08-28-2022 – “Living for Christ: Part One”
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August 28, 2022
“Living for Christ: Part One”
Luke 6:27-49
See Luke 6:20-23…
20 And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
22 Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man.
23 Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets.
As Jesus begins to preach, He directs His attention to His true disciples who are among this large crowd of mostly Jews, both the uneducated and religious scholars, the poor and the wealthy, the religious elite and the irreligious, all those who need healing of their mind, body, and soul.
And what a sermon He preached. Blessed or happy are those who are spiritually poor, hungry, and mournful, for they will be made spiritually rich, filled up, and joyful; and although true believers, God’s children, will be hated, ostracized, insulted, and scorned, because of Christ, they should be glad, for this world is not our home; we are citizens of God’s kingdom
(1Corinthians 2:9),
“which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.”
Whatever pain or sorrow or trouble we experience on this earth does not even begin to compare to the eternal joy that is ours. Jesus was preaching the good news, that the loving kindness of God has been poured out on mankind, so that those who confess their need to be made right with God will be received in the kingdom of heaven, immediately
(Romans 8:17)
“as heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,”
(cf. 2Corinthians 5:17),
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
for it is clear that we belong to Him, and have received forgiveness for sins and eternal life.
We have been given everything we need for our life on earth and for our eternity with God in heaven, where
(cf. Revelation 21:3-4;
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,
4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
Revelation 22:5)
5 And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.
there will be no sorrow, or crying or pain or death or darkness, for those things are gone forever!
2Peter 1:3,
“His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”
Philippians 4:13,
“I can do all things through Him [Christ] who strengthens me,”
Philippians 419,
“And God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Jesus is saying
(Luke 6:23a),
23 Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets.
that because all of that is true, we should be glad when those who oppose Christ also oppose us, for the truth is, we are sovereignly and eternally blessed above all who reject God’s Son as Savior and Lord; therefore, we should live in a victorious manner that brings honor and glory to God, while at the same time giving testimony to the love of God in Christ.
True Believers and Followers of Christ repent of their sins, seeking to live for God humbly, yet boldly, hungering and thirsting for God’s Word and applying it to their lives for others to witness, so that they might ask us to give the reason for the hope that we have, now and forever, through Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Lord & Savior: crucified, resurrected, and coming again.
1John 5:5,
“Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
1John 5:11-13,
“And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
Today we pick up in
Luke 6:27-28…
27 “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
Jesus gives four commands to His followers who are true believers; for only Christians can “hear” [understand and respond to] what Jesus is saying
(see Matthew 13:9-16).
9 He who has ears, let him hear.”
10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”
11 Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.
12 For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.
13 Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
14 In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,
‘YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND;
YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE;
15 FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL,
WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR,
AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES,
OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES,
HEAR WITH THEIR EARS,
AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN,
AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.’
16 But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.Only born-again believers can understand and obey the commands given here by Jesus: to love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.
Love your enemies…
Matthew 5:43-44,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
Judaism is very narrow minded and intolerant, even expressing hatred toward its enemies, especially Gentiles; although God commanded
(Leviticus 19:18)
18 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.
to, ”love your neighbor as yourself," the Teachers of the Law had added "hate your enemy" to the Talmud [The comprehensive written version of Jewish oral law supplementing scriptural laws with rabbinic discussions, including commentaries on civil and ceremonial law].
However some of the Talmud is in conflict with the OT
(Proverbs 25:21),
“If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.”
To love your neighbor, even if he is your enemy, is to show mercy on him in reference to his need. In the parable recorded in
Luke 10:25-37,
25 And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?”
27 And he answered, “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”
28 And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE.”
29 But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead.
31 And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32 Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
33 But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion,
34 and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
35 On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’
36 Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?”
37 And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”
Jesus illustrates this love to a Pharisee, by explaining three responses to a man who was in need: two of those who didn’t help the man were Jews, like the injured man; but the one who helped him was a Samaritan, an enemy of the Jews. Jesus concluded His teaching by asking
(Luke 10:36-37),
“Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” And he said, ‘The one who showed mercy toward him.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do the same.’”
Do good to those who hate you…
Romans 12:9,
“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor [hate] what is evil; cling to what is good,”
Romans 12:20-21,
“But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
How is heaping burning coals on someone’s head a good thing? What exactly does that mean? St. Augustine said, “We should incite those who have hurt us to repentance by doing them good.” Perhaps, when you show kindness to an enemy, you maybe even shame him into having remorse, because his hostility toward you has been repaid by a kind act, and it is really hard to keep hurting someone who is doing nice things for you.
This passage provides a dramatic picture of how God deals with sinners like us. He does good to us, to lead us to repentance
(Romans 3:10-12,
10 as it is written,
“THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,
THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;
12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS;
THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD,
THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”
Romans 3:23;
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23;
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:1).
1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
1John 4:19,
19 “We love because He first loved us.”
Bless those who curse you…
This does not mean we are not to suppose to warn unbelievers of the eternal consequences of rejecting God’s Son. To bless them is to tell them the truth; to truly express God’s love toward them, they must be told that Jesus alone can save them.
