20: Love LOUD (Luke 6:27-36)

You can’t make this stuff up! Right before these went to publish, someone needed to clarify exactly what was intended. Otherwise it leaves people confused or crying out in laughter. That’s I hope to clarify EXACTLY what we are asking of you NEXT SUNDAY.

First, I will teach from God’s life-changing Scripture.

Next we will clarify Next Sunday’s Schedule (as seen in your bulletin) & share specific ways you can serve next Sunday.

Finally, we are going to pray together & ask God to move among our community and give us divine opportunities to share Jesus with our lips & lives.

PRAY

Remember that last week were challenged to Live on Earth with Eternity in Mind. We saw that to be Blessed doesn’t always mean health, provision, & protection. Jesus warned that His followers would face poverty, hunger, weeping, & hatred…but disciples of Jesus keep on keepin’ on…with Eternity in Mind. When the King returns there will be no more poverty, hunger, weeping, or hatred. But until that day, we live on earth with eternity in mind - trusting that God is with us in times of laughter and in times of mourning.

Last week we finished being reminded that some will HATE those who follow Jesus, just as they hated Him. When that happens, how do we respond? Luke cuts to the chase, but as we’ve seen in Matthew, he gives us some extra insight. Here’s what Jews had been taught.

Matthew 5:43 (NIV)

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’

Jesus is about to take the rabbinical rules and turn them on their heads. This was NOT the norm for the 1st century Jew. Their first response was retaliation instead forgiveness, hatred instead of love. They have misinterpreted God’s intentions…and Jesus is about to make God’s heartbeat clear.

Luke simplifies the command for his Gentile audience.

Luke 6:27–28 (NIV)

27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

This is still backward in our culture isn’t it? This is NOT the norm. What is YOUR 1st response when you see your enemy?

Turn your head & look the other way?

Derogatory words/thoughts?

Jesus commands His disciples to love your enemies. How can we possibly Love them? How can we stir up our emotions to love them? We can’t. Love is not just something we FEEL. Love is something we DO! Jesus is not telling His followers “to feel” in a certain way but to act in a certain way.

Jesus mentions 3 ways we are to LoveLOUD - event to those who hate us:

Do Good.

Bless.

Pray.

We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.

We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.

This is what it means to LoveLOUD. Our ACTIONS, attitudes, & words - loudly proclaim our love for others.

They treat us bad —-> we CHOOSE to do good. They curse us and wish God would strike us dead, —-> but CHOOSE to bless them and pray for God bring them to life!

We hold the door for them. Give a genuine smile. Speak kindly. And we PRAY - we ask God to challenge and change their heart.

We EXTEND God’s love BEFORE they’re EASY to love.

We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.

We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.

Then Jesus gives 4 examples of what LovingLOUD looks like.

Luke 6:29a (NIV)

29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.

While pacifists would point to this passage and declare a Christian should never go to war nor defend themselves, we must make the clear delineation. A slap on the cheek was a physical insult.

Jesus is NOT commanding his followers how to respond to ASSAULT, but how to respond to INSULT. In other words, this isn’t a command to stand there and get beat up without defending yourself - instead it is a command not to return insult for insult.

By the way, this is clear when Jesus Himself is hit in the face during his trial before the Sanhedrin in John 18:22-23. Jesus didn’t turn the other cheek to be assaulted again. Instead, he demanded that they explain why they just hit Him. Was Jesus not practicing what He preached? Of course He did. This is NOT a command to turn the other cheek when ASSAULTED, but to turn the other cheek when INSULTED.

When a person insults you, you turn your other cheek to them. Instead of retaliating, cursing them them, or demanding that God kick their teeth in…You do good, bless, & pray. In this way you…

We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.

We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.

Jesus continues…

Luke 6:29b (NIV)

If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.

People in that day wore an outer garment - like we would wear a coat - and an inner garment - like we would wear a shirt. If someone came by and ripped off your coat, the natural response would be to demand the item back from whoever took it. The supernatural response is to offer him/her more. “If you really need it, take it…can I offer you my other clothes too?” - That’s sounds CRAZY doesn’t it!

Jesus is NOT encouraging lawlessness nor to opening the floodgates of cruelty and crime. God establishes governments to punish the criminal & protect citizens (Rom. 13).

