9. Love Your Enemy [Matthew] - Tim Mackie (The Bible Project)

Matthew 5:43 you've heard that it was said love your neighbor and hate your enemy but I tell you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you that you may be children 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 read only your own people what are you doing more than others do not even pagans do that and be perfect therefore as your heavenly Father is perfect all right well this ought to be easy nothing profound and life-changing here right I I feel this week is kind of the conclusion and turning point to a little mini section within the Sermon on the Mount that we've been exploring we're in the Gospel of Matthew were in the Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5 through 7 and the last six Sundays we've been in this section of Jesus's teaching where he's he's King Jesus he's announcing inaugurating God's kingdom he's inviting people to live under his rule and under the ethic and the value system of the kingdom of God's people and and people who put their trust in Jesus they they look to him for direction for redefining their humanity and that's really what these these teachings have been about Jesus is calling into being a people that he is working on and he's not just interested in modifying our behavior he's interested in in exposing and moving towards the really deep deep root issues in our hearts and in our minds and in our habits and and these issues are ways that we that we sabotage and corrode our relationships remember the highest ethic for King for King Jesus and in the kingdom of Jesus it's loving healthy relationships it's the highest value in the a loving healthy relationship with God loving healthy relationship with Jesus and so anything that threatens relationships healthy loving relationships in the kingdom of Jesus's people he wants to expose it he wants to move towards it and have us deal with it and so this has not been the easiest series and here we go another week just sock in the gut I don't know what else to tell you I feel a little bit timid almost standing and trying to present and talk about these these words of Jesus last week Josh explored what I think is one of Jesus's most radical teachings ever the rejection of retaliation right and this week we're exploring I think the other most radical teaching of Jesus which is loving people that you hate if you can't stand and at the end that can't stand you either by the way I'm actually loving those people and these these words in my mind I feel that there's a scene that came into my mind as I was thinking about these two weeks in particular and it's an experience I had in going up i v you go up about 60 miles and then you head east to mount st. Helens have any of you ever been to mount a Alan's visitor center you go up that long you go up that road I forget exit 65 or something like that and you go east and you know you go to the visitor center and then so you go through it and they have all the pictures and things like that and then you go out onto that big veranda and it's just that you know it's just mount st. Helens this is this huge huge mountain just blown out craters this is gigantic Vista Vista totally inspiring and then what I also remember is that there are these little info people like cruising the veranda ready to just give lectures on the spot about what it is that you're looking at and so I remember I was there with my family and we're just it's just so awesome and then this person comes up and just starts like chatting yeah I like telling all these facts about how the growth rate of the forest and how its stilled in the crater and this kind of thing and to be perfectly honest with you other than a few random facts I don't remember anything that person said I will never forget the first time I saw blown-out crater of Mount Saint Helen and that's kind of a bit how I feel right now is that these these words of Jesus are like I'm like a mountain in human history no one had ever said anything quite like this before and then actually lived by it truly and no one has actually ever said anything quite like this sense or lived by it who wasn't just simply referring back to what Jesus said 2,000 years ago these words are like a mountain and so we we stand here today looking at this the beauty and the depths and the profound implications of the teachings of Jesus and so I join you alongside just gazing at the beauty of these teachings of the Lord Jesus and they have the capacity to completely transform human communities these words do and so I just want to humble myself before them I invite you to do the same and let's even just get an inkling to internalize just a bit of what Jesus is getting at here is is dynamite and it will ruin you forever in the best way possible so let's let's think about what he's saying the the danger in these six weeks I mean it takes all of like five minutes to read these six teachings we've been in them a month and a half you know as but they all are forming this portrait of the disciple of Jesus with a transformed heart heart of mind and especially these these last two of this one right here on loving your enemies and last weeks they go together and actually if you read the Gospel of Luke Luke instead of presenting you know reject retaliation and then love your enemies he's blended the two teachings together to read this one seamless teaching because they go together and so here's last week and this week really are kind of combined into one teaching and so here's here's the scene Jesus last week Jesus says he quotes from the Old Testament law and he says if you're an Israelite God's Word the Torah says that you are entitled as a human being made in God's image you're entitled to fair recompense if somebody wrongs you and then he names the number of situations very common to day to day life in in giasses up in Galilee up there so he says let's say for example you're you know you're fishermen fisherwoman and you're going in the road back into