Sunday
Morning Bible Study
July
12, 2015
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it address the person who is: Empty, lonely, guilty, or afraid
to die? Does it speak to the broken
hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a decision
Is the church loved? Regular: 2900
words Communion: 2500 words Video=75wpm
Luke was a doctor and a travelling companion of the apostle Paul.
He wrote this book while Paul was in prison.
In writing his book, Luke made use of other older documents like the Gospel
of Mark, as well as extensive eyewitness accounts.
Jesus’ ministry has begun, and the people have been amazed not just at the
things He’s been teaching, but the things He’s been doing.
We have started Luke’s first record of one of Jesus’ extensive teachings.
It’s similar to Matthew’s “Sermon
on the Mount”, but was delivered in a different time and a different place and
would be better called the “Sermon on the Plain”.
We ended last week with Jesus raising the issue of people being hostile to
us:
(Luke 6:22–23 NKJV)
—22 Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you,
and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man’s sake. 23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is
great in heaven,
For
in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.
(Luke 6:26 NKJV) Woe to you when all
men speak well of you, For so did
their fathers to the false prophets.
6:27-30 Loving Enemies
:27 “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who
hate you,
:27 But I say to you who hear
you who hear – akouo
– to be endowed with the faculty of hearing, not deaf; to hear
Why does Jesus start off with the
word “but”?
When Jesus taught this in Matthew
5, He was contrasting what people have heard before and what He was teaching
now.
(Matthew 5:43–44 NKJV) —43 “You have
heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your
enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love
your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and
pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
But in this Sermon on the Plain,
the same principle is being taught as a continuation of the idea of how to
respond when people are hostile to us.
Sometimes God’s lessons in the
Scriptures are applicable in many different ways, in many different situations.
Whether you are learning to love
your enemies and not just your friends, or whether you are learning to love
your enemies when they give you a hard time, the principle is still the
same: Love your enemies.
Lesson
Are you listening?
Throughout the New Testament you will see Jesus use a similar phrase such
as,
(Mark 4:9 NKJV) And He said
to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Seven times in the letters to the
seven churches, Jesus says,
(Revelation 3:22 NKJV) “He who
has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’ ”
Sometimes we hear the same things over and over again, and just tune it
out.
Have you ever been on an airplane and listened to the preflight safety
speech?
We were on a plane last month and when the safety speech started, the college
students next to us just put on their headphones and went to sleep. They might not have done that if we had been
flying Southwest.
Sometimes the things we neglect to pay attention to could one day save our
life.
Can you hear the sound of my voice this morning?
It’s not enough to just come to church and check off “going to church” on
your “to do” list.
God thinks you are actually responsible for listening to what He might be trying
to say to you.
:27 Love your enemies
love – agapao – to love,
to feel and exhibit esteem and goodwill to a person, to prize and delight in a
thing.
This is love that is based on your will, your choice, and not your
emotions.
It is a choice you make to value another person.
It is a love characterized by action, and that primary action is that of giving.
It’s the word used in:
(John
3:16 NKJV) For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Some of you today may still be considered “enemies” of
God. You’ve lived your whole life in
rebellion against God.
God loved you so much He sent His Son to save you, not
destroy you.
What God is looking for you to do is to open your heart to
Him and believe.
The Greek word used here is in the “present tense”, meaning that we are to continually
love our enemies and not just try it once or twice.
Lesson
You will have enemies
Some of us have a hard time with this concept.
Will Rogers once said, “I never met a man I didn’t like”.
Just because you “like” everyone doesn’t mean that
everyone will “like” you.
Paul the apostle had enemies. Paul warned Timothy:
(2 Timothy 4:14–15 NKJV) —14 Alexander
the coppersmith did me much harm. May the Lord repay him according to his
works. 15 You also must beware
of him, for he has greatly resisted our words.
Jesus Christ had enemies.
They had Him crucified. And yet while He was dying on that cross,
Jesus said,
(Luke 23:34a NKJV) Then Jesus
said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
Why would people hate us?
