“Doing the Gospel”
Luke 6:27-38
Raise your hand if you live by these instructions from Jesus all the time?
Anyone?
Why not?
What’s gone wrong?
Is Jesus way off base?
Does He expect too much of us?
Theologian N.T. Wright says the following about these instructions from Jesus in Luke Chapter 6: “This list is all about the God you believe in—and about the way of life that follows as a result.”
And he continues, “We must admit with shame that large sections of Christianity down through the years seem to have known little of the God Jesus was talking about.”
This may be true, but I’d like to be a bit more introspective about these words this morning.
And the reason for this is that I must admit, in shame, that large sections of my life down through the years make it appear that I have known little of the God Jesus was talking about.
At the same time, I must admit, that if it weren’t for words such as these I would have a very hard time worshiping and giving my life to try and follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
The reason for this is that these words ring true, do they not?
This is the WAY we are supposed to live.
This is the WAY life should work.
This is THE ANSWER to all our problems.
If we could just learn to love one another—even our enemies, if we could do good to those who hate us, bless those who curse us, pray for those who mistreat us, turn the other cheek and do to others as we would have them do to us there wouldn’t be any violence.
There wouldn’t be any revenge.
There wouldn’t be any divisions or class or prejudice.
Property and possessions wouldn’t be nearly as important as making sure our neighbor was all right.
Life would be exuberant, different, astonishing.
And imagine if just a few people around us or just one lived like this…
…people would stare.
And people did stare at Jesus because this is how He lived.
It
It’s the reason the crowds gathered and power was flowing out of Jesus and people were being healed and transformed.
In Christ, they were getting a glimpse of the way people are supposed to relate to one another.
Jesus’ whole life was one of exuberant love, mercy and generosity—giving all He had to give to everyone who needed it.
And finally, when they struck Him on the cheek and ripped His coat and shirt off His back, He went on loving and forgiving.
And He didn’t show love only to His friends, but to His enemies, weeping over the city of Jerusalem that had rejected His plea for peace.
He was the true embodiment of the God of Whom He spoke.
He was God in the flesh.
There had never been anyone like Him before He arrived and there has not been anyone like Him since He returned to heaven.
But there have been millions upon millions of people who have been transformed by His life, His teachings and His love.
And this is the proof that He is still alive.
If we didn’t have the example of Christ to go by…
…if we didn’t have His words and teachings…
…and if His Holy Spirit were taken from this world—this life of ours would be hell, indeed.
There would be no hope.
There would be no love.
There would be no reason to live.
And that is why, when I live as if I don’t know the God Whom Jesus talks about, I am unhappy, unfulfilled, lost and in the dark.
But when I take hold of that for which Christ has taken hold of me, I am filled with life…
…an inner life, an inner peace, an inner love that has little or nothing to do with what is going on around me.
Jesus is the Light in the darkness.
He is the Life in a dead world.
He is the Truth in a world of lies.
And when we make the decision to follow Him, we are born anew.
And we begin a journey of seeking to be like Him.
But boy, it sure is difficult.
And as far as I know, there is no person who has done it perfectly.
So, how can I judge other people…trying to take the speck of dust out of their eye while I have a whole log in my own eye?
My friends, Christianity is a journey.
It is not a destination.
And I think part of the message in what Jesus is telling us this morning is that we need to be more patient with one another.
We need to be more empathetic.
We need to help one another every chance we get.
I was at a continuing education event a few years ago and one of the speakers, Dr. Kimberly Pope, shared this story:
Several years ago, her niece was murdered by her boyfriend.
He stabbed her 15 times with a pair of scissors during a fight over a clogged toilet.
When it came time for the man’s trial, Kimberly was there.
And in walks this older gentleman who looks very similar to the man who murdered her niece.
His head was shaped the same, they were about the same size and so forth, and then she realized that he is the killer’s father.
He took a seat in front of her in the courtroom.
And Kimberly was starring at this man.
And she got to thinking: “What a horrible person you must be to raise a child who would take another person’s life.”
And then Kimberly said that the Holy Spirit spoke to her.
And the Holy Spirit said, “This man is created in the image of God.”
And that really got Kimberly’s attention.
And soon her whole perspective began to change.
Instead of sitting there hating this man, she began to sympathize with him: “What he must be going through I can’t imagine, but it must be worse than what I am going through” she began to think.
And before she knew it she started to have a deep love for this guy.
After the trial was over and the man who killed her niece was convicted and sent off to prison for the rest of his life, Kimberly started writing him letters.
And not only that, she started sending him soap and money and she continues to do so to this day.
And why does she do it?
Kimberly says, “Jesus died for this man to forgive his sins, and someday I want to see him in heaven.”
In John 13:34-35 Jesus says this: “A new command I give you: Love one another.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
How are you doing at this?
How am I?
In a world where people are at one another’s throats, we are called to love our enemies and pray for those who hate us.
In a world where retribution is justified, we are called to, when someone slaps us on one cheek to turn to them the other also.
And if someone takes our coat, we are supposed to give them our shirt as well!
We are to live as children of God.
And God is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
God is merciful.
So, Jesus says, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
Yes.
We are to be like this, because this is what God is like.
While we were yet enemies of God, Christ died for us.
What are we to do with this?
Raise your hand if you have ever read “The Hiding Place” by Corrie Ten Boom.
It’s one of my favorite books.
Corrie’s family helped hide Jewish people from the Nazi’s during the Holocaust.
Eventually, they got caught and were all sent to a concentration camp.
Corrie was the only one in her family to survive.
And she wrote a book about it.
Corrie and her sister were especially close.
And they were together for much of the time in the concentration camp.
Eventually, Betsy lost her life.
After her ordeal, Corrie was often asked to speak at churches and so forth.
And she would talk about God’s love and forgiveness.
One such night, at a church in Munich, Corrie was shocked to see one of the former SS men who had stood guard at the shower room doors at the concentration camp.
He had been one of the cruel men who had mocked Corrie and Betsie and the other prisoners.
He was the first of their actual jailers that Corrie had seen since that horrible time.
Corrie wrote: “And suddenly it was all there—the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie’s pain blanched face.
He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing.
‘How grateful I am for your message’ he said, ‘to think that, as you say, Jesus has washed my sins away!’”
Corrie continued to write: “His had was thrust out to shake mine.
And I, who had preached so often to the people about the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.
Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them.
Jesus had died for this man; was I going to ask for more?”
So, Corrie prayed, “Forgive me and help me to forgive him.”
Corrie wrote: “I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand.
I could not.
I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity.
And so again I breathed a silent prayer:
Jesus I cannot forgive him.
Give me your forgiveness.”
And then she said, “As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened.
From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this man that almost overwhelmed me.
And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on God’s.
When God tells us to love our enemies, God gives, along with the command, the love itself.”
Isn’t that interesting?
Jesus says, “Love your enemies, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.
Then your reward will be great…”
Could it be that this great reward is who we become “in the process” of asking Jesus for His forgiveness and seeking over and over again to follow Him?
Again, it’s not a destination, but a journey.
It’s not what is, but what should be.
Now that’s exciting.
Will you pray with me?
Lord,
We want to live like You. We want to be like You, but it is the hardest thing we could ever try to do. We can’t do it. Give us Your love, Your mercy, Your forgiveness. Enable us to love others as You love us.
In Jesus’ name and for His sake we pray.
Amen.
