Luke 6:26 –
What sorrow awaits you who are praised by the crowds, for their ancestors also praised false prophets.
We are staying in chapter 6 because there are some things I didn’t want to miss dwelling on. Interestingly this chapter touches on the “Beatitudes” but not in the detail from Matthew 5. Anyway this was more a passing comment since these get talked about frequently. The “Sorrows” Jesus talks about caught my eye with this verse being the last one. Sorrow awaits the rich, the fat and prosperous and interestingly the laughing also in this chapter. The laughing one kind of caught me by surprise since joy often involves laughter … I think The Message translates the true intention of these verses where it’s not laughing but thinking life is all fun and games.
This verse though made me reflect today on the mega-churches that have arisen. I listen to many of the pastors and they are preaching what people want to hear and not touching on the difficult passages. The thing that I see growing is a feel good version of God, one that does not condemn souls who reject Him. There is even a popular book, from a mega-church pastor, saying there is no hell. The Bible tends to get “white-washed” and people tune into what message they like.
I see the pastors becoming celebrities because they leave out important revelations and fluff up the “fun” scriptures. I know we are members of an up and coming “mega-church” but do not see the same teachings. More than once I have walked out of the sermon thinking “why does anyone “on the fence” ever come back after that!!” I have seen this from the entire staff at the church; they appear devoted to the truth. My only concern is our pastor is being thrust into the spotlight which is difficult to stop as a church grows. I pray this does not ever go to his head and he continues the Bible based teaching we came to love.
Now this is the reason reading the Bible daily is so important! It’s not just to learn and dive in more to God’s actual being, but to also be able to fact check your teachers. We are warned about false prophets over and over again, yet how can well tell unless we have a good detailed knowledge of the Bible. If not than we could justify how God is only using the image of hell to scare us to do right. A loving God would never throw His children into a lake of fire … right!?!?! A loving father would never let his children wander down the wrong path, unless they kept ignoring him and rejecting him. We must all learn there are consequences in life and don’t believe a preacher just because he is popular. That’s what this verse is warning you about!