Pastor Scott Andrews | June 9, 2024
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Luke 6:32-36
When I was a junior in high school (yes, they had high schools then), my older sister was a graduating senior. She had decided to attend Bob Jones University, a Christian university, to pursue an elementary education degree. Our high school librarian (who looked how you would expect a librarian to look – she reminded me of Aunt Bea from Andy Griffith) found out about my sister’s plans and expressed her disappointment with me. I don’t know why me, she just did. I asked her why it mattered, and she said, it’s a Christian college – I asked, what’s wrong with that? She said, everyone knows the Bible is full of contradictions.
Well, I had grown up in church and always heard, if someone talks about contradictions in the Bible, ask them to show you one – they normally can’t. So I did – what contradictions? And she said, the Bible says in one place, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, and in another place, turn the other cheek! What do you do with that? And with a harumph, she turned and walked away, victorious. I was left standing, speechless. Note to self: if you ask a question to which you don’t want the answer, don’t ask.
I was young and not particularly biblically astute, but the answer to the question (which is not a contradiction, by the way) is quite simple. The eye for an eye passage is given in OT civil law to a nation as to how they should govern themselves. There are civic and legal consequences for breaking the law. In other words, most importantly, it is a governmental response to evil. But the turn the other cheek passage, as we saw last week, was given by Jesus Himself to His followers, Christians – and it is specifically an individual response of believers to unbelievers who persecute them because of their faith. How do we respond when persecuted, opposed for our faith – with vengeance – retaliation? No – we love our enemies, we do good to those who hate us, we bless those who curse us, and we pray for those who mistreat us.
Meaning, there is a vast difference between governmental and individual response. The fact is, God Himself has raised up governing authorities for the good of society – for the purpose of restraining and even punishing evil doers. Here are a couple of familiar NT passages, for example:
Romans 13 – 1 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.
2 Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.
3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same;
4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.
So clearly, God has established the rule of law for our good – the good of society. Also, I Peter 2 – 13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority,
14 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.
There are many other passages we could consider, but it seems clear that first, imperfect governing authorities have been instituted by God to maintain order, to punish evil; and second, Christians are bound to obey governing authorities, inasmuch as those authorities do not contradict God’s law. So again, as I said last week, Jesus’ teaching does not prohibit lawful response to criminal activity. As I said, if you beat your wife or your kids, you deserve to go to jail. If a school bully beats your kid, that’s against the law and there should be consequences.
And yet, we do have this teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Plain, “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” Here’s the question, why? Why do we do that? Because, Christian people, kingdom people are different. We put up with evil treatment, choosing instead to be people of love, desiring our persecutors to come to faith in Jesus Christ. You see, as we’ll see this morning, God showed us love and mercy when we were in fact His enemies. So inasmuch as we love our enemies, we are being like our Father. When we go out of our way to do good to those do us evil, we are like our Father.
Which brings us to our text this morning. Last week, Jesus contrasted us with those who deserved woe. We are people of the beatitudes – poor, hungry, weeping, persecuted. Conversely, people who are rich, well-fed, laughing, popular and well-liked – woe to you. But you are not those people. And so, how do we respond when mistreated, opposed, persecuted? He told us with four commands followed by four examples. The commands: love, do good, bless and pray. The four examples: turn the other cheek, give freely, give without expectation, and treat others the way you want to be treated.
But Jesus wasn’t finished. He now moves to three negative examples – this is what the world of sinners does – don’t do that. And then He reminds us, love, do good, lend without expectation, and thereby be like your Father. If you didn’t really care for last week, sorry – here it comes again. Read the text with me – Luke 6:32-36.
Three negative examples, which, by the way, the world lauds, followed again by the commands, followed by some really good motivation – encouragement. Live a life of kingdom love, and you will be rewarded – and you will prove yourselves to be sons and daughters of the Most High.
That forms our outline:
- Three Negative Examples (32-34)
- Three Positive Commands (35)
- Two Motivations (35-36)
Three times in these negative examples, Jesus asks, what credit (what favor or grace) is that to you? Meaning, there will be no divine reward or favor to simply act like the world. Even the world of sinners does these things. He’s calling us to greater heights – greater love. That is, His love, demonstrated on cross, when He died for those who were His enemies. So, He starts with with, if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you, for even sinners love those who love them.
You see, Jesus began and ended this major portion of His Sermon on the Plain with the incredible words, love your enemies. Sinners don’t do that – and let’s be honest, we find it difficult. In our life group this past week, we talked through the questions from last Sunday’s sermon. And I noticed a couple of things – first, the room was more quiet – somber – introspective. After all, this teaching of Jesus was difficult, and it exposed us. Second, we talked about how we typically respond to opposition. And it’s irrespective of source – meaning, whether it’s Christians who are unkind to us or unbelievers who are mean – who oppose us. We don’t love, do good, bless and pray – our collective normal response was to ignore them, to steer clear of them, to stay out of the way, in short, to have as little to do with them as possible. Is that loving our enemies? To see them and turn to walk the other way?
