Good morning, Grace. Our prayer of confession and celebration this morning is about how, this is astounding, God loves the ungrateful and evil like me and like you. I'll read a passage and then we'll pray out of Luke 6. Jesus said, if you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you?
For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you?
You even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. But love your enemies and do good and lend expecting nothing in return and your reward will be great and you'll be sons of the most high. For he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful even as your father is merciful.
Let's pray. Dear Lord Jesus, I need to meditate on these scriptures regularly because there are few portions of the word that are more daily and necessary than this one. First and foremost, I'm stunned by what I already know to be true. God is kind to the ungrateful and evil.
I know this to be true because my father is uber kind to me every day in a multitude of ways. I'd hate to be judged on the basis of my ingratitude because I can complain and carp about anything. And my evil thoughts, no exaggeration, my evil thoughts show up in the form of envy for what others have and are and pride over who I think I am and what I deserve and revenge towards those who have dissed or hurt me and lust for pleasure and comfort outside your will and provision. Jesus, I can't throw stones at anyone.
I just throw myself upon the mountain of your mercy as this day begins. So in response to God's great love for me, help me love the ungrateful and fellow evil people in my world. Grant me quick repentances when I judge others harshly and plenty of mercy to share and more awe of your love for me than irritation over the ways people disappoint me and compassion rather than reaction toward fellow sinners. You are my reward, Jesus.
Help me to love well in this day, the way you love us every day. So very amen, I pray in your kind and exalted name. You're lucky I don't kill you, Christian. Somebody told me that once.
You're lucky I don't kill you, Christian. Have you ever received a death threat for following Jesus? Have you ever almost lost your life for being a disciple of Jesus? I have, sort of, let me explain.
I was in college and driving on I-35 in Dallas, Texas in the Oak Cliff neighborhood. And as I signaled and switched lanes in my truck, two cars on either side of my truck zipped around me, one of my right, one of my left, going at least 100 miles per hour, probably more. I saw them for a split second as they passed and then they were gone ahead of me. But apparently when I switched lanes, I went into the lane of the car on my right who was going 100 miles per hour.
Obviously I didn't see him because he wasn't there when I looked back to switch lanes. But by the time I did, he zipped past me and had to swerve around me. Now I didn't think anything of it and I just kept driving because this is typical Dallas traffic until I took my exit and this car was blocking the off ramp. I had to slow down, kind of slam on my brakes actually.
The driver, this very big muscular driver, got out of his car and he was looking underneath his seat in his car and I said to my friend Brian, who was with me, what is this guy doing? After a minute or so, he started walking toward my truck until he was at my window and he screamed at me, you're lucky, I don't kill you, Christian. And then he got back in his car and he drove away. And my friend Brian then said, he was looking for his gun under his seat.
And that's when it hit us, we almost got shot. I truly believe that Jesus kept that man from finding his gun which he thought was under his seat. I think it was there, he just didn't see it miraculously. We drove away thankful and a little confused as to why he had said to me, you're lucky I don't kill you Christian and then it dawned on us.
The Christian college that we went to was just a block away so he just assumed that we went there. He assumed that I was a Christian. So I kind of sort of received a death threat for being a disciple of Jesus. I was close to death but not quite martyrdom, more like Texas road rage.
There's actually another time in Ghana, West Africa, in college when I received a death threat from a demon possessed man who was screaming and yelling at me and the passers I was with were like, this is not safe, we need to whiskey away. And 22 year old unwise me was like, no, this is great, this is a challenge. And they're like, no, we're looking after you. So they said, come on, Pastor Benjamin, let's go.
And they whisked me off. Both of those, that's a story for another time. I tell you all this to remind you that if you follow Jesus, people will hate your guts but you have to love them to death. And that's what we'll see in Luke's Gospel as we continue looking at the sermon on the Mount.