Sin
Sometimes I hurt people.
I sin. I am an imperfect person,
and the longer you know me, the greater the chances are that you’re going to be
hurt one day by me.
Illustration
A knight and his men return to their castle after a long
hard day of fighting. “How are we faring?” asks the king. “Sire,” replies the
knight, “I have been robbing and pillaging on your behalf all day, burning the
towns of your enemies in the west.” “What?!?” shrieks the king. “I don’t have
any enemies to the west!” “Oh,” says the knight. “Well, you do now.”
If we choose to be gracious with each other, we have a
chance of getting along.
If we choose to hold a grudge, problems develop and people
become enemies.
Paul wrote,
(Ephesians
4:31–32 NKJV) —31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put
away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,
even as God in Christ forgave you.
Misunderstanding
I’m not always clear in what I communicate to others.
Sometimes people aren’t clear when they’re talking to me.
Sometimes people misunderstand a look.
Sometimes a rumor goes around and if I don’t check the
facts, I can get swallowed up in a lie and end up being upset with someone I
shouldn’t be upset with.
(Proverbs
18:13 NKJV) He who answers a matter before he hears it, It is
folly and shame to him.
If I start making up my mind about people or situations
without really understanding what’s being said, I can end up making enemies.
Doesn't some of this sound like what goes on in a
marriage?
They hate Jesus
Sometimes it’s just the fact that I belong to Jesus, and
the person I’m talking with doesn’t like Jesus.
Jesus said,
(John
15:18–19 NLT) —18 “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. 19 The world
would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer
part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.
Satan
Jesus was betrayed by Judas, someone that Jesus had loved
and had spent three years mentoring.
Judas’ betrayal was influenced by Satan.
At the Last Supper, Jesus warned His disciples that one of
them would betray Him:
(John
13:26–27 NLT) —26 Jesus responded, “It is the one to whom I give the bread I dip in
the bowl.” And when he had dipped it, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon
Iscariot.
In ancient Middle Eastern dining traditions, giving
someone a piece of your bread to eat was like giving them a hug, a
demonstration of your love and affection.
It was one last final “I love you” from Jesus to Judas, a
love that Judas rejected …
27
When
Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus told him, “Hurry
and do what you’re going to do.”
What does it mean to “love” your enemies?
I think the following verses give an explanation.
:27 do good to those who hate you
The verb “do good” is also “present tense”, meaning that this is something
we continually do, not just a one time attempt.
good – kalos – beautifully,
finely, excellently; so that there shall be no room for blame
Lesson
Respond with good deeds
When Jesus tells us to “love our enemies”, He isn’t telling us to drum up
some sort of syrupy, mushy feelings for our enemies.
Agape love is about actions. It’s about your will. It’s about making choices.
Paul wrote,
(Romans 12:20–21
NLT) —20 Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are
thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning
coals of shame on their heads.” 21 Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.
The Arabians call
things that cause very acute mental pain “burning coals of the heart” and “fire
of the liver”. The idea is that when you
return an evil deed with a good one, that good deed has the ability to remind
the person of just how wicked they’ve been to you.
After David
had killed the giant Goliath, he became extremely popular with the people of
Israel. This made his boss, King Saul
extremely jealous. Saul began a campaign
to try and kill David and David had to run for his life.
Twice David
had the opportunity to kill Saul, but his conscience wouldn’t let him do
it. After the second time of sparing
Saul’s life…
(1 Samuel 26:21 NLT) Then
Saul confessed, “I have sinned. Come back home, my son, and I will no longer
try to harm you, for you valued my life today. I have been a fool and very,
very wrong.”
Last Thursday night we watched the fictional movie “Do You Believe?” One of the subplots of the movie was about a Christian
paramedic who got into legal trouble for leading a dying man to Christ.
He is confronted by the attorney who was going to lead the lawsuit against
him.
Video: “Do You
Believe” – Attorney confrontation – 1:23
When the attorney was involved in a fiery auto accident, the same paramedic
was there to save her.
