Luke 6:17-26

Luke 6:17-26

“Chosen To Make A Difference”

(Part 7 of Hopewell series on “Who Are We?”)

February 11, 2007

For the past 6 weeks we have been focusing on different aspects of 2 questions that are important for us as individual Christians – and as a Church.

The first is:

Who are we?

Who are we as Christians?

Who are we as a Church?

Who are we?

And the second is:

What are we supposed to be doing?

What are we supposed to be doing as Christians?

What are we supposed to be doing as a Church?

Who are we?

What are we supposed to be doing?

Who are we as individual Christians?

What are we supposed to be doing as individual Christians?

Who are we as a Church?

What are we supposed to be doing as a Church?

We continue looking at answers to these questions today.

We’ve already noted that we can’t attempt to truly answer these questions by gathering our opinions of who we are as Christians – or who we are as a Church –

or what we should be doing as Christians – or what we should be doing as a Church.

It’s not really our opinions that matter here – what matters is who God calls us to be – and what God calls us to be doing.

We have to start – not within ourselves – but with God.

So – here are the important questions for us to consider —

Who does God think we are – as individuals and as a Church –

and

What does God call us to be doing – as individuals and as a Church?

To really find answers to these questions we have to look to God – to God’s word – and see what God’s idea is.

We’ve been using the passage in 1 Peter 2:9 as a “springboard” — so to speak — to look at various aspects of who we are as God’s people – how we can be the Christians – the people – and the Church God has called us to be – and how we can do what God calls us to be doing.

In 1 Peter 2:9 we read:

you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light

As we have looked at this passage, we have seen that it gives us an answer to the questions:

Who are we?

and

What are we supposed to be doing?

Who are we?

We are the glorious people of God – Peter writes –

What are we to be doing?

Peter writes that we have been chosen to show to the world the glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

So — we are:

The glorious people of God –

Chosen to show to the world the glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

That’s who we are – and what we are to be doing.

But – what does that mean?

It’s the specifics of what that might mean that we’ve been considering for the past 5 weeks and will continue to consider for at least 2 more weeks.

What does it means that we are:

The glorious people of God –

Chosen to show to the world the glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

So far we have:

Looked at the first chapter of John – and seen that it means that we are chosen to walk in the light of God – the light of Christ – instead of the darkness of sin.

Looked at Luke’s version of the Baptism of Jesus – and seen that it means that we are chosen for ministry.

Looked at John 2:1-11 – the story of the miracle at the Cana wedding feast – and seen that it means that we are chosen to be the best.

Looked at Nehemiah 8 – where the Law of God is read as it is placed in the rebuilt and rededicated Temple following the Babylonian captivity – and seen that it means that we are chosen to worship.

Looked at Jeremiah 12 – and seen that it means that we are chosen to be triumphant.

And looked at Luke’s version of the calling of Peter, James and John in Luke 5:1-11 – and seen that it means that we are chosen to be obedient.

Chosen to walk in the light of Christ

Chosen for ministry

Chosen to be the best

Chosen to worship

Chosen to be triumphant

Chosen to be obedient

Six things that being the glorious people of God – chosen to show to the world the glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ — can mean for us.

Today I want us to add another thing to this list as we consider Luke 6:17-26. As we look at this teaching of Jesus I believe we will see that we are chosen to be different in the world and chosen to make a difference in the world – for Christ.

We are chosen to be different.

We are chosen to make a difference.

Read Scripture

I’m going to tell you a story today.

It’s a story of a minister named Jim.

Jim was a minister of a large, rich church. Throughout his ministry his plan was that he was going to be a successful minister of a large church with lots of money.

His church was going to have lots of money.

His church members were going to have lots of money.

He was going to have lots of money.

And now – he was there!

He had made it!

Success!

His church had lots of money!

The members of his church had lots of money!

He had lots of money!

It was his dream come true job!

As an important minister of an important church, he also was important in his denomination. Sometimes he was asked to attend meetings in other places to represent the denomination. One such meeting took him to a small church in a poor neighborhood of a big city. He was not impressed with the meeting – the church – the neighborhood – or the other ministers in attendance. He told himself that if he ever got out of there – he would never return – and would complain to those who set up the meeting about their poor choice of location. There were so many nice places in that city – why was the meeting held where it was – he wondered – in a run down church in a run down part of the city?

The neighborhood where the meeting was held wasn’t very good – not like the rich neighborhoods in the city with the nice houses and nicely manicured yards.

The old church building the meeting was held in was not much better. Not like the nice new buildings other churches were so proud of.

You see — instead of moving to a better part of town as the community around it had gone down, this church had stayed put and reached out to those in it’s neighborhood. They had a soup kitchen and a clothes closet for those who needed them – they ministered to their community.

But Jim thought that this church had been left behind.

He thought it was a failure.

He thought it was a dieing church in a dieing neighborhood.