town from the sea you got to go through the tax collectors booth because that's how things work in Roman Palestine and so you get up there and is ekia remember that guy he's in the Gospel of Luke tiny dude a little little dude right and so you you know you you don't have enough to pay taxes on what you caught today and you're going to have to like ditch some of your fish because that's how the system works and so but you don't want to do that because you know that like your neighbors are really hungry and they need this fish and so Zacchaeus and you're like I don't have enough to pay and Zacchaeus he jumps up on the table and he just just back hand slaps you right in front in front of it you've got Roman soldiers right here they'll break your kneecaps if you do anything right and you just humiliate and shame you in front of everybody you're a disciple of Jesus you've been hearing Jesus teach on the mountainside you go to him on the Sabbath and you hear him in synagogue and you're compelled by this man and you want to follow him what do you do how do you respond to that kiyose who just slapped you in front of everybody right or maybe it is the Sabbath and you're having a picnic with your family by you know the Sea of Galilee and a troop of Roman soldiers you know comes walking up and they're carrying their heavy bags and they've been out on patrol around the lake that's very common and where these guys show up trouble trouble and so there's a whole bunch of families by the lake doing what you would do on the Sabbath just enjoying God's good world and then all of a sudden like swords come out like you've Israelite throw bag on the ground like pick up my bag carry it up over that hill do it now or you're dead and they totally have the right and authority to do that you're a disciple of Jesus what do you do what do you do and I think one of one of the one of the things that I call it the the doormat misunderstanding of Jesus is teaching on non retaliation is we think well if I'm a disciple of Jesus you just like do it and just don't do anything just do what you're told you just submit to it you you just you're you let people walk all over you right you do nothing that's how many people perceive Jesus is teaching and that's not what Jesus said Jesus said you don't whimper away from Zacchaeus and like shrink away what you do is you you find a place within you because Jesus has opened it up inside of you to find compassion for this man and you and you say Zacchaeus you've had a bad day clearly you need to get any more out here's my other cheek or you say to that Roman soldier you say you said you look so tired could I could I have the privilege of carrying your bags to your doorstep would you let me do that for you what is that you don't have to like what is that that's not passive you know what it's saying that is not doing nothing that is a very intentional active response what do you call that is not revenge it's not retaliation but it's also not being passive in doing nothing what is it and what Jesus calls it at least in the original language that the Gospel of Matthew was written in he calls it agape agape and that's what he's exploring in this teaching that we're looking at today the response of a disciple of Jesus to evil and to wrongdoing is not to do nothing it is to do this in return and this has the capability of so transforming human relationships that there's a reason why this stands as a mountain in the history of human ethics and the history of human teaching and discourse about what is the right behavior and the right thing to do this paragraph of Jesus teachings is just everybody looks to it whether they're Christians or not there's something happened when Jesus said these words that changed human history forever and it's this is this right here so let's dive into Jesus's words and let's just see how he unpacks this is utter utterly profound this is a sixth time he's pulled this move here in verse 43 he says he all have heard it said love your neighbor and hate your enemy but I tell you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you let's just pause let's pause right there so the sixth time he's quoted from some Old Testament command law in the Torah and then he affirms it or qualifies it in some way and then he just sets his teaching right there along alongside of it and almost always what his teaching is doing is not negating he says I didn't come to sweep away or undermine the Torah what I came to do is to fulfill it and he moves towards the deeper issues that the log the Old Testament law which is good but it just begins to uncover what's beneath the surface here and so notice actually this is really interesting look at look down at your Bible look at verse 33 he says you've heard it said love your neighbor and hate your enemy now every week he's quoted or paraphrased some series of Bible verses in the Torah in the Old Testament where's the where is he quoting from or alluding to in this teaching so Leviticus 19:18 but Leviticus 19:18 well actually here convenient let me just show it to you in hole right so here it is done seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people but you shall love your neighbor as yourself I'm Yahweh that's Yahweh speaking to the people at Mount Sinai so there's the source of Jesus quotation love love your neighbor what's missing that is right here hates your enemy so where's Jesus getting that okay and you will search the entire Hebrew Scriptures and you will never find a law or a command that says hate your enemy you'll find stories about people hating their enemies that usually their stories of really horrible people have screwed up so I guess not they're not like their moral examples for us or something so what what is Jesus doing here and actually the key look at his look at his introductory word Jesus doesn't say you have read in the scriptures love your neighbor but hate your enemy what does he say you have heard what that it said so he's referring here to the way that