It was the 11:30 AM service. The sermon was delivered by David Bisgrove. It was the third sermon (Hope: Thy Kingdom Come) in The Prayer of Prayers: Exploring Jesus' Model, the Lord's Prayer series.
Scripture reading was from Luke 6:20-26, 46-49.
I believe Bisgrove made a grave error when he related Christian persecution to the recent Nobel Peace Prize winner: Kailash Satyarthi. Obviously, Bisgrove is no fan of Van Til's apologetics.
Satyarthi, a Hindi, suffered beating for rescuing abused girls. Though noble, it cannot be compared to a devoted act of servitude to God, suffering for the Son of Man.
Bisgrove considered the kingdom of God political on various occasion, instead of absolute sovereignty of the divine. As if a social gospel was intended, perhaps that is what Bisgrove subscribes to.
I would give Bisgrove credit for even mentioning "telling the truth at work and get fired" as something noble he could relate to. But at times, I wonder if he was fully into what he preached...that was telling the truth and get fired was a noble thing or that getting fired after "accidentally" telling the truth was more of the topic in question. He was shy at making any reference to serving Christ in all these blessed suffering. Which is no wonder he brought up Satyarthi.
In his second point (I don't know what was his third point, or even his first), was about Challenge. Being different. Being loyalists to Jesus. So, here, he must assume all the audience are devoted Christians, that is fine. But to a point that there is no Gospel-centeredness, is missing a big hole in the middle. All he could do was to refer John Stott's book: The Message of the Sermon on the Mount. I will read it, when I began reading John Stott's books, but not now.
On the Woes (v.24-26), Bisgrove attempted to de-harsh Jesus' saying. That though it may sound judgmental, Jesus was actually showing compassion. I find this interpretation rather questionable. When Bisgrove went further and say that we are to pray for these woeful souls, I realized he has changed topic, which makes the sermon very confusing. Now, instead of serving God in a mindset of welcoming His Kingdom and not become of the world, loving men's praises, we are now looking at another sermon topic: Praying for your enemies.
The woes are judgmental because they are warnings to the saints to watch their ways. There is nothing about praying for these people. I would like to see how Bisgrove preaches on John 17:9.
The Blessings and Woes were elaborated with intended subject: You. It is not blessings to "you", and woes to "them", and therefore pray for "them".
Praying for the woeful souls in this case is rather proud. Because there is lack of focus on the blessedness to the humbled ones who hear the words of Christ and do them, and lack of the warnings as the passage intends. Bisgrove assumed the congregants were all mature Christians. If that is so, a test can easily be done of such assumption by observing Bisgrove's fellowship with the "least" in the church in general.
Conclusion, despite my criticism which I firmly stand on and the off topic habit, I would merit Bisgrove for bringing up the need to pray for our enemies in such perspective. That was the only thing I had learn. But I must take caution that I do not disregard the true warning purpose of verses 24-26.