Second Mile Christians

Introduction

There is an old expression that is a mainstay in the teaching of exemplary business practices. This expression was first recorded in a business practice context in around 1900, but it’s origins go back much further. That expression is “go the extra mile.” It is used in the business sense as providing a value added service for your customer. It means going beyond what the customer expects in the routine transaction of business.

A witnessed a recent example at Best Buy in Oklahoma City. Audrey and I were there looking at laptop computers with the plan to replace our aging laptop with one from this century. I found one I liked. I had already read the reviews on-line about this particular computer and had decided that this was one of the likely candidates. It had a capable processor and a decent amount of memory. I had almost ordered it on-line, but decided I wanted to see it up close and personal before I purchased it.

I told the clerk that this is one I wanted. He pulls out his little scanner/cell phone device and scans the code on the computer. He looks at his little screen and says, “I’m afraid I have some bad news, this one is sold out.” He asked it I would like to order one, it would be delivered in about two weeks. I told him no thanks.

Then he takes his little device and starts entering some data on the screen. After a minute he tells me that he has checked all the stores in the metro area and this particular model is out of stock in all the stores. Now that wasn't particular helpful to me, but it was an example of going the extra mile to help a customer.

I mentioned that the phrase “going the extra mile” went much further back than 1900. In fact, it goes back to Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 5:40-42

40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

Today I want to talk to you about going that extra mile, how you can be a second mile Christian, and how you can invest your things, your time, and your treasure in other people, to become a second mile Christian.

Possessions

Matthew 5:40-42 “And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.”

40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.

A tunic was a garment something like a shirt only perhaps a little longer. Something worn against the skin. The cloak was an outer garment like a coat or a robe and also was generally a much more expensive garment.

The cloak was such an important garment that there is an admonition in the old testament against keeping someones cloak overnight.

Exodus 22

26 If ever you take your neighbor’s cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, 27 for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep?

an allusion, probably, to the practice of the Romans and some Eastern nations, who, when government dispatches had to be forwarded, obliged the people not only to furnish horses and carriages, but to give personal attendance, often at great inconvenience, when required. But the thing here demanded is a readiness to submit to unreasonable demands of whatever kind, rather than raise quarrels, with all the evils resulting from them. What follows is a beautiful extension of this precept.1

It flies in the face of what we consider justice to be. We tend to think of justice as an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Jesus actually makes that comparison earlier in the chapter starting in verse 38:

Matthew 5:38-39 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”

When Jesus says “You have heard it said, He is talking about readings that His audience had probably heard from the Old Testament. In three different places in the Old Testament is talks about an eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth, Exodus 21, Leviticus 24, and Deuteronomy 19.

The eye for an eye person is the one who likes to keep tally sheets. I’m sure you know someone like that. A person who keeps a list of every wrong thing anyone has ever done to them, or that they perceive someone has done to them. They keep this list and then look for opportunities to “even the score,” a chance to even up their tally sheet. A person that you might hear say “Oh yes, I owe him one.”

What Jesus is trying to teach us, is that being a follower of Jesus in not about seeing justice done, not about keeping a tally sheet of the wrong others have done to us. It is about being a blessings to those around us.

Verse 41 leads us to our second point:

Time

41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

There is more going on with this verse than is first apparent. The word for mile here in the Greek is “milion.” It is a Roman word representing 1000 paces. Other places in the New Testament where a measurement is rendered, it is stated in so many stadian, about an eight of a mile, so if the Greek says 16 stadian, modern translators would record this as two miles. This is the only use in the Bible of the milion term for mile and we will soon see the reason.

During Jesus’ ministry, Palestine was occupied by Roman soldiers. By Roman law a soldier could require any resident to carry his equipment, his armor, his bags, whatever, for one mile. If asked, you had to do it, you couldn’t refuse. No matter how inconvenient it was for you, no matter what else you had going, no matter how pressing your own business was, under penalty of law you had to assist this Roman soldier.

What Jesus is talking about here is a readiness to submit to unreasonable demands of whatever kind, rather than raise quarrels, with all the evils resulting from them.

This is the root of the “going the extra mile” term. I’m sure we all know someone who routinely goes that extra mile in the performance of their duties. I have seen examples in this very church.

Herschel H. Hobbs was a noteworthy pastor of some years ago, who once pastored a church in Oklahoma City. I read a story he told of an incident that happened in his church. He said:

Many years ago we had a stewardship banquet in our church in Oklahoma City. I said to the guest speaker, “In this dining room tonight is perhaps the wealthiest woman in Oklahoma. Can you pick her out of this crowd?” When he failed, I pointed to a little lady moving from table to table pouring coffee. “That is she.”

