Luke 6:37-42

Introduction

What master do you serve?- Avengers

Who do you idolize (and not necessarily in a bad way)?

We are sold shoes by athletes, makeup by celebrities, credit cards by business owning celebrities, clothes by influencers, and on and on. The goal of these “advertisements” is simple, you need this (insert product here” to be something more; whether that is better at your sport, better looking, better finances, better dressed, etc. Essentially, each of these says, “you can be like me if you just…”.

It is a culture of imitation. I like you, respect you, want to be you even, so let me have a little bit.

Can anyone relate?

I wanted to be an athlete, which, if you have been at church for a minute, you already know about me. Growing up, the first player that I truly idolized was Michael Jordan. I watched his moves on the court, then I practiced them. At one point, I could palm the basketball and get in the “Jordan stance” where he would wave the ball around. At another point, I worked incredibly hard on developing his turnaround jumper. And you know what was fun about those two things in particular? I could DO them. I made the shots. But you know what didn’t happen? I didn’t get faster, taller, more athletic, etc…I was just me, with a useless turnaround J that would never use in a game.

See, I had the moves (such as they were), but not the attributes that made them successful. I had the visuals, but not the substance behind them.

If we go back to the example earlier, we can “look the part” by buying all that is recommended to achieve a celebrities look, but that doesn’t make us the celebrity, the influencer, or the athlete. We still lack the substance, even if it all looks good.

In many ways, this is what Jesus has been teaching his disciples in the sermon on the plain. This morning, we will be looking at Luke 6:37-42 together, and I want us to first focus on the middle of the paragraph in Luke 6:39–40 “He also told them a parable: “Can the blind guide the blind? Won’t they both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.”

a disciple will be like his teacher. This is imitation. But, if we have already established that imitating doesn’t make you “like someone else”, then we need to consider why the call here to be like our teacher is any different.

Let’s pause and pray before we get started. “Father, if you speak to me this morning, I will respond.

Children of Mercy

We pick up the text in 6:35 as we look at God’s call to us this morning.

Read Luke 6:35-42

1. True Children of God Receive Mercy

Luke 6:35–36 “But love your enemies, do what is good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High. For he is gracious to the ungrateful and evil. Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.”

Luke 6:39–40 “He also told them a parable: “Can the blind guide the blind? Won’t they both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.”

As we saw last week, Jesus tells his disciples and specifically his apostles, that their lives would now LOOK different from those surrounding the world. He has already warned them at the beginning of the message that the life he called them to would be different, upside down, even. It would be marked by tough things, hardships, struggles. It would be marked by people rejecting them and their message. And Jesus says into that that they will be BLESSED when that happens.

When they are poor, they are really receiving a Kingdom.

When they are hungry, they are really receiving spiritual food.

When they weep, they will also know joy.

When they are hated for Christ’s name, they will also know of a great reward.

And these things, and more importantly their proximity to their Savior, will enable them to:

Love those who hate them.

Bless those who curse them.

Respect those who disrespect them.

Surrender possessions to those who steal them.

And all of this because “he has been gracious to the ungrateful and evil, he has shown mercy to the underserving” He has called us HIS CHILDREN, and as HIS CHILDREN, we are LIKE OUR FATHER. As DISCIPLES we are like our TEACHER. We are children of God and so, we are children of mercy.

You see, this is the GOOD NEWS, and really where our journey to be more like Christ starts. We are told that, in spite of ourselves and our shortcomings, we can know mercy because we have been SHOWN mercy.

Our Father sees our weakness, just as he saw the weakness in all of those who have gone before us, and he MEETS US IN THAT WEAKNESS.

But not only does he meet that weakness, he also provides the “substance” for us to live changed lives. Listen, as I said earlier, I may have been able to imitate Jordan’s moves (and to be clear, mine were always a slower and lower version), but I would always lack the substance of what made him the greatest. But the beauty of God’s love for us is that we are called to imitate the Greatest, and then provided the substance, the power, to actually look like him through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit that filled Christ on this earth can also reside in you, shaping you, growing you, if you respond to Christ.

