JUST BE KIND - Being Kind When It’s Hard
November 17, 2019
Matthew 5:38-48 (p. 678)
Introduction:
Amber Guyger had just finished a 13 hour shift as a Dallas Police officer and was on her way home. She was texting her boyfriend who was also a cop. She pulled into her parking garage, distracted and tired….and did not notice she parked on the wrong level. So when she entered and walked into what she thought was her apartment, she encountered a man named Botham Jean. Terrified she drew her service weapon and shot him in the heart…killing him. It was only afterward that she realized she was in the wrong apartment one floor above and she had killed an innocent man in his own home.
Amber Guyger was found guilty of murder and convicted to 10 years in prison.
During the victim impact statements, Botham Jean’s brother Brandt changed the entire dynamics of the proceeding when he addressed Amber…
“I love you just like anyone else,” Brandt said. “I’m not going to say I hope you rot and die…I personally want the best for you and I wasn’t going to ever say this in front of my family or anyone but I don’t even want you to go to jail. I want the best for you because I know that’s exactly what Botham would want you to do - and the best would be to give your life to Christ.”
After wrapping up his statement, Brandt asked Judge Tammy Kemp if he could give Guyger a hug.
“I don’t know if this is possible, but can I give her a hug?” he asked. “Please…Please?”
SHOW PICTURE
Shortly after, he and Guyger embraced each other for nearly a minute before both returned to their seats.
Brandt then walked out of the courtroom, after getting a thumbs up sign from his father, the local paper reports. Judge Tammy Kemp also left, but returned a short time later with her own personal Bible. She gave the book to Guyger and made reference to the passage John 3:16.
“You just need a tiny mustard seed of faith,” Kemp said, according to local station WFAA. “You start with this.” Kemp and Guyger then hugged and Guyger whispered something into the judge’s ear.
“You haven’t done so much that you can’t be forgiven,” the judge told her. “You did something bad in one moment in time. What you do now matters.”
Guyger was then led away to begin her prison sentence.
The judge came under harsh criticism for her actions…but the prosecutor said, “Everything changed in the courtroom after Brandt’s testimony and the judges actions…those who seemed to want an “eye for an eye” respected Brandt’s wishes. There were a lot of tears.”
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life seems fair. When Jesus said, “You have heard this said,” He’s talking about the Mosaic Law. God’s people had a lot of rules to follow…all these rules were designed by God to honor His holiness…and to keep the Israelites in line with His covenant. It made them distinctly different than all the nations that surrounded them. They worshipped One Holy God…and they were to be “obedient” in their relationship with Him.
But if one of His people broke the law and stole from His neighbor, or hit his co-worker in the mouth, or killed someone He was angry with…the law said, “He pays back what he stole plus interest, he gets a tooth knocked out too, He is put to death!
That’s what the law said, this is what Jesus’ audience has constantly heard in their lifetimes. So when Jesus says, “But I tell you don’t resist an evil person…if someone hits you, turn to them the other cheek…if someone sues you and takes your shirt, give them your coat as well…If a soldier makes you carry his stuff a mile (this was a Roman prerogative) carry it an extra mile…give when someone asks to borrow something.”
Mouths dropped open…murmurs began to fill the air. I promise you the word “what?” was heard through critical mouths. “That’s not fair…that’s not what the law says to do.”
Here’s the point:
I. IF PEOPLE WHO FOLLOW JESUS ARE NO DIFFERENT THAN ANYONE ELSE…WHAT IMPACT DO WE HAVE?
TobyMac buried his 21 year old son this past week. He's a Christian artist who started out with a group called DC Talk. He wrote an album called Jesus Freak in 1995. Its premise is that people who love and follow Jesus in this world will appear as freaks…because our lives are radically different than those who are in this world and of this world. The introduction to this album on the song “What If I Stumble” comes from Brennan Manning’s Ragamuffin Gospel. He says,
“The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”
The world will watch as Toby buries his son. They will watch his grief and pain. They’ll see if he has just acknowledged Jesus with his lips…or as I believe he will…acknowledge the goodness and grace of God in the midst of the most severe trial possible.