Read John 16:7-11…
7 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
8 And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;
9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;
10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me;
11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
Jesus speaks of Supernatural Comforter
[Isaiah 9:6,
6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
Wonderful Counselor] the Holy Spirit, who will come to them, but only after Christ ascends back into heaven to be at the right hand of the Father
(see John 14:16-17;
16 I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
John 14:25-26;
25 “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you.
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
John 15:26-27).
26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,
27 and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
The Holy Spirit seeks to convict the hearts of those who do not believe in Jesus Christ; for rejecting Jesus as the Son of God is the unpardonable sin that condemns a person to an eternal hell
(see John 3:14-16,
14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;
15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
John 3:36;
36 He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
John 6:28-29;
28 Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?”
29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
John 8:24-25;
24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
25 So they were saying to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, “What have I been saying to you from the beginning?
John 10:30;
30 I and the Father are one.”
John 14:6).
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
In John 12:31-32 Jesus says,
“Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.”
In John 14:30 Jesus says,
“the ruler of the world is coming,”
and now (John 16:11) Jesus says,
“the ruler of this world has been judged.”
Satan is defeated, judged and condemned by Jesus Christ, who is the Truth. Satan is the father of lies
(John 8:44),
“He [Satan] was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
1Peter 3:8-9a,
“To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead.”
Pray for those who mistreat you…
Martin Luther once said,
“God converts those whom He does convert by showing them goodness. It is only in this way that we can convert a person, namely, by showing him kindness and love.”
Romans 5:8-10,
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
Jesus went through the most horrible pain and suffering at the hands of evil men, even though He was innocent of any crime; He did this because of His love for us. Do you remember His first recorded words, while on cross
(Luke 23:34),
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
We all have enemies. How should we respond to them? Pray for them, show them kindness, bless them. When we do that, we may very well turn one who is our enemy, and perhaps an enemy of God, into a friend, or perhaps even a brother or sister in the Lord.
Proverbs 18:24,
“A man of too many friends comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”
John 15:14,
“You are My friends if you do what I command you.”
See Luke 6:29a…
29 Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either.
Jesus is not teaching that we should not defend or protect ourselves. In fact, as Jesus and the Apostles on the night He was betrayed, went out from the Passover meal to go to Gethsemane
(Luke 22:36) Jesus said,
“whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one,”
so that they might be able to defend themselves if they were attacked.
Matthew 5:39,
“But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.”
This is one of those verses that is misinterpreted more than it is properly interpreted; but what does it mean? Are we to give in to evil?
Remember when Jesus
(cf. Matthew 21:12)
12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.
turned over tables and drove evil men out of the Temple, and another time
(John 2:15)
15 And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables;
He made a whip and used it to drive out of His Father's House, those who were doing evil there.
I do not believe God calls us to be pacifists when it comes to restraining evil, for to do nothing may fail to protect the innocent, or make a stand for justice, or treat others the way we want to be treated ourselves.
But, what about being hit or slapped on the right side of your face? Interestingly enough, most Hebrew-speakers and people of Jewish descent are right handed.
So, for a right-handed person to hit another person on the right side of their face, would mostly like entail the back (or top) of the right hand being used by the aggressor to make contact with the right-side of the victim’s face. This is a slap, not an assault, an act of contempt and disgrace. Even a slave during Bible times would have preferred to be whipped on the back rather than slapped in the face by their master.
While we are on this sub jet let me say to parents and caregivers, please, don't ever slap your children, it is a very demeaning and demoralizing injury that causes a wound to form in the heart of the one being slapped; if you have done this, you need to ask forgiveness from them.
I don’t believe this teaching in
Luke 6:29;
29 Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either.
Matthew 5:39
39 But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.
is advocating that we let some bully beat us up, this is not a physical attack -- the back of the right hand across the right cheek of a person's face, is clearly an act of contempt, this is about humiliating and degrading someone.
As God's children, we can expect to be ridiculed, even maliciously attacked, because of our relationship with the Lord; but we are never to retaliate when that happens, we are not to seek vengeance, but reconciliation
(Romans 12:21),
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
1Peter 2:21-24,
“For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”
Jesus went through five different insulting, degrading and injurious trials: He was spat on, beaten about the head and face with fists and sticks; all before He was handed over to be flogged, almost to death, and then He was mocked even more, prior to being made to walk to the site of His own execution; where He was nailed to a cross, after which He was continually insulted by those yelling up at Him to come down if He truly was the Son of God; and how did He respond? "Father, forgive them," and six hours later, He said, "It is finished!”
As a Christian, it is not about my rights, or the injustices done to me, nor is it about getting even; instead, it is about Him who died for me, that I might live for Him
(Hebrews 12:3),
"For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."
We are redeemed by God through Jesus Christ for the ministry of reconciliation not retaliation; we are to be evangelists not executioners.
2Corinthians 5:14-21,
“For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Galatians 2:20,
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
And all God’s people said, Amen!
Pastor Mike
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