Senior Pastor, Robert Dennison, preached this message on July 7, 2024.
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Audio Transcript
Thank you, worship team. I invite you to take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter six. We will have it on the screen for your convenience, but it’s always good to read it in your own text. There. Luke, chapter six.
Talking today about what is love? And we’re going to be reading verses 27 to 36.
But I say to you who listen, love your enemies, do what is good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If anyone hits you on the cheek, offer the other also. And if anyone takes away your coat, don’t hold back your shirt either. Give to everyone who asks you.
And from someone who takes your things, don’t ask for them back. Just as you want others to do for you, do the same for them. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do what is good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you?
Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do what is good and lend, expecting nothing in return. And then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, for he is gracious to the ungrateful and evil.
Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. May we pray? Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word that it gives us the answer to our question, how do we have a right relationship with you? But it also teaches us how we are to live out that relationship with you in a way that better reflects your son in this world. Speak to our hearts today, Father, from your word about any changes or adjustments or actions that we need to perform in our lives that we might come more in agreement with you.
It’s in your son’s name that we pray. Amen. I want to start out with a definition of what love is from Rod Mattoon. The type of love that we’re talking about here in scripture. It’s not passionate love, it’s not best friend love, and it’s not even motherly love.
This is agape love. It’s the love that God has for the entire world and for every individual. It’s the love that required Jesus to come and die on the cross for our sins while we were God’s enemies. And it’s the type of love that Jesus is asking us to have in our hearts today. Rob Mattoon describes it this way.
It means to have a warm regard and interest in another person, to cherish, to have affection for, or to love someone. And this part of the definition is easy to have for our kids, for our spouses, and for our friends and for many others. But it goes beyond that because you have to have this same thought process even when the person being loved does not merit this kind of treatment. This word is intense. It’s forceful, it’s strong.
It means that no matter what that person does to us, we will never allow ourselves to desire anything but his or her highest good, and we will deliberately and of set purpose go out of our way to be good and kind to him. We’re going to be looking at four things in the text today. We’re going to be looking at the teaching of Jesus. We’re going to be looking at the practice of sinners, the reward of God’s children, and the example of the Father. Let’s go back to verse 27 and 28.
Jesus said, I say to you who listen, love your enemies, do what is good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you. And I’ve separated these two things out. The first thing is that Jesus is appealing to our will and our emotions because love comes from our feelings. But more importantly about this type of love, it’s a decision of our will that we are going to love someone. Jesus doesn’t tell us we have to feel like we love people.
He says, you have to choose to love people, because many times in this world, the people that we choose to love, we have no feelings toward them of love. This is all about a decision of your will. And then Jesus goes beyond appealing to the will of those that are listening, but he also appeals to their actions and to our actions. What it means to love your enemies is to do what is good to those who hate you. It means to bless those who curse you, and it means to pray for those who mistreat you.
Let me read another definition from a Greek scholar, Zodiatus, about what this love is. Love or agape generally, is to esteem someone and to put their needs above your own. To choose to always do what is best for them, even if it means you must sacrifice to do so. God’s love for us, that he would send Jesus to live among us and die on the cross for us is the greatest picture. And in regard to enemies, should not necessarily be taken to mean doing that which will please them, but choosing to show them favor and goodwill and do what’s best for them.
And I explained that last part as with our kids, they can want a lot of things, our grandkids can desire a lot of things. But if we love them, we’re only going to give them what what is good for them and what is necessary. So Jesus tells us to have this love for our enemies. But then he goes on, don’t just will yourself to do this. There are some practical things you need to do.
You need to do good, you need to bless, and you need to pray. Pray. What do those terms mean, to do good? It means that you’re going to do what is right and what is suitable and what is proper for them. It’s not just doing good things, it’s ascertaining what does this person need?
What is the right thing for me to do for them right now? What is the proper thing for me to do. That’s what it means to do good. To bless generally means to speak well of someone. But here it specifically means to pray for one’s welfare.
