Latest / HBCWestminster / 5.17.20 Luke 6:27-38 Pastor Danny Gardner

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5.17.20 Luke 6:27-38 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Well, I'm going to read our text, Luke 6, 27 to 38. And I would ask if you're able to stand in honor of God's word for you to do that now. I'll read our text. We'll pray and begin. And it says in verse 27, but I say to you who hear, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also. And from one who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either.
• 0:29
  Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods, do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
• 0:46
  And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount, but love your enemies and do good. And lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
• 1:16
  Judge not, and you will not be judged. Condemn not, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. Allow me to pray, and Lord, strengthen our faith. Lord, we would ask that you make us more and more like your son, Jesus Christ.
• 1:45
  God, make us holy, make us righteous, make us gracious, make us a forgiving people. God, I pray that we would follow you by taking up our cross daily, denying ourselves, living as you have lived, walking as Jesus walked. God, thank you, thank you that we have an advocate with the Father so that every time we sin, we can be forgiven. Thank you, Lord, for the hope of eternal life. Thank you, God, that our hope is not in this earth,
• 2:17
  which is so unsteady and can be shaken so easily. God, may our eyes be fixed on you, Jesus. May our hope be firmly set in heaven. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you. You can be seated, church. Well, I'm afraid that we may be guilty of under-defining Christianity. If I had to base my opinion of what makes a quality church,
• 2:47
  Simply on conversations I've had with churchgoers in the last couple of decades, I would say that the greatest compliment you could pay a church, and what makes it a good church, based on conversations I've had, the greatest compliment you can pay a church is that they are friendly. And the biggest reason to leave a church is that they are not friendly. Friendly? Isn't Christianity more than just being friendly?
• 3:17
  People say the entire Midwest is friendly, supposedly. Does that make the entire Midwest Christians? Is friendliness the only qualification for entrance into heaven? You know, I've read the New Testament. I've read the whole thing. Nowhere does it call us to be friendly. Can you imagine? Be friendly as your heavenly father is friendly. That's not what it says. And now listen, of course we're supposed to be friendly. I'm not saying that we're not supposed to be friendly.
• 3:47
  Of course we're supposed to be friendly, but not as disciples of Christ. We're not friendly because we're Christians. We're friendly because we're human. Humans are supposed to be friendly. In fact, some of the friendliest people I know aren't Christians. We were all taught how to get along when we were in kindergarten. And now it seems like Christianity is just defined as those people who still live
• 4:18
  like they're in kindergarten. Can I be a Christian? Sure. Smile a lot. Share your toys. Say the magic words, please and thank you. You know, I've actually heard believers in their descriptions of unbelievers say something like, he or she is so nice. They would make a great Christian.
• 4:40
  I've heard people say that. They would make a great Christian as if the whole world is a stage and Jesus is in charge of casting. A.W. Tozer has said it this way, a whole new generation of Christians has come up believing that it is possible to accept Christ without forsaking the world and church. Christ calls us to a radical lifestyle.
• 5:07
  A soul transforming, mind altering lifestyle that if I'm honest, isn't for everyone. What Christ calls us to is a surrendering of everything we thought we were, everything we thought we wanted. It is a total laying down of our lives. He calls us to live in.
• 5:27
  Community with each other and with him. But it's not like a neighborhood HOA kind of community where we all make sure that our lawns are mowed and we meet together with everybody on Saturdays at the swimming pool. Rather, the community that we are called into is more like an army barracks kind of community where we train and educate and learn to depend on each other. And the alternative is that we lose the war.
• 5:54
  We either live together or we die together. That's this kind of community. His very spirit will live in and through us, but our lives are no longer ours. They are his. Listen again to Galatians 2.20. I quote it often. I've been crucified with Christ.
• 6:14
  And it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loves me and gave himself for me. My life is no longer mine, even though I'm still alive. It is Christ who lives in and through me. And church, listen, it's not about being nice. Of course we're called to be nice. But it's not about being nice. It's not about being friendly. It is about a supernatural kindness.
• 6:42
  a supernatural joy, a supernatural peace and patience and gentleness and faithfulness. It's not about just being like the world, but with a little bit of Jesus sprinkled in. It's about living a life that can only be lived in the power of the Holy Spirit.