this verse in Leviticus has been understood and talked about and taught and it's going to become very clear that Jesus thinks that this idea in the Torah has been tragically mishandled and misunderstood and what he's alluding to here is a whole debate about the meaning and significance of that command that command right there because if if the if this is God's Word one of the commands of the Torah you shall love your neighbor as yourself the burning question that immediately comes to your mind is what who count yeah like who's your neighbor you know the God wants you to love your neighbor is that everybody you know does that include Zacchaeus does that include that Roman soldier I don't live next door to that Roman soldier he's also using online is be my neighbor this was a raging debate in Jesus's day about the meaning and implications of this this command in the Torah and actually if you here's and here's what you should all always do if you have a question about the meaning of anything of a sentence in the Bible the first thing you should do is say oh yeah the Bible isn't a collection of verses it selects all these incredible works of literature and so on and so you should always read it in context so shall we just do that exercise together here yeah okay look Leviticus 19 here's the context right here and what I've highlighted in yellow is all the clues about who in Leviticus 19 is your neighbor at least in this context so let's just read it do not always speaking to Israel at Mount Sinai do not pervert justice don't show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the rich judge your neighbor fairly don't go about slandering another person among your people don't do anything that in danger is the life of another community member I am Yahweh don't hate a fellow Israelite in your heart challenge your neighbor frankly when they do evil so that you don't share in their guilt don't seek revenge don't bear a grudge against any one of your people love your neighbor as yourself I am Yahweh so if you just look at like the verse that Jesus quoted and you read it in context who's your neighbor in Jesus setting and his audience who's your neighbor so it's your people community member fellow Israelite that's a fairly significant clue alright who's your neighbor Jesus Jewish man teaching a Jewish audience who's your neighbor yeah this is Jewish people right and who's who's talking to WHO right here it's Yahweh talking to the Israelites gathered at Mount Sinai he's talking about how they are to live in their common life here together so in the immediate setting of Leviticus 19 it looks like Roman soldiers don't count here apparently and it looks like maybe even like Zacchaeus you know traitor he probably because he's like sold the farm you know he's gone to work for the Romans and he's not oppressing his own people he will almost certainly doesn't count anymore either but then so the debate rages but then there were other rabbis and I think Jesus is one of them who paid attention to a passage just a few sentences after this one in Leviticus 19 it's in the context relevant let's continue our quest here in Leviticus 19 so when an immigrant resides among you in your land don't mistreat them the immigrant residing among you must be treated as your native-born love them as yourself for you all we're immigrants in Egypt I'm Yahweh your God so who who are we called to love as yourself here oh yeah Israelites but then we have immigrants so these are people non-israelites who've moved a Land of Israel and they're looking for work an opportunity or whatever they look for a safe haven and Israel is to be a place that has full of welcome and hospitality to people who aren't a part of their tribe and they are to be treated and brought into the community and loved as fellow Israelite and so many rabbis appeal to this paragraph and they say well this for sure this maybe covers a whole bunch but like there's a Roman soldier fit in this category like a Roman soldier is not an immigrant he's here to break your kneecaps if you don't obey the Roman law and pay your taxes does he count does the Roman soldier count and Zacchaeus does he count in this like he's not an immigrant he's a traitor isn't these are you guys I'm just trying to bring you into the debate this was a raging debate and and it's not you this is not just you know of historical interest Jesus's people have been living under the thumb of oppressive military dictators for three times as long as America has existed six hundred years over half a millennia right they've lived under Assyria Babylon Persia right Greece Egypt Rome all of them terribly oppressive and violent this is it for a persecuted religious ethnic minority these are burning questions who counts who counts if God has called his people to love their neighbor who count and so Jesus picks up Leviticus 19 and he expands it he expands it beyond what any rabbi did in his day it's not just loyalty to people within the tribe of Israel it's not just care and loyalty to people outside the tribe of Israel who come peaceably in Jesus says the love that that God is commanding in Leviticus 19 is a love without boundaries it's a love for your friends and your enemies for people you hate and people who hate you now where did he get that you know I guess he is he is if he's reading the scriptures like ah you won't find that idea in Leviticus 19 where did he get that idea from and he as he goes on I think he shows that he got this idea from two places one is from looking at weather patterns weather patterns looking at the weather and the second is the same scriptures just a different part of them weather and the Scriptures look at what he says here he says I tell you love your enemies pray for those who persecute you why should you do that so that you may become children of your father in heaven now I don't think he's saying this is entrance requirement he's saying those are disciples and recognize who Jesus is as the son the father is already their