We Don’t Get No Respect

“Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.” Luke 6:26 KJV

I’ve been contemplating this verse on and off because it is so counter-intuitive. I checked back a few verses to make sure I knew who Jesus was talking to, and it was indeed those who were following Him:

“And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.” Luke 6:20 KJV

A few verses before that it specifically says that Jesus took the 12 as apostles from among the disciples, so we know that this is everyone who was a disciple and following Him. And He tells them (and us) that it’s a bad thing when people are speaking well of you.

I don’t know about you, but I prefer it when people like me and have good things to say. So how could this be that I should take warning when people say the good things? Well, people will like you more if you’re saying good things – in the second part of verse 26 it mentions false prophets. They said good sounding things to Israel, things like “You will not go to Babylon (Jeremiah 27:9 is a good verse showing that)” which Jeremiah decried as false.

The simple fact is that truth offends. A while back I had written a bit about Jesus the offender, but that is not online, so we’ll take another look at what truth will do to people who don’t embrace it:

“7: Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
8: This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
9: But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
10: And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:
11: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
12: Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?
13: But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.
14: Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” Matthew 15:7-14 KJV

My last completed section was called “Them’s Tough Words”, regarding Old Testament prophets and Israel. Here Jesus actually says to the faces of the Pharisees that their hearts were far from God, quoting Isaiah. I am pretty sure the Pharisees weren’t feeling warm and fuzzy right then. Indeed, they were offended. Another time they tried to stone him if you read John 8. He said some highly inflammatory things to them in that passage, including calling them liars and saying that Satan was their father.

Not surprisingly many men did not speak well of Jesus, and not even many religious folk, since the Pharisees were the religious leaders of the day. The Pharisees thought they had eternal life, but instead had anything but. The Pharisees were respected, and yet it was woe unto them.

Are You Hated?

That is such a weird goal to have, again it is completely counter-intuitive. Yet Jesus said we are blessed when men hate and persecute us (Matthew 5:11). This is not to say you should be hated because you’re a jerk and spread hatred yourself. Yet if you’re hated for speaking truth, blessed are you. Woe to you if they like you and say good things about you. How very odd, no?

Hence the ear-tickling teachers of today should be thinking carefully about why they are getting respect. You get respect when you teach pre-trib, security in sin, prosperity, and things like that. They aren’t the people you should be listening to, crazy as that sounds. Mainstream Christianity will be glad to assist you on the road to Hell, all respect intact.