12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles: 14 Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15 and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. 17 And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.
20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. 22 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! 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. 24 But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25 Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. 26 Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.”
27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. 31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. 32 If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. 35 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 ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
37 “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” 39 He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. 41 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye.
43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
Here Luke lays out a condensed version of the Sermon on the Mount (from Matthew 5-7). The Sermon on the Mount is intensely gospel-centered. Jesus pronounces with glory and authority God’s perspective on blessing and happiness, love and mercy, and goodness. Not only does He pronounce it, but He means to rattle us and our natural senses. Sitting on the couch and vegetating after a hard day’s work is natural. You don’t have to fight your flesh to do that— that’s our natural orientation. God and the gospel, on the other hand, is so unnatural to our flesh. And Jesus knows that. He means to splash cold water on our faces to wake us up.
Jesus starts by re-defining true value, worth, and blessing in this lifetime (Luke 6:20-25). We look around us and we see wealth, prosperity, abundance, being liked and accepted by the masses. And in our flesh, we long for those things as our comfort, our possession, we want to wear them as our prize, they promise happiness. And Jesus gives us His sovereign and holy perspective! You’re MORE blessed when you have less, when you’re hungry, when you weep, when you’re hated for the sake of the gospel— because your reward is not here, it’s heavenly and eternal— it’s Jesus! Who/Where is our greatest Reward? If I put my mind to it and put pen to paper, I wouldn’t be surprised if I could name dozens of things that I prefer over God. And Jesus wants us to think, pray, meditate, repent, seek Him, and know that He means to be our greatest Reward and Prize (Deuteronomy 18:2).
Jesus also means to shock us in how He redefines love and our sense of deservedness (Luke 6:27-42). He says that the love that we give (pour outwardly) is NOT primarily about how we are treated, but primarily about how we are loved by God. Let’s pause on that thought for a moment. It may be one of the most important gospel truths we will have to wrestle with for the rest of our lifetimes. To say it another way, my inability to love, serve, and sacrifice for other people (whether friends or enemies) and my inability to do that joyfully is PRIMARILY my issue in my inability to see God’s overwhelming love and richness for me, and is NOT PRIMARILY other people’s issue. That means “deservedness” has virtually nothing to do with how passionately and zealously we love and do good unto people.
Luke 6:45 says “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
Our ability (or inability) to do good onto others is primarily an indicator of whether there is a treasure in our hearts. Does having Jesus make you and I the richest people on the planet?
We all have people and situations in our lives where God is calling us to love them, to consider their needs before our own, in a very painful way. Parents. Roommates. Spouses. Co-workers. Maybe the guy who sits around the corner that just can’t stop giving you a hard time. The one who continues to look down on you and treat you harshly. God isn’t asking us to muster up the flesh and will ourselves to be better. He’s asking us to drink deeply from the well of grace, eat and feast bountifully on the love and mercies of God, and be overwhelmed by the cross of Christ and the sovereign and steadfast love of God. “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good”