Undeserved Kindness

This morning, we are in Luke chapter 6 is where we're going to be. And again, I'm sure you get tired of hearing me say it, but if you didn't bring a Bible, there's always Bibles in the foyer. There's a whole rack there.

Sign right on top of the rack says, if you didn't bring one, use one. If you need one, take one. If you know somebody that needs one, give it away. We can get more. This is God's message to us.

And this morning, we're looking in Luke chapter 6. And I'm going to be honest with you. The last couple of weeks or two or three weeks, we've been looking at some things that, to be honest, are not easy as believers.

There are some things in God's Word that are relatively easy to understand and also relatively easy to do. But I want us to understand that there are a lot of things in God's Word that are easy to understand.

However, they are hard to do. The putting it actually into practice in our lives is where it begins to be difficult.

This morning, the Scripture that we're looking at, it's Scripture of Christ sharing, but it's not easy. It's hard. Luke chapter 6, and we're going to begin in verse 27.

And I'm going to ask if you'd stand, if you're able, as we read God's Word this morning. Luke chapter 6, beginning in verse 27. And again, Christ is talking here, and this is what God has to share with each one of us today.

But I say to 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 to him that smites you on the cheek, offer also the other. And him that takes away your cloak, forbid not to take your coat also. Give to every man that asks of you, and of him that takes away your goods, ask them not again.

And as you would that men should do to you, do also to them likewise. For if you love them which love you, what thanks have you? For sinners also love those that love them.

And if you do good to them which do good to you, what thanks have you? For sinners also do even the same. And if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive, what thanks have you?

For sinners also lend to sinners to receive as much again. But love you your enemies, and do good and lend, hoping for nothing again.

And your reward shall be great. And you shall be the children of the highest, for he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil. Be you therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

Let's pray together. Lord God, we thank you again that we can come together in your house this morning. What a blessing. What a privilege that is. And Lord, to look around and just see the ones that are gathered around us, to know that we have our spiritual family around us.

Lord, I thank you for that blessing. To know we're in your presence. There is nothing greater than that. And we thank you for that. And Lord, this morning to know as we read your word that it is your message for us.

It's your voice. It's your words. It's what you have for us on this day. I thank you for it, Lord. And I pray that we would look at it as that, and that we would allow it to have an impact on our lives.

So just speak to our hearts today. And we ask and pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior. Amen. You can be seated this morning. All right.

As we look at this scripture this morning, there's, to be honest, there's a whole lot of things to unpack here. You know, we can read it and think, oh, that's simple. And it is in a lot of ways. But there is a lot of stuff here that I think we really need to take a little closer look at.

And it involves some questions for us to ask ourselves. Do you like asking yourselves questions? Sometimes, sometimes not.

Why sometimes do you not like asking yourself questions? Because if you're honest, you might not like the answer. Isn't that the truth? Okay.

Let's look at the first verse. Verse 27 that we read. Simple statement. Christ speaking. But it also is the first question this morning.

What do you think then the question is? Christ says, but I say to you which here. So what is the first question? Can you hear? Are you in the group that is listening?

Can you hear what Jesus has to say here? That is the first question. And really, on its face, it seems like a simple question, doesn't it? Doesn't it? Can you hear? What is the answer?

Can you hear? So why sometimes do we not fit in that group? Because we don't want to hear it.

Selective listening. None of us ever have that. I know I don't. I knew my wife would look up and look right at me at that moment. Distractions.

There are a lot of reasons sometimes why we don't hear. Often it's because we make the choice not to hear. Because there are other things that are more important. Or we don't want to hear what is being said.

Or something is being shared that's hard enough that we just automatically dismiss it. You know, I was thinking about that this last week. And I know I share sometimes about way back years.

Getting years and years. The years keep going by. But I remember way back in high school in chemistry class. And my wife and I at the time, she was a year older, but we were in the same chemistry class.

And the teacher would get up and start sharing chemistry stuff. Just chemistry stuff. I don't know how else to describe it. And to me, chemistry, I like words.

I don't like formulas. I don't like any of that. So, to be honest, as soon as he would start talking, what do you think happened in my mind? Yeah. Click.

It's off. My mind is on other things. My girlfriend at the time was sitting in the row behind me. So, my mind was more on her than it was on him.

Because I wanted my mind to be on this and I didn't want to hear what he had to say. Because I didn't understand it anyway. It's hard. How often do we do that as believers? We want to focus on the things that are easy.

And yet, the things that are difficult, we just kind of close those out. Well, I don't want to hear that. Because that means I might have to put some effort into understanding it. And some effort into applying it to my life.

But Jesus is saying to those which hear. I hope that is you and I. Because what follows after this, it's things that are hard. It's things that are difficult.

But that's the message this morning that Christ was sharing not just with them, but with you and I. So, let's look at what he says after this. Because this is a hard saying. But I say to you which hear.