Listen, Jesus says, and He lowers the boom. If you simply love people who love you – what credit is that for you? It doesn’t count. That is not what I’m talking about. Why, even sinners – that is, the unredeemed world, does that. Sinners love those who love them. What’s the issue here? Simply this – reciprocity. To love for those who love you is actually self-love. Right, you just love people who love you. It’s ultimately for you and what you can get, or already got. It’s equitable, it’s fair and balanced, it’s what everyone does. And by the way, those who don’t love you, you don’t. You ignore, you steer clear, stay out of the way, have as little to do with them as possible.
Second example: if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. By the way, notice how these negative examples correspond to Jesus’ positive commands or examples:
Love your enemies (27a) – Sinners only love those who love them (32)
Do good to those who hate you (27b) – Sinners only do good to those who do good to them (33)
Give to everyone who asks you (30) – Sinners only lend to those expecting repayment (34)
You see the negative examples – but understand, sinners here are representative of the world. This is the way the unbelieving world acts – and it is expected. Normal, of course. The world loves those who love them and hates their enemies and feels justified doing so. The world does good to those who do good to them. This is tit for tat, reciprocal, quid pro quo, retribution, lex talionis, and the world lauds it. This is to be expected – of course you only do good to those who do good to you – why would you do good to those who don’t do good to you? This is a perversion of the Golden Rule – do unto others as they have done to you. Further, sinners only lend to those who can pay them back. We’ll get to that in a moment, but that is not the way of followers of Christ. We actually give knowing there is no way we can be repaid – at least by the borrower. Maybe not even in this life. Remember last week – it just doesn’t matter.
Well, if you only do good to those who do good to you – again, that is serving yourself. That is doing good to receive good. I’ll scratch your back, you scratch mine. And if you are unable to scratch my back, expect nothing from me. No – not for followers of Jesus. We do good because our Lord both commanded and exampled it.
Verse 34, if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same (amount is in the italics, which means it’s not in the original text). There is a bit of confusion about what this means. Some suggest you only lend to those from whom you expect repayment – probably with interest by this time, even though prohibited in the Law. Others suggest the expectation is, I’ll lend to you if I can then expect to borrow from you in the future. In other words, I’m not lending to you to help you, but to secure my future. To get the same when I need it.
The point is, again, the lending is self-serving. You aren’t giving to bless, to care for others. You are simply caring for yourself – you give in order to receive back in some way. Even sinners lend to sinners that way – what credit is that? This is not the way of followers of Christ – we lend, we give with no thought of repayment. We give with no strings attached. All of these – loving those who love you, doing good to those who do good to you, lending to those who will lend to you – the world does that – and they are kind of good things. But they all have ulterior motives, and do not reflect the love of Jesus. The world expects a return on the investment – Jesus says, His followers expect no commensurate return.
Jesus sums it up in verse 35 by repeating the commands: love your enemies, do good to all people is the idea, and lend expecting nothing in return. That’s an interesting word there – literally translated, it is lend without despairing – laying awake at night wondering if you’re going to get any return on your investment – you don’t despair because you lend without expectation. And that could be applied to all three commands – we love to love, we do good without thought of receiving good, and we give without thought of repayment. There are no ulterior motives. We don’t do these things like the world does – Jesus is calling us to a much higher love and ethic. We love, we do good, we bless, we pray, we lend because we have a heart that has been changed.
Then Jesus finishes this point of the sermon – we still have the rest of the sermon to go – but He finishes this point with a couple significant motivations to live out this ethic. First, in verse 35, this is motivating: your reward will be great. This is the same promise we saw in verse 23 – when hated, ostracized, insulted and scorned because of Jesus, we can be glad and even leap for joy for behold, our reward is great in heaven. That’s an important qualification. Jesus doesn’t repeat in heaven in verse 35, but the context and implication is the same – we will be rewarded in due time – perhaps not till heaven. You see, we are laying treasures in heaven. We may, or likely may not be rewarded on earth. But God takes notice and will reward.
Lots of discussion about whether we do these things for promised reward, or because God has simply changed our nature by His Spirit. I don’t personally think it matters – it’s both. He has changed us, taken out a heart of stone and given us a heart of flesh so that we no longer act or react as the world does. And as a consequence, God will see everything, and He will reward appropriately. It’s a promise to which we can cling in the midst of opposition.
But then notice the end of verse 35, and then you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Upon first glance this can be a bit challenging – it seems to say, when you act this way, employ this kingdom ethic, then you will be – as in, then you will become sons of the Most High. It almost seems like, when we love our enemies and do good to those who hate us and lend to those who cannot or do not repay – then we will be, or we earn the right to be sons and daughters of God. It sounds like, then, you earn your salvation.
To be clear, that is not what the text is saying. This is one of those times we must allow the truth of Scripture to guide our interpretation. The Scripture is abundantly clear, salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in the finished work of Christ alone. It is abundantly clear that no one earns salvation – works do not produce salvation – for we are saved by grace and not by the works of the Law. So if that’s the case, what is Jesus saying?
