Luke chapter 6 and verse 27. The Lord Jesus Christ is speaking.
You'll remember that we said that this was his Sermon on the
Mount, only it's Luke's rendition of it, which is much more summarised
than Matthew's. Matthew, it takes chapter 5,
chapter 6, and chapter 7. But here, these verses in Luke
chapter 6, and it's the Lord who's speaking on the mountainside
to his disciples and those who have gathered with them. Verse
27. But I say unto you which hear,
love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, bless them
that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee
on the one cheek, offer also the other. And him that taketh
away thy cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every
man that asketh of thee, and of him that taketh away thy goods,
ask them not again. And as ye would that men should
do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love them
which love you, what thank have ye? For sinners also love those
that love them. And if ye do good to them which
do good unto you, what thank have ye? For sinners also do
even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom
ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? For sinners also lend
to sinners to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies,
and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again. And your reward
shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the highest.
For he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore
merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Amen. May the Lord
bless to us this reading from his word. As the Lord sat on the mountainside
and delivered these lessons, I can only imagine a solemn,
reflective demeanour settled upon his hearers. When he said
to them, love your enemies, I've no doubt that each one of them
pictured in their mind's eye the enemy that they would find
it hard, if not impossible, to love. And when he said, do good
to them which hate you, I'm sure that each one wondered how this
was possible. and marvelled what a radical,
sweeping teaching this was. Remember that the Jews were an
occupied nation under Rome's subjection at this time. And
they had little love for their overlords who taxed them and
suppressed them. Their nationalistic fervour was
for the restoration of David's kingdom. We know that that was
a live sense in the minds of many people, including the Lord's
disciples at this time in Israel's history. And they wanted to conquer
their foes and they wanted death to their enemies. So that if
that fact alone of the dominance of Rome over Israel were taken
into account, there would be few that day who could say that
the Lord's words had no relevance for them. And in truth, we all
find reasons to be partial in our dealings with men and women. Some we like, some we don't like. And it isn't hard to hate those
who hurt us and harm us and exploit us and those that we care for. And even as believers, we are
subject to these natural passions and prejudices, so that the Lord's
words confront us all with a standard of obedience and behaviour that
is sadly contrary to our natural will, to our nature, but for
grace. And indeed, but for grace impossible
to achieve. And yet it shows us what to aspire
to and how we ought to seek to honour the Lord in our dealings
with each other and the world by following his direction and
emulating his pattern. There is Of course, several different
kinds of love and several ways in which we might describe love. There is the love and the union
that we feel towards God. And there is a love for our brothers
and sisters in Christ. This is a spiritual love and
it is received and it is given at a spiritual level. There are
relationships of love for family members and for friends, which
come with obligations, which come with responsibilities of
caring for one another and providing for one another. And yet the Lord seems to go
broader than these limited areas. And he would have us extend the
natural provisions of love, not spiritual. We don't love the
world like we love the Lord. We don't love men and women in
the world like we love our brothers and sisters in Christ. But for
the natural provisions of love, the Lord would have us extend
those boundaries for the care of those who are around us. so as to include strangers, and
even enemies, and even those who despitefully use us. Now
Paul, perhaps, in the book of Romans, gives us, in Romans chapter
20, gives us some indication how we might think about this.
and he speaks about ways in which we are able to bless those who
curse us, for example. When he says in Romans 20, if
thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. So there's a sense in which these
methods, these means, these opportunities of providing for nature's needs,
are a fulfilment of this loving our enemies and loving those
who despitefully use us. This implies a kindness and a
care and a charitableness and a practical support that is involved. But so too, I think there's even
more than that in these words from the Lord because it's not
just a giving as we have to give. There's to be a heart and a mind,
there's to be an affection and a thoughtfulness also involved
in this activity. simply formally giving, like
the formal giving of the rich men who filled the temple treasury
out of their great riches, that didn't impress the Lord at all.
