Luke 6:20-23 - Living the Blessed Life

This sermon is very similar to what we call "The Sermon on the Mount" that we find recorded in Matthew 5-7. Some fine evangelical scholars believe these were two different events while others think that they are the same message just recorded in a shorter version here in Luke’s Gospel. Jesus went "into the hill country" with His disciples. After a night of prayer, He came down to a level place, ordained the Twelve, ministered to the sick, and then preached this sermon. It was His description of what it means to have a life of "blessing."   To most Jewish people, the word "blessing" evoked images of a long life, wealth, a large, healthy family, a full barn, and defeated enemies. God's covenant with Israel did include such material and physical blessings (Deut. 28; Job 1:1-12; Prov. 3:1-10), for this was how God taught and disciplined them. After all, they were "little children" in the faith, and we teach children by means of rewards and punishments. With the coming of Jesus, Israel's childhood period ended, and the people had to mature in their understanding of God's ways (Gal. 4:1-6).   Verse 20 tells us that “Jesus lifted up His eyes to His disciples, and said:” which indicates that Jesus was preaching primarily to His disciples, but we can assume that He intended for the multitudes that were present to listen and learn from it also. (Luke 6:27, 47). As you study all four of the Gospels it is also obvious that the Twelve had to unlearn many things before they could effectively serve Him. Furthermore, they had left everything to follow Jesus (Luke 5:11, 28), and no doubt were asking themselves, "What is in store for us?" (see Matt. 19:27)   The Lord explained in this sermon that the truly blessed life comes not from getting, or from doing, but from being. The emphasis is on Godlike character. Our “being” should always precede our doing. We are told often in the Scriptures that God looks on the attitude of the heart more than what appears on the outside. Remember what the Lord told Samuel when he was anointing David to become the next king of Israel in 1 Samuel 16:7.   In Matthew 15:18-19 Jesus said, “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” And later in closing this message in Luke 6, Jesus illustrates the difference between a good heart and an evil heart, with these words: "For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:43-45).   Now we need to be clear that this sermon is not "the Gospel" and nobody goes to heaven by "following the Sermon on the Mount." Dead sinners cannot obey the living God; they must first be born again and receive God's life (John 3:1-7, 36).   Nor is this sermon a "constitution" for the kingdom God will one day establish on earth (Matt. 20:21; Luke 22:30). The Sermon on the Mount applies to life today and describes the kind of godly character we should have as believers in this world. Certainly, our Lord describes a life situation today that includes hunger, tears, persecution, and false teachers, quite unlike that of the glorious kingdom that is to come!   In this wonderful message what the Lord Jesus did was to focus on at least four attitudes: our attitude toward circumstances (Luke 6:20-26), our attitudes toward people (Luke 6:27-38), our attitudes toward ourselves (Luke 6:39-45), and our attitudes toward God (Luke 6:46-49). He emphasized four essentials for true happiness: faith in God, love toward others, honesty with ourselves, and obedience toward God.