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November 30, 2008
 
 
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December 21, 2008
 

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February 8, 2009—Fifth Sunday After Epiphany

Lectionary Texts: Isaiah 40:21-31; Psalm 147:1-11, 20c; 1 Corinthians 9:16-23; Mark 1:29-39

Sermon Text: Luke 6:27-36

Committed Love

Last Sunday we began a series called, “Love Like Jesus.” Love really is “it” when it comes to being a Christian. It is the center and core of what it means to be holy. It is essential, not optional. If you are a Christian, you are to love--no “ifs, ands, or buts.” Love is wonderfully transformational. It changes lives. Your life, my life, and the lives of those you love. I am to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. I am to love my neighbor as myself. Love, love, love. That’s what it’s all about.

Today I want to take you to words of Jesus that are absolutely radical. I mean, these are words that, when you hear them for the first time, you will probably think, “Okay, Jesus, get real.” These are words that take love into a realm that makes us all squirm.
Let me set this up for you. You have probably heard of what we call Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” as recorded in Matthew, chapters 5, 6, and 7. In Luke’s gospel we find a sermon that is quite like the “Sermon on the Mount,” but is different. Some have called it Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain” because Luke says that Jesus preached on a “level place.” Jesus begins this sermon, found in Luke chapter 6, by pronouncing “blessings” and “woes.” Blessings come to those who do not depend on worldly values such as wealth, food, happiness, and popularity. Woes come upon those who do. He then follows these proclamations of blessings and woes with some of the most radical words about love that you will ever hear.

Read Luke 6:27-36.

Are you at all like me? I can hardly believe Jesus is really making a commandment like this. I believe this is the most difficult commandment of all. He actually tells His disciples, “Love your enemies.” It is one thing to tell me that I am to love, but quite another thing to tell me who I am to love: my enemy.

Let’s face it, all of us have enemies. We may not actually use the word “enemy” to refer to them, but they are enemies, nonetheless. Who are your enemies? Can you name them? I’ll guess some faces and names are coming to mind. Here are some of the things that make a person my enemy.

Enemies include people who do not like me. I know, I know, you may find that hard to believe, but it’s true. All of us have people in our lives who don’t like us. I am like most of you; I want people to like me. I also know that this can’t always be the case. It is not comfortable for me to think about it, but I suspect there may be some people right here in this service who don’t like me. They may not like you either. I doubt they would call me an enemy, and I probably wouldn’t call them one either. But that is what enemies do. They don’t like us. So, if you have people in your life who don’t like you, guess what? You have enemies; they don’t like you. But what does Jesus say? “Love your enemies.”

Enemies are also people who say bad things about me. They are people who use words to assassinate character, my character. Now I need to admit something to you about the bad things people may be saying about me. Some of the bad things people say about me are probably true. I’ve found, however, that when someone is willing to say bad things about me that are true, they are also likely to say some things that are not true. You see, friends, people who love us don’t say bad things about us. Saying bad things is something enemies do. Nearly every one of us has had it happen to us. Someone has talked badly about us. When they do, they are doing what enemies do. Enemies use words to hurt us. What does Jesus say? “Love your enemies.”
Enemies are people who are unfair. You know what it’s like. When someone does something that is not just, it hurts. When someone does something that just isn’t fair, it is really hard to take. If you are like me, all I ask from someone with whom I do business is that they are fair. Treat me good, and I’ll treat you good. But we all know that not everyone treats other people fairly. Cheating someone else is what enemies do. If you have ever been cheated, you have had someone act like an enemy. What does Jesus tell us to do? “Love your enemies.”

Real enemies are people who try to harm me. There are some people who really like to see someone else suffer. For whatever reason, they want to make us hurt. They may even feel like they are justified in doing so. Or they may just be people who try to help themselves feel better by making sure someone else hurts like they do. For whatever reason, we all know what it is like to have someone intentionally hurt us. When they do, they are doing what enemies do. Enemies hurt us. What does Jesus say we should do? “Love your enemies.”