We often say God bless you. That’s a prayer that we’re asking God to bless the person. And that’s the command here that we’re supposed to do for our enemies. We’re supposed to be praying for them, that God blesses them. But even more specifically beyond blessing them, it’s to pray for them.
We’re supposed to speak to God about them for their well being and for their success and most importantly, that they will come in a right relationship with Him. And I can tell you from experience, when you pray for people that are your enemies, it’s really hard to stay bitter toward them because not only does prayer change the person you’re praying for, but it also changes your heart.
Do good, bless and pray well. That’s easy to do for people that are kind and good to us, but we’re talking about people here that hate us, that curse us and mistreat us. What are the three phrases there mean? A person that hates someone. They have ill will, not only in their words towards a person, but in their conduct.
They are aggressively doing the exact opposite of love. They are hating someone. To curse someone means to wish evil or ruin for someone. These are people that are saying, I hope that they don’t get that job and I wouldn’t be happier than if they had a wreck and died. I mean, they are just adamant.
They don’t want anything good to happen. They want bad, bad things to happen to you. And lastly, it’s not only an attitude of what they say about you to other people. But it says, pray for those who mistreat you. This is where they are actually threatening you, they are insulting you, they are treating you despitefully to your face.
And it’s these people that Jesus commands us not only to will, to love them, but to do good for them, to bless them and to pray for them. Now, I want you to keep in mind that we have to look at the context that’s here. And there are two things about the context. Let’s go back to verse 22. It says, Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you, insult you, and slander your name as evil.
And here’s the reason. It’s because of the Son of man. Jesus isn’t talking about people that hate you and are mean to you because you’ve been mean and hateful to them. He’s talking about people that they’re mad at you because you have made a claim in your life that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior. So when we’re talking about this passage, this is what Jesus is referring to.
People that are against you because you are for Christ. But we also see in the text that there is a figure of speech here called a hyperbole, or it’s an exaggeration. Because Jesus says, anyone and everyone here, and it’s similar to when he said, hate your mother and hate your father doesn’t mean we’re supposed to hate our parents. It means we’re supposed to love them less than we love God. But it’s an exaggeration here, because when we’re looking at this command, not only do we need to know what it means, but we need to understand what it does not mean.
Because there are many people that are complete pacifist that it doesn’t matter about any evil in the world. They have no concern. They feel like I’m not supposed to do anything about it. So let’s look at some things. What does this passage not mean?
It doesn’t mean that we are doormats to be trampled on. It doesn’t mean that we are not to be negligent in resisting or opposing evil. If you see evil happening, you’re supposed to do something about it. That’s not what loving means. That’s not what turning the cheek means.
We are not to encourage criminal behavior or neglect to report it. If you know that something has been done wrong to someone, you don’t say, well, love is going to cover it over. You’re supposed to do something about that and report it to the authorities. We are not to Tolerate abuse of any time, any type, especially toward children, elderly and spouses. You don’t turn the cheek and ignore it when someone is being abused.
That’s not what this passage is talking about. We also are not to ignore the sinful actions of evil nations and dictators or terrorists. Terrorist. We’re not to refrain from church discipline when somebody hurts someone in the church. We’re not supposed to say, oh, just let it go.
We’re going to love everybody. No, God says we’re supposed to deal with that and make things right between people. And we are not to allow our families to be threatened, harmed or attacked. Somebody does something to my family, I’m not going to ask them to turn the other cheek. I’m going to stop.
Stop it and keep it from happening. Lastly, we are not to give up our rights as citizens. That’s what the passage doesn’t mean. But let’s look at what it does mean. And we’re going to go back to Matthew chapter five, where we have a parallel passage.
It’s a similar message that Jesus was preaching. Then we believe that he preached his messages several times. If it’s a good message, it’s worthwhile telling everybody to over and over. But we get a little bit more understanding up here. And we’re going to start out with this.
Slap you on the right cheek. Because when we go back to Matthew, it’s very specific. I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him. Also, this isn’t a punch in the gut.
