We are blessed to be the Super Bowl champion city for the next year. What that means, no one really knows. At the very least, it gives Indianapolis another distinctive characteristic to add to a growing, long list of world-class city qualities. It means that a lot of money will be made by merchandisers selling Colts souvenirs. It means that likely half or more of you have a new T-shirt or sweatshirt or hat. In fact, many of you have two or three new Colts “witness wear” logo garments. We are blessed with enough resources to add to our closets at will.

 

Our lesson today deals with blessings. I want you to take just a couple of minutes to write down five blessings that you can identify in your life. Write them down on the top of your bulletin and keep them with you. You don’t have to turn your list in to me so if you, like Peyton, have a new Cadillac Escalade and you feel blessed to have it, write it down. I’m not going to check your list. This isn’t school. Take a moment and take a blessing inventory.

 

What’s on your list? Let me guess. There may be some monetary things like a good job or a good home. There may even been an Escalade on someone’s list. On your list is likely something about your general well-being. You are a well-fed and well-clothed, most are healthy. I’m sure that family showed up on many lists. It’s on mine. I’m blessed by my marriage and our children. I had wonderful parents.  The list can go on and on—friends, church, job, country.   Have I described many of the things you listed?

 

Let me ask how many of you listed being poor as one of your blessings?  How many of you thought, “I’m blessed because I’m hungry?” Did anyone put hated on the list? Is there anyone here who thought, “Boy, I’m really blessed because people hate me and revile me and defame my name.”  Let me see a show of hands on that one.

 

Then how in the world can we connect with our lesson today? Bible scholars are having a field day right now, discovering all sorts of manuscripts and documents that have been lost for centuries. We know that we only have a fraction of the teachings and sayings of Jesus. As they become more and more adept at archeology, they hope to find things that Jesus said that were forgotten or weren’t written down in the Gospels or, for some reason, were left out of the Bible. This is one of those passages that we wish was left out of the Bible.

 

We know this little sermon as the more popular Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew. Matthew has Jesus go up a mountain, sit down and preach. Luke says, “He came down with them and stood on a level place…” (Luke 6:17)  Bible scholars know that Matthew and Luke had a common source, something that they nickname “Q” because it was first pointed out by German scholars.  “Q” stands for “Quelle” which in German simply means, “The Source.” We don’t know if this source was written down or passed from believer to believer as an oral transmission of Jesus’ sermon. In fact, we don’t have any proof that “Q” existed.  It's just a very good, well-founded and universally accepted hypothesis. What we do know is Luke’s sermon is about one fourth as long as Matthew’s and that Matthew leaves out the curses or what you heard just a moment ago as “woes.” Matthew also tends to emotionalize the blessings. Let me give you a couple examples.

 

Luke says, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”  (Luke 5: 20) Matthew says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:30) Luke says, “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. (Luke 5:21) Matthew says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6) 

 

Okay, let’s take a vote. If you have to be one, do you want to be poor or poor in spirit? Do you want to be hungry or to hunger and thirst for righteousness?

 

You can see why we like Matthew better. Matthew seems to be talking about some people. Luke is clearly talking about everyone. Matthew talks about spiritual condition; Luke addresses physical conditions.  I’ll confess that I don’t like preaching on Luke’s Sermon on the Level Plain. I’ll take the Sermon on the Mount any day. Luke is in your face; it indicts everyone. It’s hard to write a sermon on Luke; easier with Matthew. But I do understand what is going in Luke’s gospel. It is all about context.

 

Again, if you were here last week, you know that Jesus has just called his Disciples. We studied the story of Peter, Andrew, James and John’s call and Luke says, “…they left everything and followed him.” (Luke 5: 11) A few days later, he invites a tax collector named Levi to join the Disciples. Again, Luke says, “…he got up, left everything, and follows him.” (Luke 5: 29)

 

A few days into these calls, the crowds are bigger but so is the criticism. In fact, in the synagogue he angers the Pharisees and “they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.” (Luke 6: 11)

 

Do you know what Jesus does next? He names the twelve Disciples. He calls them out and the next thing that happens in the gospel of Luke is this sermon. The sermon begins, “Then he looked up at his disciples and said…” (Luke 6:20)  Jesus wants to make sure they understand what they are getting into. They walked away from their lives, from the comforts of home, from friends, family, and jobs. Jesus wants them to understand what following him will bring. In Jesus' day, there were lots of rabbis, lots of teachers, each with their own message and their own interpretation of their faith. Depending on the rabbi and his message, following a rabbi could be a rather prestigious choice. You could find yourself in all kinds of lavish places with all kind of rich and powerful people. Jesus is saying, “Look guys, I want to be absolutely on the level. Our ministry is going to be hard. You’ll be poor and hungry and you’ll shed more than a few tears. In fact, some people will hate you and exclude you and even defame you. But in the end, you’ll leap for joy because of the meaning and purpose it has brought into your lives. And the people who chose not to follow me because they think they don’t need it? The people who are laughing at you, they will be the one who will be crying because they’ve chosen their stuff over me. Their blessings will eventually be their curse.”