Enemies are also people who try to take advantage of me. They are users. They are willing to walk over anyone to get what they want. They tend to see other people as obstacles in the way of getting where they want to go. When people take advantage of others, they are doing what enemies do. What does Jesus say we are to do when someone takes advantage of us? “Love your enemies.”

Jesus makes it clear that this love is what makes Christians different. Everyone, even a sinner, loves those who love them. It is when we “love our enemies” that we show we are different from everyone else. Jesus makes it clear that we are to set ourselves apart from the world by loving our enemy.

If you are like me, however, I have some real problems with this. How can it be possible for me to love someone who is my enemy? How can I love someone who doesn’t like me, who says bad things about me, who is not fair to me, who wants to hurt me, and who is willing to take advantage of me? It just doesn’t seem possible. Can Jesus really be serious about this?

Before we go any further, I want to remind you, again, of the basic principle about Christian love that I taught last week. Love is a behavior, not an emotion. Love is an action, not a feeling. The failure to make this distinction keeps us from understanding what Jesus is asking us to do. Let me say it again, Christian love is a behavior, not an emotion. Real confusion comes when we confuse Christian love with emotions and feelings. Let me try to explain:

Christian love can be contrasted with the feeling we have when we find something desirable. For instance, I find ice cream to be really desirable. I especially like it with chocolate syrup. So you might hear me say something like, “I love ice cream.” But this kind of love has nothing to do with Christian love.

Christian love can also be contrasted with the feeling we have when we find ourselves attracted to someone. Have you ever heard someone say they fell in love at first sight? What they really mean is that when they saw this person the very first time, they were strongly attracted. But this kind of love also has nothing to do with Christian love.
Christian love can also be confused with the feelings we have toward a person we really like. Usually, we think we have to like someone before we start to love them. However, liking someone is an emotional response based on having a positive and pleasant experience in relationship. Christian love, however, cannot depend on us liking someone.

This is a really good thing! Jesus has commanded me to love my enemy. Well, you can be sure that if someone really is my enemy, I do not find them desirable or attractive. I am pretty sure that there are going to be a number of things about them I don’t like. In all honesty, I really don’t think I can control how I feel about my enemy.

But here’s the good news: Jesus does not command emotions; He commands feelings. He does not command me to “like” my enemy, or even to have good feelings toward them. He does command me to behave in loving ways toward them. I believe it is possible for me to act in love toward someone I do not like.

So, then, what does Jesus command us to do? Let’s read our passage again. (Read Luke 6:27-31 again.)

Look at this, He tells us how we are to act toward our enemies. Look at the actions He tells us to take: “do good” to them or act kindly toward them. Instead of being hateful to the person who hates us, we are to respond with kindness. He also tells us to “bless those who curse you.” What this means is that we are to say good things about them. Rather than fall into the trap of name-calling and insults, we respond to someone who is saying bad things about us by blessing them with compliments.
Jesus says we are to “pray for those who mistreat you.” When someone does us wrong, we want to lash out. Jesus says our response is to begin praying for them. It is amazing what begins to happen in our hearts when we sincerely and genuinely pray for someone.

Notice that Jesus then says, “If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also.” We love our enemy by refusing to retaliate. To turn the cheek is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of great strength and self-control. Christians love their enemies by refusing to respond in kind to someone else’s hurtful behavior.

Jesus then says, “If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic.” Now this is really getting hard. What Jesus is saying is that by loving our enemy we resist resisting. Christian love knows that there is no shame in allowing someone else to take advantage of me.

One of the challenges we face as ministers is the responsibility of helping people who are in need. Not everyone, however, who comes asking for help is legitimate. I have had people who have taken advantage of my kindness. The easy thing for me to do is to become suspicious and resistant to every person asking for help. After all, the last person whom I helped took advantage of me. Christian love, however, is willing to err on the side of mercy, even if it means letting someone take advantage of me.
Finally, Jesus instructs, “Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.” We are to give willingly, even when the person who receives our gift may not be responsible or honest with us. This is hard! Yet Jesus knows that if we are going to have an impact for Him in the lives of people who need Him, we must act out of a spirit love.

Jesus ends with a guiding principle: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” That is what Christian love is all about. This is love that requires a commitment, based not on emotions, but on doing what Jesus commands us to do.