And it isn't long before he gives the first hard thing. Love your enemies. Do good to them which hate you.

You still tuned in? Okay. Because this message is not just for them. It's for us, right? And you know, Lisa talked about earlier when she was up here. That part of our job as believers is to serve God and to share His love.

I think it's what you said. To share His love. We all understand we're supposed to share His love, right? With who? That is the next question. With who are we to share God's love?

Everybody. Okay. Everybody. It's easy to say everybody. That's very easy to say. Let's get more specific. Who are we to share His love with? Everyone.

But again, that's easy to say everyone. That includes people we love. Obviously, share our love with people that we love. But the Bible says if we just love those who love us, what does it really say about that?

What it really is saying, and I don't want to just paraphrase or put it in my own words, but if I did have to put it in my words, what it's saying is you love those that love you, big deal.

Really, big deal. Anybody can do that. Everybody does that, as a matter of fact. Because that comes naturally. Is it hard to love those that love you? No, they love you.

You love them in return. That's easy. That's all good. Jesus is not always about the easy stuff. So who specifically is He sharing here that we are supposed to love? I mean, we can say the people that love us.

We can say everyone. But specifically, what is the category that He mentions here? Love your enemies. Easy or hard?

Hard. Hard. Why? Because they don't love us back. And actually, it may be a step further.

They may not only love you back, but they may actively dislike you. They may, and Jesus talks about this later, they may actually hate you instead of love you.

They may be working in opposition to you. They may even be trying to harm you. That's what an enemy does, doesn't it? I mean, define an enemy.

What is an enemy? What's an enemy? The opposite of a friend. What is an enemy? Speak. Use your minds.

What's an enemy? How would you describe an enemy? Somebody who wants to harm you? Someone who wishes ill towards you? Someone who has vastly different objectives than you that work against yours?

That's what an enemy is, isn't it? And He says here, love your enemies. So what does that mean to love your enemies? Well, love is something that stems out of our heart, right?

Or stems out of our mind. It's a thought. It's a feeling. It's an emotion. So we are with our hearts and with our minds to love them. Not always easy, is it?

We can say in our mind, I need to love that person, but needing to love them and actually love them, there's a huge step in between the two, isn't there? We need to strive with our minds to actually say, I love that person, even though they're against me, even though their views are completely against mine, even though they hate me, even though they may treat me wrong, I need to still love them.

How do we get to that point? How do we get our minds to do that and our hearts? Forgive them. Ask God to help us.

Absolutely. Pray. Action. I think all those things are true. I think the most important step, at least in my mind, is to try to look at them not through our eyes, because our eyes are not always accurate, are they?

Our views are not always accurate. We need to look at them through whose eyes? Not ours, but God's. It's a heart issue. Look at them through God's eyes.

Is He one of their creation? Everybody say yes. He's one of their creation. Is He someone that God loves?

How much does God love that person? Guess what? Enough that He sent His Son to die for that person. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.

That means everybody in the world. That doesn't mean God likes what they're doing. That doesn't mean God approves of their lifestyle, of their decisions, of their views. But as an individual, God loves them and is concerned about them.

If God loves them and understands that He wants the best for them, that helps us view them in the same way. That they're a creation of God. God loves them.

Therefore, I need to love them. So the first thing is trying to get our minds to think about people in the right way, especially our enemies. The second thing, look what it says after that in verse 27.

Love your enemies, but the very next thing He says is what? Do good. The first thing is a mind and a heart thing, isn't it? It's an emotion or a feeling.

What is the second part of this? It's an action. And these two things should reflect each other. The love that we have for other people should result in our actions towards them.

And we are to do what to them? Good. Do good to them. Isn't that what it says? Do good to them which, and here it comes in, their view towards you may be hate.

Do good to them which hate you. Do good to them. We have to understand that the things God expects of us go against our natural tendencies.

Do we get that? Do we truly remember that and understand that in our lives? Our natural tendencies, when somebody hates us, what is our natural tendency? Hate them back.

They don't like me? Well, that's all right. I don't like them either. You ever said that? Be honest. Have you ever said that? I'm not going to lie to you. I've said that. They don't like me.

That's all right. I don't really care much for them either. I'm just being honest. But then I read Scripture like this, and all of a sudden, it weighs heavy on my heart and it challenges me because I understand that view that I have is wrong.

That is not what God expects or wants or desires out of me. He doesn't want me to say, well, I don't care much for them either. He wants me to say, I love them and I need to do good to them.

For what purpose? Why should I love them and do good to them? Because they don't even like me. So why should I love them and do good to them? Obedience?

Yeah, because God tells me to. Because God's desire for them is still good, isn't it? God wants them to come to Him. God wants them to repent.

God wants them as a child of God. And you know what? If I show love and I do good to them, that's an opportunity to share that love with them. And maybe they'll come to accept Christ.