 

I want to be on the level with you. Your blessings can be your curse. In fact, the more blessed you are, the more at risk you are to be cursed. It doesn’t have to be that way but it often is. Since we’ve been looking for this Sunday since 1984, let me illustrate this with football, using an article that was published in the Houston Chronicle in 2004.  It was titled: “Life after football: Hello real world”. The author, Richard Justice, noted that despite the years of high income and public recognition, when football players retire from the game, the story changes: 

 

• One in four players reports financial difficulties in the first year after he retires.
• 50% of NFL marriages fail in the first year after the player leaves the game.

• The suicide rate for active and retired football players is six times greater than the national average.
• Seventy-eight percent of NFL players are unemployed, bankrupt or divorced within two years after their last game.[1]

You aren’t a football fan? Then, consider this. We can all think about someone who has it all but is absolutely miserable. We read about them every week.

 

Jesus said, “Woe to you who are rich, who are full, who are laughing, who are well known” because in the end, if this is all you have, you mourn and weep and will be hungry. Jesus isn’t glamorizing poverty and suffering. He’s not calling us to become poor or go hungry. He’s saying that the very things we work for and pray for the most--fame, recognition, affluence, aren’t enough and will never be enough. We can’t put our trust in them. Yet we do, over and over again.

 

For instance, a long-time statistical reality in America is as income rises, attendance in worship declines.[2] The more money you have, the less you think you need a regular personal relationship with God. There are exceptions to this, but generally speaking, as income goes up, praising God goes down

 

There is a statistic that goes right along with this. Less frequent church-goers aren’t as happy as those who are regular in their spiritual discipline of worship. According to the Pew Research Center, happiness goes down significantly from weekly to monthly to  occasionally attending and this trend is exaggerated by material comfort. Lower income people who attend weekly are more than twice as happy as persons of greater income who attend worship only occasionally.[3] Why? It’s because the more we have, the more we imagine ourselves as safe and secure and in control of our lives. We don’t need God as much or maybe, we think we don’t need God at all.

 

This has been going on a long time, maybe from the beginning of human history. Seven centuries before Jesus preached, the prophet Jeremiah said, “Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord.” (Jeremiah 17:5)  Jeremiah is talking about people who trust their own resources and believe that they are self-sufficient.  Whether it is 628 BC or first century or the 21^st century, Jesus knew that people like us are constantly in danger of assuming, consciously or subconsciously, that we can work our way into happiness or buy our way into joy and peace.  We think we are powerful enough or independent enough or lucky enough to provide everything we could ever need on our own.  This is when blessings become curses. Your blessings can curse you if it keeps you from fully letting God into your heart and following the Savior.

 

As you listen to me, I know there are a variety of perspectives. Some of you are thinking, “He’s talking about my brother or my neighbor or my boss. He’s got it all but doesn’t think he needs God.”  Others are thinking, “Some of this applies. I can get pretty sloppy about my spiritual disciplines and when I do, I realize I’m just not as content as I am when I’m here weekly.”  Some of you may be thinking, “Preach it man.  They really need to hear this.” Particularly in this community, a sermon like this can be perceived as talking to one group of people in our church. 

 

Well, here is the truth. This passage speaks to all of us. We are all, at some level, in danger of trusting our resources or our position or the comforts of our life more than relying upon our relationship with God. But Jesus is teaching us that these things will never, ever be enough. They cannot soften the blow of loss, or illness or pain. They cannot protect you from or comfort you in times of heartbreak or tragedy. The stuff that we have—and we all have a lot, even the poorest among us--isn’t sufficient.  But a relationship with Jesus and a community of faith is.  It doesn’t mean that life will always be easy. It won’t. That’s what Jesus is saying to his Disciples and to us. But it does mean that you’ll have the strength to negotiate the tough times, understanding for the days of your life and in the end, you will rejoice and leap for joy, for Jesus promises our reward will be great in heaven.

 

Go back to your list of blessings. On the level now, what’s most important? Be absolutely honest. Put idealistic self-deception aside. Is your list of blessings about possessions, security and relationships? Does it recognize the blessing of Jesus as your most important blessing?

 

Jesus told his Disciples that God has the power to transform us into happy, complete, caring and loving people. We can’t do it on our own. This is what Jesus is offering. This is what being a part of a faith community week after week year after year, offers to you.  The blessings of your faith in God through Jesus Christ will complete you as nothing else can. Over the centuries, many have doubted that such an offer can be genuine; but those who have come to depend upon it know it to be absolutely on the level.   

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