I don’t know about you, but even knowing that love is a behavior and not an emotion does not really make loving my enemy easy. To tell the truth, there is nothing at all within me that makes me want to love them. What will it take for me to love as Jesus commands? What must I do to make a commitment to love my enemy?

To make a commitment to love requires me to admit my own weakness regarding love. Every Christian I know struggles with the command to love his or her enemy. This is not something that will come naturally. If I am to love my enemy and do the things God commands me to do, I am going to need help. I cannot do this on my own.

To love as Jesus commands means I will need God’s presence and Spirit within me to empower me to do this. I will need to be truly “filled with the Spirit.” Holiness and righteousness are nothing more or less than loving as Jesus loves. But for me to love in this way will mean that I am allowing the Holy Spirit to fill me, cleanse me, and empower me.

I must make a conscious decision that I will not allow my emotions and feelings to determine my behavior. Instead, I will let behavior lead my feelings. With God’s help and grace at work within me, I will do what He asks me to do, even when my feelings and emotions are crying out against it. My obedience to the Lord can never be dependent on my feelings. Emotions can come and go, but love is a commitment to do and act in a loving manner.

Before I close, I’d like to talk with you about some very practical applications for making a commitment to love.

One of the areas of our lives as Christians that require a commitment to love is in the Church. Sadly, one of the places many people experience mistreatment and hurt is within the Church. Some of you have been deeply wounded by the bad behavior of people who call themselves Christians. This is extremely hard to take. We expect Christians to always behave the way they should, but sometimes they don’t. One of the places we really do need to make the commitment to love, no matter what, is in our relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ. Of all the places where the enemy loves to get people to stop loving each other, there is no place more important to him than the Church.

Another area where we need to learn to be committed to love is in our families. Let me be very specific here. Of all the relationships that must be based on a commitment to love and not on feelings of love, none is more important than the marriage relationship. Remember when you stood in front of a whole bunch of people and spoke words of commitment. “I, Philip, take you, Sherry, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward. For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death do us part.” These are words of commitment, not of feelings. I made a commitment to love my wife, no matter what. To tell you the truth, I cannot tell you that I always have all the warm, fuzzy feelings about my wife that I once had. But warm, fuzzy feelings, as nice as they are, cannot be the basis of a marriage. Instead, I must always choose to love my wife: to treat her in a loving way, even when I may not feel like it.

I have had people come to me seeking counsel for their troubled marriages. One of the things I’ve heard is something like, “I just don’t know if I love him or her any more.” To be honest, this really bothers me. When you made the commitment to love, you didn’t say, “I promise to love you as long as I feel like it.” You said, “I promise to love you until death do us part.” If you don’t love the person you married, it is because you have chosen to stop loving them, not because you stopped without a reason. Talk to anyone who has been happily married for a significant time and I’m sure they can tell you that the feelings of love have not always been there. What has been there is a deep, determined commitment to love each other to the very end.

Another area where a commitment to love must be expressed is at work. I know that the work place can be a brutal environment. Many of you work in situations and with people who are just not nice. This is especially hard to do when that person who hurts you is the boss. Sometimes it is even harder to love like you should when you are the boss and people working under you are not good. It is amazing, however, how a Christian, committed to love in the workplace, is able to be a life-transforming witness. If there is any place we need to live out our faith, it is where we work.

There is one more place where we must be committed to love: our community. I’ll just point out one place where Christian behavior is really needed: our children’s sporting events. I think you know what I’m talking about. To tell you the truth, I’m with you on how bad the officials can sometimes be. It is amazing how important those games feel when they are happening. But, folks, people are watching you. They hear what you are saying and how you are saying it. Let’s remember, umpires are people too.

Let me close with this. Knowing how we should act and what we should do is not always easy. Jesus’ words are clear. I believe He is serious when He tells His disciples to love their enemies. That’s what makes us different than the rest of the people around us. That is what Jesus wants us to be. So here’s what I want you to think about: What should I do that I want others to do to me? Or maybe I could ask it another way: Who do I have that is my enemy that Jesus wants me to love today?

Closing Song: I Love You with the Love of the Lord