He thought it was a church no one would want to attend in a neighborhood no one ventured in to.

Jim thought the ministers at the conference looked a little shopworn too — a few old men trying to live on small salaries in a big-money town.

One of them talked about his son, who worked for a big software company. The son wasn’t very happy. He wanted to do something else with his life, but couldn’t find the courage to quit his high-paying job.

“Golden handcuffs,” the minister – father called it.

He said his son was imprisoned by his big paycheck — addicted to money and the things money could buy.

Jim was appalled at this attitude.

Sitting in those dingy surroundings, the son’s situation looked good by comparison.

Rich and miserable beats poor and miserable any day, Jim thought.

The ministers at the meeting were invited to spend the night working at the night shelter to see the ministry this church was doing. Jim turned down the invitation. He was much too busy – had brought his laptop computer so he could e-mail the office and work on his sermon – and also he refused to stay in such a dump. He had a room in a nice motel in the best part of town to spend the night in.

When Jim got to his nice hotel in the nice part of town, he breathed a sigh of relief. After a nice supper, he began to think about the day — and tried to work on his sermon from Luke 6 – the passage he was going to be preaching on that Sunday:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when men hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.”

Jim wasn’t too sure what that meant.

He would take rich over poor any day.

Surely Jesus meant something besides physically poor – - Jim thought – surely Jesus knew that being poor was nothing to be happy about – that being poor was certainly not a blessing.

But – what did it mean?

Jim wondered.

He was not quite sure – and fell asleep with an uneasy feeling he could not understand.

You can’t argue with success – can you?

he wondered

He fell asleep repeating this as if it were a mantra

You can’t argue with success

You can’t argue with success

You can’t argue with success

You can’t argue with success

That’s what Jim thought.

That was Jim’s perspective on life.

You can’t argue with success

Wealth may not be everything, but it certainly beat poverty.

Good food and good times would always be preferred by sane people.

So Jim thought.

Such was Jim’s perspective on life.

Such is the perspective many people have.

Maybe that’s your perspective, too.

You can’t argue with success

Or – can you?

Is Jesus “arguing with success” here in Luke 6?

Maybe so.

Is Jesus questioning common wisdom here?

I think so.

Is Jesus calling us – as His followers – to question common wisdom – to have a different perspective from others – to live differently from how others live?

Yea.

In 1 Peter 2:9 we read:

you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light

Chosen by God

To be a royal priesthood

God’s instruments

To do His work and speak out for Him

To tell others of the praises of God

Great words – and a great calling.

But – what do they mean?

Well —

Part of what they mean is that we are chosen to walk in the light of Christ

Part of what they mean is that we are chosen for ministry

Part of what they mean is that we are chosen to be the best.

Part of what they mean is that we are chosen to worship.

Part of what they mean is that we are chosen to be triumphant.

Part of what they mean is that we are chosen to be obedient

Part of what they mean is that we are chosen to be different.

Chosen to be different.

Most of the time we have a certain perspective about things – and we live out of that perspective.

That perspective marks our attitudes about life.

In my illustration Jim had the perspective that success and money and all the things that went along with it were the important things in life – and he could not see that the church, it’s members, and it’s minister who worked with the poor were doing anything worthwhile. He was even appalled as one of the ministers spoke of the “golden handcuffs” – the big paycheck of his son’s job that kept him from doing something else with his life.

That was his perspective.

Jesus has – and invites us to have – a different perspective.

He has chosen us – to be different.

We are chosen to be different.

In Jesus’ perspective success is not big money – big paychecks – big houses – or even big churches.

In fact, these things can be a hindrance to success as Jesus sees it.

From Jesus’ perspective, success is built around loving God —

From Jesus’ perspective, success is built around having a relationship with God –

From Jesus’ perspective, success is built around sharing God’s love with the world –

From Jesus’ perspective, success is built around working to bring God’s kingdom into the world –

From Jesus’ perspective, success is built around working for God’s will for peace – justice – love – and righteousness

And Jesus chooses us to live – not with the perspective of the world – but with His different perspective.

We are chosen to be different

You see — from Jesus’ different perspective — the church, it’s members, and it’s minister that Jim counted as a failure were really a success –

faithfully living out their calling to share God’s love with the world – beginning with their own neighborhood – -

faithfully working to bring God’s kingdom into the world – beginning with their own neighborhood –

faithfully working for God’s will for peace – justice – love and righteousness in the world – beginning with their own neighborhood.

They had a different perspective about life from Jim’s.

They were living differently from how Jim was living.

They chose to be different.

They knew they were chosen to be different.

Jesus calls us to have His perspective on life – to have His perspective on things – to have His different perspective on life. Jesus calls us to be different. Jesus chooses us to be different – to act differently – to see things differently – to be different.

But too many people don’t.

Too many times we don’t.

Honestly – too many times I don’t.

