In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we go about with a set of preconceived expectations and standards. This allows us to assess our circumstance and events against what is normal, or standard. The financial world works this way too – in order to understand whether a business is profitable or not, there is a set of customary accounting procedures that is used. In this way, we can compare the books of one company against another, knowing that the “math” is the same. Life is like that also. We have expectations and experience, and we judge our circumstances against that standard. While this can help us uniformly evaluate different events, it can also make us blind to the extraordinary things that the Lord is doing. When our Lord Jesus Christ called his disciples and began to teach them about His Kingdom, he challenged them to throw out their own standards, and to begin following His. As we think about our own lives, are we willing to use Jesus’ standards? Do we really count ourselves blessed when we are poor or hungry? Do we see God’s blessing in our weeping, and when others hate us? Are we willing to reevaluate our riches, our laughter, and our satisfaction in light of Jesus’ words? This is the challenge that Jesus presents to us in “Generally Unaccepted Kingdom Accounting” (Luke 6:12-26).

I. Unaccepted Investments
A. Dependent Prayer
B. Sovereign Choice

II. Unaccepted Assets
A. Poor, Not Rich
B. Hungry, Not Satisfied

III. Unaccepted Adjustments
A. Weeping, Not Laughing
B. Hated, Not Praised

Questions for consideration: (1) In what ways can you follow Jesus today, by depending more on the Lord? (2) Why would the Lord want you to be “hungry”? In what ways are you too satisfied, and how can that change? (3) What are some things worth being hated for? How can we be tempted to use the blessing of verse 22 as an excuse for our own bad behavior?