Lesson 18 The Plain Discourse 6:27- 49

Love Your Enemies 6:27- 36

English Standard Version (Chapter 6)

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.

These are some pretty high standards for love because we all have some people who are on our “do not love”, or “I’m trying to avoid them” lists. Even as a Christian, there are some very tough choices to make in the personal relationship zone. It is true, we are commanded to love our enemies! Say it again with conviction, “Love your enemies!” Then the charge is even more exact if you need identification markers. The next category is those who hate you personally. The third is those who curse you(in all of its forms.) Fourth one to the plate, batting clean up are those who abuse you(this is really difficult because of those who are violent or even worse.) Fifth group are those who have struck you, harmed, injured, beaten, or hit you.

Sixth in the lineup are those who have stolen clothing from you. Seventh are beggars, real or fake. Eighth on the list are those who have taken other stolen property, other than clothes.Jesus is saying they must be forgiven. No”if’s and’s or buts.” Not surprisingly, they cannot be expected to return what they have stolen, in fact you should insist that they keep it and that you will give them more of where that came from:

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

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Luke 6:31.

This is the “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” that is repeated so many times. It really is a Biblical, unchanging, spiritual principle. In other words, you and your forgiveness(attitude of grace) may be the lifeline that this individual really needs in God’s kingdom. Heaven and Earth demands your assistance in bringing them back to reality. You do your part in turning the other cheek and God will move heaven and earth to do His part. Jesus has something in the works for them and all he is asking is for you to lend a hand. He is also suggesting that it’s the least you can do to the least of these my brethren. Whew, that is a pretty tall order that a lot of people cannot do. Especially to think that they may be brethren. The question is, are you willing?”

Another measure in this spiritual neighborhood of Jesus is to “love your neighbor” as yourself. You may be thinking, “but Jesus does not have to live next to them.” But you do and Christ is saying that this is possible and very likely to give you a new sense of freedom and boldness in the spiritual realm. Loving your neighbor can be a task, a ministry and or a blessing. But the question now arises, can you love yourself? If you think so poorly of yourself that your dog feels like it needs new company, then it’s time to look inwardly and say, why can’t I love who I am? If i can’t love who I am, then how can I love a neighbor? And if not, then what can I do to change? It’s time for a personal God talk, or a talk with a pastor or Christian friend.

Let’s face it Jesus talked the talk, walked the walk. talked the walk and walked the talk. He did it all the way to the cross of Calvary. In fact, this very easily gives us a picture of those who were assembled around His cross, were there in the days prior to, and the post-cross crowd. Let’s list them again:

Enemies

2. Those who hated Jesus

3. Those who cursed Him, even Peter

4. The abusers of the Savior

5. The ones who struck Him in the face

6. They took His cloak, or seamless robe

7. Beggars who came to Him as He journeyed to Mount Calvary.

8. The thief on the cross.

Yes, Jesus walked out the very thing He preached on! This very very passage gives witness, or is a pre-cursor to the Cross of our Savior. He gives witness to the future as he delivers His sermon. Very sobering to see the detail of venom that was leashed out to Jesus and yet He says in fashion, “don’t write them off!” The sermon is not over as He reaches into their inner man and shows why!

The Why 6:32-36

This is a reread of the passage at the beginning

English Standard Version (Chapter 6)

“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.

The simple truth is: It’s easy to love people who love you, so it’s not an accomplishment to do that. Even sinners can do that. It’s easy to love people who do good to you, even sinners can do that also. It’s also easy to lend to people that you know will pay you back. Even sinners can do that too. The real action in the spiritual world is if you love, do good, lend, and expect nothing in return. Nothing means nothing. We are talking a complete write off. But the rewards and returns will be unimaginable. We are talking great returns, and fellowship in the brotherhood of the Sons of the Most High. The Lord Jesus is even kind to the ungrateful. The end result of this inside reality is to be merciful and full of compassion to all men/women, no matter how ugly their spirit and demeanor appear to be.

There’s going to be a lot of trash talk coming our way from all around us. Make sure that we take good care of the other sons and daughters in faith’s household because they may be dealing in a face to face battle with the people that Jesus said were going to be out there. we just read about them and it doesn’t look wonderful. Just perhaps, our folks need your help as much as the sinners. It’s the least we can do on this trip around the sun. At the same time, it’s a bountiful harvest time when we go after sinners because Jesus said to expect something great to reward us from that.