Video: “Do You
Believe” – The Rescue – 1:39
She couldn’t imagine why he had saved her.
Video: “Do You
Believe” – Why Did You Save Me – 1:45
It shook her world.
Video: “Do You
Believe” – I was wrong – 1:52
Why would someone save someone who just tried to ruin
their life? Because that’s what our
Jesus did.
That was a fictional story. This
next story is true.
When the first missionaries came to
Alberta, Canada, they were opposed by a young Cree Indian chief named
Maskepetoon. But eventually he responded
to the gospel and accepted Christ.
Shortly afterward, a member of the Blackfoot tribe who hated Maskepetoon
killed his father. Maskepetoon rode into
the murderer’s village and demanded that he be brought before him. Confronting the guilty man he said, “You
shall ride my best horse and wear my best clothes.”
In utter amazement and
remorse his enemy exclaimed, “My son, now you have killed me.” The hate in his heart had been erased by
Maskepetoon’s forgiveness and kindness.
It doesn’t always end this way when we learn to love our enemies, but this
is the way Jesus wants us to respond.
Jesus wants to give people a chance to turn around.
He prefers to use kindness to make us turn around.
(Romans
2:4 NLT) Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is
with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is
intended to turn you from your sin?
:28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.
:28 bless those who curse you
bless – eulogeo
– to praise, celebrate with praises; to invoke blessings; to ask God’s
blessing on a thing
curse – kataraomai
(“against” + “pray”) – to curse, doom, imprecate evil upon
:28 pray for those who spitefully use you
(Luke 6:28 NLT) …Pray for
those who hurt you.
spitefully use – epereazo
(“upon” + “threats”) – to insult; to treat abusively, use despitefully; to
revile; in a forensic sense, to accuse falsely; to threaten
Only used here and in
(1 Peter 3:16 NKJV) having a
good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your
good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.
Lesson
Pray blessings
This is not an easy thing to do. We
want to return curses with curses.
Some of us will even get spiritual when we pray for others by quoting King
David.
Sometimes David didn’t pray the nicest things for his enemies.
(Psalm 10:15 NKJV) Break the
arm of the wicked and the evil man; Seek out
his wickedness until You find none.
(Psalm 58:6 NKJV) Break their
teeth in their mouth, O God! Break out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!
I’m not sure that these were the kinds of “prayers” Jesus
was talking about.
For those of you frantically writing down this verse so
you can pray them, keep in mind that when David prayed for his enemies, he also
tended to put the issue in God’s hand.
David let God take care of Saul. And that’s what God did.
People will be lobbing unkind things at you.
How will you return what’s been shot at you?
Returning the serve is the second most important shot in
tennis.
It’s kind of like how you “return” a curse shot at you.
It takes practice.
Jesus says to return curses with blessings.
The Greek word for blessings is eulogeo,
which literally means “good words”.
Pray for them as you would like to be prayed for. Next week we’ll hear Jesus say,
(Luke
6:31 NKJV) And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.
You could think about praying for them using some of Paul’s prayers like,
(Ephesians
3:18–19 NLT) —18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people
should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you
experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then
you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes
from God.
I’d like to be prayed for that way, wouldn’t you?
:29 To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also.
And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic
either.
:29 strikes – tupto
– to strike, beat, smite
:29 cheek – siagon
– the jaw, the jaw bone
:29 cloak – himation
– a garment (of any sort); the upper garment, the cloak or mantle
:29 tunic – chiton
– a tunic, an undergarment, usually worn next to the skin, a garment, a
vestment
:29 do not withhold – koluo
– to hinder, prevent forbid; to withhold a thing from anyone; to deny or
refuse one a thing
:29 offer the other also
Does this mean that if one spouse is hitting the other spouse that they
should just let them hit them and die?
No.
I don’t think there’s value in dying for the sake of the other person’s anger
problem.
