What Would Jesus Have Us Do To Our Enemies – Luke 6:27-36
Gladstone Baptist Church – 13/2/05 am – Children’s Service
Invite children down the front & give them worksheets for the service.
Question : I want you to think of someone that you don’t like. Maybe it is someone who teases you. Maybe it is someone who is nasty to you. Maybe it is someone who won’t let you play with them.
We all have people in our lives that we don’t like. People who we think are our enemies. If you had the chance – what would you like to do to your enemies.
While I continue to talk Boys and Girls I want you to write down on your piece of paper their name – or draw a picture of them on your sheet of paper.
Mums & Dads we also have people that we don’t like also. People who press our buttons and just make our blood boil. Often they are people who are different to us. They have different political views or they are from a different religion (the JW’s, Muslims, New Agers, Atheists). They might be those who express their sexuality in a different way or someone at work who has such a different personality to us that we can’t bear it. What names would you write down on your paper if I asked you to name your enemies. – People who rub you up the wrong way
Late one summer evening a weary truck driver pulled his rig into an all-night service station to get some food. The waitress had just served him when three tough looking, leather jacketed motorcyclists - of the Hell’s Angels type - decided to give him a hard time. Not only did they verbally abuse him, one grabbed the hamburger off his plate, another took a handful of his chips, and the third picked up his coffee and began to drink it.
How would you respond? Well, this trucker did not respond as one might expect. Instead, he calmly rose, picked up his bill and walked to the front of the restaurant, paid his bill and went out the door. The waitress followed him to put the money in the cash register and stood watching out the door as the big truck drove away into the night.
When she returned, one of the bikers said to her, "Well, he’s not much of a man, is he?" She replied, "I don’t know about that, but he sure ain’t much of a truck driver. He just ran over three motorcycles on his way out of the parking lot."
You laugh at that because that is what we’d like to do to those who make life difficult for us. When someone does something to us, our first instinct is to get back at them! Our first instinct is to make them pay and to hurt as much as they hurt us.
But that is not what Jesus would have us do. In Luke 6, Jesus gives us a different response to have. What would Jesus have us do to our enemies? He tells us we are to LOVE THEM.
What does that mean? Does it mean that we are to go put a big sloppy kiss on their cheek, give them a big hug and say – “I love you.” No. Does it mean we are to become best friends? That might happen, but it might not either. Then what does it mean.
The Bible has several words for love.
- There is the type of love that some Mums and Dads have for each other. Their eyes flutter and their heart races. They think that the other person is so beautiful or handsome. They love them. That’s not the love Jesus is speaking about here. That is Eros love.
- There is the type of love that we have for friends. We love friends because we have things in common with them. We love hanging out with them. They look after us and we look after them. That’s not the love Jesus is speaking about here. That is Phileo love.
- The love that Jesus is talking about here is love that is not deserved. It is a love that you decide to give. I will love that person even though they tease me. Even though they push me around. Even when they take advantage of me. I will choose to love them. That is the love Jesus is talking about here. That is Agape love.
Is it hard to love the person whose name you have written down on your pieces of paper. It sure is, but God says – love is a decision. Does that person who gives you a hard time deserve your love? No. They don’t deserve any kindness at all. But Jesus says “that doesn’t matter.” Real love is love that isn’t earned or deserved. You can love a person whether they deserve it or not.
But how do we love people who are mean to us or who we don’t get on with? Jesus gives us 3 ways to love these people …
1) DO GOOD TO THOSE WHO HATE YOU
When people do bad things to you – What do you want to do to them? You want revenge normally. If someone hits you, your instinctive reaction is to hit them back isn’t it. If someone snatches a toy away from you, your instinctive reaction is to snatch it back. Mums & Dads, if someone at work inconsiderately makes work for you, instinctively you seek ways to make their life more difficult also. If someone puts you down in front of others, you go on the attack and try to bring them down a peg or too.
But Jesus says that this isn’t the way he wants us to react. He says “don’t do bad things to those who hate you?” Is that what Jesus says? No. He doesn’t just tell us not to do bad things, he tells us to do good things.
I want some help now … What are some bad things that we shouldn’t do to people who are mean to us …
Okay. It is good to not do those things, but Jesus is asking us to do more … He asks us not just to not do bad things. But He asks us to do good things. Like what?
29 If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also.
This should actually read – if someone punches you on your jaw. That’s what the word really means. If someone punches, you instead of punching them back harder, Jesus tells us to not throw a punch, but to be willing to even be hurt again rather than retaliate. That’s difficult isn’t it. Our attitude should be that we shouldn’t take revenge.
If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic.
What if someone comes upto you in the play ground and takes some of your lunch. What do you do? Jesus says rather than chase after them and get into a fight – let them take it and don’t stop them from coming back and taking more.
Lend to your enemies without expecting to get anything back. (vs 35)
If someone comes up and says – “can I borrow a dollar – I’ll pay you back”. And you know that they won’t. Jesus says – give them the money. Don’t expect to get it back. Just loan them the money.
What Jesus wants us to do is to love others. If they take something from you they have a need. Jesus wants us to provide for their need.
Who is 10 years old here? There was once a little boy who was called John. He was 10 years old and day after day he would come home from school complaining about Bob, the boy who sat behind him. "Bob keeps poking me when Miss Smith isn’t looking. One of these days, when we’re out on the play ground, I’m going to poke him back so hard …”
Just then, John’s little brother who was 7 says "Maybe he should feed his enemy." Rom 12:20 says “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.” They had just studied that in their family devotions.
So they thought – we’ll give it a go. Johns mum asked "Well, do you know what Bob likes to eat? If you’re going to feed him, you may as well get something he likes."
"Jelly beans," John said, "Bob just loves jelly beans."
