2026 Luke 6, Do You Live For Now or That Day?
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2026-03-22 16:04
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Do You Live For Now or That Day?
Luke 6:12-26
Jesus came to save the world. But the generation was evil and there were many enemies of God. At that time he prayed to God. He sought the wisdom of God through the long and earnest prayer. And we see God’s answer.
Part one, he called 12 disciples.
Here is the basic principles for building a church
First, number 12
The number of church is 12. This is the number of moving. Jesus’ disciples are 12. When Judas fell, one was added to make it 12. When 12 disciples are raised in a church and a team is formed with 12, spiritual power manifests.
Second, habit
Verse 12 says, “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray. Jesus spent the night praying to God. Power and wisdom from God came to him. Jesus said, “My house shall be a house of prayer.” If there is no prayer in church, the church is dead. According to Luke 22:39, Jesus prayed out of habit. Habit is important.
John Dryden says, “We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.” This means that when an action is repeated and becomes an unconscious habit, that habit eventually determines the direction of one's life.
Dostoevsky says, “The latter half of a person's life is made up of the habits he acquired during the first half.” Habit is important when you are young. Those who are late for meeting when they are young will be late when they are old and their children will be too. You must break it right now. Habit formation usually takes 21 days (66 days). If you join Friday prayer meeting and attend Sunday worship services for 21 weeks, such habit will be formed and it won't be difficult at all from then on.
I taught Bible in my freshman year of university. That became my habit. Now, teaching the Bible is not difficult. However, exercising? No. That is because I didn't make a habit of exercising when I was young. When you are young, make godly and good habits.
When Jesus, the Son of God came to the earth as a flesh, he made a habit of prayer that he could fulfill the mission of God. One type of prayer is listening prayer.
Verse 12 says, “Jesus went out to pray.” Here ‘pray’ is not asking prayer but listening prayer. Asking prayer involves petitioning God with requests (Philippians 4:6), while listening prayer is the intentional practice of quieting the soul to perceive God's voice, presence, and guidance, like "May God’s will be done." Is your prayer mostly asking prayer? Now try to do listening prayer. Your eyes will be opened toward God in heaven that you will live by the will and power of God. And worship, prayer and gospel work —all of these are habits. If you do not have these habits, make them as your habit now.
Third, calling and sending
Verse 13 says, “When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles.” A Christian is the one who lives by God's calling and sending. There are times when God calls you during your worship or prayer. Then respond to the Lord. We are called by God and sent to deliver the message of God to the world.
Fifth, ordinariness and diversity
From verses 14-16, there are twelve disciples’ names. None of these men had any outstanding careers. They were just ordinary young people. Still they could do extraordinary work when they were called by Jesus with learning and obedient minds. Among the twelve, eleven of them were from Galilee. Only Judas Iscariot was from southern Judea. (Joshua 15:25) He was the treasurer. He seemed to receive higher education. But he loved money and lived by his own ambition. Then he betrayed Jesus, and was destroyed eternally.
In church, no one should be the center of attention except Jesus Christ. In church, you look competent, successful, recognized, and everyone focuses on you, “Hey, you’re amazing!” Then, be very careful to lower yourself. And be careful not to show strong personal opinions or a distinct style. There is a high possibility of becoming like Judas. You must unconditionally humble and deny yourself.
Part two, the life of disciples of Jesus; four blessings and four woes
Four blessings and four woes form a set. “Blessed are you who are poor, but woe to you who are rich. Blessed are you who hunger now, but woe to you who are well fed now. Blessed are you who weep now. Woe to you who laugh now. Blessed are you when people hate you. Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you” This is very weird. In this modern world, the criterion of being blessed is in good income with a stable job, the size of house and the ability to enjoy life. But the people Jesus called blessed are poor, hungry, weeping and hated. This is contradictory to worldly values. Why then Jesus calls them blessed? It is because they live as disciples of Jesus for the kingdom of God and because their end will be good (tobu), rewarded greatly by God.
First, disciple and the kingdom God
Verse 20 says, “Looking at his disciples, he said.” The audience or target for the four blessings and four woes is not the people of the world but the disciples of Jesus. In the Bible there are three kinds of people who come to Jesus. One is a crowd. A crowd 30,000 gather at a soccer stadium or a concert. Their purpose is to watch and enjoy, then disperse with no purpose. That is the crowd. In the Bible, crowd is described as the ones who come to Jesus when they are in needs and go back to their mundane life when their needs are fed. The church is not to be composed of a crowd. Another is churchgoers. They attend church regularly but no commitment. “I have attended church for ten years.” So, what have you committed for the Lord?
Now, a disciple is the one who walks the path of Jesus with the commitment of "coming and going" structure. When the Lord calls you, you come to Sunday worship service, prayer meeting and Bible retreat. When He tells you “go,” you go to the mission field to serve and preach the word of God. If you have this structure, you are a disciple of Jesus. Now, we understand Jesus’ teaching more clearly, “Blessed are you who are poor, hated, hungry and weeping now” as you obey Jesus calling of coming and going.”
For example, Paul was a successful and recognized elite lawyer before he was called by Jesus. He was rich, well-fed, well-spoken and laughing. Being called by Jesus he made a new name card, ‘Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ.’ In the course of preaching the gospel to the people of the world, he became poor, hungry, wept and hated. (2 Cor 12) But he knew he was so blessed in Christ (Epeh 1:3)
We have spring retreat in May 02, 03. To some, going there might not be easy because they have to put aside their other plans and comfortable zone. They also have to pay the fee. And the accommodation or food might not be great. And who knows whether they would weep as they know Christ’s love deeply and for their unbelieving family and friends?
So, blessed are you when you are poor, hungry, weeping and hated in Jesus, for yours is the kingdom of God and great is your reward in heaven. However, not all are blessed because of their blinded or mundane desires for the world.
In Luke 18, there is a rich young man. He is a perfect husband material. He is rich, young, religious, moral and a ruler, mostly a member of parliament nowadays. With all these, he is the top husband material. However, don’t marry a man like hm.
Why? Because of his wrong value. One day, Jesus called him, “Sell your possessions, give them to the poor and follow me.” Wou! He is called by the Son of God, the Creator. It is a marvellous grace and honor. He could be in the same level with the Peter and Paul. But he went away sad, because he had great wealth. There are not a few rich young men like him in church.
In this money-oriented and pleasure seeking generation, everyone wants to be rich, well-fed, laughing and well spoken of by others. Sadly, this trend has come to church that not a few have lost devotion to the Lord. So they do not like to lose their time, money and plan to dedicate to the Lord. They do only one thing they can or want by their conveniences but stop right there, no more! Consequently, there is no growth and fruit and they fail to enjoy the blessings of the Kingdom of God.
A young woman in her twenties is now frantically working overtime to save money for BTS concert; a ticket, air plane and hotel in USA. She marvels me. “Wow, that is incredible zeal and passion. Wow, human has such unlimited passion and devotion.” It gives me hope. I ask you, “Could you do like that for the Kingdom of God?
I knew a young lady whose dream was a pharmacist. Finally she passed national license exam. She could make a quiet of money. But being moved by Jesus’ love in early 1990s, she went to Russia as a missionary. She had to give up her career there and suffered a lot. But I saw her joy and maturity. She is blessed.
Some are not that wealthy. Yet they pursue the Kingdom of God first devoting themselves to the Lord. They know it is hard. However, they enjoy the blessings of the Kingdom of God, and their children are blessed. I pray that you may be blessed as you follow Jesus as his disciples.
Second, now and that day
In verse 21, 25, a word "now" appears twice. We see ‘that day’ in verse 23. Blessing and woe are decided by where we put our attention between now and that day.
When you live as disciples of Jesus in worship, prayer and gospel work, you would be poor, hungry, weeping and hated. But you have that day when you are rewarded by God. However, if you pursue wealth, fun, applause and recognition now ignoring that day, you will mourn and weep at that day. A disciple of Jesus is the one who lives for that day. Do you live for that day?
We are people who pursue that day, the day we meet Jesus. Because of that day, we now can suffer, lose and be misunderstood and even hated. Romans 8:18 says, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
Cappadocia, in Turkey was a volcanic region. Christians were threatened to deny Jesus by Roman Empire. But they instead fled to Cappadocia and dug tunnel and lived underground. This was excavated. (1963). It is estimated that about 100,000 people lived there. They built churches underground and worshipped God. They endured trials and suffering for 400 years. They became poor, hungry, hated and wept because of their faith in Jesus. They did not live for stability, applause and pleasure of now. They looked forward to the eternal reward that Jesus would give on that day.
Christianity today has become superficial and shallow. Why? It is because not many have faith in that day. Not a few Christians want to be rich, well fed, laugh and well spoken by others now. They dislike suffering and devotion. They do offer minimum to the Lord. “Would you do this? Would you come to…?” “Well…” Heartbreaking! How long will they keep living like that?