Richard Lenski writes: “Love is to foster no crime in others or to expose our loved ones to disaster or perhaps to death. Coupled with selfless love is the wisdom which applies love. Christ never told me not to restrain the murderer’s hand, not to check the thief and robber, not to oppose the tyrant…

But Jesus IS commanding His disciples to love those who have cheated you & stolen from you. Who knows how this might impact the wrongdoer. Maybe they ask the question, “Why would he/she treat me with kindness after I just took his coat?” All because…

We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.

We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.

Then we see a couple of more examples how we love our enemies…

Luke 6:30 (NIV)

30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.

Remember, this is in context of how we respond to our ENEMIES. So what happens when you enemy approaches and asks you for help? Are you QUICK to help him/her? If we would help our enemies, shouldn’t we help others who ask as well? Sure we should.

This is an example of LENDING to others. Your enemy or an acquaintance asks to borrow something. You want to help so you oblige. They never bring it back. You could kindly ask if they are finished with it and ask for it back. But you don’t start threatening and demand it back. You let them borrow some money. They promise to pay it back - BE PREPARED not to get it back.

A Word of Warning: There are other places in Scripture where we are told NOT to put up with false teachers & those who abuse the generosity of others. Therefore, we must use wisdom in who we give.

For example: I don’t often give money to those who hold signs at exits…but I have bought them a meal. We have many people who jump from church to church expecting others to pay their bills & instead of working on their own. We WANT to help legitimate needs, but we must not foster laziness or theft.

Here’s the root of what Jesus is saying.

Luke 6:31 (NIV)

31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

If we all did this…the world would be a much different place! How do we want others to treat us? With kindness and respect. If we could change things,

wouldn’t we want our ENEMIES to do good to us - a genuine smile, hold the door?

Or what if we found out that he/she is PRAYING for us - asking God to grow us & bless us?

Would we LIKE that? Of course we would!

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.

We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.

But what if they DON’T respond kindly? What if you just want revenge? Paul gives us some more help.

Romans 12:17–20 (NIV)

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

I love what N.T. Wright says about loving our enemies:

Think of the best thing you can do for the worst person, and go ahead and do it. Think of what you’d really like someone to do for you, and do it for them. Think of the people to whom you are tempted to be nasty, and lavish generosity on them instead. These instructions have a fresh, springlike quality. They are all about new life bursting out energetically, like flowers growing through concrete and startling everyone with their colour and vigour.

Then Jesus asks a couple of questions - questions that should cause us pause…

Luke 6:32-36 (NIV)

32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Do you SEE it? Do you SEE the reason why we should do good, bless, & pray for our enemies? This is HUGE…if you see it you should be about to jump out of your seat…

We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.

We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.

BECAUSE…that’s what our Heavenly Father HAS DONE…FOR US! We are merciful to them…because that’s what our Heavenly Father HAS DONE…FOR US!

HE was kind to the ungrateful & wicked - to US! He sent us rain and fed us before we surrendered to Him! He was patient, kind, & merciful to us…He SERVED US…before WE DESERVED it!

Romans 5:6–8 (NIV)

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

He SERVED US - He DIED for US…before WE DESERVED it!

Isn’t this what Jesus has done for us? Couldn’t He have taken us to court & judged us guilty immediately? Couldn’t He have treated us with contempt & disgust instead of demonstrating love by doing good to us, speaking blessing to us, & praying for us?

THAT is why we do good, bless, & pray for others…including our enemies! THAT’S WHY…

We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.

We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.

THAT is why we are going to LoveLOUD as a church next weekend. You might see some people you know, meet some people for the first time, or come across an enemy…

Whoever it is…we’re going to LoveLOUD.

We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.

We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it.

We will talk more about that in a moment. But let me ask you this question:

Have YOU trusted Jesus with your life? Could the reason you have trouble forgiving & showing mercy to others be because YOU haven’t experienced God’s mercy? PRAY

OUR NUMBERS ON SCREEN

Will YOU LoveLOUD this week? Will you We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it?We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it?We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it?We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it?

We SERVE ‘em before they DESERVE it?

What might that look like?

Matthew West Video

Will you join us THIS WEEKEND to LoveLOUD?

Saturday Concession Stands & Rec Field for Baseball Opening Day 8:30-3pm.

Sunday Schedule:

8:30amBreakfast @ Fellowship Campus

8:50am Worship & Devotion

9:30amOut to Serve

12:30pm Lunch @ Fellowship Campus

1:00pmShare Stories

1:30pmGo Home!

PRAYER TIME - asking God to give us divine appointments this week.

We need to talk to people about God and talk to God about people. Let’s do that right now. Gather in groups and pray that God would use us. We will close together in prayer.

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