So turn in your Bible to Luke chapter six. While you're doing that, let me tell you what we're gonna be doing today. The sermon Lord willing, enough it will be a little bit shorter than usual because at the end of it, we are going to be bringing up my consamia Johnson, who are missionaries that we've supported here at Grace for 18 years. Chet mentioned them earlier.
They hosted a workshop yesterday which was excellent. They will be back again tonight at 6 p.m. sharing stories about ministry to Muslim. So we'll talk with them after the sermon.
Back to our big idea. If you follow Jesus, people will hate your guts but you have to love them to death. If you follow Jesus as a disciple, people in this world will hate you. Jesus told us that in Luke 21 17.
He said, you will be hated by all for my namesake. But that doesn't mean that every single unbeliever that you know is going to hate you, hate you, but some, maybe many will. And you will have to love them to death. And you might literally have to love them to death, meaning you might be a martyr and you might die for your faith.
That might happen. That could happen. Looking at the trajectory of culture that we're on, I would not be surprised if that happens in America in the coming few years. Do you not have to worry about that because we're going after pastors first, okay?
But whatever happens, whether it's mild persecution because you believe in Jesus, all the way to dying for your faith, the call is the same. We must love our enemies. And that's what Jesus says. So Luke chapter six, look at verse 27, hear the word of the Lord.
But I say to you who hear, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. The one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also. And from one who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either.
Give to everyone who begs from you and from one who takes away your goods, do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. First, notice that little word in verse 27, here. That word determines your life and determines the course of your life.
That word is the key to living as a disciple. Are you listening to Jesus? Are you hearing him? Are you listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in your day to day life?
Are you reading God's word? Are you regularly hearing it preached and taught? Are you mulling it over? Are you meditating on it?
That little word here determines your life. If you wanna know more about the benefits and how life changing God's word is, then just read Psalm 119 this week. So Jesus calls his disciples to love their enemies. And that word, enemies, implies that if we stand up for what's right in this culture, when we speak about what we believe God's word says, about marriage and gender, sexual preferences and identity, all of those things that our world says we're wrong on, if we stand up for what is right and we are not shy about our faith, then we will have enemies.
Our enemies of course will feel justified in their hatred of us. But Jesus tells us that we should love them anyway. And what do our enemies expect in return? They expect us to be hostile back to them, to hate them as they hate us.
But Jesus says, hey, surprise them, show them love. Jesus comes along with this radical, somewhat new ethic. And I say, somewhat new because this love command stems from the eternal nature of God. This is who the triune God is.
And this is what he has always expected of his people, what he has always expected of his kids, that they reflect his character and his nature. So it's sort of new. It's a new command in that we are in a new phase of salvation history with God in carnit, preaching this sermon on the Mount. But the call to love is eternal because it's rooted in God's character and who he is.
And it is as old as God has had followers going all the way back to Adam and Eve. But you may be thinking, where do we see the command to love our enemies in the Old Testament? Well, if you know your Old Testament well, and you know all those case laws in Leviticus and Exodus and Deuteronomy, the ones that you love to highlight and you go to your Bible studies, I can't believe it says, do not boil a young goat in its mother's milk, it's so awesome, those kind of case laws, if you know them, then you know that neighborly love is all over the place. For instance, you find it in Exodus 23 and Proverbs 25.
I says 23, four, five, says, if you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. Your enemy, the guy you can't stand. You bring it back. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it, you shall rescue it with him.
And then Proverbs 25, 21, if your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat. And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. That sounds like love your enemy, Old Testament style, right? So Jesus isn't saying anything new per se here, but what he says is challenging though, right?
To love our enemies is counter-cultural, it's counter-intuitive, it goes against everything in our nature. But it is the distinguishing mark of a disciple, or it should be. As Jesus said in John 1335, by all this, by this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. But Jesus isn't just calling us to love, he also calls us to do good to those who hate you and to pray for those who abuse you.
And so the love that we are called to cannot be just some touchy feeling emotions or just simply words, so it's not words, it's action that Jesus is calling us through. Jesus is, hey, make it very practical. Do something good for your enemies. And I think we can stretch the application from just enemies of the gospel, people hating you because you're a Christian and you believe that the Bible is true and authoritative.