• 7:03
  Man, when I read the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew, the Sermon on the Level, we called it from Luke chapter 6, I hope and I pray that I don't look too much like my unbelieving neighbors. More and more as a pastor, I feel like my job is just to convince people that God is serious when He speaks in His Word. Does He really want me not to be anxious?
• 7:30
  Does he really call me to rejoice all the time? But the apostle Paul didn't have to live through COVID. Does he really want me to give away my possessions? Yeah. Does he really expect me to suffer? Yeah. Does he really want me to love people sacrificially? Yeah. Does he really expect me to care more about the next life than this one? This week, my son Chase.
• 8:00
  asked me if people would really die if they touched the Ark of the Covenant. He's been watching again this video series, which you guys, I just think is fantastic. I really do. I'm going to recommend it to you again. I've recommended it before, but...
• 8:14
  The same folks that made VeggieTales have come out with something that, in my opinion, is better. I think it's way better than VeggieTales. VeggieTales was fine in the songs and whatever, the stories. But this is called What's in the Bible. It's 13 DVDs. It takes your kids all the way through book by book, Genesis to Revelation. They look like this. Here's volume four. And they just go through. And he's been watching these again. He loves them. The music is great. He thinks they are so, so funny.
• 8:41
  But he's been watching them again, and he's going through the Old Testament, and it talks about the Ark of the Covenant, and he just said, Dad, would people really die? If you touched that thing, would you drop dead? I said, yeah. And then he said this, and he hadn't gotten to this part in the story yet. He said, but what if, what if the Ark of the Covenant was falling, and you reached out to grab it, and you caught it, and you shoved it back up there? What if that, he totally thought he got me, and I took him to that story, 2 Samuel chapter 6.
• 9:11
  The story of Uzzah. The Ark of the Covenant had slipped. The oxen that were pulling it had stumbled and the Ark of the Covenant was falling and Uzzah ran over and grabbed it and shoved it back up. And it says in the Bible, 2 Samuel 6 verse 7, that the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah and God killed him for touching the Ark. I took chase to that story and he was like, oh, well, yeah, I guess so. You touch it and you die?
• 9:41
  I heard a pastor one time say, you know, the Christian life is really pretty simple. Read the Bible. Do what it says. He defined the entire Christian life. Read the Bible. Do what it says. Church, it is pretty simple. God is serious. And now listen, he's also kind and loving and generous and gracious and patient, but he's also serious. It's like when little Lucy Pevensie, right, is talking to Mr. Beaver on their way up to meet Aslan the lion for the very first time.
• 10:12
  the king of Narnia. And Lucy says to Mr. Beaver, is he quite safe? And Mr. Beaver replies with, is he quite safe? Who said anything about safe? No, he's not safe. He's a lion, but he's good. I've been surprised at the absolute terror that has come over many in our city because of COVID. Many even who claim the name of Christ. Listen, I'm not in a hurry to die.
• 10:40
  I have no desire to become sick. I want to live a long and healthy life, but I am also not going to pretend like what I have ahead of me isn't infinitely better than what we are enduring right now. I was speaking with one of our Highlanders this week, a business owner. He shared with me a brief conversation he had with a client in his business that happened this week. This client is in her late 70s here in town, late 70s.
• 11:11
  And she said this, I don't know what everyone is so afraid of. If I die, I get to go to heaven and be with Jesus. And he said that when she said it, she was full of excitement and joy. And church, listen, I'll tell you what everyone is so afraid of. COVID has confronted our country with the fact that for a majority of our fellow countrymen, if they die, they won't go be with Jesus. That's what they're so afraid of. The Christian veneer, the facade.
• 11:42
  has been pulled away. We are seeing what people believe in reality, not just a Christian nation, right, by name only, but do you really, do you know the Savior? Do you know where you're going when you die? And so people, because they don't know where they're going, or they do know, and it ain't with Jesus, they're terrified. And so what we see now in the reactions of many, in the policies and the stay-at-home orders of many,
• 12:09
  is that they are holding on to this life with the kung fu grip. Why? Because this life is all they have. We began two Sundays ago what I called the sermon on the level, the sermon on the level plane, the most catastrophic sermon ever preached. It turned Christian discipleship on its head. We said that this sermon had a dramatic impact on the way Christ's followers thought they were supposed to live. It changed people's perception of the kingdom of God.
