The Christian Way of Living

 

October 4, 1998 ~ Pickering Standard Church

 

Luke 12:32-34 - Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

 

The passage that was read as our scripture reading this morning is an effective summary of Jesus' earlier teaching on mercy and how we as Christians are to put it into practice in our lives. He shows us in these words what is to be our proper orientation with respect to worldly treasure. In our society there is a high premium placed upon personal honour which in turn affects the form of our response to the various injustices that befall us. Quite often in many of our currently popular entertainments we are encouraged to feel sympathy for the oppressed individual and to cheer when his oppressors finally get what has been coming to them. But Jesus holds the world's view up to open evaluation through His own teachings of unconditional and unbounded love. Listen as we read the following verses and try to see where the major areas of conflict exist between the teaching of Jesus and the teaching of the world, remembering that we are not merely hearing the words of a gifted teacher but we are listening to our creator explain how we ought to live our lives:

 

Luke 6:27-38 - But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

 

This passage of scripture can be easily divided into three sections: The first section details those differences in behaviour of the Christian toward those whom the world would consider his enemies and encompasses verses 27-31. The second section, verses 32-36, explains why such behaviour should be expected of the Christian. The third section, verses 37-38, tells us how the Christian will be rewarded by God for his conduct.

 

There are nine areas of conflict between the teaching of Jesus and the teaching of the world in the first section, these are as follows:

 

1. We are to love our enemies, the world would have us hate them.

2. We are to do good to those who hate us, not evil.

3. We are to bless those who insult and curse us, not insult and curse them in reply. 

4. We are to pray for those who mistreat us rather than to take revenge. 

5. We are to turn the cheek, allowing those who strike us to take another shot. 

6. We are to give of what we have to everyone who asks us. 

7. We are to allow our possessions to be taken from us and not to seek their return. 

8. We are to treat others as we would want others to treat us. 

9. We are to be kind, merciful, and loving to those who have no hope of being so to us.

 

These are remarkable sayings. They become even more so when we realize that Jesus Himself lived them daily in His life. He was able to express His love for people, sinners though they were, in spite of the abuse they heaped upon Him. It is good for us to remember that the only situations in which He was angry were those in which His anger was directed at those who were abusing the responsibility God had given them; He was never angry at those who abused Him personally. This man, who as God had more right than any other being to judge and condemn made it His practice to forgive His persecutors in every situation, even those who nailed His body to the cross to kill Him. The view of humanity that Jesus was showing us is one in which the value which we place on our possessions or on our personal honour becomes insignificant when compared to the value that God places on a human being.

 

In the second section Jesus goes a little further, into more of the detail of why He expects His followers to do the remarkable things which He is asking of them. He tells us that it is no exceptional thing for one person to do something nice for an other if it can be expected that the other person is fully capable and willing to return the favour at some other time. His repeated use of the phrase "Even 'sinners do that' shows that it is normal for all people to do nice things for each other and that for the Christian to do these things and be able to expect compensation is by no means something that sets them apart as followers of a forgiving God. He calls us to go the extra step and to do nice things for those who hate us and to give freely of what God has given us without expecting anything in return. Why? Because that is what God has freely done for us. In the close of this section Jesus makes the following statement:

 

Luke 6:35-36 - But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

 

Our God is kind to the ungrateful and wicked, He loves those who spare no love for Him. In short, He has already done what He, through His Son Jesus, is asking us to do. This is quite apparent in a parallel passage to the one we have been reading which is found in the gospel of Matthew:

 

Matthew 5:44-48 - But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

 

Jesus expects us as His followers not just to do the normal things which even the unsaved are capable of doing, but the extraordinary as well. We are called to go the extra mile because by so doing we are able in our small way to exemplify in our lives our God who wants to go the extra mile with those who see us. We are called to extraordinary living because we are followers of an extraordinary God.

 

In the third section Jesus gives us an idea of the economy of God. He is encouraging us to love everyone by telling us that whatever we do for others God will do for us. The last two sentences are especially impressive and show the magnitude of the blessing that God will bestow upon those who are faithful to His calling:

 

Luke 6:38 - A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

 

God is not describing half hearted measures here. He is being very explicit and telling us that if we are generous to others He will be abundantly more generous to us, to the point that we may well end up with more than we had before. God had previously said this to the people of Israel four hundred years earlier, in the days of Malachi, when the people paid more attention to what they had in this world than to where they were with God. He issued a challenge to His people. He literally asked them to test Him and see if He would not be faithful to reward beyond all hope of measure those who would give to the Lord what was required of them:

 

Malachi 3:10 - "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."

 

The immediate result of this, for those who did what God asked, would be of course that they would be incredibly blessed. But that is not the ultimate goal that God has in mind, He has a higher objective in sight: That He will be glorified through the good He does to His people that all may see Him as the loving God He truly is. Through Malachi He told Israel that:

 

Malachi 3:12 - Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.

 

The ultimate point which I am attempting to make is that we need to determine for ourselves where our treasure is. Earlier we heard the verse read:

 

Luke 12:32-34 - Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

 

We may rest assured that every earthly treasure will fade, or tarnish, or lose its value, or be stolen. And even if these may be avoided there is no treasure known to man that will endure beyond the coming of Christ to take us home with Him. If we, regardless of its transience, care more for earthly wealth, fame, or honour, than we do for the glories of heaven then we are told very bluntly by Christ that we will lose our lives. If, on the other hand, we are more concerned to provide for ourselves treasures in heaven then we are told that we will obtain these treasures after all those of earth have vanished as the smoke of a fire a thousand years dead. Jesus has said that the Father has given us the kingdom, let us then live no longer as paupers upon the earth but as the children of the King who will come at the end of time to claim His own. Be filled this morning with courage and hope for our God will not leave us alone, His love for us is eternal and His favour is more to be desired than all the heaped up treasures of the earth. Let nothing stand in the way of your Christian service, let us not be ashamed to serve our God in this life so that in the next life He will not be ashamed of us. Remember, there is nothing of the earth that is beyond the power of God, if He asks us to give freely so others may see His goodness let us do so without fear knowing that God will only cause us to do what will bring us closer to Him.

 

Romans 8:31-39 - What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all— how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died— more than that, who was raised to life— is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.