You can stretch it from that to any kind of enemy that you have in your life. Do you have any enemies in your life? Do you have any haters in your life? Maybe a coworker who makes work difficult or a family member who just can't stand you.
Jesus says, love them. There's something good for them. And make it practical. Surprise them with your good deeds.
Shock them with love. They may want to kill you, so go kill them with kindness. And then Jesus says to pray for them. Listen, it's hard to return hate for hate when you are praying for someone.
We often don't pray for our enemies, but we do think about them a lot, don't we? We stew over how they treat us, we obsess over them, we think bad thoughts about them, they rent space for free in our minds. So since we are already thinking about them, why not turn those thoughts into prayers? Pray for them.
Tim Keller said, it is hard to say angry at someone if you are praying for them. It is also hard to say angry unless you feel superior. And it is hard to feel superior if you're praying for them since in prayer you approach God as a forgiven sinner. It's hard to say angry in which evil upon your enemies if you are praying for them.
And when you pray for them, if you remember that you too are a sinner, then it makes it easier to pray good things for them. So doing good and praying for our enemies are counter-cultural too, counter-intuitive. It goes against our very nature. And that's why it's God's love that we love them with because our love stinks, doesn't it?
We need God's heart in order to have God's love for our enemies. But then Jesus gives us some very concrete examples of how we can love our enemies. Number one, he says that someone smacks you on the face, turn it off for your other cheek. Number two, someone demands your cloak, give them your tunic.
Number three, someone demands something from you, don't demand it back. Now let's unpack what this means. Keep in mind that Jesus is talking about real enemies here. And those enemies are your enemies because they do not like Jesus, they do not like his word, and they do not like you because you follow Jesus.
Recall what we saw Jesus say a few verses back in verse 22, last week he said, blessed are happy are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of man. So the enemies in the context here are people who will persecute you because you follow Jesus. That's the context. This isn't just a difficult coworker.
This is a coworker who specifically hates you because you follow Jesus and you believe the Bible is the authority for every human being on marriage, gender, sexuality, all of these things. Jesus says that you will suffer on account of following the Son of man. So if you suffer persecution because you are a disciple of Jesus and you end up getting punched in the face, then Jesus says turn the other cheek to them. Now this is important.
This does not mean as some presume that if someone tries to pick a fight with you, then you have to be passive and just let them beat you up. No, that's not what Jesus is saying at all. He's not talking about self-defense here. Again, keep the context in mind, persecution for following Jesus.
So for example, if you're walking down the street and someone tries to grab you or steal your purse or grab one of your kids, Jesus is not saying, just let them do it. Turn the other cheek. Jesus would not be opposed to you using self-defense or if you carry a gun defending yourself. As Ralph Davis says, we are not being told to be wimps for Jesus.
Defend yourself. Protect your family. Use wisdom, of course. You gotta use wisdom, okay?
Use wisdom. The guy's a gun on you. Says, give him your wallet. Just give him your wallet.
Don't be dumb. But turn the other cheek does not mean be passive and just let someone beat you up. The context in Luke 6 is suffering on account of the son of man on account of being disciple of Jesus. What did Jesus do back in Luke chapter four when they wanted to throw him off the cliff?
Did he let them? Did he turn the other cheek then? No, he used self-defense. He walked away, pushed his way through the crowd.
He did not let them throw him off the cliff. He did not turn the other cheek. But what did Jesus do once they arrested him and beat him up? He turned the other cheek.
He let them beat him up as he fulfilled a prophecy out of Isaiah chapter 50 verse six, which says this, I gave my back to those who strike and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard. I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. So when you suffer for following Jesus, you turn the other cheek. You don't fight back.
And when you must defend or protect yourself or your family, you take necessary measures that might include your own fist or a firearm. The context matters. Then Jesus uses the phrase, by the way, this sermon is, there's some blank faces. In Texas, there'll be Amans and all kinds of stuff.