• 12:40
  permanently. We studied the prominence of prayer in the choosing of spiritual leaders, that it is the Lord alone who calls, and we should therefore abdicate any supposed authority we may perceive to wield in the selection process of spiritual leaders over to Him. We then studied the beatitudes, the blessings and woes of wealth, of hunger, of sorrow, and of rejection. And this morning, we get to the meat of Christ's message.
• 13:09
  a defining of true God-honoring Christianity, but gird up your loins, church. Christ doesn't pull any punches. You may find his words difficult to receive. You may even find that the life that he describes is actually unpleasant. You may ask, will God call me to do something that is unpleasant? Parents, probably better than anybody else on earth, understand.
• 13:38
  That there are times when you just plain have to do some nasty stuff. Because if you don't do it, it will never be done. Diapers are very cute when they're newborns, right? You go buy those little size one diapers, the little preemie diapers. They're very cute. But eventually, your kids work their way up to size six. Size six is the biggest size they come, except for adult size.
• 14:06
  Okay, and what's interesting is, you know, you don't realize this. When you walk into Costco to go buy your diapers, the boxes, the boxes of diapers are all exactly the same size. I gotta go buy a box of diapers. And the box is the same, size one, size six, there's no difference. What you don't realize until you walk out is that the quantity of diapers in each is significantly less because they are so much larger. When your kid fills a six, that thing is the size of a grapefruit.
• 14:35
  It's awful. It's awful. It's gross. You know, I, as a dad, I've never had a hard time with blood. Pearson one time nearly bit his tongue off playing baseball. I'll tell that story maybe another time, but it made Hallie weak in the knees. I was the one who took him to the ER to get his tongue stitched back on. I'm the parent who typically takes our boys to uncomfortable doctor's visits, the broken arms, to get shots. But listen, church, I don't mind that.
• 15:05
  But snot, I cannot abide. I gag a little bit. I think it's so gross. I don't know why. Blood, no problem. But the boogers and stuff, that's just not me. Pearson, when he was just a little baby one time, sneezed. And I was holding him. I didn't have any napkins. I didn't have any tissue. The problem was, the real problem was, I was also standing in line. It was a long line. We'd been in it for a long time. And so I couldn't leave because I wasn't going to leave my spot in line. I'd lose my place in line.
• 15:35
  I was stuck and I had to, in that moment, use my sleeve. I stuck my sleeve up there and through gags and, you know, kind of gag reflex, wiped his nose across and pulled that nasty stuff hanging off of his face onto my clothes. Parents just do what has to be done. If you check out many of the best-selling Christian books today, you'll hear this. Well, my attitude is, I'm a child of the Most High God.
• 16:06
  My father created the whole universe. He has crowned me with favor. Therefore, I can expect preferential treatment. I can expect people to go out of their way to want to help me. And if you think, well, Danny, you're exaggerating that. You made that up. No, that is a direct quote. That is a direct quote from a best-selling Christian author. Page 39. You guys can try to figure out what book it is.
• 16:31
  Same book says God wants us to prosper financially, to have plenty of money, to fulfill the destiny he has laid out for us. It's God's will for you to live in prosperity instead of poverty. It's God's will for you to pay your bills and not be in debt. Now listen, church, I agree with that. I agree with that. I believe that God provides for you, for us. I believe that he will provide the money that you need in order to pay your bills, if you're wise stewards.
• 16:58
  If you work hard, if you're disciplined and generous, if you give like he's called you to do and save like he's called you to do, if you prove yourself in small things, I believe the Lord will put you over many things. I believe that is true. But our Lord doesn't just walk around handing out $100 bills, right? Only the U.S. government does that. The very end of that same book, the last page, same book, page 273, it says this.
• 17:26
  You need to tell yourself, I'm going to enjoy my best life now. My best life now. Now listen, church, that book swept the nation a dozen years ago. It did. Everybody was reading it. Everybody was talking about it. At one point, the author of that book was pastoring the largest church in the United States, tens of thousands of people.
