PROCLAMATION: A NEW WAY TO LIVE BECAUSE OF A LIFE LIVED

PROBLEM:

We were at Disney last week, I know, I am not getting any sympathy from all the disney lovers in the church.

While we were there, it was the Festival of the Arts at Epcot, and whenever they have one of the special seasons at Epcot, they have special food stations setup all around the world, highlighting that cultures unique take on a few food items. What’s amazing about those little stations is that the food is amazing.

Tomato Soup with Bacon, Apple and Brie Grilled Cheese

Ravioli— sweet sausage ravioli, mushrooms, caramelized onions, and creamy Parmesan sauce.

House-made Chorizo and Potato Empanada

Crème de Brie en Petit Pain- warm creamy Brie in a house-made bread bowl.

CARNE ASADA- seared beef tenderloin, grilled queso fresco, refried beans, scallion, and ranchera salsa

Oh, I could keep going but I won’t. It was amazing.

But the good news, bad news about each of those stations was this…it was all small plates. And since Kelly and I were sharing, we basically each just got a taste, but it made us want more. So we went back another day!

What I hope to do today is to give you a taste of the Kingdom of God.

In these hyper divided times where it seems we are gridlocked over social issues, race tensions, the pandemic, certainly politics and the economy. And where in many ways, much of society has moved rapidly towards “if you disagree with me, then you are my enemy.” I hope today will give you a taste, a longing, a “what if” for something more. Not just for our world, but for your life, family, neighbors, friends…and those who are enemies.

STAND FOR THE READING OF GOD’S WORD

27 “But I say to you who listen: Love your enemies, do what is good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If anyone hits you on the cheek, offer the other also. And if anyone takes away your coat, don’t hold back your shirt either.

30 Give to everyone who asks you, and from someone who takes your things, don’t ask for them back. 31 Just as you want others to do for you, do the same for them. 32 If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.

33 If you do what is good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 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 be repaid in full.

35 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. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. Luke 6:27-36

SOLUTION:

This is the word of the Lord, thanks be to God!

We are in the season reflected in the church calendar called “Epiphany”.

EPIPHANY CELEBRATES GOD REVEALING HIMSELF TO THE WORLD

And this revealing himself to the world has profound implications for our lives. It means we who claim to follow Jesus are seeking to live out his way, but it’s a way to live that can only be lived because of Jesus, not in our own power and not in our own strength.

And Jesus is teaching this group of people about what life in his kingdom will look like.

JESUS SAYS WE WILL HAVE ENEMIES

27 “But I say to you who listen: Love your enemies, do what is good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Luke 6:27-28

It’s a little shocking isn’t it? He comes right out and says, you are going to have enemies…

Living the way of King Jesus means there will be people who will not be for the way of King Jesus.

But the most shocking thing Jesus says here is not that we are going to have enemies, it’s how we are to RESPOND to those who are considered enemies!

Luke 6:27-29 ““But I say to you who listen: Love your enemies, do what is good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If anyone hits you on the cheek, offer the other also. And if anyone takes away your coat, don’t hold back your shirt either.”

Jesus states the bold idea at the beginning…Love your enemies…but then begins to show us what that would look like. And this isn’t a list of do’s and don’ts, Jesus is describing a posture towards others.

“Jesus’ point was not to provide his followers with a new rule-book, a list of dos and don’ts that you could tick off one by one, and sit back satisfied at the end of a successful moral day. The point was to illustrate, an attitude of heart, a lightness of spirit in the face of all that the world can throw at you. And at the centre of it is the thing that motivates and gives colour to the whole: you are to be like this because that’s what God is like.” N.T. Wright

The first posture Jesus describes here is this:

A POSTURE OF BLESSING

Do what is good

Bless those who curse

Pray for those mistreat you

Now, show of hands…how many of you have really lived that out this week! Just kidding, don’t put your hands up!

Can you imagine with me, for just a moment, what our lives would be like if this posture was the posture that exuded from our lives?

Something I believe is important for us to do is to name our enemies. For just a few moments, think about the realtionship with someone you have in your life or even someone who is “out there” that if you would say...that person is an enemey. Could be anyone.

But now think about if our posture towards those people was

Do what is good

Bless those who curse

Pray for those mistreat you

This is not the only place Jesus references this posture.

Luke 6:22-23 “Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you, insult you, and slander your name as evil because of the Son of Man. “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy. Take note—your reward is great in heaven, for this is the way their ancestors used to treat the prophets.”

Matthew 5:44 “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,”

Proverbs 25:21 “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,”

This is a posture of blessing. And as Jesus says in this passage, we should treat others the way we want to be treated. This is the posture we want from others isn’t it?

Do what is good

Bless those who curse

Pray for those mistreat you

The second posture is one that will probably really push some of our American sensabilities and that’s ok. The kingdom of God isn’t America, so there will always be some incongruence to these two kingdoms.

