Responding Like Jesus

Matthew 5:38-48

Living in the Light

Responding Like Jesus

How many of you text in here? You know texting has become one of the most preferred ways of communication. It’s so quick and convenient. And many people have mastered the art of texting with abbreviations. So when someone texts them, they just respond with an abbreviation to save them from typing it all out.

Let’s give you a little challenge this morning, tell me what these letters stand for.

TMI – Too much information

ASAP – As soon as possible

BOGO – Buy one get one

JK – Just kidding

TBH – To be honest

Now there are hundreds of text abbreviations I could show you to test your knowledge, but I have one more abbreviation to see if you can get.

WWJD – What would Jesus do?

As we have been in the living in the light series, our focus this month has been about responding. And today, we continue with that key word, responding and it goes with WWJD, and that is responding like Jesus.

(Read Scripture)

This is part of the Sermon on the Mount that the Lord shared, and in it he says some things that really go against human nature. And what the Lord shares is how we are to respond like Christ.

That should be our desire here today, that we would want to respond like Jesus. Now we ask the question WWJD – What would Jesus do? Well he has told us what he would do here in these verses. Now if you want to respond like Jesus, listen to what he says.

Responding with Generosity (vs 38-42)

· Now I know none of us like to be taken advantage of, but often times we are the victims of such abuses.

· And when someone does us wrong, what do we want? We want justice. We want them to feel the same burden or pain that we felt.

· I mean if they hurt us, we want them to hurt as well. If someone were to slap us we would want to slap them back.

· We would want to retaliate. If someone offended us, we might respond with making a post about them, or we might go and talk about them behind their backs.

· We might retaliate by ignoring them and not talking to them. Anything we can do to make them feel like we do.

· That is the mindset that many have, a eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth. But how did Jesus tell us to respond?

· He told us not to respond with retaliation, instead he taught us to respond with generosity.

· Jesus gives four examples in how this applied. The first one was with the cheek.

· Now when someone slaps us, what do we want to do? Slap them back. Now hopefully no one here is being physically slapped, but we are slapped with words.

· I mean if someone said something ugly about us, we would naturally want to say something ugly about them.

· But Christ told us not to respond in that manner, but instead, when someone slaps us to take another if need be.

· Its not that you are being weak, cause you know you can hurt them, but Jesus wants you to show generosity instead.

· Think about it, when Christ was slapped, he could have sent that person straight to hell right then, but he restrained himself, to teach a greater lesson, that he is generous with his love.

· The Lord gave another example with someone suing us. You know the courts of this land are not fair or just. And there are times, when God’s people face the abuses by the law.

· And when we are done wrong, we want to retaliate. Say, the bank takes you to court over your house. And they win your house, what does our human flesh want to do? It wants to go in and tear up that house.

· But Christ did not want us to respond like that, in fact, just like he uses the illustration with the coat and cloak, we should give them the house and clean it up for them.

· Jesus also shared the example if someone compelled us to go a mile with them go two.

· During the days of Christ, Israel was occupied by Rome. And Roman soldiers could legally force a person to carry his equipment for a mile.

· Now the Romans were hated, and when some were forced to do this task, they only did the minimum that was required.

· Does that sound familiar? Have someone at work, who may be over you, come and dump their work on you? And how do you respond to it? By just doing the minimum that is required?

· Well, Christ told us that we are to respond with generosity. And if someone came and asked us to walk a mile, go ahead and walk two. Go above what is required to demonstrate the same love that Christ gave to us.

· That means when someone comes in and dumps their work on us, we get it done, and we go above to show them that same response that Christ told us to do.

· Now our flesh doesn’t want to be generous in this way, especially when we have been hurt or forced, but Christ is teaching us, when we are generous in these situations that he is being shown.

· And that light shines in us and from us.

Responding with Grace (vs 43-46)

· Now we are to respond with generosity, but we are also to respond with grace.

· You probably have noticed that Jesus points out things that have been said by people over time. Some of the sayings were things found in scripture that had been taken out of context, and other things that had become a common saying among them.

· And it only seems natural to say when it comes to our enemies, that we hate them.

· Rome was Israel’s enemy, the Jews hated the Romans. But what does the Lord tell them to do? He tells them to love their enemies.

· He is telling them to love the Romans. But not just love them, but to do good to them, and to pray for them.

· You know there are people in our lives that are evil to us. They are our enemies. They just make life difficult any way they know how. They try to get a rise out of us.

· They may use underhanded tactics or attack us out of no where for no reason. These are people that make life hard.

· That is how the Romans were to the Jews. They would do mean things to the people, abuse them and assault them for the fun of it.

· And you can relate, because you have that person or persons in your life who are your enemy.

· What is it that you want to do? I tell you, you want to go out there and hurt them, to beat them, and defeat them.

· But what does Christ want you to do? He wants you to do good to them and pray for them.

· Ask yourself the question, does your prayer life lift up those people you call your enemy?

· Do you show love to them, even when they do nothing that merits love? You know what that is called? Grace.

· Friends, all of us were the enemies of God, but what did Christ do? He came and loved us. He did good unto us. He prayed for us. He paid the price for us.

· And Christ wants you to do the same, he wants you to show grace to people that are our enemy.

· You see, when you respond like Christ, you shine the light of Christ upon that enemy, and friend that enemy may get saved, and may turn out to be one of your closest friends.

Responding with Genuineness (vs 47-48)

· Now we are to respond with generosity and grace, but friends we need to respond with genuineness as well.

· Listen the Lord didn’t call you to be a fake, it didn’t tell us to demonstrate it on the surface, but be a phony underneath.

· Now the Lord doesn’t want you to be a phony Christian. He wants you to be real inside church and outside of church.

· You see it is real easy to portray ourselves as God’s people to God’s people. I mean it is real easy, to be generous and kind to those in the church.

· But the Lord doesn’t want you to just show it to other believers, he wants you to show it everywhere you go to everyone you meet and know.

· What does he say in verse 48? Be ye therefore perfect.

· Now this is a hard thing to do. In fact, on your own you will never be perfect. But when Christ comes in to our lives, when we take our hands off the wheel and turn it over to him, he begins to show us how to be like him.

· Friend are you genuine today about your relationship with Christ? Are you genuine in your love for others? If you are not genuine, you won’t be generous. If you are not genuine you won’t show grace.

· WWJD doesn’t have to be a question, you can know what Christ wants you to do. He wants you to come and be genuine.

Conclusion

· You know you may be here today, and you have a hard time with people, they have hurt you, they have taken from you, they have forced themselves on you, and you hate them.

· But Christ has told you to love them. He wants you to pray for them and do good to them. But you are having a hard time being like that.

· He called you to be perfect, friend the only way you can be perfect is if you allow Christ in to your life. To allow him to shine down on you. And when he shines down on you, you can respond with the same light to others.

· You want to respond like Christ, you want to know what would Jesus do? I tell you what he would do, he would seek the Heavenly Father to show him the way.