Grace exemplified / It's Done In Faith
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But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.
Point 1:
How do I love my enemy? What does it look like?
How do I love my enemy? What does it look like?
The law of reciprocity, it is a social norm that operates in society. Social norm meaning behavior that is normal in society. The law of reciprocity says that if I do something for you, you have to do something for me in return. Furthermore, an individual is motivated to do something for an individual if it will benefit the giver.
Jesus shatters that social norm in this passage of scripture. He tells his disciples to “Love your enemies and do good, and lend”. You mean Jesus be kind and affectionate to my enemy? The one that is trying to bring harm to me, the one that is trying to come against me, the one that is trying to sabotage me? Yes, Jesus said be kindly affectionate to them and don’t stop at being kindly affectionate, do good to them.
You mean if I see my enemy struggling and having a hard time you want me to help them out? You mean if they lose their sheep or their goat and I see it, instead of me being vengeful and allowing it to wonder on, you want me to bring the livestock back to them.....Yes. What about the individual that has been giving me a hard time on my job and at the end of the day they are behind in production, you mean you want me to help them out when just yesterday they attempted to get me in trouble? Yes.
You mean if they are my enemy and they hit a tight spot, Jesus you are telling me to help them out, give them a couple of dollars to get some food or to help them with their bills? Yes.
What does loving my enemy look like?
What does loving my enemy look like?
We must go back a couple of verses, because here Jesus surmises some statements he made earlier. Let’s go to verses 27-31
But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
So now when we group these commandments together the picture becomes clear as to what we should do to love our enemies:
Jesus says “To those who are willing to listen”.....because every one is not willing to do this....but Jesus said if you love me.....keep my commandments. So here are the commandments:
Love your enemies - be kindly affectionate to them, be merciful and pitiful to them.
Do good to them - see to their well-fare, physically, mentally, spiritually.
Bless them that curse you - it’s more than profanity, but someone who desires to see bad come to your life, those who attempt to speak negativity over your life, that try to doom you.
Pray for them that despitefully use you- meaning that you pray for them that mistreat you, pray for them that abuse you.
Don’t retaliate when people do harm to you.
When people take things from you (cloak) offer your coat also. They take because they are in need.
When they take, don’t ask for your things back…let’em have it.
You do unto others, as you’d have them do unto you (verse 31).
Then Jesus surmises in verse 35:
Love your enemies (once again).
Do good to your enemies.
Lend to your enemies hoping for nothing in return.
Why do I have to do this.....I can imagine his disciples saying “This is crazy” why do I have to do this?
The law of reciprocity is still in play, although it has changed according to what Jesus desires of us. We don’t love our enemies or be affectionately kind to them expecting them to be kind to us in return. We do not do good to our enemies in hopes that they will do good to us. We don’t lend to our enemies in hopes that if we lend to them they will lend to us or that it may change their behavior towards us.
We don’t do this because this is a list of rules that Jesus decided to come up with for us to make it to glory.
We love our enemies, we do good to them, we loan to them because the LORD has done these things for us and he is doing this for us, and he will do it for us. We reciprocate unto them what the LORD has reciprocated unto us! This is what grace is, grace is unmerited favor, it is the lovingkindness of God shown and demonstrated towards us.
When the LORD saved you; you didn’t deserve to be saved! You are not saved because you lived such a righteous life....even today many of us have it twisted, we have it all wrong, we really thing that we are saved because we are doing good. NO!
You are not made right in the sight of God by simply not doing this and not doing that. Paul says:
[All] are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus,
Grace is unmerited favor, it means that you didn’t deserve the kindness that was shown toward you! Even in your filth, even in you mess, God still loves you, even when you weren’t living right, God was still looking out for you, he was still watching over you, he was still providing for you, he was still protecting you. Thank God for his mercy! I’ll come back to this scripture in a minute.
Grace is usually shown to an individual who can not help themselves, they are helpless, they are without any strength:
Grace is usually shown to an individual who can not help themselves, they are helpless, they are without any strength:
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
There are times in which your enemies will be helpless and vulnerable. It is the wisdom of God to reach out to them because God has the power to help the helpless. Show mercy to them because one day God showed mercy to you. Help them, because one day God helped you!
Before you believed and were saved you were an enemy to God:
This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.
But thanks be unto God that he was merciful to us and that he extended grace our way. How and when did God extend grace to us?
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
When Jesus came to the world, he came to bring salvation to mankind. How did Jesus bring salvation to mankind?
Then later in the same text Paul says:
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.
Jesus brought salvation by his death and his resurrection in order to save us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his own possession, committed to doing good works! When we love our enemies, when we do good to them, when we lend to them not expecting anything in return we are committing ourselves to a pattern of good deeds.
Let me return to Romans 5:6
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
When mankind could not help its self, when man continued to fall short of the glory of God, when mankind could not get its self right with God, CHRIST DIED! Christ gave his life! He died to give you the help you need! (REPEAT THIS) IT’S DONE IN FAITH! When you are struggling with self, when you are struggling with your flesh, when you are struggling with the temptation just remember that CHRIST DIED to give you the help that you need “WHEN WE WERE YET WITHOUT STRENGTH, IN DUE TIME CHRIST DIED FOR THE UNGODLY”. See we need help, if God can get us to the place where we can love our enemies then surely God can bring us through anything, God can deliver us through from anything, if you are going to love your enemies.....IT’S DONE IN FAITH, IT’S DONE IN FAITH, It’s done by believing that Jesus died to give you access to the power of love by the Holy Ghost.
You cannot love your enemy by simply willing it. Your heart has to be changed, you have to be empowered by the Holy Ghost and full of the Holy Ghost. Why? Because you have an override within your mind called the carnal mind aka flesh aka sinful nature that is against the laws and commandments of God. That override has problem been at work this service telling you that you can’t do it, telling you that you haven’t gotten there yet, telling you that you are exempt from loving your enemies. Your carnal mind is not subject to the things of God neither will it be. This is why your heart, your mind has to be changed, it has to be regenerated:
He saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but because of His own pity and mercy, by [the] cleansing [bath] of the new birth (regeneration) and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
The Holy Ghost/New Birth comes through faith in Jesus Christ! Not only do you need to be born again, you need to be renewed in the Holy Ghost....for those of us that have gotten real comfortable in our salvation....you need to be renewed! Otherwise it is impossible for you to love like the Lord wants us to love!
The lord says, by loving your enemies, by doing good to them, by lending to them and not expecting anything in return that:
“Your reward shall be great, and ye shall be children of the Highest”. It’s done in faith!
I do these things, not looking for something in return naturally but looking for a great reward. I do it so that I can please the Lord, I do it to be blessed by God, I do it so that I can receive a crown of righteousness. I do it in faith, knowing that if I don’t receive a thank you, if I don’t get a recompense of reward, if I don’t get any earthly merit, that God sees my good and that in faith one day he’s going to reward me. I do it in faith because when I obey the commandments of God he will command his blessings upon me.
And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation].
Next week close with:
Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
Main Points:
I don’t just love my enemy because I have to, I love my enemy because of my faith (it’s done in faith).
I love my enemies because I’m a child of God and that is what God does.
I obey God’s commandments in faith realizing that I am destined to receive a blessing. I don’t just do it to be blessed, I do it because I am blessed of God. I do it in faith because not only will God bless me now for doing, but I do it in faith because God will reward me in the end-time.
If you really want to be blessed in life, Peter has given us guidelines in which we are to follow to receive the blessings of the LORD.
The blessing plan: 4 Things: Refrain from speaking evil, refrain from guile, run away from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it.