It’s one thing to give your life for the sake of preaching the gospel, but when
you are married to someone who does not have control over their anger, use
common sense and step away.
Separate. Get counsel. Call the police.
Don’t feed the other person’s anger by being their punching bag.
Some people will not get serious about dealing with their anger until they
are cooling their heels in a jail cell.
:30 Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your
goods do not ask them back.
:30 ask them back – apaiteo – to ask back, demand back,
exact something due
:30 Give to everyone who asks of you
Again, I don’t want to sound like I’m trying to make excuses for not
obeying Jesus, but there is a balance to this.
For some of us, we read verses like this and empty our pockets whenever
someone asks us for money.
The balance is that the Bible says,
(2 Thessalonians
3:10–12 NLT) —10 Even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “Those
unwilling to work will not get to eat.” 11 Yet we hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to
work and meddling in other people’s business. 12 We command such people and urge them
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and work to earn their own
living.
We’ve learned the hard way that sometimes people are going to continually
take advantage of you because you are “the Christian”. I think we need wisdom and discernment to say
“no” when we know that it’s not right to help this person.
When someone is making their living off of taking advantage of others, we
should take a stand to tell them they need to work like everyone else.
:29 To him who strikes you on the one cheek
Lesson
Put down your fists
Even though I think there are limits to how this applies, for many of us
the lesson is very clear.
Don’t fight back.
Illustration
There was a story about a truck driver
who dropped in at an all-night restaurant in Broken Bow, Nebraska. The waitress
had just served him when three swaggering, leather-jacketed motorcyclists—of
the Hell’s Angels type—entered and rushed up to him, apparently spoiling for a
fight. One grabbed the hamburger off his
plate; another took a handful of his French fries; and the third picked up his coffee
and began to drink it. The trucker did
not respond as one might expect.
Instead, he calmly rose, picked up his check, walked to the front of the
room, put the check and his money on the cash register, and went out the door.
The waitress followed him to put the money in the till and stood watching out
the door as the big truck drove away into the night. When she returned, one of the bikers said to
her, “Well, he’s not much of a man, is he?”
She replied, “I can’t answer as to that, but he’s not much of a truck
driver. He just ran over three
motorcycles out in the parking lot.”
It’s not easy to not fight back, isn’t it?
I don’t think it’s wrong to study the martial arts, if you do it for the
right reasons.
In the movie “Karate Kid” (the original, 1984), Daniel-son gets beat up by
a bunch of bullies, and he asks Mr. Miyagi to teach him karate.
Video: Karate Kid –
Karate for defense only
I don’t think it’s wrong to defend yourself at times.
But there are going to be times when you need to step back
and not defend yourself.
Sometimes God wants us to just let it go.
When the people in the Corinthian church were mad at each other and suing
other believers in the secular courts.
Paul considered this behavior before the unbelieving judges to be an
embarrassment. Paul wrote them,
(1
Corinthians 6:7 NLT) Even to have such lawsuits with one another is a defeat for you.
Why not just accept the injustice and leave it at that? Why not let yourselves
be cheated?
There’s a Greek word in the New Testament, praus.
In secular Greek writing, this word is used to describe a powerful, wild
horse that is tamed and controlled by its master.
Our English Bibles translate this word as “gentle” or “meek.
It’s not a word to describe a “wimp”, but a word used to describe a person
who has their strength under control.
They are able to control their response to situations.
Jesus said,
(Matthew
5:5 NKJV) Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.
Sometimes choosing not to fight back is a sign of
strength, of control, not of weakness.
Jesus Himself is
“gentle”
(Matthew 11:29 NKJV) Take
My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you
will find rest for your souls.
“Gentleness” is
one of the things that the Holy Spirit will produce in our lives, a “fruit of
the Spirit” (Gal. 5:22-23)
(Galatians 5:22–23 NKJV) —22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness,
self-control. Against such there is no law.
Jesus’ teaching can be kind of dangerous, huh?
Loving your enemies.
Responding with good deeds.
Praying a blessing.
Putting down your fists.