But most of all, it's obedience because God tells me to. Christ doesn't stop there, though. He goes on in the very next verse because He's not done yet, as if that wasn't hard enough, right?

But Christ knows that it would be easy for us to just say, yeah, yeah, yeah. So He goes on. He's not done. Bless them which curse you.

Bless them. What does it mean to bless someone? What's a blessing? Something good?

Wanting something good for them. That's really what a blessing is. You ask your blessing upon something, it's wanting something good for that. It's saying that we need to want good things to happen, right?

That's what a blessing is. Bless them that curse you. Even ones that are cursing us and wishing the worst for us, we're to still want what's best for them.

And what's best for them? I have an answer for that. What's best for them? Salvation. To know Jesus Christ. We need to want that for those that are cursing us.

But again, our natural reaction gets in the way of that. Because as soon as somebody curses us, what is our first inclination? Fight back.

Respond. With anger. Out of our hurt. Out of whatever. But we want to respond back. But it says here to bless them. Want what's best for them.

After that, what does He say? Bless them that curse you. Pray for them which despitefully use you.

We don't like to be used, do we? Bless them. That's a thought towards them wanting what's best. But again, Christ goes into two different areas.

The thought that we're to have for them. And then what follows that? An action that we're to do. We want what's best for them. And then what's the action that it gives that we should do?

Pray for them. A thought and an action. And these two things should reflect one another. And folks, there are numerous times that we forget that these two things are connected.

I know I always chuckle. There's a song that was on the radio quite a few years ago. And I've mentioned it in here before. But I think it bears repeating. Because we can pray for somebody but not with the right heart.

Right? The first time I heard this song, it starts with some like organ music. And you think it's a real religious song. And it's talking about prayer. And then here's the...

Maybe you've heard it before. I forget who sings it. But here's the chorus of the song. The song is called Pray for You. I pray your brakes go out running down a hill.

I pray a flower pot falls from a windowsill and knocks you in the head like I'd like to. I pray your birthday comes and nobody calls.

I pray you're flying high when your engine stalls. I pray all your dreams never come true. Just know wherever you are, near or far, in your house or in your car, wherever you are, I pray for you.

I pray for you. They're praying. They're doing the action part, which is what Jesus says to do. But what are they missing?

They're missing the connection of the what Jesus said first, the love and the bless your, those that curse you. They're missing that those two things have to be connected.

Our hearts and our minds and our actions have to reflect one another. This is what God is asking of us. And I want to tell you, to be honest, in our lives, we can become angry at those around us that have different views, that have different beliefs.

It is okay to disagree with people, first of all. We need to understand that. There are things in this world that go on that are against God's word. We need to take a stand and we need to disagree with those things.

We need to say, that is wrong. But we have to be able, at the same time we're doing it, to also be praying for the people that are in the wrong. To be praying for the people that are out of God's will and God's word.

We need to love them and to pray for them. Sometimes we not only get angry at what they're doing, but we get angry at them and our hate for the things spills over to our hate for the person.

That is not what God wants and that is not what this world needs. Our world has plenty of hate to go around. There is no shortage of hate. We should have the ability to hate the evil but love the person.

And folks, that's not always an easy thing to do, but that's really what it is talking about here in God's word. And he goes on to say what we've already talked about.

If you just love those that love you, what good is that? If you just do good to those that do good to you, what good is that? Anybody can do that. But I want you to look at another verse.

And that is verse 35. That when I read it, it really caught my attention. It's something we need to understand. It says, but love you your enemies and do good and lend hoping for nothing again and your reward shall be great.

This is why we should have a desire to do this. Because there is a reward. There is something positive that happens in our life when we do this. Your reward shall be great.

So what is this great reward? What is this positive good thing that happens in our life when we're able to do this? You shall be the children of the highest. It's what marks us as children of God.

It's what shows that we are God's children by the love that we have, not just for those that love us, but for the rest of the world. That is what God truly desires to see us. And that is the greatest reward for people to say, oh yeah, they look like their father.

They act like what they believe in. They act like the Bible. They're a reflection of God in this world. So the first reward, we shall be the children of the highest. But look what it says after that.

Because it talks about God. For He, talking about God, that's capital H at least in my Bible. He is kind to the unthankful and to the evil.

Think about that for a minute. It's saying that God is kind to those that are evil. What do you think that means?

I'm asking. Because that's an interesting verse. What do you think? That God is kind to... Isn't that what it says? He is kind to the unthankful and to the evil.

What does that mean? Because of His mercy and grace. In the natural things. The Bible says it rains on the just and the unjust.

Do good things happen to evil people? That's not fair. That's not fair, is it? I mean, evil people, God should just strike them dead.

Yeah. That they're all children.