• 17:51
  I read the book because I was trying to figure out what all the buzz was about. I was reading that book. I read that statement, in fact, the same time that I was going through in my personal Bible reading, the Sermon on the Level. I was reading, blessed are you who are poor, who are hungry, who weep, who are rejected. Woe to you who are rich. Woe to you who are full. Woe to you who laugh. When people speak well of you, woe to you.
• 18:16
  I read that statement, I'm going to enjoy my best life now, and I thought, this guy's never read the Bible. The major problem with this kind of thinking, church, beside the fact that it is completely contrary to Scripture, is that it casts doubt and disillusionment when God calls us to wipe up the snot. If my expectation is a life of comfort, a life of security, a life of prosperity, then when one of those things falls through,
• 18:48
  And they will, I will question the love of God, the faithfulness of God, or I will question the genuineness of my own faith. Perhaps he's not a loving father, or perhaps I'm not one of his kids. Why? Because I'm not enjoying my best life now. This morning, the words from Jesus in the Sermon on the Level will force us to readjust our expectations.
• 19:16
  We claim the name of Christ. We are Christians. But who does that make us? How are we different than our unbelieving neighbors? Who are we? You'll notice first in our text, we are the ones. You want to know who we are? We are the ones who love our enemies. That's us. This is verses 27 to 33, but let's just focus on 27 and 28 for a moment. Look at verse 27. But I say to you who hear, love your enemies.
• 19:45
  Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you. We are the ones who love our enemies. And this teaching seemed absurd when Jesus said it. It hit ancient Judaism right between the eyes. Hatred of enemies, Gentiles, Roman oppressors, tax collectors, was so universally held during the time of Christ in Israel that it almost became a virtue.
• 20:14
  It was a virtuous thing to speak ill of Gentiles, to speak ill of the Romans. In fact, one of their favorite kind of axiomatic beliefs, just universally held beliefs, was, Lord, thank you that I'm not a Gentile. One group of Jews known as the Zealots even took that axiom to its extreme. They actually began murdering Romans. And here Christ preached the exact opposite. Love them?
• 20:43
  Jesus, you can't be serious. Love our enemies. He just starts stacking stuff onto that statement. Do good to those who hate you, he says. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you. That one little phrase, do good.
• 21:01
  do good, as here described, comes from the idea that you would genuinely bless them. It's not just a passive goodness, like I'm not doing them harm and therefore I'm doing them good. It wasn't that at all. This was an active pursuit of blessing their enemies. That same word, good, could also be translated authentic, genuine, reliable, true, not superficial in other words, like
• 21:30
  a fake smile or a nod as they pass by or something like, you know, Jesus, I didn't murder them and therefore I did them good. I allowed them to live and that's good. Jesus would have said, nope. The word for good means to do something inherently good. The recipient should actually benefit. It's the same word good that is used in Romans 12, 21. Do not be overcome by evil.
• 22:00
  but overcome evil with good. The rest of his statements here in verses 29 to 33 kind of list out, here are some ideas. In case you're not sure how to do that, here are some ideas for how to be good to your enemies. And look at verse 29. Right at the beginning, he just says, do not retaliate. Verse 29, to one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also. Don't retaliate. Man, we are a people who, you punch me in the mouth, I'm going to punch you in the mouth back. And here he says, no, get punched in the mouth.
• 22:30
  and then offer to get punched in the mouth again. You say, am I just supposed to get beat up? Yep. Following Christ is a daily falling on your sword. It is a daily laying down a surrendering of our rights. It is a daily taking up of our cross. Listen to Hebrews chapter 10 in verse 32.
• 23:02
  When you were enlightened, the author writes to the Hebrews, when you were enlightened, in other words, when you came to Christ, when you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison. You joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.
• 23:32
  He says, when things are taken, when your lifestyle is taken, when you suffer, when you receive insults and mockery, when you're even beaten and imprisoned and your stuff is taken away for the name of Christ, he says, no retaliating. Why? And I love that because you yourselves know, he says in Hebrews, that you have a better possession and an abiding one. He continues also in verse 29 and 30. Do not withhold, he says. Look at verse 29.
• 24:02
  And from one who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. So in other words, if they take your jacket, give them your shirt too. Give to everyone who begs from you. And from one who takes away your goods, don't demand them back. You mean I'm just supposed to give away my stuff? Yep. Don't forget, church, it's not our stuff. Don't withhold. Verse 31, treat others the way you want to be treated. Look at verse 31. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. The golden rule.