Who are blessed? It is those who experience poorness, hunger, hatred and weeping now because of faith in Jesus. May God bless you and me to live like that for Jesus. At the end of our life road, we will meet Jesus and inherit the glorious and eternal kingdom of God.
Long time ago, I watched a movie Avatar. The Na'vi came and said, "I see you. I see you." These words, simple yet profound, show the deep desire to see the true and spiritual aspect.
A woman was introduced to a man. She asked his income and whether he had a house or not. You meet people. What do you see? Do you see their now, their outer appearance, car, income, education, and job now? The devil temps us to focus on now. The devil prevents us from seeing that day.
In the course of preaching the gospel, Jesus lived a poor life. He often became hungry. He wept. He was hated by many. “Hey, you carpenter! How dare you teach us?” Even his brothers thought he was crazy. When he was crucified on the cross, everyone insulted and criticized him, “Jesus, you are the Son of God. Then why do you suffer? Come down from the cross. Save yourself and save ourselves from poverty and Roman oppression.” But Jesus did not come down from the cross. He suffered because he had that day of glory and restoration of the kingdom of God on mankind.
Do you want to be rich, well-fed, well-spoken and laughing now? I pray for you to meet Jesus personally. I pray for you to know his love, devotion, obedience, suffering and serving life and power and joy. Do you see the blood and cry of Jesus crucified on cross? Do you know why he had to suffer and became such lonely in excruciating pain? I pray that you may have faith in that day. Study hard and make money. Still, you will not live for wealth, applause and fun now but for the purpose of God in Jesus. Whether you are rich or poor, sick or healthy, you will follow Jesus now. Then you are blessed.
Don’t live for now, buying, selling, eating and drinking and travelling without devotion to Jesus. Learn from King Solomon and Ernest Hemingway who lived for now. King Solomon was the wisest man by God’s blessing. But he used that blessing for now, wealth, women, entertainment, eating and drinking. In his late age, finally he repented and wrote Ecclesiastes, “Life is utterly meaningless.” Ernest Hemingway achieved a lot. He enjoyed intellectuality, romance and people’s respect. But he left a memo and shot himself, “I am hollow, like a light bulb with a broken filament.” Why? Because both did not have that day. Do you have that day in Jesus? Would you be poor, hungry, weeping and hated as you follow and devote to Jesus? Then, you are blessed.
Luke 6:12-26
Jesus came to save the world. But the generation was evil and there were many enemies of God. At that time he prayed to God. He sought the wisdom of God through the long and earnest prayer. And we see God’s answer.
Part one, he called 12 disciples.
Here is the basic principles for building a church
First, number 12
The number of church is 12. This is the number of moving. Jesus’ disciples are 12. When Judas fell, one was added to make it 12. When 12 disciples are raised in a church and a team is formed with 12, spiritual power manifests.
Second, habit
Verse 12 says, “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray. Jesus spent the night praying to God. Power and wisdom from God came to him. Jesus said, “My house shall be a house of prayer.” If there is no prayer in church, the church is dead. According to Luke 22:39, Jesus prayed out of habit. Habit is important.
John Dryden says, “We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.” This means that when an action is repeated and becomes an unconscious habit, that habit eventually determines the direction of one's life.
Dostoevsky says, “The latter half of a person's life is made up of the habits he acquired during the first half.” Habit is important when you are young. Those who are late for meeting when they are young will be late when they are old and their children will be too. You must break it right now. Habit formation usually takes 21 days (66 days). If you join Friday prayer meeting and attend Sunday worship services for 21 weeks, such habit will be formed and it won't be difficult at all from then on.
I taught Bible in my freshman year of university. That became my habit. Now, teaching the Bible is not difficult. However, exercising? No. That is because I didn't make a habit of exercising when I was young. When you are young, make godly and good habits.
When Jesus, the Son of God came to the earth as a flesh, he made a habit of prayer that he could fulfill the mission of God. One type of prayer is listening prayer.
Verse 12 says, “Jesus went out to pray.” Here ‘pray’ is not asking prayer but listening prayer. Asking prayer involves petitioning God with requests (Philippians 4:6), while listening prayer is the intentional practice of quieting the soul to perceive God's voice, presence, and guidance, like "May God’s will be done." Is your prayer mostly asking prayer? Now try to do listening prayer. Your eyes will be opened toward God in heaven that you will live by the will and power of God. And worship, prayer and gospel work —all of these are habits. If you do not have these habits, make them as your habit now.
