Luke 6:30-36 (2)

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-Let me invite you to turn back to Luke 6.

We’ve come to verses 30-36 this morning

Last week I had tried to warn you before the sermon...

…that these next two weeks were going to be somewhat difficult.

I’ll re-iterate the fact again, that...

...while this text is relatively easy to understand...

…it’s quite difficult to obey.

The particular direction that it takes this morning...

…may be even more difficult for us than what we read last week...

And that’s because it deals with something...

…that we (in our fallen condition) tend to turn into an idol...

...which we center our life around...

…And in so doing, it becomes our de facto master.

We’ll see what that is when we get down to verse 30.

-But, for now let’s begin reading back at the top (in verse 27)

Luke 6:27–36 (ESV)

27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

29 To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.

30 Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.

31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.

33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.

34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.

35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

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Pray

Verse 30:

We’re going to jump back in at verse 30...

…but we need to be mindful that we’re still operating...

…under the broader heading of that first command in verse 27:

Luke 6:27 (ESV)

27 . . . Love your enemies...

Last week we saw:

Through the examples that Jesus gave...

And, From other portions of Scripture...

…that “to love” someone (biblically)...

…had little to nothing to do with how you felt about them...

…but rather, how you treated them.

In verse 30, Jesus continues to flesh out this same principle...

...but He takes it down a slightly different path.

Look at verse 30 again:

Luke 6:30 (ESV)

30 Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.

Do you see why I said that this might be more challenging than last week?

Because this hits us in an area that we tend to value above everything else!

Money

Property

Stuff

But Jesus shows us here that those who are citizens of His kingdom...

…must adopt a different value system.

One that values:

Generosity over Greed

Helping others over Helping yourself.

Notice the details:

Luke 6:30 (ESV)

30 Give to everyone who begs from you...

Pretty absolute isn’t it?

-Now, if you’re like me...

(and I imagine you are)

…you’re already thinking of exceptions to this rule!

You’re already looking for scenarios where it does doesn’t apply.

That should tell us something!

We’ll address the topic of exceptions in a little while...

But, let me ask you to try to avoid...

…letting your mind go there right now.

Try to just...

Let it say what it says...

Let it sting where it stings...

…at least for a few minutes.

-Now, it may seem like this is something so radical...

…that only the radical...

…would take it literally.

The reality is, that here too...

...what we have is an eternal and abiding ethic...

for living as God’s people...

…in God’s world.

It’s only radical to our materialistic society.

It has always been the heart of God.

In the Law of Moses, it was commanded:

Deuteronomy 15:7–11 (ESV)

7 “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother,

8 but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be.

9 Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin.

10 You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.

11 For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

-Notice how Jesus expands this obligation out in our text:

He says:

Luke 6:30 (ESV)

30 Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.

There’s not a person in the world, who...

...(in and of themselves)...

…is going to like that one!

But this is exactly what it means to:

-Repay evil with good!

And make no mistake...

…it is evil, both to:

Borrow and not return...

AND to steal!

The scripture presents this as a binary moral issue.

Psalm 37:21 (ESV)

21 The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives;

Proverbs 21:25–26 (ESV)

25 The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor.

26 All day long he craves and craves, but the righteous gives and does not hold back.

This is the same principle that Jesus is iterating in verse 30.

Sproul summarizes it like this:

In Luke 6:30 Jesus is saying that the spirit that is to characterize the Christian in the kingdom of God, is willingness to give.

Sacrificial giving is the mark of the Christian - R.C. Sproul

Another commentator says this:

Here Jesus calls us to have a giving spirit that is more concerned about the needs of other people than about the protection of our own property. - Philip Ryken

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-Now, this brings us to the place that we wanted to go to initially.

Where’s that?

The place of appropriate exceptions to the rule.

And, While we must be very cautious to:

Make ANY exception...

To ANY “rule” that our Lord gives...

…Here, we are forced (by other portions of Scripture) to do so!

What do I mean?

Well, would our Lord have us:

Give drugs to everyone who asks for them?

No, Drunkenness is forbidden.

Give our spouses to everyone who asks for them?

No, Adultery is forbidden.

This is such an important lesson in hermeneutics (biblical interpretation):

We must interpret EVERY part of scripture...

In the light of EVERY OTHER part of scripture!

What we have in verse 31 is neither:

A command,

Nor a permission...

…being given for us to enable people in their sin!

The point is that you should love and give sacrificially...

…and that you should be willing to suffer loss...

…in order that they may prosper (in accordance with righteousness)...

…whether or not:

They deserve it

They’ve earned it

They’ve gotten themselves into this situation by sin and neglect...

They’ve come against you in the process!

Verse 31 provides all the qualification that is needed:

Luke 6:31 (ESV)

31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

We call this the “Golden Rule.”

“Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you”

“Treat people the way you’d want to be treated”

Matthew shows us how this fulfills the original criteria of Love:

Matthew 7:12 (ESV)

12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

In other words (as we’ve seen before):

Galatians 5:14 (ESV)

14 ...the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

But let me caution you against something here.