That they're all in that category. Right. Kind of like when I... It's God's view of us. Yeah. As we look at this, He's kind to the unthankful and to the evil.

There are evil. There is evil in this world. There's no doubt of that, right? And there are those that perpetuate evil, that are active and involved in that evil. There's no way around that.

But it says that God is kind to the unthankful and to the evil. God still allows good things to happen in their lives. There's a verse that says it rains on the just and the unjust.

Is rain good? Yes. It makes things grow. It's necessary for life. Do evil people still get rain? Do other good things happen in the lives of evil people?

How do you feel about that? Because that question is kind of a reflection of how we're doing on these other things we've talked about. When something good happens into the life of someone that's evil, do we get a little salty about it?

Do we say, God, that's not fair? How dare you do something good in that evil person's life? If that's our attitude, are we really blessing our enemies and wanting what's best for them?

I mean, that's where the rubber meets the road. When we see something good happen to someone that we don't agree with or we think of as evil, what is our attitude towards that? That's a question I think that we need to take time to stop and to consider.

I mean, you think of stories in the Bible. You think of Jonah. And we all know the story of Jonah. God told him to go to the people of Nineveh and share with those people so that they would repent.

Right? What was Jonah's response to that? Because this is a very good example of what Jesus is saying here. What was Jonah's response? No.

I don't want to go. Why did he have that response? They were evil and he didn't like them. They were natural enemies.

That's what it's talking about here, enemies. God says, go so that they'll repent. And Jonah's like, I don't want to because I don't like them.

As a matter of fact, I don't want them to repent. I would rather have you destroy them. That's the story, isn't it? And a matter of fact, Jonah ended up in the end after the whale, the great fish and that whole story that we understand.

Jonah ended up going to Nineveh. They repented. Wonderful thing, right? What did Jonah think? He was upset that they repented.

Why was he upset? He wanted them destroyed. They may have repented, but I still don't like them. I would rather God have just destroyed them.

What is our view of people that are against us? Do we have a hatred for them or do we still manage to have a love for them?

Do we truly love our enemies and have good actions towards them? Do we truly bless them and want what's best for them in life? And do we truly pray for them with the right heart and spirit?

Because all of this is what God does. He is kind to the unthankful and to the evil. And here's the other thing. We get focused on that evil part.

He's kind to the evil. We don't like that sometimes and that doesn't seem fair. But really, you think about it. You know what else it puts in this category? Unthankful.

Guess what? That's sometimes us, isn't it? Oh, is that uncomfortable to hear? Is that uncomfortable to think about? Are we sometimes unthankful?

Be honest. And I said there are some questions we need to ask ourselves this morning. Are you sometimes unthankful? I'm going to let that soak in just for a minute.

Let it ruminate there a little bit. We're in this group because we are sometimes unthankful. And I think I can confidently speak for all of us.

How blessed are we? How many good things has God given us? How many good things does He give us on a daily basis? And how often then do we thank Him for it?

We are sometimes unthankful people. And God is still kind to us. If God is kind to us and merciful to us, and that's what the last verse, 36.

Be you therefore merciful. Be merciful. As your Father also is merciful. Mercy means not giving you the punishment you deserve.

God is merciful. Are you glad of that? You should be. Because all of us deserve punishment. And God is merciful. He is calling us to be the same way.

Merciful, forgiving, loving to our enemies, to those that disagree, to those that do us wrong. Still speak out against evil. Take a stand for what God's Word says is right and wrong.

Don't change that. But pray for and love the people that are involved in that evil. Pray that their hearts change.

Pray that they repent. And do it with sincerity. Not like Jonah, who had to be drug into it and didn't like it in the end because he didn't like them. Folks, have a softer heart than that.

Love your enemies. Do good to those which persecute you. Bless them which curse you. Pray for those which despitefully use you.

That's Christ's message for us. Is it hard? Everybody say yes. Yes. You know what Jesus would say? Do it anyway because that's exactly what God did for you.

This morning's message is not an easy one. For folks, the reward is great. You shall be the children of the highest.

We will be God's children and a reflection of Him. That should be our greatest desire, to be a reflection of God. And when we work at these things, we get closer to that.

Let's pray. Lord God, thank you again for this morning. I thank you for your word, for every bit of it. The things that are fun and good and fuzzy feeling, but I thank you for the things that are challenging and difficult.

Because this is what the world needs. It needs Christians who are sharing and showing love, taking a stand at the same time, but loving the people that are on the other side.

Wanting the best for them, praying for them. Lord, help us to be that kind of a Christian because that's what you're calling for here. Thank you for your mercy towards us. Help us to show that kind of mercy towards others.

To know that you are a God that loves you, are kind to the unthankful and evil. That doesn't mean there won't be a judgment day. There will. But your desire for them that before that, that they repent.

And that they come to you. And I pray, Lord, that that is our desire as well. Thank you for your message, Lord. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.