Third, calling and sending
Verse 13 says, “When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles.” A Christian is the one who lives by God's calling and sending. There are times when God calls you during your worship or prayer. Then respond to the Lord. We are called by God and sent to deliver the message of God to the world.
Fifth, ordinariness and diversity
From verses 14-16, there are twelve disciples’ names. None of these men had any outstanding careers. They were just ordinary young people. Still they could do extraordinary work when they were called by Jesus with learning and obedient minds. Among the twelve, eleven of them were from Galilee. Only Judas Iscariot was from southern Judea. (Joshua 15:25) He was the treasurer. He seemed to receive higher education. But he loved money and lived by his own ambition. Then he betrayed Jesus, and was destroyed eternally.
In church, no one should be the center of attention except Jesus Christ. In church, you look competent, successful, recognized, and everyone focuses on you, “Hey, you’re amazing!” Then, be very careful to lower yourself. And be careful not to show strong personal opinions or a distinct style. There is a high possibility of becoming like Judas. You must unconditionally humble and deny yourself.
Part two, the life of disciples of Jesus; four blessings and four woes
Four blessings and four woes form a set. “Blessed are you who are poor, but woe to you who are rich. Blessed are you who hunger now, but woe to you who are well fed now. Blessed are you who weep now. Woe to you who laugh now. Blessed are you when people hate you. Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you” This is very weird. In this modern world, the criterion of being blessed is in good income with a stable job, the size of house and the ability to enjoy life. But the people Jesus called blessed are poor, hungry, weeping and hated. This is contradictory to worldly values. Why then Jesus calls them blessed? It is because they live as disciples of Jesus for the kingdom of God and because their end will be good (tobu), rewarded greatly by God.
First, disciple and the kingdom God
Verse 20 says, “Looking at his disciples, he said.” The audience or target for the four blessings and four woes is not the people of the world but the disciples of Jesus. In the Bible there are three kinds of people who come to Jesus. One is a crowd. A crowd 30,000 gather at a soccer stadium or a concert. Their purpose is to watch and enjoy, then disperse with no purpose. That is the crowd. In the Bible, crowd is described as the ones who come to Jesus when they are in needs and go back to their mundane life when their needs are fed. The church is not to be composed of a crowd. Another is churchgoers. They attend church regularly but no commitment. “I have attended church for ten years.” So, what have you committed for the Lord?
Now, a disciple is the one who walks the path of Jesus with the commitment of "coming and going" structure. When the Lord calls you, you come to Sunday worship service, prayer meeting and Bible retreat. When He tells you “go,” you go to the mission field to serve and preach the word of God. If you have this structure, you are a disciple of Jesus. Now, we understand Jesus’ teaching more clearly, “Blessed are you who are poor, hated, hungry and weeping now” as you obey Jesus calling of coming and going.”
For example, Paul was a successful and recognized elite lawyer before he was called by Jesus. He was rich, well-fed, well-spoken and laughing. Being called by Jesus he made a new name card, ‘Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ.’ In the course of preaching the gospel to the people of the world, he became poor, hungry, wept and hated. (2 Cor 12) But he knew he was so blessed in Christ (Epeh 1:3)
We have spring retreat in May 02, 03. To some, going there might not be easy because they have to put aside their other plans and comfortable zone. They also have to pay the fee. And the accommodation or food might not be great. And who knows whether they would weep as they know Christ’s love deeply and for their unbelieving family and friends?
So, blessed are you when you are poor, hungry, weeping and hated in Jesus, for yours is the kingdom of God and great is your reward in heaven. However, not all are blessed because of their blinded or mundane desires for the world.
In Luke 18, there is a rich young man. He is a perfect husband material. He is rich, young, religious, moral and a ruler, mostly a member of parliament nowadays. With all these, he is the top husband material. However, don’t marry a man like hm.
Why? Because of his wrong value. One day, Jesus called him, “Sell your possessions, give them to the poor and follow me.” Wou! He is called by the Son of God, the Creator. It is a marvellous grace and honor. He could be in the same level with the Peter and Paul. But he went away sad, because he had great wealth. There are not a few rich young men like him in church.
In this money-oriented and pleasure seeking generation, everyone wants to be rich, well-fed, laughing and well spoken of by others. Sadly, this trend has come to church that not a few have lost devotion to the Lord. So they do not like to lose their time, money and plan to dedicate to the Lord. They do only one thing they can or want by their conveniences but stop right there, no more! Consequently, there is no growth and fruit and they fail to enjoy the blessings of the Kingdom of God.