The powerful truth is that Jesus and I cannot occupy the throne of my life at the same time. And if He is King, then His command go way beyond the rules.
When I hear Jesus say, You’ve heard it said, “But I say to you,” I understand He’s saying go beyond what is written on a book’s pages. Go farther than what is fair. Come with me to something greater. Come with me to grace and forgiveness…leave the kingdom of this world and enter the Kingdom of God.
“You’ve heard it said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.”
Everyone can do this…tax collectors…pagans (unbelievers in God). Loving my neighbors and hating my enemy…I can obey this law or my own. I don’t need a new king…I can do this.
By the way…I can find nowhere in scripture where it tells me to hate my enemy…It seems the Pharisees added this to the command because it made sense. It’s why many times the Pharisees wanted a specific definition of who their neighbor really was.
It’s why we looked at kindness in action last week with the Good Samaritan.
LUKE 10:24-29 (p. 725)
We won’t recap the whole story…but the answer Jesus gives is “Whoever is in need is your neighbor.” Even if it’s your enemy…even if it’s the guy or gal who’s killed your brother.” Mercy shown…kindness extended…“Go and do likewise.”
You see it shuts this world of hatred up when you get off your donkey and into the ditch to help your enemy…It quiets the eye for an eye crowd when you hug your brother’s killer and give her the Word of God. Because our belief has moved from our lips to our lifestyle.
Jesus’ questions resonate don’t they? “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?” And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?”
If we claim to follow Jesus and are no different than everyone else, we cannot impact this world for Him.
I’m a firm believer in the whisper of the Holy Spirit…In the midst of my busyness, anger, and hurt…His still small voice can be heard saying…“Get off your donkey…Hug her…give her your Bible…speak gently…love your enemy.”
Let me end today with 3 P’s concerning being kind when it’s hard.
II. PERSECUTION, PRAYER AND PERFECTION
Jesus says, “Pray for those who persecute you that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”
Praying for your persecutor goes against everything we feel like doing. Our emotions say, “They’re evil…mean…hateful…They’re my enemy.” Many times we had no idea they were our enemy until the hateful letter comes…or the gossip is circulated…or they slap us on the cheek. It’s shocking and our prayer is, “God give them hemorrhoids…get ‘em…make their lives miserable until they see how horrible they are.”
Jesus says something amazing here in our text…
“God causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
The power of this statement is…He loves those who love Him and those who don’t. He’s good to those who deserve it and those who don’t. (By the way…none of us are righteous or good so none of us deserve it). Only God is good…only God is righteous.
If we use this as the filter for our prayers for our persecutors…it might not change them…but it changes us. I’m not talking about justifying their meanness. It’s OK to speak the truth, but that truth better be spoken with love…not so easy in the heat of battle.
But what if I remember all the times I needed God’s undeserved grace when I was mean, or thoughtless, or unkind? What if I remember in my prayers all of God’s goodness to me when I didn’t deserve it…and I use this as the springboard to pray for people who have persecuted me. What if I pray with a heart of hope and not a heart of hate?
What if my prayer is God make me more like you? God help me to greet and love those who have given me the cold shoulder…Help me God to love my enemies because you loved me when I was yours.
Maybe this prayer in my persecution will let me become “perfect.”
Jesus ends this passage with these words:
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (v. 48)
When I hear that, I think…of all the hard sayings of Jesus…this is the hardest one. Be perfect like God…there’s no way!!! Look at me! I’m stubborn, flawed and fallible. How can I be perfect…and before you shout too loud an “Amen,” look in the mirror.
The word Jesus uses for perfect here is “telios.” It means…complete…finished. It’s used 19 times in the New Testament.
One of the best examples of what it’s saying is when Jesus tells the rich young ruler in Matt. 19:21…“Go sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor and you will be perfect.” (“telios”)
This one thing you lack for completeness…this one thing you lack to finish this up…“Go sell your stuff and give the money to the poor.” He walked away from Jesus incomplete because he had too much stuff.
Jesus is simply saying, if you want to be complete…if you want to be a finished product…if you want to function like God made His children to function…love like this!!!