That’s an example of going the extra mile.

We have all been in that position where someone asks us to do something that is inconvenient to us. Our first inclination is to find some excuse as to why we cannot do it, or if we do submit, we make sure that person knows what a sacrifice we are making for them, and we will write it on our mental tally sheet, so that we may be compensated as some point in the future. Jesus tells us here that if someone asks something of us, we should respond by doing even more than they expected.

Christian financial consultant and author Larry Burkett related a story in his book “Business by the Book,” about going the extra mile.

Burkett said in 1984 he leased an office in a building that proved to be a nightmare. The foundation had not been properly constructed, and the office building was literally sinking several inches a year into the ground. After more than three years of putting up with assorted problems, including power failures and several weeks without water, Burkett moved his business to another location.

Two months later Burkett received a call from his former landlord who demanded that Burkett remodel and repaint his former office space. Burkett said no, feeling he had already been more than fair with the landlord, but the former landlord continued to call with his demands. Burkett consulted an attorney who agreed that Burkett had fulfilled his responsibility and should not do anything further. Burkett writes,

The Lord used my oldest son to offer me some counsel. He reminded me that the man and his wife had lost their only child a few years earlier and still suffered from that tragedy. We had often commented that we would like to help them.… My son suggested that this might be an opportunity to go that extra mile the Lord suggested.

As I considered that, I had to agree with his conclusion. We decided to commit several thousand dollars to restore a virtually non usable building.

Burkett finishes by saying “Going the extra mile doesn’t usually make good business sense, but it makes great spiritual sense.”

The last point we will look at is:

Investing your Treasure

Money

42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

Here Jesus is speaking about fulfilling the needs of someone who genuinely needs some assistance. I don’t think this passage is talking about the person you see standing on the corner with a cardboard sign asking for a donation from you. We are instructed to support those that are less fortunate than ourselves, but if you don’t use some level of discernment in who you assist, you would soon be the person standing on corner holding the cardboard sign. I’m not saying if the Lord lays it in your heart to help that person standing on the corner, you shouldn’t do it. I’m just saying we have to use some spiritual discernment in how we go about helping others.

The Old Testament addresses this issue as well;

Deuteronomy 15

7 “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, 8 but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. 9 Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. 10 You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11 For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

Proverbs 19:17

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed.

I like that verse, Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, now that’s something to think about.

Conclusion

We have looked at examples where scripture has taught us an unexpected lesson. Unexpected in the sense that it is not logical to our minds. it is not rational by the standards of the world. But the worlds way is not Jesus’ way.

There was a young black man, born in Harlem, by the name of Tom Skinner. He was a gifted student and excelled in high school, but was living a double life. By day he was president of the student body, but by night he was the leader of a notorious street gang in New York City, The Harlem Lords.

His parents had no idea of his gang affiliation, but he expected they would soon find out, because it arose that there was going to be a large fight in New York City involving five street gangs. If Tom’s gang prevailed, he would be the most powerful gang leader in the city.

As he was preparing for the big fight, an unexpected radio show came on the rock and roll station he was listening to and a preacher started quoting scripture:

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Tom tried to resist the message, but for some reason could not turn the station.

The preacher went on to say that Jesus Christ was the only person who ever lived who was both the truth about God and the truth about man, and told Tom that he could never be what God intended him be without inviting Christ into his life.

The Word of God, delivered by an uneducated radio preacher, broke through a wall of hatred and disillusionment in that young man. Tom Skinner bowed his head and challenged Jesus Christ to turn his life around.

Tom was playing football shortly after his conversion, and a white boy that he was blocking got angry at him and slammed him in the stomach. As he bent over in pain the boy delivered a blow to his back that sent him to the ground. The boy then kicked him and called him some vile names including the n-word.

Tom was one tough dude and as a non-Christian, had cleaned the clock of many a man for far less. He got up and said to that young man, "You know that because of Jesus Christ I love you anyway."

The guy was so shocked by that response that he later said, "Tom Skinner did more to rid me of prejudice in that one moment than anything that has ever happened to me."

Tom could have struck back. He could have won the battle, but he would have lost the war, and that boy would have gone on hating black people for the rest of his life. Tom Skinner was a Second Mile Christian.

So ask yourself this morning, does the way of Jesus work? I think you will find it is the only way that works.