Very simply, by these actions, we are acting like God, proving we are His children because we look and act like Him. As one author writes, the moral likeness demonstrates our parentage. It is not meritorious, but recognition of family likeness. The family resemblance is unmistakable. Then you will be seen as the sons and daughters of God. Like Father, like son is the idea. The conduct is typical of the Father, and puts His character on display. Verse 36 reminds us to be merciful – that is, not giving people what they deserve. We have received grace, what we don’t deserve, and we have received mercy, not receiving what we do deserve. So, be like your Father, show mercy.
Conversely, if we don’t act this way, then we don’t look like God – and perhaps we need to repent of sinful, worldly attitudes, or perhaps we don’t know the Father at all. You see, He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. How do we know that? One way is through what is called common grace. He is good to His creation in many ways, not the least of which is sustaining the universe – upholding it by might of His power. In the similar Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, we read these words:
44 “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Do you see that? But, another way to know God loves this way is to look in the mirror. That’s who we were – we were the evil, we were the unrighteous. We were His enemies, and He showed kindness to us. In fact, Paul says it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. A familiar passage in Romans 5:
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
10 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.
While we were enemies of God, He demonstrated the greatest love of all toward us His enemies through the death of His own Son. If He acted that way toward us, then we show ourselves to be His children when we love those who are our enemies. Who hate us, mistreat us, persecute us.
He did that. Think about it. Jesus was hated. He was hated by Judas, by the Pharisees, by the people who cried out for His crucifixion. He was cursed – by the false witnesses at His trial who testified against Him, the soldiers who mocked Him, and the governor who sentenced Him to die. He was abused – by the priests who whipped Him, the soldiers who hung Him on the cross. His enemies struck Him on the cheek, again and again, insulting Him – who struck You? He was mocked by the crowds, if You are the Christ, come down and save Yourself. They took away His cloak and His tunic, gambling for it, leaving Him to die naked. They stripped Him of everything He had, even His dignity. And what did Jesus demand in return? What did He receive in return? Nothing, except the opportunity to die for their sins.
Last week I shared a story when we closed. There are many such stories – allow me to share another. Ernest Gordon was a prisoner of war during World War II. After the war ended, he and other POWs from the River Kwai made their long, slow way back to Britain, traveling through Asia by train. Along the way, they ended up in a rail yard right next to a train full of wounded Japanese soldiers. Gordon described their pitiful condition, “They were in a shocking state; I have never seen men filthier. Their uniforms were encrusted with mud, blood and excrement. Their wounds, sorely inflamed and full of pus, crawled with maggots…The wounded men looked at us forlornly as they sat with their heads resting against the carriages waiting fatalistically for death. They were the refuse of war; there was nowhere to go and no one cared for them. These were the enemy.”
Philip Ryken, who tells the story, goes on. Gordon tells how he and some other soldiers responded, “Without a word, most of the officers in my section unbuckled their packs, took out part of their rations and a rag or two, with water canteens in their hands went over to the Japanese train to help them. We knelt by the side of the enemy to give them food and water, to clean and bind up their wounds, to smile and say a kind word.” Not everyone was pleased with this display of compassion. One allied officer said, “What bloody fools you are! Don’t you realize that those are the enemy?” Of course, the officers realized it: that was exactly the point. The dying soldiers were the enemy, and for that very reason Gordon and his friends were called to love them and do good to them.
Ryken finishes, “They learned to give this kind of love from the same place where we can learn to give it: at the cross of Jesus Christ. The Savior who died for us there now calls us to give his love to others, including the people who hate us.”
I close with this haunting thought. I have thought often of that high school librarian – more specifically, of that interchange. I’ve thought, I wish I knew then what I know now. Could have answered her silly objection. Here’s the question – why? To answer her objection? To put her in her place? To win an argument? Listen, to be clear, I’m all in favor of apologetics – answering the difficult questions and objections unbelievers have to the Bible, to the Christian faith. And the purpose of apologetics, of course, is to remove those objections to pave the way for the gospel.
But, as I’ve thought of that librarian and our interaction, I’ve had to ask God to forgive me. Forgive me because I didn’t love her. I was more concerned about being belittled without an answer, than for her eternal soul. You see, there is a sense – a minute sense – in which she was opposing my faith in Jesus. And I knew enough then to say, Jesus is the Son of God. He took on flesh to live a perfect life – a life you and everyone else could never live, since we are sinners. Further, Jesus died – not for His own sins – He had none for which to die. He died for sinners, like you, bearing their sins in His body on the cross. And if you believe that He died for you, and was raised again the third day, surrender to His Lordship, you can be saved. You can have sins forgiven, be reconciled to God and actually become a child of God. You see, if I’d won an argument, she still would have been lost – because it is the gospel – the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ; who died in our place, to meet the demands of divine justice, and turn away the rightly deserved wrath of God against us. It is that gospel truth which will save sinners. So learn apologetics so when opposed, you can defend the faith. But don’t forget the gospel – even when opposed. It is the unmerited grace of the gospel, the love of God for His enemies, that saved us.