn to Your word, I pray that You would help me help Your people, that You give me clarity of thought, clarity of mind, clarity of heart, that I may just share exactly what is on Your mind and heart for Your people as we continue to navigate the book of Luke. In Jesus' name, amen.

Continuing in a series I’ve entitled for you, "Luke: Compassionate Care and Pursuit for the Lost." Again, our primary theme in this is Jesus, the compassionate Savior for all of humanity. The book of Luke is interesting in that light, in that it is bent towards Jesus' compassion towards everyone.

That's why if you read Luke chapter 19:10, it says it this way: "For the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost." That which was lost are people that are lost and living life apart from the personal relationship that is found with God through Christ. Someone once said this: "Experience comes from what we've done. Wisdom comes from what we've done badly."

Experience comes from what we've done. Wisdom comes from what we have done badly. That's why we're going to continue today's lesson by answering the question: How did Jesus compassionately demonstrate wisdom? Now, it's interesting to note that I would even add compassion and wisdom together because we can develop wisdom and it can be exercised not very compassionately.

I'm sure you've been around a bunch of wise people that aren't necessarily compassionate in the exercising of their wisdom. But Jesus, in His humanity, displayed such compassion even in the midst of much wisdom. If you could open your Bibles to Luke chapter 6. We're going to be in a few verses in the book of Luke, beginning with verses 20 through 26. I want to give you two examples of how Jesus compassionately demonstrated wisdom.

Luke chapter 6, beginning at verse 20, says this: "But turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say, 'Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil for the sake of the Son of Man.

Be glad in the day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way, their fathers used to treat the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.'"

The first example of Jesus' compassionate demonstration is found here. The context is the Sermon on the Mount, His first major sermon. He coined what we have called the Beatitudes, these blessednesses. When you look at this word "Beatitudes" that we have created to capture all of these points, it comes from a Latin root word of *beatus*, meaning happy, blessed, or fortunate.

In the Latin Vulgate Bible, each saying begins with *beati sunt*, meaning "blessed are." You find this opening to each one of these Beatitudes as *beati sunt*. What I'd like to do is quickly list them. Some would say there's eight; some would say there's nine. Eight or nine, it doesn't matter; they're all good.

I want to recite them all specifically from Matthew chapter 5, verses 1 through 11, because you find them all listed there. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." This is where some say eight or nine is found in verses 10 and 11. Some combine 10 and 11 and then say there's eight. Some say verse 10 is eight and verse 11 is nine.

"Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great. For in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Now, if we go back and look at chapter 6, verses 20 through 26, Luke the physician does something amazing. It's almost like a medical prescription. He begins to meticulously edit them down to four Beatitudes, and then he adds four woes. He nestles them within them, which is quite interesting. Yet both demonstrate the compassionate wisdom of Jesus.

Let's read that in its context and then it will all make sense. If you go back and read verse 20 again, it says, "And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say..." Verse 20, I like to call it this: our public position does not bring us happiness. "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God." In other words, you can have zero in your bank account, you can have nothing, but guess what you have? The kingdom of God.

Then if you skip to verse 24, he then says, "But woe or cursed to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full." Now, is it bad to be rich? No, but if your riches have you and you don't have your riches, then it's a curse. In other words, if your riches control you and it's all about your riches and your wealth and your security on earth, then there's a problem. Then there is a curse because it's controlling you rather than you controlling it and being a steward of it.

A couple of key words. The word "poor" means destitute of wealth. So, it's clearly saying that you are poor, wealthy poor. It also means influence. In other words, poor in your influence. You don't have much influence, position, or honor, societal honor or public position. The word "rich" is wealthy, abounding in material resources. Most people who have material resources, they do have some kind of public status, if we like it or not.

James chapter 2:5 affirms it this way: "Listen, my beloved brethren, did not God choose the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?" One of the stories I like to tell is about my first trip to the Dominican Republic. Because of the smog, I started having sinus pressure.

I went to the farmacia to get some Tylenol. I went to the pharmacy to get some Tylenol, and he gave me two Tylenol. Not two bottles, but he literally took them out of the pack, tore it out, and gave me two Tylenol. I said, "Oh, this is how they roll in the DR." In other words, they don't have the resources like we do. That pharmacy probably only had a pack of Tylenol themselves.

Therefore, he couldn't sell me the entire pack of Tylenol; he sold me two. Guess what I had to do at that moment? Increase my faith. "Okay, I'm used to having extra Tylenols in my pocket. Two's going to have to do me in this trip." Many times when you don't have food on your table, you have to trust God to put food on your table.

If you don't have extra income, discretionary income in your bank account, you have to trust God to do miracles. Some of you know what I'm talking about because you were dirt poor like me when I was a kid, but now you aren't that dirty poor. Things you used to pray for and hope for and dream for came to your door, and now you don't have to pray for it anymore.

Maybe your prayer is a little bit different, that you're praying for wisdom on how to use it versus praying for it. There are people who don't have anything, and the scripture says, "Jesus says the poor will always be among you." They have nothing, but what He says here is that they have everything because they're rich in faith. Woe it is to the rich man who loses that.

Woe to guys like me and maybe some of you. You were born last of eight kids, didn't have much. What I got for Christmas was necessities. You got hand-me-downs. Now you don't have to think about that, worry about that anymore, and we forget to exercise our faith.

In Luke chapter 12:31, it says this: Jesus says, "For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. But seek His kingdom and these things will be added to you. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom."

Can you imagine this, verse 33? "Sell your possessions, give to charity, make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven where no thief comes near nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, that's where your heart will also be." When you're rich, sometimes you lose your way. Woe to you.

Next, you find in verse 21, the first part of 21, I like to summarize this: physical necessities don't make you blessed. It says, "Blessed are you who hunger now," so if you hunger now, you're blessed, "for you shall be satisfied." Then skip to verse 25, the first part of verse 25. Again, we're back in Luke chapter 6. It says, "Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry."

In other words, you're fed now, but one day you're going to be hungry. I'm sure somebody in this room today has also had to endure having and then having it taken away. But then there's most of us in this room who have experienced, "I have it and I can't even do anything with it." In other words, it can't buy my way out of a problem.

It can't heal my marriage, it can't heal my family, it can't heal my reputation, it can't restore my personal health. Woe to you. In Matthew chapter 6, verses 25 and 26, Jesus elaborates here. This is His Sermon on the Mount, but this is what Matthew captures: "For this reason, I say to you, do not be worried about your life as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body as to what you will put on.

Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?" You see the perspective and the balance? You have, but don't get full of yourself. You have not, don't feel sorry for yourself.

Then you look at the third point here. Again, we're dealing with this first area of what it means to be blessed with Jesus' wisdom. You look at this third point in verse 21, the second part of verse 21: nor can your emotional pain determine your fortune. "Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh."

In other words, I'm sure that someone in this room is going through some kind of emotional turmoil. You're blessed now, even in the midst of it. Then you tie verse 25, the woe here. It says, "Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep." In other words, you're having good days now, but guess what? You're going to experience death one day.

I remember the times as a pastor I had the privilege of ministering to families in their loss, but I never really had loss. I had some friends, extended family, but when it starts getting to twin uncles—my father's twin uncle—then you go to the casket and it looks like your daddy's in the casket.

Then it's like, "Oh." Then it becomes your father, then it becomes your mother. Then it's like, "Hmm." Now I know how it feels. Then it becomes close cousins. The older you get, especially, it just starts checking a box. It's going to come your way. So right now there may be laughing and joy because you haven't yet experienced that.

On the flip side, there are people who've experienced it in certain seasons in their lives, but God is saying, "Even if you're weeping now, you're going to laugh one day." The word "weeping" means this: it's weeping as a sign of pain and grief for a thing. You live long enough, you're going to have pain. The word "laugh" here, you know what it means? Laugh.

