Sermon on the Mount

Treat others as you want to be treated.

Does anyone here have a nemisis?

Like you are the Batman and they are the Joker?

You are the Americas and they are the Russians

You are the Katniss Everdeen and they are President Snow?

Have you ever just had a enemy so bad?

Today there is no way to be shy of a enemy or even someone who does not see eye to eye with you.

I remember my arch nemisis, I have had a few of them. It happens when you live a life with strong foundations, people will see what it will take to make them break or they will see how far they can build upon you until you break. Thats life right?

Well let me tell you about this one guy, Ned. Ned and me started out as good friends and we got along but slowly I just could not stand to be around him, I learned more about him and how our visions for our life and our focuses did not line but.

Once things between us started to drift it became a little more toxic. I started to actually hate this guy but I also knew like hey I should not hate this guy cuz I am a christian.

It progressed to a point where yeah I don’t go out of my way to text him or connect with him. But also I know that if he needs something or if there is something happening in his life that I will be quick to ask if he needs a hand.

Jesus gives us this word through the sermon o nthe mount in Luke chapter 6. Here he talks about loving our enemies and the reasoning for this.

Luke 6:29–36 NIV

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. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 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. 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. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

If someone slapped you on the cheek your first response is probably not to let them salp your other cheek.

Jesus lays down this golden rule that has now transpired to something that your sundays school teach probably told you

“treat others as you want to be treated”

Thats a biblical teaching and like tons of people use it. Like Jesus was a social influencer and he totally knew it.

Jesus is so straight forward here that I tryed to look at a commentary and it litterally says nothing about this.

Jesus is challenging us to love our enemies and those being compeltely counter cultural

So lets define a common enemy

If you are good their is bad right? So if you are a Christian can you say that sin is your enemy? how about a sinner?

well yes sin is a enemy but a sinner is just someone who sins, Hate the cause not the person. So if you know someone who sins, which I think everyone does then you are challenged to love them even more then. Repaying them double what you owe, leading to them without expecting repayment.

In small groups will look a bit more at the why Jesus asks us to do this but

its important to note the next passage where for the same reason he talks about judge others and why we should not do that. He ends it with a parable, can the blind lead the blind?

retorical question but if you want to live a life for Jesus you got to follow him in what he says,

if you want to lead others to Jesus you got to be able to see. If you can’t see you can’t lead, if you can’t lead then your lead and if you lead you sink and if you sink then you are at the bottom of the ocean.

See the sermon on the mount is going to take a bit of a turn now, where we are going to be diving into the relational aspect of it alot more but this is the bases of it, if we do not love our enemies if we judge others then we have no relationial currency, no give or take with the people around us. Unforunate but true.

So we are going to dive in to small groups and look at the why?

Highs and Lows

Name famous enemies of each other?

Can you think of one person you really don’t like? Why don’t you like them?

What would it look like to show that person that you love them?

Would they want to be your friend if you showed them love? (not a right or wrong awnser)

Why do we show people who are our enemies that we love them?

How does loving our enemies relate to being the salt and light of the world (drawning back to last week)?