Sermons in Brief - Mini Messages from Pastor Harmon

"So Full Yet So Empty" - Luke 6:17-26

Things are not always as they appear—are they? Appearances can be deceiving. You may have seen the popular optical illusion "old hag or young girl." Looked at one way and you see an ugly old woman; looked at another way and you see a beautiful young lady! (The original artist entitle it "Wife or Mother-in-Law"--but we won't go there!) Appearances can be deceiving.

Imagine seeing a young lady or middle-aged man that looked pretty Well-to-do, even wealthy. They're well-fed, and perhaps could afford to lose a pound or two (I'd call them "healthy"). They are smiling and laughing and having a great time. They are individuals about whom everyone is saying good things. WHAT DO YOU SEE? Be careful! Things are not always as they appear! Appearances can be deceiving!

Jesus knew APPERANCES COULD BE DECEIVING. Luke tells us he had just chosen his Apostles, his Ambassadors, his 12 Kingdom representatives. He and the 12 descended the mountain to a level place where a crowd of disciples, along with a crowd of curiosity seekers, and a crowd of hurting folks who just wanted to touch him and needed healing, were gathered. Then, as the crowd of fringe people hung about the edges, he looked at his disciples and preached a sermon. Scholars call it the " Sermon on the Plain." It is probably the same sermon recorded in Matthew as the "Sermon on the Mount."

Matthew remembers this sermon as being much longer. Luke gives us a summary, a shortened version, an abridgement. In spite of the brevity of Luke’s version, he adds something shocking! When he researched Jesus’ life (as he told us he did in Luke 1), when he investigated things and began to write an "orderly account" of what happened, he discovered something Jesus preached that day that Matthew left un-recorded. Luke includes four "woes" added to Matthews "blessings" (The Beatitudes). These "woes" are shocking. These woes make us sit up and pay attention. These woes tell us that Jesus knows appearances can be deceiving.

24"But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. 25Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. 26Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets."

Just because you are poor and hungry and sad and rejected doesn’t mean you are forgotten by God. Just because you are wealthy and fat and sassy and everyone's saying good things about you doesn’t mean God is pleased with you!

If it weren’t for the "woes" we might remember this sermon as one of the sweetest sermons ever preached. "Blessed are the poor, the hungry, the sad, the rejected." But Luke reminds us Jesus moved from blessing to cursing: Woe-Woe-Woe-Woe. The Message translates it “it’s trouble ahead.” "There’s trouble ahead-There’s trouble ahead-There’s trouble ahead." The word is even more serious than that. It's a word that can be pronounced: "oo-ah—ee". It's an exclamation of grief, sadness, pain, displeasure, anger, pain --"oo-ah--ee." Appearances can be deceiving. Jesus no doubt has love, compassion, special concern for the poor, hungry, weeping and discarded. God knows their circumstances and he will bless them. But the four woes match those blessings and voice Jesus' pain, displeasure, grief, and anger concerning those who are so full yet so empty.

Am I So Full of STUFF but empty of GENEROSITY?

Verse 24 says "But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort." The Message puts it " But it's trouble ahead if you think you have it made. What you have is all you'll ever get." THE WOE IS DIRECTED TO THOSE WHO HAVE SO MUCH WHILE OTHERS HAVE SO LITTLE.

Is it possible that as affluent Americans with our houses, cars, cell phones, and toys (and desire for bigger houses, better cars, and more toys) that we can get so much “comfort” fromour stuff that we let the stuff crowd out God? Is it possible to keep such a tight hold on the stuff that we become deafened to the cries of those need it? APPEARANCES CAN BE DECIEVING. JUST BECAUSE WE HAVE STUFF DOESN'T MEAN WE ARE PLEASING JESUS WITH THE STUFF!

We all got a lot of stuff. You got stuff I got stuff. We buy houses to hold our stuff. Someone said "A house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on it." Everybody's got a little pile of stuff. And when you leave your house on vacation you take big suitcases full of stuff. And you gotta lock up the stuff don’t take (wouldn't want somebody to come by and take some of your stuff.) But we have to have a house—someplace to leave our stuff so we can go out and buy more stuff! We fill our houses with stuff—then we fill our garages with stuff—then we rent storage sheds to hold the stuff we can’t stuff in our overstuffed houses. Pretty soon we're' forced to buy bigger houses because there is no room for your stuff anymore! NO WONDER JESUS SAID "OO—AA—EE." WOE TO THOSE SO FULL OF STUFF THAT THE STUFFCROWDS OUT ME AND CROWDS OUT GENEROSITY.