In other words, some things are so simple and black and white to the Lord. "You're going to have pain, but you're going to one day have some laughter." That's why 1st Peter chapter 1, verses 3 through 6, kind of helps us here. It says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this, you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials." In other words, it's kind of saying this. Peter is saying, if you are distressed and you're going through pain and you're weeping now, if you focus on Jesus, you learn to have the capacity to rejoice.

Psalm 30, verse 5 says, "Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning." Amen? Our last point under this area of what it means to be blessed and summarizing the Beatitudes here, you find this in verses 22 and 23, and again we're stitching the woe found in verse 26. It is that your relational acceptance will never sustain your happiness.

Anybody from big families? It gets really quirky. In other words, people start hating each other, not liking each other. Matter of fact, it can happen in every family. "I thought I was good with you, big bro, but now I'm not. I thought I was good with you, Mom or Dad, but I'm not. I thought I was good with you, kids, but I'm not."

It happens up close like that. It happens in a marketplace. You thought you were the top employee, but then before you know it, you go from the top to the bottom, lose your job, or whatever it may be. You find it in church. You find it in every walk of life that there's this need for relational acceptance. But it will never give you sustained happiness. Never.

That's why He says, "Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil for the sake of the Son of Man. Be glad in the day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way, their fathers used to treat the prophets."

Then again, the woe, verse 26: "Woe to you when all men speak well of you." If everybody around you is just saying, "Oh, you're such the greatest," woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets the same way. A few key words: hate—pursue with hatred, detest. Ostracize—to mark off from others by boundaries, to limit, to separate, to exclude you.

Insults—to reproach, revile. To scorn means to cast out, drive out, expel a person from society, to banish from a family. I'm sure that describes some of us. On the other hand, the word "speak well of" means to speak rightly so that there should be no room for blame. And who in the world fits that description? Excellent, noble, commendable.

1st Peter chapter 1, verses 7 through 9, that's stitched with that other part of 1st Peter I read. It says this: "So that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls."

Again, I know it's complicated and difficult when you're being persecuted, ostracized, insulted, scorned, to think of Jesus. But when you think of Jesus, it gets you through it. Amen? You see, we are blessed immeasurably, not as the world sees it, but we're blessed in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

One of the most favorite verses I used to hear quoted was early in my faith in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3. It says this: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus."

You may not be feeling blessed here on this earth, and we're all going to go through seasons. Even if you have great wealth, you can have great wealth and not feel blessed. Your bank account can be overflowing, but you still don't feel blessed. Everything could be hitting on all cylinders in life, but you could still feel like you're not even blessed. Happy, fortunate. But the scriptures remind us that our blessings are not here on this earth; they're in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Amen?

Let me give you one last thing found in Luke chapter 6, again, verses 27 through 34 now. Jesus here, still in His Sermon on the Mount, begins to wisely address relational conflict. I want to give you a summary just for the sake of time. There are about four key things He brings out.

In summary, here they are: you'll have enemies who hate you—love them and do good to them. You'll have people who curse you and mistreat you—bless them and pray for them. You'll be hit and your coat will be stolen—give them your other cheek and your shirt as well. You will lend money to people and you won't get it back—never demand it back.

As you listen to all of those four things that I've summarized for you in verses 27 through 34, again in Luke chapter 6, within every relational conflict, the challenge is how then do I develop the courage to respond this way? "Wait a minute, bro, you stole my coat. I ain't giving you my shirt. You hit me in my cheek. I ain't giving you my other one. I loaned you money. I want it all back."

These are real relational conflicts. "You hate me, well, I'm going to hate you back. You curse me, I ain't going to bless you, I ain't going to pray for you. I'm going to retaliate." But yet Jesus, again in His compassionate wisdom, said, "No, that's not how the kingdom operates."

Relational conflict, I want to say in summary, can only be resolved by and through one specific way, and that is mercy. The Greek definition of this word "mercy" we find in these verses is active compassion or to pity someone.

I believe it's so wise that the definition gives us two approaches because some of us somehow we can reach deep down inside through the power of the Holy Spirit and actively administer compassion. "Oh, you hit one side, okay, here you go." Some of us are like, "No, I ain't going to give you that other one."