So the next day on the way to school, John and his Mum stopped at the shop and bought a bag of jelly beans for him to take to school. They decided that the next time Bob poked John, John was simply to turn around and deposit the bag on his "enemy’s" desk.
That afternoon, John and his brother rushed home from the school bus and John yelled out as he burst through the front door, "It worked, Mum! It really worked. Bob was so surprised he didn’t say anything - he just took the jelly beans. But he didn’t poke me the rest of the day!"
In time, Bob and John became the best of friends - all because of a little bag of Jelly Beans.
I wonder boys and girls what you could do to that person who hates you – any ideas …
Do you think you can draw a picture for me or write some ideas down on your piece of paper for me - How could you do good to someone who hates you.
Mums & Dads, This applies to us too you know. We all have people who make life hard for us. We might not get too many physical punches on the jaw, but we get plenty of hurts through things people say or do. Sometimes it takes the wind out of us and our instinctive reaction is to go on the attack, to retaliate. We respond with our own tirade of abuse. We respond by trying to undermine their work or embarrass them in public. We give them the cold shoulder. But Jesus wants us to do good to those who hate us. He wants us to help them when they hurt us. He wants us to cook them a meal when they are struggling. He wants us to offer to mind their kids when they are exhausted or give them a lift when their car is in for a service.
How do we show love to those who hate us – we decide to. We show agape love and we do good to them.
Okay Boys and Girls, have you finished your pictures yet? That’s the first thing God wants us to do – do good to people who hate us… The second thing is to …
2) BLESS THOSE WHO CURSE YOU
What do you do when someone calls you names? Do you call them a name back? It is too easy to do that isn’t it. And before long, you get into a competition as to who can be the nastiest. But Jesus wants us not to call someone names – that is what cursing is. But he wants you to bless them. To be kind to them.
There was once a Christian lady who owned two prized chickens that somehow managed to get out of their chook pen and escaped into the next door neighbors garden. This neighbor was a bit of grouchy old man and when he saw these 2 chickens in his garden, he ran outside and caught them and killed them. Then he threw the dead chickens back over the fence.
How would you feel if you were the lady who owned these chickens? What would you have done? What should she do? She was so upset, but she avoided her urge to get angry and rush over and scream at the man.
Instead, she took the chickens and she cooked them up into two yummy chicken pies. Then she delivered one of the freshly baked pies to her neighbor who had killed her chickens. When she handed him the chicken pie, she apologized to him for not being more careful about keeping her chickens in her own yard.
She half expected the man to go crook at her, but instead he was absolutely speechless! The chicken pie and apology made him feel so bad that he apologized to her for reacting so harshly.
This is what Jesus wants us to do. To be kind to people instead of cursing them with words. What could you do to be kind to a person who calls you names? …. Why don’t you draw a picture of you doing that?
Mum’s and Dad’s this is perhaps hardest of all to do in the context of families. We lose our cool so quickly when things flare up. Slanging matches ensure and we end up doing far more harm than we ever could imagine. The old ditty “Sticks and Stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me” is so wrong. Our words cut so deep, particularly when it involves children.
When we get into situations where people curse us or say things about us that we don’t think are justified, we need to not fight back with words, but we need to respond with blessings. How can we encourage that person. How can we show them love. You know Jesus’ whole message here is about how we show love. How can we show love to those who curse us? It takes a decision – It takes agape love to bless them in return.
Okay Boys and Girls, have you finished your pictures about how you are going to be kind to those who say mean things about you? How do we show love to our enemies – We do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you and lastly we
3) PRAY FOR THOSE WHO MISTREAT YOU
I don’t know about you, but when someone does something bad against me, I just can’t stop thinking about it. It gets me so angry, that I can’t concentrate on anything else. My mind is replaying the events over and over like those slow motion replays when the cricket or tennis is on. I can’t stop thinking about it and this only gets me madder and madder and madder. Is anyone else like me?
What do we do to get our minds off these things? Jesus has the solution, he says pray for those who mistreat you. When someone trips you at school on purpose – instead of getting up and punching them, instead of yelling at them, we are to pray for them.
Now before you misunderstand me. Jesus doesn’t mean that we should pray that our enemies to get run over by a truck or something. Jesus wants us to pray for them because that is the only thing that can really change the situation. Boys and Girls, can I get you to draw a picture of you praying for those that are mean to you.
Mums & Dads, Too often, we try to put bandaids on problems. We try to treat the symptoms not the cause. Too often when people hurt us we try to make things feel better by putting bandaids on it. Sometimes we yell at them. Sometimes we ignore them. Sometimes we retreat into our chocolate reserves. We do things that make it feel better, but we never really deal with the root problem. When we pray, we pray to an almighty God who can change things and deal with the root problem. We can pray for our attitudes to change so that we are not as irritated by them. We can pray for their attitudes to change that they don’t see us as a threat or a joke. We can pray that we find something in common that could bind us together as friends (maybe not best buddies, but buddies). In praying, we deal with the root of the problem, not the symptom.
Okay boys and girls, have you finished your drawing. Now lets talk about some of the things we can pray for …
- If you have a person who refuses to let you play their games … What can you pray for?
- Pray that God would help them to want to include you
- Pray that God would give you other friends to play with
- Pray that you would not have a desire to play with them
If there is a person at school who always calls you names … What can you pray for?
- Pray that God would help you be kind to them
- Pray that God would help you not call them names back
- Pray that God would not make you as sensitive to the names
- Pray that they would tire of the name calling and stop it.
No matter what the situation is, you can pray to God for the other person who is being mean to you and you can pray for yourself too.
So What would Jesus have us do with our enemies …
“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Luke 6: 27-28”
Let’s pray…