It’s an impossible call to live, made possible through an overwhelming undeserved gift.

Have you received His mercy today?

If so, Mercy received changes us. Following our teacher changes us. We are shaped into being more like him…and THIS is how we do the next 2 points

2. True Children of God Extend Mercy to Others

Luke 6:37–38 ““Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 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 back to you.””

If we are to reflect our Father’s character, what does that look like? How do we respond, as children who have received mercy, to the sin that surrounds us in others, specifically outside the church?

Love your enemies - last week, when we are sinned against we respond with grace

Judging - Many peoples favorite verse in the bible! Unfortunately, these verses are taken out of context by those who follow Christ and those who do not follow Christ, most often, as an excuse for sinfulness. “only God can judge me” and while true, too often those who say that would be SHOCKED if he actually did judge them. Most often, we find ourselves in the position of judging when we begin to assign motives to others actions (towards us or towards others). And most often, the standard we judge with is not one we could ever bear ourselves.

Ultimately, Jesus’ challenge to the disciples (even as will see played out in the parable below) is to make sure they/we are not judging people based off a standard we could not live up to. And at the same time, remember that WE deserve judgment and will face it. We should respond to others the way our father has responded to us.

Condemning - often the next step after judging is condemnation. You did this, so you deserve what you get. But that is the way of the world. Condemned people often condemn people. But we know a different way. We can offer a hope to those who are condemned because we are NOT condemned, even as we deserve it.

Forgiving - as we have been forgiven, we forgive. As we forgive, we should do so in such a way that it shows that there IS hope for reconciliation.

Giving - most like giving yourself over to others in the context of relationship and in context of the three preceding commands. If you give judgment, you will get it in abundance. If you give condemnation, you will get it in abundance. If you give forgiveness, you will get it in abundance.

What if the church’s (and ours) relationship towards others was first marked by abundant forgiveness? Is it? Could it be?

It starts with us!

3. True Children of God Extend Mercy to Brothers

Luke 6:41–42 ““Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye, but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the splinter that is in your eye,’ when you yourself don’t see the beam of wood in your eye? Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the splinter in your brother’s eye.”

To those inside the church, that our part of the faith, we have a responsibility to work together to call sin out in each other’s lives.

Galatians 6:1 “Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted.”

BUT as we see above, we must be careful of our own motives and hearts when doing this. We must also be self-aware.

Let’s be honest, it’s easy to see other’s flaws, right? I mean, I KNOW how some of you need to change, and often, that’s the way pastor’s seem to act. Let me call out your sins, pointing out the areas you need to grow, and it becomes easy for many pastor’s to ignore their own lives.

And we see it everyday in pastor’s who fall. Often, the loudest of them are the most sinful.

But it happens in all of us. Often we best see our own sins when they are reflected in others.

We have an example of this is in the story of David and Bathsheeba from 2 Samuel 11-12

Wanted the women, took the women while husband was at war, got the woman pregnant, husband came back and David tried to play matchmaker, has Uriah killed. And David is so blinded to what he wants to do that he feels no remorse, so God sends Nathan to David with a little story.

2 Samuel 12 1-7 “So the Lord sent Nathan to David. When he arrived, he said to him: There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very large flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised her, and she grew up with him and with his children. From his meager food she would eat, from his cup she would drink, and in his arms she would sleep. She was like a daughter to him. Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man could not bring himself to take one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for his guest. David was infuriated with the man and said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! Because he has done this thing and shown no pity, he must pay four lambs for that lamb.” Nathan replied to David, “You are the man!”

We see other’s sins the best.

Parable is comical.

Before we go to our brothers we should start by praying. Psalm 139:23–24 “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.” is a good place to start.

“It is only when our hearts have been broken by our own sin against God that we will have the humble grace to lead other sinners to repentance.” - Philip Ryken

We must lead others. But we have to start with ourselves.

Conclusion

Have I received mercy?

Am I extending mercy to others?

Am I extending mercy to brothers?

What does discipleship look like in my life? Examples?

Am I being discipled? Am I discipling?