It’s not a kick in the groin. It’s not. Not a gunshot at someone. It is a slap on a particular cheek. What’s the particular cheek?
Now think if you’re facing me, if I give you a slap like this, what side am I hitting you on? Left. If I’m going to slap you like this, what am I hitting? Right. Okay, so Jesus is talking about a very particular type of slap.
It’s one. It’s a backhand. It’s slap. Now, if I wanted to hurt somebody physically, I would punch them or kick them or I would do something. And if I was going to slap them, a really good slap is going to be what?
Forehand. But this is a backhanded slap. The backhand meant a calculated contempt or withering disdain for a person. In Jesus day, it was more of an insult to vilify someone and to scorn them and say that they were a nobody. To say you are considered worthless or as nothing.
If you’ve read novels, there used to be movies, somebody would throw down the gauntlet. They meant to throw down the glove in front of somebody. It didn’t physically hurt the person. That was an insult. And when somebody threw down the gauntlet, it was as intentional.
You’re worthless, you’re awful, you’re terrible. And usually it was, we’re going to have what now? Do you remember? We’re going to have a duel. And the duel is going to settle this.
That’s what Jesus is talking about here. This is an intentional, calculated insult. And in the Jewish mind, this was twice as insulting as hitting someone with the flat of your hand. It was saying that somebody was worthless or nothing. And it was so serious to the Jews that you could take someone to court for doing that to you.
We would call it defamation today that you’ve slandered someone’s character so bad that it’s affected their business or their relationships with other people or whatever, and you can take them to court and sue them. That’s how serious this was. Because it was meant to be an insult. Again, what we’re talking about here is people that are insulting us. They’re calling us worthless as nothing because we follow who, because we follow Jesus Christ.
It isn’t that you’re being backhanded because you’ve been a mean, awful and terrible person. It’s because you’re following the Lord Jesus. If we go to First Corinthians, chapter four, I will begin reading in verse nine. I’ve only got part of verse 12 to the end, but this was the attitude that the apostles demonstrated to us. I’ll begin reading in verse nine.
For I think God has displayed us, the apostles, in last place. Like men condemned to die, we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to people. We are fools for Christ. But you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong.
You are distinct, distinguished. But we are dishonored. And up to the present hour, we are both hungry and thirsty. We are poorly clothed, roughly treated, and homeless. We labor working with our hands.
And when we are reviled, we bless. When we are persecuted, we endure it. When we are slandered, we respond graciously. And even now, we are like the same scum of the earth, like everyone’s garbage. The apostles didn’t wear beautiful clothes.
They were not highly esteemed, they were persecuted. They were poor. They were not properly dressed. And because they were willing to live that lifestyle, it’s just another affirmation to us that they truly Believe that Jesus was the son of God. Let’s go to Romans, chapter 12.
We have this teaching in the doctrinal book here. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Give careful thought to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. And if possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone, friends. Do not avenge yourselves.
Instead, leave room for God’s wrath. Because it is written, vengeance belongs to me. If somebody has done you wrong, God will take care of it. I will repay, promises the Lord. But on the other hand, if your enemy is hungry, give him your Ferrari.
Is that what it says? No, we’re talking about you. Give your enemies not what they want from you, but what they actually need, what is proper and good. If they’re hungry, then feed them. If he’s thirsty, give him something to drink, for in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head.
Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good. And then first Peter, chapter three, verses eight through nine. Finally, all of you, be like minded and sympathetic, love one another and be compassionate and humble. Not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult, but on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you were called for this so that you may inherit a blessing. Jesus was talking about how we’re supposed to love people that are outside the church.
But I believe that Peter is saying, you know, sometimes we have problems in the church where we hurt one another or we feel offended. And even in that situation we’re supposed to to still live like minded, sympathetic, compassionate and humble and be willing to forgive.
The teaching of Jesus now continues. We’ve already looked at if anyone hits you on the cheek, offer the other also. But let’s look at three more statements he makes. And if anyone takes away your coat, don’t hold back your shirt either.