It was the widow's might, even the little amount that was given
in faith, which the Lord noticed. And it's that sense, I think,
that desire to honour the Lord in our carefulness, in our caring,
in our attitudes, in our affections for the needs of others that
rises to the surface in this passage. It is those who act
by faith in order to serve and please the Lord who are able
and capable of fulfilling these injunctions to any degree and
extent. So as believers, we should exercise
thoughtfulness and inward feelings too towards those who are in
need. Genuine affections and expressions
of love. There may be a hatred of the
actions and the attitudes of a man and yet an awareness of
need in that individual and indeed a sense of pity and tenderness
felt towards his person. So the very same person who acts
in an improper, unjust, and evil way can have his actions despised
but his person appreciated. All men, even enemies, are to
be loved with natural love as men, as men and women. And kindness and empathy and
awareness and gentleness, these things are not weakness, these
things are not foolishness. And even if they were, we're
still instructed by the Lord to be loving and merciful, even
to those who deserve it least. Now by turning the other cheek,
Some people would say, well, that's just foolishness. You're
just giving opportunity for an enemy to hurt you twice, to hurt
you a second time. And yet this is what the Lord
advocates. And I'm sure that a part of this
teaching, a part of the lesson is self-control and restraint
and tolerance and moderation on the part of believers. Christ teaches patience in bearing
injuries and in bearing insults, affronteries, as well as trials
and temptations. And we must always remember divine
providence in all such circumstances. We've recently spent time reflecting
how all things work together for our good, who love the Lord,
having been called according to his purpose. And let us never
forget that our Father, which is in heaven, knows what we have
need of before we ask. And we read in the history of
the Old Testament often how the Lord's people were afflicted
by vicious and fierce heathen peoples. And yet the Lord reminds
us that these nations were merely tools in his hands to accomplish
his purpose. And often too, their oppression
of the Jews was the reason God used to bring about judgement
on them after his work had been done, after his purpose had been
accomplished. So that mighty Egypt was humbled
for exploiting Israel and the Assyrian Empire broke itself
on little Judah. Furthermore, As those who trust
in the sovereignty of God in all things, it is inappropriate
for us to react to offence with a loss of temper, or in
an act of rage, or with a desire to seek personal revenge against
our enemies. And rather, we should be prepared
to suffer more should that be what the Lord designs for us
in his providential care for us. The Lord calls his people
to distinguish themselves from the normal, natural, predictable
approach of those who give to get in a transactional way. It is natural to love them that
love you, or to do good, to receive good, or to lend to be enriched
in return. However, this is not what motivates. It's not what characterises those
who have tasted the grace of God and felt the unconditional
love of God in their own lives. A believer's perspective is changed
and converted due to the free grace and mercy and the undeserved
goodness that we have received from the Lord, as well as the
promises that he gives of caring for us every moment and protecting
us in every situation. In fact, The Lord's phrase, what
thank have ye, actually means what evidence of gratitude are
you showing? What indications of grace are
there in your lives? What indications of grace are
you revealing by simply doing what any natural man would do?
And the Lord is telling His people that there's an expectation of
alteration due to our transformation. He expects you to be different
because you're Christ's, because you're His. You are changed in
your heart, in your thinking, in your motivation. Things are
different because believers are filled with the Spirit of Christ.
So act like it, act and live accordingly. And this is an argument
that the Apostle Paul uses as well. The duty of a believer
is not to fulfil the law of God as such. Christ has fulfilled
that for us. Our rule of life is to follow
the example of our saviour and emulate the principles he taught
and the practices that he exhibited. And just as the Saviour was abused,
we should expect to be abused as well. And just as the Saviour
returned love and affection to those who were his enemies, so
he looks for those characteristics in his people because we are
being conformed to the image of Christ and we are endeavouring
to serve our Lord as closely to his pattern as we can. Live as he lived. to the praise
of his name. And Paul says in Romans 8, verse
14, And this is what we are. We are princes. in the family of the Most High.
We are a holy nation, we are a royal priesthood, says Peter,
and the motivation of our lives is to honour and serve our Saviour
in all our ways, because the Lord has said, ye shall be the
children of the highest, not merely in name, but in likeness,
being conformed to the image of Christ. and he who is the
highest is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. So our last
thought for today reinforces this theme. It's in verse 36
where it says, be ye therefore merciful as your father also
is merciful. What the Lord is saying is that
we are to exercise our likenesses. We are to employ, we are to apply,
we are to activate these resemblances that the Lord has placed within
us. Our good works are not justifying
works, but they are corroborating fruit, the fruit of the Spirit
in a life of a believer and a child of God. The mercy of God has
been our experience and that motivates all our engagements
with men and women around about us. In our family, at our work,
in and out of the church, in our social interactions, in our
dealings with one another. This all should reflect the mercy
of the Lord who has been good and merciful to us. even when
we hated and despitefully treated him. And David says concerning
the Lord, the Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow
to anger and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all and his
tender mercies are over all his works. God's mercy bestows natural
gifts on the just and on the unjust. and our mercy too should
be directed to men and women on the basis of need and not
eligibility. God's mercy reached us when we
were strangers and we should be willing to assist not only
those who are our friends, but also strangers too. God's mercy
has revealed to us the nature and character of our Redeemer
and friend. Let our kindness and our care
reveal our new nature and the transformed character of one
who has tasted the grace and the riches of God. And here's
a very solemn note to end with. Most people know nothing of such
spiritual blessings as we have experienced in this life. And
I dare say most never will. They shall grow old and die without
any thought of their eternal soul until it's too late. For most people, their experience
of happiness now in this world will be the only joy that they
will ever know. And that's a sad and solemn thought
and one that should encourage us, and I speak to myself here,
to bring a little bit of light and happiness into the lives
of those around us by our natural affections, if we possibly can. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us today. Amen. Amen. Amen.