A POSTURE OF NON-RETALIATION

In our God, guns and glory culture here in America, espcially here in the south, this one almost seems foriegn doesn’t it, but here are the words of Jesus, in a very physically violent society.

Luke 6:29 “If anyone hits you on the cheek, offer the other also.”

What is Jesus saying here?

One commentator described the term cheek here as really the jaw. Thankfully, the CSB translation gives us a much better description of the idea Jesus was trying to communicate here…it’s HITs not slaps.

This is a personal attack Jesus is describing and again, it’s our response that matters.

“offer the other also...”

Instead of it being “blow for blow” Jesus says our response is a posture of non-retaliation

We may not respond with physical violence, but what about our thoughts? What about our words? Scripture tells us that life and death are in the power of the tounge. Words can be just a violent and cause in some cases, just as much harm as our hands.

Again, this is a decisive posture to those who seek to harm us

“He who retaliates thinks that he is manfully resisting aggression; in fact, he is making an unconditional surrender to evil.” G.B. Caird

“If you lived in a society where everyone believed in this God, there wouldn’t be any violence. There wouldn’t be any revenge.” N.T. Wright

How uncomfortable does that make you right now…how many “well what abouts” are running through your thoughts right now? How many extreme scenarios are you trying to justify in your mind? I know I was when I was writing this.

But let’s just let the words of Jesus be our guide...

PASTORALLY… let me say this to us…the realities of the kingdom of God should make us a little uncomfortable. All week long, 365 days a year, we have the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of America, and the kingdom of our political party, and the kingdom of our career in our face front and center.

And Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world. Which means that when we pray the dangerous line in the Lord’s prayer…your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, those realities, when confronted, should make us uncomfortable.

The violence we see in the world, the retaliation to others at offense, no matter the justification for it, is all a signpost that something in this world is broken. Jesus desires that his followers live in this way, that we would have a posture of blesssing, a posture of non-violence and the last reality I want to point out in this text is:

A POSTURE OF DETACHMENT FROM POSSESSIONS

Jesus says:

Luke 6:29-31 “And if anyone takes away your coat, don’t hold back your shirt either. Give to everyone who asks you, and from someone who takes your things, don’t ask for them back.”

We probably have a few coats and shirts we could spare, so this probably doesn’t hit us the way it would have hit Jesus’ original audience

The words here that cause pain is: “takes away” and “takes your things”

What is this implying? Stealing.

And the posture Jesus would desire us have would be so radical it would be considered irrational.

ILLUSTRATION: Let’s say my garage door was uP…someone steals my Echo Blower…I walk out while that person is going down my driveway and say HEY! You want my edger too?

Sounds silly doesn’t it. But this is the type of posture our Lord wants us towards our possession.

You see, all through the scriptures, there is the constant reminder for us as humans to be detached from our physical possessions

You notice Jesus didn’t say here “if someone needs a coat go buy them one”. It’s if someone takes something …offer them something else as well!

This is a life that is detached from personal possessions. This is a life that isn’t consumed by personal treasures. This is a life that knows what the rewards really is.

“The gospel bestows love for hostility, benevolence for hatred, prayer for curses, help for the persecuted, patience for the hungry and grace of reward.” Ambrose of Milan

THE GOSPEL:

Now you maybe saying to yourself…I am not good enough, or strong enough to do this…good, none of us are. It is only because of the life of Jesus that we are 1) able to even have this model for our lives 2) be empowered to live this way because of his death, burial and resurrection.

You see Jesus lived this perfectly.

Posture of blessing…father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing

Posture of non-violence…garden…call legions of angels, could have at any point retaliated…but he didn’t…he surrendered

Jesus lived his life detached from physical possessions.

And now, because he has given his life, he has given us new life. And isn’t this a beautiful way to live?

Pray…Lord, let it be, let our lives of blessing, non-retaliation and detachment from possessions be a taste of the kingdom of God to the very hurting, broken world we live in.

LORD’S SUPPER:

Have in our minds as we take the lords supper today, the backdrop of this message with the words of Jesus in the garden

Matthew 26:47-56 “While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, suddenly arrived. A large mob with swords and clubs was with him from the chief priests and elders of the people. His betrayer had given them a sign: “The one I kiss, he’s the one; arrest him.” So immediately he went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him. “Friend,” Jesus asked him, “why have you come?” Then they came up, took hold of Jesus, and arrested him. At that moment one of those with Jesus reached out his hand and drew his sword. He struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his ear. Then Jesus told him, “Put your sword back in its place because all who take up the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and he will provide me here and now with more than twelve legions of angels? How, then, would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?” At that time Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs, as if I were a criminal, t…”

CHRIST HAS DIED

CHRIST HAS RISEN

CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN