WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:13.040 Every single one of us here, you know our situations, you know our joys, you know our sadness, you know our trials, you know every experience that we're going through. 00:00:13.039 --> 00:00:23.299 Because you came and lived among us, you're a God of compassion and you understand what we are going through and what we will experience. 00:00:24.100 --> 00:00:27.420 So Lord, we pray for everyone this morning here. 00:00:28.100 --> 00:00:33.359 Lord, we thank you, we can worship you this morning in Beklue. 00:00:33.359 --> 00:00:41.359 We pray for James and pray for his throat that he'll be able to get through this service. 00:00:42.359 --> 00:00:45.240 Lord, we pray for those who are leading or singing. 00:00:46.359 --> 00:00:48.119 Lord, we thank you for them. 00:00:48.219 --> 00:00:53.759 And we pray that we indeed praise you joyfully this morning. 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:57.320 We thank you again for that psalm which Max read. 00:00:57.320 --> 00:01:04.340 And Lord, indeed, we thank you for your blessings to us in so many ways this morning. 00:01:05.060 --> 00:01:09.280 So continue with us now, pardoning our sin in Jesus' name. 00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:10.439 Amen. 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:17.239 Thank you, Roddy. 00:01:17.739 --> 00:01:22.480 Now we're going to sing another psalm, Psalm 130. 00:01:23.480 --> 00:01:30.319 A psalm that closes on a great note of redemption, a great reminder of God's forgiveness. 00:01:30.500 --> 00:01:35.560 So again, as we're able, let's stand together so that we can sing this psalm. 00:01:35.560 --> 00:01:35.560 00:01:35.560 --> 00:01:35.560 00:01:35.560 --> 00:01:35.560 00:01:35.560 --> 00:01:35.560 00:01:35.560 --> 00:01:35.560 00:01:35.560 --> 00:01:35.560 00:01:35.560 --> 00:01:35.560 00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:53.039 Lord, from the depths I go to you. 00:01:53.040 --> 00:02:00.040 Lord, hear me from on high. 00:02:00.040 --> 00:02:16.420 And give attention to my voice when I for mercy cry. 00:02:16.419 --> 00:02:35.419 Lord, in your presence who can stand if you our sins record. 00:02:35.419 --> 00:02:47.419 But yet forgiveness is with you. 00:02:47.419 --> 00:02:54.419 That we may fear you, Lord. 00:02:54.419 --> 00:02:56.419 I wait. 00:02:56.419 --> 00:02:58.419 I wait. 00:02:58.419 --> 00:03:06.419 My soul waits for the Lord. 00:03:06.419 --> 00:03:13.419 Lord, my hope is in his word. 00:03:13.419 --> 00:03:18.419 More than the watchman waits for dawn. 00:03:18.419 --> 00:03:25.419 My soul waits for dawn. 00:03:25.419 --> 00:03:32.419 My soul waits for the Lord. 00:03:32.419 --> 00:03:35.419 Lord, my soul waits for the Lord. 00:03:35.419 --> 00:03:42.419 O Israel, put your hope in God. 00:03:42.419 --> 00:03:47.419 Your hope in God. 00:03:47.419 --> 00:03:55.419 For mercy is within. 00:03:55.419 --> 00:04:06.419 And for redemption from their sins. 00:04:06.419 --> 00:04:15.419 His people will redeem. 00:04:15.419 --> 00:04:16.419 Amen. 00:04:16.419 --> 00:04:17.419 Amen. 00:04:45.420 --> 00:04:48.420 So let's hear God's word together. 00:04:48.420 --> 00:04:53.420 You have heard that it was said, eye for eye and tooth for tooth. 00:04:53.420 --> 00:04:57.420 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. 00:04:57.420 --> 00:05:01.420 If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 00:05:01.420 --> 00:05:06.420 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 00:05:06.420 --> 00:05:11.420 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 00:05:11.420 --> 00:05:17.420 Give to the one who asks you and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. 00:05:17.420 --> 00:05:21.420 You have heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 00:05:21.420 --> 00:05:27.420 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 00:05:27.420 --> 00:05:30.420 that you may be children of your father in heaven. 00:05:30.420 --> 00:05:37.420 He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 00:05:37.420 --> 00:05:41.420 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? 00:05:41.420 --> 00:05:44.420 Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 00:05:44.420 --> 00:05:49.420 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? 00:05:49.420 --> 00:05:52.420 Do not even pagans do that? 00:05:52.420 --> 00:05:58.420 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. 00:05:58.420 --> 00:05:59.420 Amen. 00:05:59.420 --> 00:06:04.420 So we're thinking about this theme of loving our enemies. 00:06:04.420 --> 00:06:09.420 And I want to begin with the story of Eric Liddell. 00:06:09.420 --> 00:06:14.420 Eric Liddell, very famous Scottish Olympian last year. 00:06:14.420 --> 00:06:17.420 The Paris Olympics kind of picked up the story. 00:06:17.420 --> 00:06:21.420 It was 100 years since he had famously refused to run the 100 meters 00:06:21.420 --> 00:06:23.420 because it was on a Sunday he wanted to worship God. 00:06:23.420 --> 00:06:25.420 Instead, he ran the 401 gold. 00:06:25.420 --> 00:06:28.420 And so lots of people know his sporting legacy. 00:06:28.420 --> 00:06:29.420 And he's Scottish. 00:06:29.420 --> 00:06:31.420 I imagine most of us, we know his sporting legacy. 00:06:31.420 --> 00:06:34.420 But I think there's something even more impressive about Eric Liddell. 00:06:34.420 --> 00:06:38.420 And it's what he did after his sporting career. 00:06:38.420 --> 00:06:41.420 It's his legacy as a Christian missionary. 00:06:41.420 --> 00:06:48.420 So Eric Liddell kind of left fame and fortune behind to go and serve God in China. 00:06:48.420 --> 00:06:53.420 And he was there in China teaching children, teaching elderly folks when the war broke out, 00:06:53.420 --> 00:06:54.420 the Second World War. 00:06:54.420 --> 00:07:01.420 And when Japan invaded China, Eric Liddell ended up in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. 00:07:01.420 --> 00:07:03.420 Grim conditions. 00:07:03.420 --> 00:07:06.420 Overcrowding, hunger, disease. 00:07:06.420 --> 00:07:10.420 You know, lots of fighting over precious resources. 00:07:10.420 --> 00:07:20.420 And lots and lots and lots and lots of survivors from that prison camp told stories about Eric Liddell and his legacy, his example. 00:07:20.420 --> 00:07:23.420 He was known in the camp as something of a peacemaker. 00:07:23.420 --> 00:07:33.420 He always sought to discourage people from expressing bitterness and hatred towards the people who were holding them hostage. 00:07:33.420 --> 00:07:43.420 He is someone who would rather suffer wrong himself instead of seeking to gain revenge or seeking to get resources for himself. 00:07:43.420 --> 00:07:50.420 In his Bible teaching, he often taught on kindness and humility and forgiveness. 00:07:50.420 --> 00:07:57.420 And he spoke about Jesus' command and the importance of loving one's enemies. 00:07:57.420 --> 00:08:02.420 And his life had a massive impact in that camp. 00:08:02.420 --> 00:08:10.420 Because he was able by God's grace to put into practice the words that we've just been reading. 00:08:10.420 --> 00:08:15.420 These words are some of the more famous of Jesus' teaching words. 00:08:15.420 --> 00:08:20.420 The phrase is still in the English language usage. 00:08:20.420 --> 00:08:22.420 You know, the idea of turning the other cheek. 00:08:22.420 --> 00:08:24.420 Of going the extra mile. 00:08:24.420 --> 00:08:25.420 Of loving your enemies. 00:08:25.420 --> 00:08:28.420 We are familiar with these phrases. 00:08:29.420 --> 00:08:38.420 But as we listened, I'm sure that we recognized that to take Jesus' words seriously is both incredibly challenging. 00:08:38.419 --> 00:08:47.419 But also, if we were to take them seriously, it would create a life and a community that would be really compelling and beautiful. 00:08:47.419 --> 00:08:50.419 The principles of not retaliating. 00:08:50.419 --> 00:08:54.419 The principle of positively showing love for one's enemies. 00:08:54.419 --> 00:09:03.419 So, the words of Jesus, those spoken 2,000 years ago thereabouts, are words with truth and with power today. 00:09:03.419 --> 00:09:08.419 I think they present a striking contrast to what maybe we're familiar with. 00:09:08.419 --> 00:09:13.419 The lots of encouragement to stand on our own rights. 00:09:13.419 --> 00:09:17.419 The instinct to fight fire with fire. 00:09:17.419 --> 00:09:25.419 If somebody wrongs us, it seems fairly normal now to cut that person out of our lives or cut them down to size. 00:09:25.419 --> 00:09:27.419 Jesus' words are very different. 00:09:27.419 --> 00:09:35.419 He brings the kingdom of grace that he's been teaching about right into the heart of all of our interpersonal relationships. 00:09:35.419 --> 00:09:38.419 And especially, I think, into our conflict here. 00:09:38.419 --> 00:09:45.419 And maybe it's something that immediately resonates with some of us. 00:09:45.419 --> 00:09:50.419 The kid in school who mocks us or bullies us, perhaps because of our faith. 00:09:50.419 --> 00:09:55.419 But maybe it's in the workplace, the colleague who has it in for us. 00:09:55.419 --> 00:10:02.419 And maybe you've had to live with some social media abuse because you shared some personal views, perhaps some Christian views. 00:10:02.419 --> 00:10:11.419 Maybe you've known what it is to be part of a circle of friends and then a whispering campaign began against you. 00:10:11.419 --> 00:10:19.419 And lots of times where we need to hear Jesus' teaching as he calls us to love our enemies. 00:10:19.419 --> 00:10:26.419 And he teaches us that in helping us to recognize that this is the way that God the Father has shown love to us. 00:10:26.419 --> 00:10:33.419 And it's the extraordinary love that he then wants us to shine and to share in the world. 00:10:33.419 --> 00:10:36.419 So we're going to look at three questions today. 00:10:36.419 --> 00:10:38.419 First, to think about what are we to do? 00:10:38.419 --> 00:10:42.419 Because there's a lot of important things to recognize. 00:10:42.419 --> 00:10:43.419 Why are we to do it? 00:10:43.419 --> 00:10:46.419 And thirdly, how can we do it? 00:10:46.419 --> 00:10:49.419 So the first question is what are we to do? 00:10:49.419 --> 00:11:03.419 The first thing that we need to see, Jesus' teaching in verse 38 to 42, is this idea of bringing grace, not justice, into our personal relationships. 00:11:03.419 --> 00:11:09.419 And so if you've been here for the last few weeks, you'll have recognized that Jesus is always targeting the false teaching of the Pharisees. 00:11:09.419 --> 00:11:13.419 And the Pharisees, again, have been guilty of abusing the law. 00:11:13.419 --> 00:11:17.419 So verse 38 are words straight from the Old Testament. 00:11:17.419 --> 00:11:20.419 You have heard that it was said, eye for eye and tooth for tooth. 00:11:20.419 --> 00:11:22.419 But they belonged in a certain place. 00:11:22.419 --> 00:11:26.419 That was a principle for the law courts. 00:11:26.419 --> 00:11:33.419 The goal here was that in a law court situation, you could ensure justice. 00:11:33.419 --> 00:11:36.419 That a punishment would fit the crime. 00:11:36.419 --> 00:11:43.419 That it wouldn't leave room for personal revenge or escalation and retaliation. 00:11:43.419 --> 00:11:50.419 But the problem is that the Pharisees have taken this courtroom principle into everyday life. 00:11:50.419 --> 00:11:57.419 And so their personal dealings are on the basis of, well, I demand justice. 00:11:57.419 --> 00:12:00.419 And my rights come first. 00:12:00.419 --> 00:12:05.419 And if you wrong me, I can demand vengeance of you. 00:12:05.419 --> 00:12:15.419 And the result of this false teaching is it goes absolutely against God's law of love. 00:12:15.419 --> 00:12:20.419 It leaves little or no room for reconciliation. 00:12:20.419 --> 00:12:30.419 It's a very harsh and divisive way of living in community to say, you're on trial and I am your judge. 00:12:30.419 --> 00:12:33.419 I think we can probably recognize that. 00:12:33.419 --> 00:12:38.419 Well, Jesus, well, he's so different. 00:12:38.419 --> 00:12:41.419 But I tell you, he begins in verse 39. 00:12:41.419 --> 00:12:49.419 And what he tells us in effect is to bring the gospel of grace into our relationships, not the courtroom. 00:12:49.419 --> 00:13:01.419 And so he gives us four scenes, four little images of selfless love, of a person being willing to adopt a servant posture, of someone being willing to return good for evil. 00:13:01.419 --> 00:13:08.419 So there in verse 39, I tell you, do not resist an evil person. 00:13:08.419 --> 00:13:12.419 If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other also. 00:13:12.419 --> 00:13:17.419 So in Jesus' day, if you gave someone the open-handed slap, it was a great insult. 00:13:17.419 --> 00:13:20.419 Obviously, instinct would be to fight back. 00:13:20.419 --> 00:13:25.419 But Jesus says, as one of my followers, be willing to bear that insult. 00:13:25.419 --> 00:13:28.419 Don't strike back, show grace. 00:13:28.419 --> 00:13:33.419 As an aside, maybe some of you noticed Will Smith's reflection. 00:13:33.419 --> 00:13:38.419 It's been 10 years since the slap at the Oscar ceremony. 00:13:38.419 --> 00:13:46.419 And he was reflecting on the fact that he has had to live with brutal public disapproval ever since that moment, if you remember it. 00:13:46.419 --> 00:13:48.419 I have no grace there. 00:13:49.419 --> 00:13:51.419 So there's the slap then in verse 40. 00:13:51.419 --> 00:13:53.419 There's the talk about the shirt. 00:13:53.419 --> 00:13:58.419 If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 00:13:58.419 --> 00:14:04.419 And the idea here, Jesus is saying, is don't stand on your legal rights. 00:14:04.419 --> 00:14:12.419 So in Old Testament law, you could never take someone's coat as a pledge overnight because they might need it to sleep on. 00:14:12.419 --> 00:14:18.419 But Jesus is saying, don't insist on your legal rights in all your personal relationships. 00:14:18.419 --> 00:14:22.419 Rather, be willing to show grace. 00:14:25.419 --> 00:14:32.419 Verse 41 takes us to the conflict where the Roman Empire is ruling over Israel. 00:14:32.419 --> 00:14:38.419 Israel, verse 41, if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 00:14:38.419 --> 00:14:44.419 So a Roman soldier within their law could force someone to carry their bag for a thousand yards. 00:14:44.419 --> 00:14:55.419 And Jesus is saying, be willing to volunteer to go above and beyond in order to surprise people by grace. 00:14:55.419 --> 00:14:58.419 Not justice, but grace. 00:14:58.419 --> 00:15:00.419 And then verse 42. 00:15:00.419 --> 00:15:07.419 Give to the one who asks you and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. 00:15:07.419 --> 00:15:09.419 So it's borrowing and begging. 00:15:09.419 --> 00:15:14.419 And it's the idea, not just do no harm to someone. 00:15:14.419 --> 00:15:21.419 Here again, Jesus is emphasizing the positive of practicing gracious generosity. 00:15:21.419 --> 00:15:30.419 And so Jesus corrects the false teaching and he says to us, don't stand and insist on my rights. 00:15:30.419 --> 00:15:40.419 Don't be the Shakespeare Shylock insisting on getting my pound of flesh. 00:15:40.419 --> 00:15:51.419 Rather, in our personal dealings with others, even in our conflict situations with others, don't retaliate. 00:15:51.419 --> 00:15:57.419 If someone acts towards you like an enemy, we are to act towards them like a friend. 00:15:57.419 --> 00:16:00.419 Don't bring them into the courtroom. 00:16:00.419 --> 00:16:03.419 Rather, bring to them God's grace. 00:16:03.419 --> 00:16:08.419 So that's the principle of the first section. 00:16:08.419 --> 00:16:11.419 Bring grace, not justice, into your personal relationships. 00:16:11.419 --> 00:16:22.419 And then in verse 43 to 48, this challenging principle of practicing love without limits in our personal relationships. 00:16:22.419 --> 00:16:29.419 So you see in verse 43 that the Pharisees have done some more twisting and they've also done some adding to God's law. 00:16:29.419 --> 00:16:35.419 Verse 43, you have heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 00:16:35.419 --> 00:16:37.419 This is what the Pharisees were teaching. 00:16:37.419 --> 00:16:40.419 Okay, so they, remember they want a nice easy tick box. 00:16:40.419 --> 00:16:41.419 How can I please God? 00:16:41.419 --> 00:16:44.419 Let me make the law as easy as possible for myself. 00:16:44.419 --> 00:16:46.419 And so they've done two things. 00:16:46.419 --> 00:16:51.419 They've narrowed the standard of love that is expected. 00:16:51.419 --> 00:16:56.419 So what God's law actually says is love your neighbor as yourself. 00:16:56.419 --> 00:17:00.419 They've taken out that as yourself bit. 00:17:00.419 --> 00:17:08.420 If we think about how much effort and time and energy we put into caring for ourselves, the Bible says that's how much we're to apply to others. 00:17:08.420 --> 00:17:11.420 The Pharisees have removed that to make it that bit easier. 00:17:11.420 --> 00:17:16.420 But they've also deliberately narrowed the objects of love. 00:17:16.420 --> 00:17:23.420 And because they've given this untrue addition, okay we should love our neighbor, we should hate our enemy. 00:17:23.420 --> 00:17:27.420 They're very concerned to have the list, well who is my neighbor? 00:17:27.420 --> 00:17:35.420 And if I understand my neighbor is the people who are like me, then we are free to hate the people who are unlike us. 00:17:35.420 --> 00:17:43.420 Again, it goes entirely against God's law of love and God's design, God's whole design for the storyline of salvation. 00:17:43.420 --> 00:17:51.420 He always intended, even as he chose Abraham, even as he chose Israel, was that his love would extend to all nations. 00:17:51.420 --> 00:18:00.420 And so they're misrepresenting God, and we also misrepresent God if we restrict our love to those who are like us and those who like us. 00:18:00.420 --> 00:18:03.420 And think about what this kind of false teaching does. 00:18:03.420 --> 00:18:14.420 So in Jesus' day, the Jews are saying, well I love my fellow Jews, but those guys, the Samaritans, they're outsiders, they're kind of a bit like us but not really, so we hate and despise them. 00:18:14.420 --> 00:18:18.420 And the rest of the world, they're just Gentiles and we really hate them. 00:18:18.420 --> 00:18:37.420 Segregation, racism, and we recognize, don't we, the ugly impact that this kind of thinking has for communities and for societies in our own day, just as in Jesus' day. 00:18:37.420 --> 00:18:42.420 And so Jesus deliberately, powerfully corrects. 00:18:42.420 --> 00:18:44.420 What does Jesus say? 00:18:44.420 --> 00:18:46.420 Verse 42, here's the heart of the law. 00:18:46.420 --> 00:18:54.420 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. 00:18:54.420 --> 00:18:55.420 Choose love. 00:18:55.420 --> 00:18:57.420 Don't choose hate. 00:18:57.420 --> 00:18:59.420 Don't choose separation. 00:18:59.420 --> 00:19:02.420 What words should we use? 00:19:02.420 --> 00:19:09.420 Let's take prayer to God, not choosing anger and slander against the other. 00:19:09.420 --> 00:19:14.420 And notice that Jesus refuses to place limits. 00:19:14.420 --> 00:19:16.420 Love your enemies. 00:19:16.420 --> 00:19:23.420 The story of the Good Samaritan is one of the famous ones that Jesus taught. 00:19:23.420 --> 00:19:32.420 The build up to that is of a religious leader who wants to know what he can do to earn eternal life and then he asks Jesus the question, who is my neighbor? 00:19:32.420 --> 00:19:41.420 And Jesus tells the story, giving the teaching that what's really important is that we learn what it looks like to be a good neighbor. 00:19:41.420 --> 00:19:53.420 To recognize that when anyone is in need, when anyone is in need and we are able to help and we have the resources, then we are to act to make life a little bit better for the other person. 00:19:53.420 --> 00:19:57.420 We love our enemies, Jesus says. 00:19:57.420 --> 00:20:04.420 And part of that is Jesus calls us as the people of God to pray for our enemies. 00:20:04.420 --> 00:20:10.420 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor, calls this the supreme command. 00:20:10.420 --> 00:20:24.420 He says this, through the medium of prayer, we go to our enemy, stand by his side and plead for him to God. 00:20:24.420 --> 00:20:31.420 As we pray, it creates love in our hearts. 00:20:31.420 --> 00:20:37.420 We recognize that hate and love cannot coexist in the one heart. 00:20:37.420 --> 00:20:47.420 And so Jesus teaches us that one way that we drive out hate is by praying and seeking the best for that person who's made themselves an enemy towards us. 00:20:47.420 --> 00:21:01.420 Do we sense the compelling power and beauty of this way of life by God's grace saying no to retaliation and saying yes positively to loving someone even when they're an enemy? 00:21:01.420 --> 00:21:13.420 And somebody was reflecting, a pastor was reflecting on it being 10 years since a church shooting in Charleston in the U.S. 00:21:13.420 --> 00:21:27.420 And that awful night when a white supremacist went into a black majority church and sat through a service and then killed nine worshipers. 00:21:27.420 --> 00:21:34.420 But what really caught the world's attention in the days following that was the attitude of the survivors. 00:21:34.420 --> 00:21:45.980 When many of them offered forgiveness to the gunman, called them to repent and to put their trust in Jesus. 00:21:45.980 --> 00:21:56.759 There was one man called Anthony Thompson who went to the courtroom hearing to offer personally forgiveness to the gunman who had killed his wife, Myra. 00:21:58.160 --> 00:22:02.660 It's the compelling power and beauty of Christian love. 00:22:04.420 --> 00:22:07.279 Maybe you're familiar with the words of Martin Luther King. 00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:12.100 His Christmas sermon in 1957 included these wonderful words. 00:22:12.100 --> 00:22:16.860 Returning hate for hate multiplies hate. 00:22:17.460 --> 00:22:21.480 Adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:24.740 Darkness cannot drive out darkness. 00:22:25.900 --> 00:22:27.340 Only light can do that. 00:22:28.200 --> 00:22:30.320 Hate cannot drive out hate. 00:22:31.039 --> 00:22:34.019 Only love can do that. 00:22:34.420 --> 00:22:37.480 And this is the compelling power and beauty. 00:22:37.480 --> 00:22:42.200 Not just of what Jesus teaches but of Jesus' way of life. 00:22:43.160 --> 00:22:50.180 Because he practiced what he preached in the supreme demonstration of love and grace towards enemies. 00:22:51.519 --> 00:22:55.900 We think about the hours leading up to Jesus' death. 00:22:55.900 --> 00:23:01.460 And we see that he allowed himself to experience injustice. 00:23:02.580 --> 00:23:05.560 And he didn't throw insults when he was insulted. 00:23:06.360 --> 00:23:12.040 He didn't call down legions of angels to wipe out his enemies, though he could have. 00:23:13.360 --> 00:23:18.000 When people mocked him and hurled insults at him, he stayed silent. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:25.819 And on the cross, Jesus prayed, Father, forgive them for they don't know what they are doing. 00:23:25.819 --> 00:23:32.759 He met human hate with God's gracious, sacrificial love. 00:23:32.759 --> 00:23:39.140 And when, as his followers, you and I seek to walk in his footsteps. 00:23:39.140 --> 00:23:46.400 When we don't send back the angry, cutting response to the critical message or email. 00:23:47.020 --> 00:23:57.300 When we hold back from slandering that person in our schoolroom or in our office space that's making life difficult for us. 00:23:57.299 --> 00:24:02.700 When we move forward in love, refusing to place limits on kindness. 00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:06.839 When we seek to bless when others would seek to curse. 00:24:08.319 --> 00:24:16.460 And we put into practice the unique power and beauty of this kind of Christian love that Jesus calls us to. 00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:18.839 So that's what we are to do. 00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:21.099 Next two points, much shorter. 00:24:21.619 --> 00:24:24.480 Secondly, why are we to do it? 00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:33.059 So I imagine, even just to think about what Jesus is saying, we're getting that sense that what Jesus is calling us to do is absolutely to swim against the tide. 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:36.140 The tide of his culture, the tide of our culture. 00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:40.839 Where our instinct perhaps is, if someone hits me, I want to hit back harder. 00:24:42.299 --> 00:24:45.420 Where perhaps we're much more likely to hear, cancel your enemy. 00:24:46.259 --> 00:24:48.099 Abuse the one who persecutes you. 00:24:48.099 --> 00:24:56.059 Where you know that to practice this way of not retaliating and instead trying to show loving kindness, you may be labeled as weak or as weird. 00:24:57.079 --> 00:24:59.899 And so we need to ask, why should we do it? 00:25:00.679 --> 00:25:02.459 Jesus gives us the answer in here. 00:25:03.079 --> 00:25:10.000 He says, as followers are to love our enemies, to show to them the incredible love of our Father in heaven. 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:12.839 So look at verse 45. 00:25:12.980 --> 00:25:17.039 Jesus says, love your enemy because it's what your Father does. 00:25:18.240 --> 00:25:21.319 Love your enemies that you may be children of your Father in heaven. 00:25:21.980 --> 00:25:27.440 He causes his son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 00:25:27.440 --> 00:25:37.940 So we know the fact that in our families, that there are some traits that we share with our parents that are genetic. 00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:40.039 We just can't help it. 00:25:40.660 --> 00:25:44.660 Perhaps the way that we walk, we look like our parents. 00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:49.279 But there are some traits that we learn by imitation. 00:25:49.279 --> 00:25:56.799 And in the Christian family, Jesus is saying, we should learn to imitate our Father's love. 00:25:57.819 --> 00:26:03.299 That principle, like Father, like Son, should be seen in this way. 00:26:04.019 --> 00:26:10.480 That as the Father loves his enemies every day, we should do the same. 00:26:10.480 --> 00:26:17.839 Jesus points out that God the Father gives good gifts every day. 00:26:18.839 --> 00:26:23.460 Rain and Son to the righteous and to the unrighteous. 00:26:23.579 --> 00:26:29.019 It's in his nature to show love and kindness to his enemies. 00:26:29.839 --> 00:26:37.160 The example here is of God's dealings within creation, where his kindness is extended to all. 00:26:37.160 --> 00:26:48.620 But you could go through the Bible and you could recognize time and again, Jesus shows and God shows mercy to the outsider, to the enemy. 00:26:50.140 --> 00:26:53.040 It's the kind of principle we hear in Leviticus 19. 00:26:53.880 --> 00:26:58.360 Love the foreigner as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. 00:26:58.560 --> 00:27:00.340 I am the Lord your God. 00:27:00.339 --> 00:27:06.419 We see it when God has mercy on the wicked city of Nineveh, when it repents. 00:27:07.240 --> 00:27:17.539 We see that same patient love extended to rebellious Israel as they turn time and time and time again away from God. 00:27:19.639 --> 00:27:25.240 And of course, the perfect example of this like Father, like Son principle is Jesus himself. 00:27:25.240 --> 00:27:27.599 Jesus, the Son of God. 00:27:28.500 --> 00:27:42.440 To read his story, to read the Gospels, is to recognize he is one who is always practicing self-giving, love-choosing, wrong-bearing, even in his day. 00:27:42.440 --> 00:27:57.100 And as the people of God receive that love deep into our hearts, the power of God's grace working it into our hearts, it enables imitation. 00:27:57.559 --> 00:27:59.259 So we can love like our Father. 00:27:59.600 --> 00:28:01.940 We can love like Jesus. 00:28:03.140 --> 00:28:07.740 The first person to die as a follower of Jesus was a man called Stephen. 00:28:08.039 --> 00:28:09.779 Acts chapter 7 has his story. 00:28:09.779 --> 00:28:14.379 As he dies being stoned to death, he prays the same prayer as Jesus. 00:28:14.559 --> 00:28:15.519 Father, forgive them. 00:28:16.500 --> 00:28:17.079 And he died. 00:28:20.099 --> 00:28:29.500 The second reason why we are to love our enemies is in verse 46 to 48. 00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:36.460 Because as we do so, it's how we show the Father's incredible love. 00:28:36.460 --> 00:28:40.759 So there's a more than principle here in 46 and 47. 00:28:40.880 --> 00:28:43.240 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? 00:28:43.319 --> 00:28:45.200 Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 00:28:45.680 --> 00:28:49.860 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? 00:28:49.960 --> 00:28:51.240 Do not even pagans do that? 00:28:51.240 --> 00:28:57.000 So Jesus is calling us to a principle of love that is more than what's normally seen in the world. 00:28:57.100 --> 00:29:00.220 This is going beyond, I love those who like me. 00:29:00.620 --> 00:29:02.740 I love those who will benefit me. 00:29:02.740 --> 00:29:06.819 And Jesus says, let your love include those who would mock me. 00:29:07.559 --> 00:29:09.920 Those who would turn others against us. 00:29:10.160 --> 00:29:13.440 Those who would positively act towards us as an enemy. 00:29:14.519 --> 00:29:18.000 That's why we need that new principle and that new power that comes from Jesus. 00:29:18.680 --> 00:29:23.140 But we recognize that to share the Father's love in this way, 00:29:23.880 --> 00:29:27.039 it creates a very different culture. 00:29:27.039 --> 00:29:36.920 When there are people committed to crossing divides and bearing wrongs instead of paying back with justice. 00:29:37.680 --> 00:29:42.220 Committed to practicing forgiveness and seeking the good of others. 00:29:43.159 --> 00:29:48.480 That's where you have the building blocks for community rather than destroying community. 00:29:49.680 --> 00:29:56.240 So there's the principle that Jesus calls us to of doing more than others so that the Father's love is seen. 00:29:56.240 --> 00:30:01.359 There's also the be perfect principle of verse 48. 00:30:01.500 --> 00:30:05.500 Be perfect therefore as your heavenly Father is perfect. 00:30:05.599 --> 00:30:11.859 And when the Bible uses here this word perfect, it's that idea of being wholehearted, of being totally committed. 00:30:12.579 --> 00:30:18.240 Jesus is inviting us to be totally committed to pursuing this kind of selfless love. 00:30:19.680 --> 00:30:22.599 Sinclair Ferguson, the Scottish theologian, he says, 00:30:22.599 --> 00:30:25.439 Here's one of the marks of Christian love. 00:30:25.779 --> 00:30:32.819 Love is not determined by the loveliness he finds in its object. 00:30:33.439 --> 00:30:37.459 So often we love others because we see something attractive in them. 00:30:37.919 --> 00:30:39.799 That's not how God loves us. 00:30:39.859 --> 00:30:44.419 And he doesn't ask us to only love people where we see loveliness in them. 00:30:45.259 --> 00:30:50.279 Love is not conditioned upon his being loved first. 00:30:50.279 --> 00:30:54.079 In other words, we don't stand and wait to see how someone responds to us. 00:30:54.180 --> 00:30:55.660 We make the first move. 00:30:55.960 --> 00:30:59.079 Whether that's reconciliation, whether that's positively showing love. 00:30:59.899 --> 00:31:07.399 Love is not directed only towards those whose love he can rely on in return. 00:31:07.960 --> 00:31:09.119 This is costly. 00:31:10.039 --> 00:31:10.960 This is vulnerable. 00:31:11.220 --> 00:31:14.960 This is not what we're seeing in our day. 00:31:14.960 --> 00:31:18.660 But Jesus says, here's why we are to love our enemies. 00:31:18.799 --> 00:31:20.440 Do it to be like your father. 00:31:21.880 --> 00:31:23.000 We are his children. 00:31:23.120 --> 00:31:31.319 If we're followers of Jesus, we're to grow in maturity, to grow in grace, to grow in his character, this character of love. 00:31:31.640 --> 00:31:35.740 And we are to do it for the sake of others. 00:31:35.740 --> 00:31:48.200 Something that we're really keen to keep developing here in our church is to have that idea of being a community of faith and love and joy in Jesus, 00:31:48.420 --> 00:31:51.039 where we're growing in those qualities together. 00:31:51.640 --> 00:32:02.740 But we're also at the same time wanting to invite our local community in to discover the good news in God's gospel word and in the way that we treat them. 00:32:02.740 --> 00:32:13.539 And so practicing love and forgiveness, which is costly, is a vital part of our mission. 00:32:14.500 --> 00:32:18.140 It's showing to the world, do you know what, there is a better way. 00:32:20.220 --> 00:32:28.700 It shines the light of God's love in a context where so often all we hear and see are missiles of hate. 00:32:32.740 --> 00:32:37.140 Third question then, how can we do it? 00:32:38.339 --> 00:32:46.019 It was really interesting to read the 10-year reflection from a pastor in Charleston on the impact after that church shooting. 00:32:46.660 --> 00:32:52.140 As those church members extended gospel grace, he said it was remarkable what happened in the city. 00:32:52.140 --> 00:32:58.880 Maybe for the first time, blacks and whites would come together to pray together. 00:32:59.820 --> 00:33:10.120 It was this powerful moment within a city where the normal lines of politics or race, where they were absolutely broken down because they saw grace and love. 00:33:10.200 --> 00:33:14.140 And there was that recognition, that's what this city, that's what we all need. 00:33:14.140 --> 00:33:22.580 And I imagine, whether we're Christian or not, there are certain values that all of us share. 