There's a few of you that carry guns, you're like, I want to say Amans so bad. Then Jesus uses the phrase, give to everyone who begs from you, which is typically interpreted as, if you see a homeless person begging you for food or money, then you're supposed to help them. Now, of course, we should be helping them if we can. Remember the context, that's not what this verse is about.
This is what you do if you're being persecuted for following Jesus, not when a panhandler asks for some change. And the word begs there could be translated as demands. It's actually translated that way in Luke 23, 23, when Luke tells us that the crowd demanded that Jesus be crucified, it's the same Greek word. So it could be translated this way, give to everyone who demands from you, and from one who takes away from, takes away your goods, do not demand them back.
So if someone demands your clothing as you suffer for Jesus, or demands anything from you, you give it to them. Why? To show them one, the love of Jesus, and two, to show them that your life does not consist in physical belongings and possessions, but instead it's all about Jesus that he is your reward. This is exactly what happens in the book of Hebrews in Hebrews 1034.
It says, for you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. So these believers in the book of Hebrews willingly gave up their possessions as they suffered persecution and visited Christians who were in prison, because they knew that they had a better and lasting possession, namely, life on the new earth with Jesus when he returns. Jesus is their reward, which is why they can say, if I visit a fellow believer in prison and I get persecuted and they take everything from my home when I'm gone, that's okay because my reward isn't happening with Jesus. All of this that Jesus is preaching about here is what happens when a disciple is persecuted for following him.
Otherwise, if we can apply the, give whatever anybody asks of you verse anywhere at any time, then I'm gonna beg or demand or ask of you, some of you $100,000 and Jesus says, you have to give it to me. So if you wanna follow that line of interpretation, I'm demanding $100,000 and you need to obey Jesus. See, suddenly context matters, doesn't it? In short, Jesus wants you to know that if you follow him as a disciple, you will be hated.
If you follow Jesus, people will hate your guts, but you have to love them to death. The counter-intuitive, counter-cultural call to love our enemies and haters with God's love is always binding on us as disciples. And Jesus actually continues this thought. Look at verse 32, if you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you?
For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you land to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. But love your enemies and do good and land expecting nothing in return and your reward will be great and you will be sons of the most high, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful even as your father is merciful. So Jesus strips away any pride here in case we think we're good lovers, that we're good at loving other people and giving.
If we think that we're awesome because we love people who love us and we do good to those people who do good to us and we land to those who lend to us, then what credit is that? That's easy. It's easy to love your best friends. People who don't know and love God, they can do that.
But to love one's enemies, that's completely different. You cannot do it in your own strength or willpower. It takes having God's heart if we are to love our enemies and our haters with God's love. And if we love our enemies, we prove that we are God's kids and that we're a part of God's family.
Why? Because our Father in heaven is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Hmm. I'm sorry, we need to stop for a second because your jaws are not on the floor as they should be.
So let me repeat Jesus' words to you and hang on to your jaw, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. What? Amen. We should be helping each other pick our jaws about the floor.
Who is this God who is kind to the ungrateful and the evil? He's kind. He's kind, but not kind to nice, goody-coo shoes people who have their act together. He's kind to ungrateful evil people.
Wow. Unless you think Jesus isn't talking about you, he is. We're all ungrateful and evil. Yes, we have been redeemed.
Yes, we've been adopted into God's family. We're God's kids. Yes, we're forgiven of our sins. Yes, we're in union with Christ.
We're God's kids, but God's kids, you can still be a little stinker sometimes. And how does God respond? He's kind, unbelievable, incredible. Jesus is kind to bad people.
Good thing for us. What great news for people like us. And once you pick your jaw up off the floor and you get his kindness into your bloodstream, you go share that mercy and kindness with others, which is exactly what Jesus says. Be merciful even as your father is merciful.
We show love and mercy to our enemies precisely because God has been merciful to us. He has not given us what we deserve. Think about that. What do you deserve for your sin and rebellion against the holy and kind God?