Give to everyone who asks you. And from someone who takes your things, don’t ask for them back. Let me put this down in simpler terms. The first one. If anyone takes your coat away, don’t hold back your shirt either means to repay more than you owe.
And I’ll talk about that in just a minute. To give to everyone who asks you, it’s give to the truly needy. From someone who takes your things, don’t ask for the back. What that means is don’t go to extremes to get something returned to you. Let’s go back to taking away your coat again.
This is a legal thing that’s going on. This is talking about taking someone to court and they are so poor that all they have is the coat. And the shirt on their back. And the judge says, they don’t have anything else to give you but what. What they owe you.
Here’s their shirt. And they would literally take the shirt off the purse and hand it. And that was the end of the matter. You know, there are going to be times when people don’t wrong us, but there are going to be times when we wrong other people. And Jesus is turning it around here.
He’s saying, if you wrong someone else, if you hurt someone else, or if you damage their problem property, be quick. Not just to give them your coat, but also to give them what your shirt. In other words, if you’ve wronged somebody or if you’ve damaged something, a Christian is supposed to go out of their way not just to give them enough back that’s equal, but to go beyond that and to give more. It’s similar when Jesus said, if they ask you to walk a mile, you’re supposed to do what? Walk another mile.
The Roman soldiers could require any, anybody to carry their load for a mile, but that was the longest distance. But here again, Jesus saying, as believers, we’re supposed to go beyond what we owe to people. If you have wrong, people, repay more than you owe. Next part. Give to everyone who asks you.
This means to give to the truly needy. Because this word ask here is talking about somebody that is in a lesser station of life talking to someone in a higher station of life. It’s like a child asking their mom or their dad for food, or it’s a child asking their parents for something that they need. There’s this disparity here in between who’s asking and the person up here that is more than capable of giving them what they need. It’s talking about somebody that’s a beggar, somebody who has absolutely nothing.
And they’re coming to you and. And they’re asking you not for your Ferrari. They’re asking you, can you give me these things that I need? And Jesus is saying that we are supposed to give the things that people truly need. If they can’t provide it themselves and we have it, we are supposed to offer that to them.
To give here means to give of one’s own accord and to give with goodwill. The next one here is from someone who takes your things. Don’t ask for them back. And we have in English two words that look the same. Asks and asks.
They look alike to you. I mean, we could think they mean the same, but they don’t. Because in the Greek language, that first is, it’s someone that’s subordinate asking someone who’s more than capable up here. But the second ask is talking about people. People that are on level playing.
They are equal in status and what they have. He says, from someone who takes your things, don’t ask for them back.
What this means is you don’t demand it back. You don’t take legal action to get something back from someone just because they borrowed it from you and they never returned it. They have a right to do that. But Jesus says, don’t behave that way. Because when we do, we’re holding onto possessions and we’re saying that they’re more important to us than a relationship.
Let me use an example. And as I said this example earlier, somebody, I could see right away in their eyes, they thought I was talking to them. I didn’t pick this topic today to talk about this. It’s just where we are in the passage. But it has to do with loaning books.
All right. I have a lot of books and I used to put my name in the front. Please return to the library of Robert Denison. Because I wanted people to give my books back. Well, over the years.
You think everybody read that note? No. And if I had kept a track in my mind of all the people that I’ve loaned books to over the years that they didn’t return them, I could be really bitter about it and I could be upset. But I’ve just decided years ago, if I loan anybody a book, I forget about it. So if you have borrowed any of my books, I’m not talking to you.
And if you don’t want to give them back, I’m not going to think about it. Okay? But we need to be that way with all of our things. That nothing is so important that we would risk our relationship by hounding them. What about that book I gave you?
What about that book I gave you? It’s true in the church, but even the neighborhood. If your neighborhood has a person and they’re lost and they borrow your rake and they don’t return it, and they don’t return it. And then you start telling the neighbors, I can’t believe that so and so didn’t return that rake to me. And I’m just so bitter and angry.