This new perspective – this different perspective – Jesus calls us to have is a struggle for far too many people – in fact I’m going to go so far as to say that it is a struggle for most people.

I know it is a struggle for me.

Too many times we find ourselves buying into the conventional wisdom – the world’s perspective — of success and what is right and wrong and before we know it we don’t even realize that it is not the perspective Jesus would have us have.

For example — we are bombarded with television ads that promote “the good life” and selfish indulgence of whatever our desires might be – and before long we believe that is the way to live.

Or — we see on television couples cheating on each other – and before long we lose the feeling that it’s wrong.

Too many times we let the world dictate how we live – or what we feel is right and what is wrong — instead of following Jesus’ teachings of how to live – and what is right – and what is wrong.

Too many times we lose sight of the fact that – as Peter writes – we are:

a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light

We lose sight of the fact that we are we are chosen to walk in the light of Christ

We lose sight of the fact that we are we are chosen for ministry

We lose sight of the fact that we are we are chosen to be the best.

We lose sight of the fact that we are we are chosen to worship.

We lose sight of the fact that we are we are chosen to be triumphant.

We lose sight of the fact that we are we are we are chosen to be obedient

We lose sight of the fact that we are chosen to be different – to live differently – to think differently – to act differently – from the way the world tells us to be – live – think – and act.

Jesus chooses us to be different.

Jesus chooses us to be different people.

Jesus chooses us to have a different perspective.

When Jesus chooses us we can no longer live with the perspective of the world where sex and drugs and violence have become common place – we are chosen to be different.

When Jesus chooses us we can no longer live with the perspective of the world where those who are poor are looked down on and treated as if they are less than human.

When Jesus chooses us we can no longer live with the perspective of the world where success is defined by how much money you have — or how big your house is — or what kind of job you have.

Jesus chooses us to have a new perspective – a different perspective.

Jesus chooses us to be different.

Jesus chooses us to be committed to different things than many in the world are committed to – things like:

having a relationship with God

sharing God’s love with the world

working to bring God’s kingdom into the world

working for God’s will for peace – justice – love – and righteousness in the world

Jesus chooses us to realize that we are:

a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light

Jesus chooses us to realize that we are:

chosen to walk in the light of Christ

chosen for ministry

chosen to be the best

chosen to worship

chosen to be triumphant

chosen to be obedient

Jesus chooses us to realize that we are chosen to be different.

We are to try to see things the way God sees them – not as others see them.

We are to try to have respect for others – not lust after them or want to have power over them.

We are to try to reach out to others with God’s love – and help them see God’s will for their lives.

We are to try to try to make a difference in the world instead of just going along with the world.

We are chosen to be different.

But – we are also chosen to make a difference.

Our “Jesus perspective” should make us different from others – different in the way we think, the way we talk, the way we act. It should also give us a desire to make a difference in a world that is filled with a need for God.

We are chosen to be different.

We are also chosen to make a difference.

Chosen to be different.

Chosen to make a difference.

I’m not saying this is easy.

It’s hard.

We will be so different that we will stick out like a sore thumb.

But so did Jesus

We might get laughed at or scoffed at

But so was Jesus

People might call us fanatical.

They called Jesus fanatical also.

This is who Jesus calls us to be.

This is what Jesus calls us to do.

you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light

If we are going to be the Church God calls us to be –

If we are going to do the things God calls us to do –

We are going to have to live like we are glorious people – serving our glorious God.

We are going to have to live like we are chosen to walk in the light of Christ.

We are going to have to live like we are chosen – for ministry

We are going to have to live like we are chosen to be the best.

We are going to have to live like we are chosen – to worship.

We are going to have to live like we are chosen to be obedient.

And we are going to have to live like we are people who are chosen to be different – and chosen to make a difference.

Every day we have to think – act – talk – live – differently from others.

Every day we have to look for ways to make a difference – to share God’s love with all people.

Every day we have to show every person God sends our way the respect and the love God has for them.

Every day we have to show every person God sends our way the hope God can give them – and the change God can make in their lives.

But we can’t just share God and Jesus’ different perspective with those God sends our way – I believe we have to make an effort to go out of our way to find people to share God’s love – hope – and life changing possibilities with.

you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light

We are chosen to walk in the light of Christ

We are chosen for ministry

We are chosen to be the best

We are chosen to worship.

We are chosen to be triumphant

We are chosen to be obedient

We are chosen to be different – and make a difference

I love the anonymous poem “I Shall Not Pass This Way Again”:

Through this toilsome world alas!
Once and only once I pass;
If a kindness I may show,
If a good deed I may do
For a suffering fellow man,
Let me do it while I can.
No delay, for it is plain
I shall not pass this way again!

Make this your motto – try to live it every day — and you will not only be different from others – but you will make a difference in the lives of others.

Chosen to be different – Chosen to make a difference.

Amen.