00:33:23.380 --> 00:33:30.420 When we think about ourselves, when we think about society, we want healing and not brokenness. 00:33:32.160 --> 00:33:38.220 We want to see reconciliation and we know it's better than fighting and revenge. 00:33:38.220 --> 00:33:41.380 We long for peace. 00:33:42.120 --> 00:33:44.960 We don't want hostility. 00:33:46.720 --> 00:33:50.339 We have those longings, but we also know that's really hard. 00:33:50.420 --> 00:33:54.420 It's really easy at a distance to say, love your enemy. 00:33:54.559 --> 00:33:58.200 But what happens when the person right in front of me is making my life a mystery? 00:33:58.339 --> 00:33:59.539 Then we know it's challenging. 00:34:00.460 --> 00:34:01.339 It's hard. 00:34:02.279 --> 00:34:08.139 It's what Bonhoeffer called a call to a visible participation in the cross of Christ. 00:34:08.839 --> 00:34:12.139 To practice this involves personal cost and suffering. 00:34:13.099 --> 00:34:22.599 And so maybe you're asking, well, how is it possible that the members of Emanuel Church in Charleston could practice forgiveness to the person who killed friends and family members? 00:34:22.599 --> 00:34:31.259 How could Eric Liddell practice kindness and love and not hating his enemies in the context of being a prisoner of war where he would die? 00:34:32.179 --> 00:34:36.399 How can you and I do it in our lives? 00:34:38.219 --> 00:34:47.459 Only when we know Jesus, our Emmanuel, and to know that he has done it for us. 00:34:47.779 --> 00:34:51.599 And he is the one who gives us the power to do it. 00:34:51.599 --> 00:35:00.639 There's a verse, a wonderful verse, in Romans chapter 5 and verse 10 that says, 00:35:00.639 --> 00:35:21.940 Here's something we need to know about the message of the Christian faith. 00:35:21.940 --> 00:35:26.940 By nature, we are God's enemies. 00:35:28.440 --> 00:35:29.940 We disobey God. 00:35:30.639 --> 00:35:32.460 We dishonor God. 00:35:32.559 --> 00:35:36.159 We say to God, no, I don't want you to rule over me. 00:35:36.220 --> 00:35:37.880 I want to be in charge. 00:35:37.880 --> 00:35:51.760 And if God was to bring His swift justice, bring the courtroom into our experience, then by rights, what we deserve is eternal condemnation and separation. 00:35:51.760 --> 00:36:07.480 But what God does in the good news and by His grace is He sends His Son, the Lord Jesus, to come and to show God's enemies His kindness and His love. 00:36:07.640 --> 00:36:14.400 He does that through sending His Son to reconcile us, to make peace between us and God. 00:36:14.400 --> 00:36:19.260 And notice what the Bible says, that comes through the death of Jesus. 00:36:20.960 --> 00:36:26.980 God's own Son dies to show us love, to bring us peace with God. 00:36:27.519 --> 00:36:28.460 Now, how does that happen? 00:36:28.519 --> 00:36:32.760 What happens on the cross that makes this reconciliation possible? 00:36:33.619 --> 00:36:38.240 Well, the Bible says that there on the cross, Jesus is loaded up with sin. 00:36:39.500 --> 00:36:44.059 Think about all the times that we fail to love, but instead we show anger or hate. 00:36:44.059 --> 00:36:46.239 Jesus was loaded up with that sin. 00:36:47.000 --> 00:36:49.599 And as He goes, He takes the penalty. 00:36:50.320 --> 00:36:51.619 He faces the judgment. 00:36:51.820 --> 00:36:54.299 He is separated from His Father. 00:36:54.440 --> 00:37:05.539 He will die in our place so that if we turn from our sin to trust in Jesus, as our Savior and as our Lord, 00:37:05.960 --> 00:37:09.079 then we receive His full and free forgiveness. 00:37:09.079 --> 00:37:12.980 We are reconciled to become children of God. 00:37:13.299 --> 00:37:16.659 Instead of being enemies, we are now friends. 00:37:17.519 --> 00:37:23.219 And it's that love and that grace that changes everything. 00:37:23.219 --> 00:37:34.359 If our lives are controlled by this knowledge, when I was God's enemy and a sinner, the Father loved me and gave His Son for me, 00:37:35.179 --> 00:37:38.899 then more and more our love will be controlled by that too. 00:37:38.900 --> 00:37:43.059 Here is where the power to love our enemies comes from. 00:37:43.119 --> 00:37:49.680 Not from my willpower, not from your efforts and discipline, but from the cross of Christ. 00:37:50.740 --> 00:38:01.400 It's in seeing Jesus bearing shame and absorbing hate and not claiming His rights and forgiving His enemies. 00:38:01.400 --> 00:38:08.619 It's His loving sacrifice that has the power to transform us. 00:38:10.200 --> 00:38:22.119 It's the cross that blocks the door to revenge and retaliation and opens our hearts to show the Father's love. 00:38:23.220 --> 00:38:24.480 So let's pray. 00:38:24.480 --> 00:38:54.460 Thank you.