• 24:34
  But notice here that Jesus's command says nothing about the way that person may treat you. This is not mere reciprocated love, right? This is, I want to be treated a certain way. And whether they treat me that way or not, I will treat them that way. I will respond with kindness, even if hatred is given back.
• 24:57
  I will respond with grace, even if a lack of grace, if bitterness is reciprocated, I will reply with grace and forgiveness because that is what I would want them to do. It is not mere reciprocated love, but instead a genuine sacrificial love focused on the good of others. And notice in verses 32 and 33, he says, do not discriminate. Verse 32, if you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you?
• 25:23
  Even sinners love those who love them. In other words, if they look like you, if they act like you, don't just love them, love the people who don't look like you and who don't act like you. Verse 33, and if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. So there's no quid pro quo, right? You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. It's not that at all. And here is perhaps maybe the single greatest distinguishing mark of believers.
• 25:52
  They are willing, believers are willing to do for those who would do nothing for them in return. Jesus even uses the term sinners here. Even sinners do that. He says it a couple of times. Sinners to describe these people. Now the Greek word for sin is the word hamartia. Hamartia, that's the Greek word for sin. Jesus uses the word hamartaloi to describe these people. What that means is he's not saying
• 26:20
  These are good people that just made bad choices. He's not saying that these are people who sin. They have committed sin. Instead, he's saying these people are the embodiment of sin. Can you imagine that? These are the worst of the worst.
• 26:38
  They're the most awful human beings you can think of. They are evil to their core. They are God-haters. They are Christ-mockers. They are enemies of the church. And they are those that Christ calls believers to love. They are those that we are called to, as Philippians 2 says, in humility, count as more significant than ourselves.
• 27:06
  Church, I don't want to belabor this application because if I'm honest, I'm already feeling convicted about it, okay? But church, who are your enemies? Take just a moment and reflect. Most people would say, well, I don't have any enemies. Okay, then who do you just not get along with? Who are you not excited to see? Who are you not excited to share a cubicle with? Who are you not excited to live next door to? Who are you not excited to sit across the aisle from, even in church? Who are you not excited?
• 27:34
  Who are you not excited to pull up next to in the church parking lot? Love them. Do good to them. And after you're done, they should be genuinely blessed. Jesus says, love your enemies and do good. That's who we are. Notice second, we are the ones, who are we? We are the ones who lend without expectation. Look at verse 34. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you?
• 28:06
  Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. But love your enemies and do good and lend, expecting nothing in return. And your reward will be great and you will be like the sons of the Most High for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful even as your Father is merciful. And what Christ does in these next three verses is incredible. He says that those who give with no expectation of receiving,
• 28:35
  Those who give without interest, those who even lose in the short term, are exactly like their father in heaven, who gave expecting nothing back, who lost in the short term on the cross in order to extend mercy to those who need it. Now, I was trained in youth ministry by a man named Matt Jensen. He became one of my best friends. We still are. He and his wife, Marlo, lived differently than anybody I had ever met.
• 29:05
  I lived with their family when we were all much younger, long before Hallie and I were even married, before any of us had kids. I lived with them for a summer internship, a summer youth internship for three months. I spent every waking moment with Matt and Marlo and their newborn daughter, Michaela, who is now an adult and is married.
• 29:27
  I did that same thing again, two additional summers. I lived with them. I ministered with them. And most of my foundation in ministry, honestly, was poured during those internships. What was most startling to me about the Jensen's was that they genuinely considered their money and their possessions as belonging to the Lord. In fact, you had to be really careful about complimenting Matt on something because if he found out you liked it, he would give it to you.
• 29:53
  And I'm not kidding when I say even the shirt off of his back. If you said, oh, Matt, that's a cool shirt. I'm not kidding. He would take it off and give it to you. A little bit awkward. To this day, Matt, who is now 50 years old, wears his wristwatch upside down so that when he looks at it, it's upside down. If you were to look at it standing across, it would be right side up for you. It's a reminder to him to think of others before he thinks of himself. He's learned.
• 30:24
  how to tell time upside down. I tried it. It's impossible. Hallie and I have had many examples, in fact, of this kind of supernatural generosity. I'm not talking about giving what you can spare. I'm talking about giving until it hurts. We've had many examples of this kind of supernatural generosity. When Hallie was in high school,
• 30:47
  Her youth pastor and his wife decided that she should attend a Christian school and the home that Hallie grew up in, they just didn't have the money. They didn't have the money to send her to a Christian school. It's horribly expensive in Southern California. Very, very expensive school. And her parents could not have sent her, but her youth pastor and his wife decided that they would give her money to go to school. Not very many youth pastors and their wives do that. Just write checks to their students to make sure that they go to the school that they believe she should go to.
• 31:17
  Hallie, for many, many years, thought that that was a loan. And so years later, and it was years later, Hallie now married and with kids, and we in a position financially when we could afford finally to pay that back. When we were beginning to make a little more money and had a little more money, we began saving, thinking that we would pay her youth pastor back. And so we were ready. It took us years to do it. We drove back up the mountain. We saw them, and we're ready to write them a check.
• 31:46
  And they said, what's that for? And Hallie said, well, that's to pay you back. It's to pay you back. And they said this, that's impossible. You can't pay us back. Why? Because we don't give loans. We don't give loans. You can't pay back. What's not a loan? It was a gift. We never anticipated that to be paid back. And they did. They refused it. They wouldn't take it. Hallie and I decided very early on in our marriage to employ that kind of generosity. If you need it, it's yours. If you want it, it's yours.
• 32:19
  It's not ours. It was never ours to begin with. And then we just decided that we were going to trust the Lord no matter how much we gave away. We were going to trust that the Lord would always provide for our needs and even well beyond our needs. And listen, church, he has done that very thing. Can I just testify again to the grace, to the constant provision of God? You cannot out give God's generosity. You can't. You can't.
• 32:47
  Give it all away and God will make sure that you have even your daily bread. Expecting nothing in return, he says, verse 35, and you will be sons of the Most High because he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil and merciful to those who need to receive mercy. Notice, finally and last, we are the ones who live by the grace which we have.
• 33:15
  Look at verse 37. Judge not, and you will not be judged. Condemn not, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be poured into your lap. With the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. You know, in ancient Israel, even around the world at that time, markets, bazaars were very common. Vendors would set up stalls in order to sell their goods.
• 33:44
  But standard units of measure were not agreed upon. There was no English or metric system. There was no Better Business Bureau to complain to. There were no Yelp reviews. And so what became a very common practice was cheating customers by skimming, stretching, or not filling jars completely. This kind of still happens today. Have you ever flipped over your yogurt container?
• 34:12
  and realize that the bottom of the cup doesn't go all the way to the bottom of the container, right? It looks this tall on the outside, but when you flip it over, you realize it's all hollowed out underneath. You wonder why your bag of chips, when you open it, completely deflates. And even though it's this big, there's only nine chips down at the bottom, lonely little chips at the bottom. It's funny. They've made it to look bigger than it actually is. Jesus' simple point is that if we are recipients of grace,
• 34:42
  How can we then not be gracious in return? I'm ashamed at the grace I extend toward myself. But then the hard line I draw with others, my wife, my kids, and quarantines are an eye-opening experience. This quarantine, the last two and a half months, has forced me to look into the mirror and realize how petty I am about a lot of things.
• 35:11
  Drives me nuts when people leave their clothes on the floor. But then when you walk into my room, there are my clothes on the floor. Drives me nuts when people leave stuff out and don't take care of their things. But then when I go to try to find my tools, I realize, oh wait, I didn't put it back last time. So I have no idea where it is. Jesus says, judge not, judge not. The only people who are willing to judge others are those that want things completely fair. And believe me when I say that you don't want fair.
• 35:43
  Can you imagine, church, if God were fair? I had a Sunday school teacher when I was in elementary school, a Sunday school teacher, a great teacher, a woman who has since gone to be with the Lord because elementary Sunday school for me was 35 years ago. And so she has since gone to be with Jesus. But I remember her so vividly when there was, you know, so you imagine second, third grade, little Sunday school kids, and we're all getting our snack during Sunday school, and a kid
• 36:14
  bolt, you know, raises his arm, bolt up in the air, you know, Miss Stone, somebody got more animal crackers than I did. I only got four, they got five. That's not fair. There's this phrase and kids love to use it. That's not fair. And I remember her saying, oh, sweetie, you don't want fair because fair's down there, right? And she used to say that it's so funny. 35 years later, here I am quoting her. It's stuck. Church, you don't want fair.
• 36:40
  Because fair's down there. Can you imagine if God were fair? There would be no grace. There would be no mercy. There would be no forgiveness. None. No kindness. No patience. Patience isn't fair. Immediate consequences, severe consequences for sin, that's fair. And so when he says judge not, that's what he's talking about. How can we...
• 37:08
  who have not been judged by God the way that we should have been judged, now go and judge others. And then he says this, with the measure you use, you look at it in verse 38, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over will be put into your lap. So he's going to that kind of market idea.
• 37:25
  You buy a cup of flour. Not only does the guy just scoop out a little bit of flour and it's only half full and he dumps it in there and then charges you full price. He says, when you go to buy the flour from God, he scoops it, he smashes it. He makes sure, he even makes sure that it's mounded over. That's the kind of grace that we have received. That's the measure we have received. And that's the measure we are to extend toward others. Jesus, we all recall, told a parable on forgiveness about a man who owed a tremendous debt.
• 37:54
  impossible to pay in a hundred lifetimes. And one day the owner of that debt, just out of the blue, canceled it. The man was so relieved and happy, he never could have paid it off. And now all of a sudden he's just debt free. But then that same man found another man who owed him a very small sum. The second man could not pay his small debt. And so the first man had him thrown in jail.
• 38:22
  And you can imagine how angry the owner of that first man's debt became. How could he be so unloving, so ungracious, so inconsiderate when I canceled such a huge debt for him? The owner of that first debt had the man thrown into jail. Church, we have been forgiven a great debt. We have offended our creator by a magnitude that could never be done to us. And yet he has forgiven us.
• 38:54
  This is the measure we must use in dealing with others. Colossians 3 and verse 13, forgive each other. As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. As the Lord has forgiven you, Jesus, how many times must I forgive my brother? Seven times? How many times?
• 39:15
  I've already forgiven him over and over. How many times? Jesus said, no, 70 times seven, a countless sum. And I know that there are some, even right now, you're like, well, I can do 70 times seven. That's 490. So 490 times. So I don't have to forgive him the 491st. No, that wasn't his point. 70 times seven, all of the times, as many times, 491 even. Church, do you want to know who we are? Do you want to know?
• 39:47
  What Jesus says, we are Christ followers, which means we are the ones who love our enemies. We want our enemies even to be blessed. We are the ones who lend without expectation, and we are the ones who live by the grace that we have received. And let us not underdefine our faith. It's not just about being friendly. The Christian life is pretty simple. Read the Bible, do what it says. But it's more.
• 40:16
  than a superficial worldly friendliness. It may even be uncomfortable. What Jesus describes here in the Sermon on the Level is hard, nay, impossible, apart from the grace of God and His indwelling Holy Spirit. It's not for everyone, but Jesus never claimed that it was. But listen, for those who choose it, it offers a life after this one. Do you want to know why believers aren't scared? We have no reason to fear church.
• 40:46
  Fear does not belong in the life of the believer. It does not. If you're afraid, eradicate it. Eradicate it. Purge it. Get rid of that fear. And I'm not saying go and be foolish, right? Because we've also been given heavenly wisdom from above, but no fear. You want to know why we're not afraid? Because the life that we have been offered surpasses this one by far. It is a life that is true and unending, and it is a life, that life means that we can live this life
• 41:16
  Without fear. And God, I pray again, Lord, that you would bless the hearing of your word. I pray, God, that we would begin to employ what Jesus describes. That we are the ones who love our enemies and even do good to those who curse us and abuse us and hate us. And I believe that we would begin to lend without expectation, God. That we are not a people who even give loans. We are just so generous.
• 41:43
  And God, I do pray that as we give, you would continue to give to us and sustain us and provide for our needs. And Lord, I pray that the same measure that we use would be measured to us. I pray that we would extend the same grace that we have received. I pray that we would forgive others as you have forgiven us. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.