What do you deserve? The same thing your enemies deserve. And since God has shown you mercy, He expects you as one of his kids to go and show mercy to others to mercy to your enemies. Day in order to say, only as we drink down the kindness of the heart of Christ will we leave in our wake everywhere we go, the aroma of heaven and die one day, having startled the world with glimpses of a divine kindness, too great to be boxed in by what we deserve.
So Christian, drink in his kindness to you. Let the aroma of heaven go everywhere you go. Show the kindness of God to the ungrateful and evil people in your life. Startle your enemies, your haters.
Startle the world with glimpses of God's kindness. Surprise the haters in your life. They're not expecting you to be kind and merciful to you. Whether it's someone who is persecuting you because you're a disciple and you follow Jesus or just a neighbor who hates you, kill him with kindness.
Be merciful as your father is merciful. Give him as much mercy as he has given you. Stand out, shock them because you are shocked at how merciful and kind Jesus has been to you. Listen, the world has a truncated view of love.
They say love the people that love you. That's how they think, love the people that love you. Hate the people that hate you. Hate people who believe differently from you.
And Jesus comes along and says, love your enemies. So Christian, go follow him and go shock the world with how loving you are. And when you are this kind of disciple, Jesus says your reward will be great. So when you don't want to love and when it is difficult to love, remind yourself that Jesus has a reward waiting for you, a great reward he says.
Remember, if you follow Jesus, people will hate your guts, but you have to love them to death. You might die for following him. You might be a martyr. I would not be surprised in the next five years or so if there are martyrs for the Christian faith in America.
Unless God and his mercy intervenes, it feels like the trajectory that we're on. Now there's a movement and there's a revival happening. Let's hope it takes off. But I would not be surprised if Christians at some point are martyred in America.
Seems like it's impossible, but it's not. You might die for following him. Or, more often than not, you'll need to die to your own sense of justice when people hate you and do wrong. You'll have to love others to the death of self, the death of your idea of revenge, the death of your idea of justice and what it looks like on your timetable and according to your wisdom and not gods.
You're gonna have to love your enemies and haters to the death of self, the death of your hatred, the death of your vengeance. So go love on people this week. Shower them with mercy and kindness. People who absolutely do not deserve it.
Be nice, be gentle, be kind, forgive, startle them, shock them with how kind you can be to them when they're jerks to you. So let me ask you, who in your life do you need to show mercy to? Who hates your guts? It makes life difficult for you that you need to love.
Who is so mean to you that you can show kindness in return? You know who you are because you're thinking of them right now. You're welcome. That's the Holy Spirit whispering to you right now.
Go love them. Yeah, them. Go kill them with kindness. Be merciful.
And you know what? Jesus actually did all that he says in his sermon in verses 27 through 36 when he was arrested and beat up and flogged and whipped and then crucified on the cross. He did all of this. Love your enemies.
Be merciful. Be kind to the ungrateful and evil. He talked the talk and he walked the walk. As Paul says in Romans 5 as we close.
And here's the gospel-centered motivation for you to love your enemies and haters. Paul says this, for while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person. No, perhaps for a good person.
One would dare even to die. But God chose his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son.
Much more now that we were reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. Hold onto your jaws. But did you catch three times what Paul says? At the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. Wow. He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.
Let's pray. But Jesus, there is no one like you. You are so different from us. We want revenge, God.
We want to rub people's faces in their sins and the ways they've heard us, God. We want to exact vengeance now. We want justice according to our timetable in our way. We want to tell you how to bring about justice.
We are not like you at all. You're kind and merciful and loving to people who clearly don't deserve it. And so we're just in awe this morning that you would love us. We ask you to forgive us, Lord.
We do have ungrateful hearts, evil hearts sometimes. We ask you to forgive us. And now, Holy Spirit, would you get this mercy into our bloodstream so that we go and love other people who ate our guts? And would you do it all for your glory and the growth of your kingdom?
Help us, we ask. In Jesus' name, amen.