A young woman in her twenties is now frantically working overtime to save money for BTS concert; a ticket, air plane and hotel in USA. She marvels me. “Wow, that is incredible zeal and passion. Wow, human has such unlimited passion and devotion.” It gives me hope. I ask you, “Could you do like that for the Kingdom of God?
I knew a young lady whose dream was a pharmacist. Finally she passed national license exam. She could make a quiet of money. But being moved by Jesus’ love in early 1990s, she went to Russia as a missionary. She had to give up her career there and suffered a lot. But I saw her joy and maturity. She is blessed.
Some are not that wealthy. Yet they pursue the Kingdom of God first devoting themselves to the Lord. They know it is hard. However, they enjoy the blessings of the Kingdom of God, and their children are blessed. I pray that you may be blessed as you follow Jesus as his disciples.
Second, now and that day
In verse 21, 25, a word "now" appears twice. We see ‘that day’ in verse 23. Blessing and woe are decided by where we put our attention between now and that day.
When you live as disciples of Jesus in worship, prayer and gospel work, you would be poor, hungry, weeping and hated. But you have that day when you are rewarded by God. However, if you pursue wealth, fun, applause and recognition now ignoring that day, you will mourn and weep at that day. A disciple of Jesus is the one who lives for that day. Do you live for that day?
We are people who pursue that day, the day we meet Jesus. Because of that day, we now can suffer, lose and be misunderstood and even hated. Romans 8:18 says, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
Cappadocia, in Turkey was a volcanic region. Christians were threatened to deny Jesus by Roman Empire. But they instead fled to Cappadocia and dug tunnel and lived underground. This was excavated. (1963). It is estimated that about 100,000 people lived there. They built churches underground and worshipped God. They endured trials and suffering for 400 years. They became poor, hungry, hated and wept because of their faith in Jesus. They did not live for stability, applause and pleasure of now. They looked forward to the eternal reward that Jesus would give on that day.
Christianity today has become superficial and shallow. Why? It is because not many have faith in that day. Not a few Christians want to be rich, well fed, laugh and well spoken by others now. They dislike suffering and devotion. They do offer minimum to the Lord. “Would you do this? Would you come to…?” “Well…” Heartbreaking! How long will they keep living like that?
Who are blessed? It is those who experience poorness, hunger, hatred and weeping now because of faith in Jesus. May God bless you and me to live like that for Jesus. At the end of our life road, we will meet Jesus and inherit the glorious and eternal kingdom of God.
Long time ago, I watched a movie Avatar. The Na'vi came and said, "I see you. I see you." These words, simple yet profound, show the deep desire to see the true and spiritual aspect.
A woman was introduced to a man. She asked his income and whether he had a house or not. You meet people. What do you see? Do you see their now, their outer appearance, car, income, education, and job now? The devil temps us to focus on now. The devil prevents us from seeing that day.
In the course of preaching the gospel, Jesus lived a poor life. He often became hungry. He wept. He was hated by many. “Hey, you carpenter! How dare you teach us?” Even his brothers thought he was crazy. When he was crucified on the cross, everyone insulted and criticized him, “Jesus, you are the Son of God. Then why do you suffer? Come down from the cross. Save yourself and save ourselves from poverty and Roman oppression.” But Jesus did not come down from the cross. He suffered because he had that day of glory and restoration of the kingdom of God on mankind.
Do you want to be rich, well-fed, well-spoken and laughing now? I pray for you to meet Jesus personally. I pray for you to know his love, devotion, obedience, suffering and serving life and power and joy. Do you see the blood and cry of Jesus crucified on cross? Do you know why he had to suffer and became such lonely in excruciating pain? I pray that you may have faith in that day. Study hard and make money. Still, you will not live for wealth, applause and fun now but for the purpose of God in Jesus. Whether you are rich or poor, sick or healthy, you will follow Jesus now. Then you are blessed.
Don’t live for now, buying, selling, eating and drinking and travelling without devotion to Jesus. Learn from King Solomon and Ernest Hemingway who lived for now. King Solomon was the wisest man by God’s blessing. But he used that blessing for now, wealth, women, entertainment, eating and drinking. In his late age, finally he repented and wrote Ecclesiastes, “Life is utterly meaningless.” Ernest Hemingway achieved a lot. He enjoyed intellectuality, romance and people’s respect. But he left a memo and shot himself, “I am hollow, like a light bulb with a broken filament.” Why? Because both did not have that day. Do you have that day in Jesus? Would you be poor, hungry, weeping and hated as you follow and devote to Jesus? Then, you are blessed.