You’re not a Christian witness to them. Forget about it. Go buy another rake. Everybody got that?
Again, it’s repay more than you owe. Give to the truly needy and don’t go to extremes to get something returned.
Verse 31. We come to the Golden Rule. We see this in lots of religions and Lots of books. It’s all over the place in different ways. Jesus said, just as you want others to do for you, do the same for them.
It’s the Golden Rule. And some people live their life according to the Golden Rule. And what I want to point out to you, what’s important here is we don’t do good to be saved. We are saved to do good. Would you read that with me?
We don’t do good to be saved, we are saved to do good. Because a lot of people think if I just live the Golden Rule and I do more good for other people than they do for me, and in the end, God is going to say, yeah, you live the Golden Rule, you get to go to heaven. That’s not the way that it works. But on the other hand, when we do accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and God becomes our Father, we’re going to see in the passage, we’re supposed to emulate that. We’re supposed to reflect that.
We do good because God does good and we want to reflect his image in the world. Let’s go to Romans, chapter 5, verse 6 through 11, and just see a little bit further about this doctrinally. And what I want you to see is that salvation is completely from God alone. Salvation is not from us. But Satan twists that a little bit.
He says, yes, salvation is from God, but you need to do all these things. And there are religions and denominations that teach that, yes, Jesus died on the cross for your sins, but if you don’t do these things, in addition to that, you’re not truly a believer. And what this passage teaches us is that we are saved just because of what God does. For while we were still helpless, the writers pointed out we couldn’t do anything. God proves his own love for us and that while we were going after him and loving him and praising his name, no, he did this for us when we were his enemies, when we were sinners.
And this is what he did. Christ died for us. We have now been justified by. By his blood, not by our blood. We will be saved through him from wrath.
We were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, not of us dying to ourselves, but because of Jesus death, saved by his life, him through whom we have now received this reconciliation. We’re justified, we’re saved, we’re reconciled. All because of what Jesus does for us, not because we live the Golden Rule. And it’s not because we live the Golden Rule and Jesus died for us. We’re just saved.
Period. And because of that, we should do good for others.
Now we go to the practice of sinners in verse 32.
If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? What’s the blessing? Because even sinners love those who love them. And if you do what is good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.
And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to be repaid in Christ, be repaid in full. Christian love goes beyond reciprocity. I don’t take you out to breakfast today because next week you’re going to take me out to breakfast. I don’t mow your grass today because next week you’re going to mow my grass.
I don’t invite you over to dinner this week because you’re going to invite me over to dinner next week. The blessing of that is right here on this earth. Jesus is telling us, look for people that can’t return these favors to you. Do good things for them, and then your blessing, your credit, will come from Lord God Almighty. We’re supposed to live above how sinners live and practice in this world.
And God promises us, then there will be reward for that. We read in verse 32, Love your enemies, do what is good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. And then your reward will be not mediocre, not small, but it’s going to be great. And you will be children of the Most High. And we’ll end by seeing today that people that love this way can know for certain that they are believers.
Because this love does not happen in people that don’t follow Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. This concept was true in the Old Testament. Go to Ecclesiastes 11, 1 2. Send your bread on the surface of the water, for after many days you may find it. Give a portion to seven or even to eight, for you don’t know what disaster may happen on earth.
It’s a proverb type thing. The meaning here is, be generous. And when you throw your bread on the water, we’re not talking about feeding ducks, okay? We’re talking about throwing your bread out in the ocean, just kind of indiscriminately. You’re just willing to do good and give everywhere.
You’re not expecting any of it in return. But the way life works is that things return to you. Don’t just give to one, give to seven, go beyond that, give to eight, because someday somebody’s going to need to give back to you. Because you never know what’s going to happen. Proverbs chapter 11:24 25.
One person gives freely, yet gains more. Another person withholds what is right. And again, we’re talking about what is right and proper and good and needed. People are withholding that. And what happens?
