Luke 6

These are the headers for each section of Luke 6 in the ESV.

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

A Man with a Withered Hand

The Twelve Apostles

Jesus Ministers to a Great Multitude

The Beatitudes

Jesus Pronounces Woes

Love Your Enemies

Judging Others

A Tree and Its Fruit

Build Your House on the Rock

In the middle these is the header “The Beatitudes”. This is the most memorable of all the sections of Luke 6 and rightly so. But here today as I ponder all of Luke 6 there is one question in my mind that I cannot shake, that is in verse 12, why did Jesus go to pray on a mountain?

Psalm 24:3

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?

The only thing that makes that mountain holy is the man standing upon it. He prays all night, not for a moment, not three times as in the Garden, but all night long. Who prays all night? He did and what followed in Luke 6 is the result of a long night of prayer. That is so special.

We have these precious words because Jesus prayed all night and I feel bad that my mind drifts off like Peter, James and John drifted off when asked to stand watch. I want to be able to say I am focused, but nothing like what Jesus could do.

God isn’t asking us to be Jesus, He can use us for what we are for as long as we can breathe.

As long as we have breath we stand a chance of being used by the Lord according to God’s will and we need not worry about being anything more. Jesus did the big things, He needs us for the little ones.

Order of Things

Psalm 50:23

The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”

Mark 7:9

And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!

There is a right way to place things in order and a wrong way.

To begin, we might look at traditions as being “But we have always done it that way!” That does not make it right.

I look closely at Psalm 50:23 and see a direct correlation between the right order of things and seeing God’s salvation. What is the order of the right way to salvation?

Since every way we take in coming to see God’s salvation begins with a first step, what is that first step?

Course correction.

At some point the lost must recognize they are headed in the wrong direction. Things just are not working out for them in some manner of expectation and I cannot cover all the aspected of what they might expect. The only thing I can cover is that we are speaking to the path towards salvation of God.

Someone must come along beside this person and tell them about the salvation of God.

This is the point in a disciple’s life when listening is critical. We must listen to that lost soul and allow them to pour out their disappointment of expectation. It may be that they have no interest in God’s salvation. This comes under the heading of leading a horse to water but you cannot make them drink. What they are thirsty for must be part of that conversation.

Exodus 15:23-25 English Standard Version

23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. 24 And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them,

Rules and regulations come after they have tasted the sweetness of our Lord.