Luke Week 19: 6:27-47

What Is the Golden Rule?

The golden rule has been around for a long time. It is in fact been a formal line of thought that isn’t exclusive to Christianity. However, there is a big difference between the Golden rule of Jesus and what is more commonly seen before him.

“That which you hate to be done to you, do not do to another”

Compared to

Luke 6:31 NIV

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

What is the major difference between these two statements?

Read Luke 6:27-31

Luke 6:27–31 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. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Who are our enemies?

Why is it so hard to love our enemies?

It is not natural for us to love our enemies. It is a fundamental opposite reaction to our human nature. To show love to one who means you harm or ill is not a normal response.

How are we to show love to our enemies?

the love we are required to show our enemies is more than just a passive i don’t hate you kind of love. It is one that requires action. It requires movement. It requires sacrifice on our part.

Read 6:32-36

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.

What is Jesus saying in Verse 32?

Luke 6:32 NIV

32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.

Jesus refers to sinners here in a more negative light. This is not usual in the Gospel of Luke. This is a reminder that the type of sinners that Jesus is refering to is not the same as the ones who Jesus has been eating with but is more fundamentally the wicked or those who have heard the good news and rejected it.

Read 6:37-38

Luke 6:37–38 NIV

37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Is Jesus forbidding all Judgement?

Luke Comments

Do not judge. What is being forbidden here is not the legitimate exercise of judgment in lawcourts or in church discipline but the tendency to criticize and find fault with others. Marshall aptly observes, “It is not the use of discernment and discrimination which is forbidden but the attitude of censoriousness.” It forbids a Christian from finding “status by negation,” i.e., looking better by criticizing others as worse.

This passage pushes us to see that we are be forgiving more than we are to be judging.

How often do we see this very problem in the church or hear stories of people who have been hurt by the church because others want to look better than others?

Read 6:39-42

Luke 6:39–42 NIV

39 He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher. 41 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Are we never to point out sin in each other’s lives?

This passage can create problems for many people because we use it to justify our own problems becasue we reverse the role of judgement. It is not only a call to be cautious in your judgement but when we do judge or challenge we need to do so with a sense of humility. Jesus really uses humor to help portray this.

Read 6:43-49

Luke 6:43–49 NIV

43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. 46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? 47 As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. 48 They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 49 But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

What makes fruit Good?

How is the foundation revealed?

The foundation is shown through how we put the words of Jesus into practice.s