But I believe the way you get there is that you have to see pity, something like, "Something's really wrong with that person for them to act that way. They must be hurting." Someone coined the phrase, "Hurt people do hurt people." The only way you can arrive at that statement, the application of that statement, is you have to really believe that that person has been truly hurt.

If not, you won't show pity. So, it's either display compassion immediately through the power of the Holy Spirit, or through the power of the Holy Spirit, you somehow exercise pity. "Man, I feel so sad that that person is hurting that way, that he can even act that way."

A general definition of mercy is this: compassion, kindness, or forgiveness shown to someone in your power. Think about that for a minute. In other words, it's in our power to show compassion and pity, not theirs. In other words, it's our choice. It also means this: it's often withholding punishment, but it also refers to fortunate circumstances or divine favor, being completely vulnerable and without defense against another's power.

The Greek antonym, not the synonym, but the opposite of mercy, listen to what it is and I think it will help bring clarity: it means to be hard and harsh. If you are hard and harsh towards that person who owes you money, you're not being merciful. It's okay to not be hard and harsh if that person owes you money. Just don't lend it to them again. But you just use wisdom. Or if God says give it, you keep giving it until He tells you not to give, even though they won't ever give it back.

Jesus goes on to summarize mercy this way in Luke chapter 6, verse 35 and 36: "But love your enemies and do good and lend..." Wait a minute. You telling me I have to love my enemies and even lend to them? "...expecting nothing in return." One of the biggest problems of lending people money and things is that you expect it back. You never lend to expect it back. One of the greatest deceptions and setups of the enemy. You don't lend expecting it back, because chances are you'll be greatly disappointed.

And then here's what Jesus says. If you don't expect anything in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be the sons of the Most High, for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

And then James gives us another description of mercy, and we'll end with this verse: "Do not complain, brethren, against one another so that you yourselves may not be judged. Behold, the Judge is standing right at the door. As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful."

For us to be merciful to people who hate you, curse you, mistreat you, steal from you, don't pay back and don't give it back to you what is rightfully yours, the only way you can get there, the only way you can be compassionate, the only way you can show pity to a person, is that you have to allow Jesus to empower you to be there and to get there through His supernatural mercy.

We will always have relational conflict. Compassionate wisdom always shows mercy. Someone said a fool learns by nobody's experience. An ordinary man learns by his own experience. A wise man learns by the experiences and mistakes of others. So, I would like to add to this: compassionate wisdom is developed when we allow the Spirit of Christ to lead us in all things at all times.

There will always be relational conflicts, there will always be challenges in our lives that we have, others don't, others have, we don't. We're happy, others are sad, others are sad, we're happy. There will always be that relational mosh posh within the body of Christ, in your homes, with your friends, and extended family. The only way we're going to be able to navigate that is through compassionate wisdom. The only way we're going to have compassionate wisdom is to allow the Spirit of Christ to lead us in all things at all times. Amen?

Let's pray. Father, we're so thankful. We're thankful for Your compassionate wisdom that extends beyond our own wisdom and our own ability. Lord, it's tough to show compassion and pity for people who just frustrate us and turn our world upside down. But God, You've commanded us to do so.

I pray through the power of Your Holy Spirit that You'll enable me and enable us, Lord, to be people who display compassionate wisdom as Jesus did. Lord, we know that Your word promises we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. And Lord, I pray now that You would strengthen us supernaturally to be men and women that respond to each other this way within this local church.

I pray, God, that that would extend into our families and the lives of our friends and in the marketplace relationships that we have, with our neighbors. And God, I pray into the next generation. So Father, let us not acquiesce to our own feelings and emotions and even to those experiences of the past.

But as we affectionately learned here, let us learn from our failures and grow and become wiser for it. But most of all, we submit today that the best form of wisdom, the most powerful influential form of wisdom, is wisdom that is found through the power of the Holy Spirit. Spirit of God, empower us. In Your name I pray, amen. Can we give the Lord a handclap tonight?