It’s only that. Then they become poor. A generous person will be enriched and the one who gives a drink of water will receive water. And then Proverbs 22:9. A generous person will be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.
Why do we do all this? How do we know what extent we’re supposed to do it to? We’re supposed to look at the example of the Father. Let’s go back to verse 35 in the text. Love your enemies, do what is good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.
Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High. For he is gracious to the ungrateful and evil. Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. If Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, we are his brothers and sisters, and God Almighty is our Father. And we are supposed to reflect that in how we live.
We go back to Leviticus 19, verses 1 through 2. The most all encompassing aspect of God’s character and nature is that he is holy. The Lord spoke to Moses, speak to the entire Israelite community and tell them, be holy, because I, the Lord your God am holy. It wasn’t just to the priest, it wasn’t just to the Levites. It was to all of them.
They were all supposed to be holy for the sole reason that they needed to reflect that God their Father, was holy. And in the same way Jesus is telling us we need to be gracious because God is gracious not just to those that are good, but he’s gracious to people that are even ungrateful and evil. Now we’re supposed to be merciful because God is also merciful. What does gracious mean? It means to furnish what is needed to give what is fit for a person to give them what is good for them.
And somebody that is gracious is good natured. They’re gentle and they’re kind, whereas merciful. It’s not just feeling sorry for someone, but it’s not having compassion. That’s the feeling. To be merciful means that you’re actively compassionate, you see a need and you feel sorry for someone.
To be merciful means that you actually do something to help them in their situation. And again, the reason for this is because God is this way we are his children. We are to reflect our Father, Father, our upbringing and what we have been taught by Jesus Christ. Because other people see in us what God is like and that is supposed to attract them to Him. We end today with first John.
4, 7, 10. John spoke of himself as the apostle that Jesus loved. We think that’s who he was talking about. It’s not that Jesus loved John any more than all the disciples. He loved all of them.
But John seemed to appreciate that more than the rest. Did we read this? Dear friends, let us love one another because love is from God. And everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God because God is love.
God’s love was revealed among us in this way. God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might not. So that we might live through Him. Love consists in this. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us.
And he sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for for our sin. I want to point out there where it says, everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. If you are able to love other people, the way that Jesus talks about that is an evident fruit in your life of salvation should be an encouragement to you. But there’s also a warning here. Verse 8, the one who does not have this kind of love.
If you are not able to love other people, even your enemies, the way that Jesus speaks of here, it says flatly, you don’t know God. You might think that you’re a Christian for some reason, but if you don’t have this love in your life that God has given you, you need to stop and reflect. Do I really know God? Because the key here is to know God is to know what love is and to have the power to to express that to other people.
This type of love is an evident fruit of salvation. A lack of this type of love is an evidence of being a non Christian. And the key is that the way that you have this love for others is to know God and let him live this love through you. So how are we supposed to respond today? We all need to examine our hearts and what say, what area am I weak?
Because we’re on this spectrum here of moving from the way we were to be more like Jesus and we will never meet this. So we should always be moving in that way. How do we show love more? How do we will love more? And we need to pray for God to show us individually where we are and where we need to be so that we can measure ourselves and see, am I walking on the path that God has for me?
And then once God shows you what you need to be doing, you need to ask him to give you strength by his Holy Spirit. Because you can’t love people in your own strength. You must depend on his. And then be practical about it. Look for opportunities to show real God love to other people.
Don’t let it just be something. Oh yeah, that’s a great idea. I need to do that actively. Look, like Jesus said to do good for others, to pray for others, and to bless them. Will you bow your heads?
Heavenly Father, we ask that you would convict our hearts to where we need to change and what we need to do to be more like your son and empower us to do that. God, we pray today that if there’s anyone among us that doesn’t know what this love means, that they will understand that they probably don’t know you as their Lord and Savior and that today they will confess that they are sinners. They will acknowledge that they can’t save themselves, that they will tell you, God, I need you to save me today. And I want to tell others from now on that you are the Lord in my life. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.