Am I So Full of FOOD but empty of COMPASSION?

25 "Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry." THE WOE IS DIRECTED TO THOSE WHO ARE SO FULL WHILE OTHERS ARE SO HUNGRY. I am overfed and overweigh but undernourished when it comes to compassion for the hungry in my neighborhood and in my world. I want to biggie size everything but my ministry to those Jesus had on his blessing list--the poor, hungry, sad and outcast. Is it possible that wee affluent Americans have found so many ways to satisfy our gnawing hungers that we really have no appetite for God and really no appetite to reach out in loving compassion to those who really are in need?

Am I So Full of FUN AND GAMES but empty of SYMPATHY?

25 "Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep." The Message puts it: "And it's trouble ahead if you think life's all fun and games. There's suffering to be met, and you're going to meet it. " THIS WOE IS DIRECTED TO THOSE WHO SPEND TIME PLAYING WHILE OTHERS SPEND THEIR TIME CRYING.

What did Jesus mean when he said "Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep"? It certainly does not mean that happy laughter is bad. I love humor, laughing, and having a good time. So I would be in big trouble if this verse were against happy laughter. APPEARANCES CAN BE DECEIVING. We live in an entertainment riddled society. We are constantly looking to what’s next--the next game, the next toy, the next TV series, Movie, novel or restaurant to open. Just analyze your next conversation among friends. Fun and games can dull our senses to our own spiritual condition and to the sadness of others lives who do not know Jesus. Is it possible for we affluent Americans to have found so many ways to play that Play has become a substitute for spending time with God or has dulled our senses to the suffering in this world?

Some years ago, before the death of Mother Theresa, a television special depicted the grim human conditions that were a part of her daily life. It showed the horror of the slums of Calcutta and her love for destitute people. (She referred to them as manifestations of Jesus Christ.) The producer interviewed her as she made her rounds in that dreadful place. Throughout the program commercials (paid advertisements) interrupted the flow of the discussion. Here is the sequence of the topics and commercials: lepers, cut to bikinis for sale; mass starvation, cut to designer jeans; agonizing poverty cut to fur coats; abandoned babies, cut to ice cream sundaes; the dying, cut to diamond watches. That may be just a parable of how insensitive I can be to God and others in my questfor the next fun n’ games.

Am I So Full of SELF but empty of INFLUENCE?

26 "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets." The Message has it "There's trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests—look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular." THIS WOE IS DIRECTED TO THOSE WHO, LIKE CHAMELEONS, BLEND IN WITH SUROUNDINGS—BUT HAVE NO SIGNIFICANT SPIRITUAL IMPACT

At ouR house this week we talked about “non-christian Christians.” “What’s a non-christian Christian” I was asked. "A hypocrite, a two-face, amask wearer." Jesus was in pain, OO—AH—EE, Woe! over those had settled for an approach to life that didn’t require anything of them, didn't challenge them to live differently, to stick out from the crowd. Everyone spoke well of them and they didn’t rock the boat. But they had no impact either. Jesus blessed ( verse 22) those who made a choice for Him, who associated with him, who paid the price of being hated, excluded, insulted, rejected for him. In that day a choice for Jesus was public choice with visible consequences. One could lose fellowship with their family or get kicked out of the local synagogue or be ostracized by community. Jesus once said: "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. " Appearances can be deceiving. Just because I’m not rocking the boat, doesn’t mean the boat is headed anywhere

Jesus wouldn’t be very popular preacher today! He's not very seeker sensitive. He has this crowd of disciples listening to him and he refuses to sweet talk them. He refuses to “tickle their ears.” What he does do is achingly warn them of being so full they are empty. What do we do? We listen to the woes! We pray the Lord to fill us with Himself, to fill us with GENEROSITY, COMPASSION, SYMPATHY, and INFLUENCE. We begin by emptying self of Self and let loose of all to which we hold on so tightly.