Beware of that tendency in your heart...

…to so quickly and easily justify your refusal to give sacrificially.

That should be the more the exception...

…than it is the rule!

I’m afraid that so often the opposite is true.

I think Philip Ryken addresses the matter well.

Some Christians are so concerned about somebody taking advantage of them that they never give anything to anyone.

But Jesus calls us to err on the side of generosity.

Of course there are limits to what we can give, and there are times when it is not loving to give, because giving will foster an unhealthy dependency.

But love is what must decide—not love for ourselves and our possessions, but love for others and what they truly need. - Philip Ryken

-Consider these several NT texts that speak to this:

Ephesians 4:28 (ESV)

28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

Paul said this in the context of one church in a prosperous area...

…giving alms to help other saints in an impoverished one:

2 Corinthians 9:6–14 (ESV)

6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.

James uses the opposite of this...

...to describe what dead faith looks like.

James 2:14–17 (ESV)

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,

16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?

17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

It’s no wonder then, that John wrote:

1 John 3:17–18 (ESV)

17 . . . if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?

18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

-Now, all of these passages were referring to:

Christians taking care of other Christians.

As much as that challenges our native love of our possessions...

…it’s still a lot easier to do that...

...than to do what Jesus is commanding in our text:

That we do that for:

Strangers…

Our enemies!

Look at what He goes on to say in the next few verses:

Luke 6:32 (ESV)

32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.

Aren’t we all sinners?

Of course, but that’s missing the point:

The reference is Jewish.

He’s probably referring to that class of men who:

...had no concern for observing the details of the Mosaic law;

...were often treated as social outcasts. — NET Notes

In other words:

The irreligious

Unbelievers

Matthew adds this:

Matthew 5:46 (ESV)

46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

The point is that this MUST look different for the People of God...

…than it does for those who are outside the gates of the City!

Mike McKinley Explains:

the kind of love that Jesus calls us to, a love that is largely foreign to the world, is actually consistent with who we are in Christ. — Mike McKinley

Look at the way Christ continues to elaborate:

Luke 6:33 (ESV)

33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.

Matthew adds this:

Matthew 5:47 (ESV)

47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

God’s people are called to a greater ethic of love:

One that is self-sacrificial!

The Reformation Study Bible says:

The world’s practice of treating others in direct relation to their benefit to oneself is not to guide the followers of Jesus, whose costly love is to be a marked exception to the self-interest that is customary in human societies. — RSB

-I believe Verse 34 may sting the most:

Luke 6:34 (ESV)

34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.

Here again, we see an eternal Kingdom ethic.

Leviticus 25:35–37 (ESV)

35 “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you.

36 Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you.

37 You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.

We’re not to look at each other as a means of gain!

Jesus described the disposition of the faithful in:

Luke 14:12–14 (ESV)

12 . . . “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.

13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,

14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

The Just are to operate with a different financial ethic.

They are to be “holy” in all their conduct...

...And that includes their finances.

We're reminded of the reason why at the end of verse 35:

Luke 6:35 (ESV)

35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

I believe that this is the point:

Being children of the highest means that you will be imitating God because this is the way God operates.

God is kind to people who are unthankful; God is kind to the evil. He gives all kinds of benefit at times, even to those who are most wickedly in opposition and rebellion to him. — Sproul

Remember what Paul told the folks in Lystra?

Acts 14:16–17 (ESV)

16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways.

17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.”

He did that for those who were:

“walking in their own ways!”

Why would He do that?

Because that’s who He is!

Look at verse 36 again.

Luke 6:36 (ESV)

36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

This is His eternal, unchanging nature.

The OT prophets knew it well.

It’s the very reason Jonah DIDN’T want to go to Nineveh.

Because Jonah wasn’t loving his enemies...

…and he knew that:

God was merciful

God did tend to love them!

Jonah 4:2 (ESV)

2 . . . That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.

This is our Father, brothers and sisters.

And we are called to:

Ephesians 5:1–2 (ESV)

1 . . . be imitators of God, as beloved children.

2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us...

This is the ethic of the Kingdom

And, just like we saw:

last week

and in Ephesians 5:2...

…It is this moral perfection...

…that has brought about our salvation.

Paul tells us how in 2 Corinthians 8:9.

2 Corinthians 8:9 (ESV)

9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

Again, this is why you’re saved:

-Because God loved the un-lovable

-Because Christ gave to his own hurt

-Because Christ condescended to take on flesh...

...And in that flesh, He:

Endured the hardships of life in a fallen world

Endured temptation

Fulfilled every righteous obligation of God’s Holy Law

Suffered unjustly at the hands of men

Willingly gave himself over to:

Pain

Shame

Suffering

Death

And ultimately to the white-hot-holy wrath of Almighty God...

…for us!

For sinners

For rebels

For those who:

Couldn’t pay to begin with

Could never pay back

His loss… Is our gain.

And this is what His love for us...

…constrained Him to do!

I said this last week...

I’ll say it again:

What’s left for us to do...

…but to go and do the same!

Pray