father but this is about becoming and living and reflecting the character traits of God that are revealed in Jesus now how do you know God is light well think about the weather none of us would ever do this by the way you know so I would you use this in a conversation with your friends like who do you think God is that storm yesterday you know that was really intense I know that tells me a thing or two about God that's precisely what Jesus does he says so so think about this he says the Heavenly Father right God of Israel creator compassionate God he causes his Sun to rise on the evil and the good he sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous so just so just stop for a second there's one of those lines of Jesus you kind of read over so somewhere along the way Jesus started to notice how things work in the world and he noticed that you can't go for a drive in you know through farm country and look at a lush green field you know full of give cherry orchards and you know flourishing olive trees or something and say ooh that's definitely a friend of God right there because God smiles upon them and then threats like turn the corner go down a few miles and then see like an olive grove and a fig you know fig a tree orchard that has blight and mildew and the ground is all dry and so on and conclude like oh definitely that's an enemy of God definite God definitely has it out for that person they must be wicked and horrible jesus says like us is horrible theology is this horrible in fact there's a whole book of the Bible that's designed to deconstruct that way of viewing the world it's called the book of Job or job there's the first time you look in your Bible you like job why do I want to read the book about my job you know so no it's joke job and it's designed to deconstruct that kind of simplistic bad bad theology Jesus observes like the farmer who's super upstanding and honest and pays his workers fairly gets the same weather as the farmer who's a cheat liar pays his workers poorly horrible to this family they get the same life-giving rain that moves through about the Galilee Valley Jesus observes the Sun Rise so this is Jesus's view of the world and we'll get into this as we go out a goat throughout the Gospel of Matthew Jesus has what Dallas Willard called a God's saturated view of the world which were and it just comes out in his teachings Jesus views every breath every exposure to the Sun and rain every meal every friendship every laugh as just as utter gift and grace from the Creator God and Jesus observes that people who deserve a good life and people who don't deserve a good life because are so horrible like we all get sunshine who gets ice cream in sunny days people in California who gets ice cream if you want to in December and and rainy days people in Portland right and so like as the Friends of God or the enemies of God yes it's not a God the economy doesn't work that way there's something in the weather that reveals God's bountiful generosity God doesn't treat people he doesn't give his gifts to people according to how they behave now Jesus firmly believes that that God will at some point put all things right and hold all humanity collectively individually accountable for how we behave and so on but at this moment is a moment of pure grace and generosity no matter how people behave and Jesus draws a very draws a very powerful conclusion he says if that's what God is like and that's the God who Jesus comes to reveal what must the kingdom of the people of the kingdom be locked so we fights weather patterns first of all but in doing that he shows that he's been raised on the poetry of the Book of Psalms which contains poems that say things like this yeah always gracious he's compassionate he slow to anger and he's rich in love what does that mean Richard love Yahweh is good to all he has compassion on all of that he's made the eyes of all look to you you give them food at the proper time you open your hand and you satisfy the desires of every living thing you see you see Jesus has been reading and thinking about psalm 45:1 45 hasn't it and that it's so deeply shaped his view of God in the world that this is what comes up you can look at the Bible or use and look at whether God's generous to people who hate him and who he may not like all not much either but he gives them rain and sunshine because that's just who God is he's generous this is the same generosity that we're going to see Jesus in act symbolically with these meals that he's going to throw these public meals and then he will invite you know public offenders number one two three four five six seven eight nine ten all to the meal the worst people you could imagine in these villages and communities and he invites them to the meal to be a part of God's kingdom he calls them to follow him it's exact as this is this open-handed generous boundary breaking welcome and invitation and generosity and this gives us I think the first clue as to what what Jesus means right here when so this word gets translated as love in our English Bibles and if you've been around Dora hook very long you've heard me ride this horse quite quite a few times I think because this is not a translation problem problem with our translations this is a problem with the English language the word love I'm convinced as one of the most unhelpful unclear words in the English language right because I mean it's so unhelpful because it can mean so many different things it can mean I prefer and I like something I love pizza you might say I say that all the time but what I mean is I actually prefer or I like it I love Star Wars I love and appreciate it and there's just something about it that makes my heart smile right and and I also love my family and my my wife and my children and that's about affection and loyalty those are so different though all of us are so different from each other and we use one word to describe all three of those things what a useless word why don't we just come up with three different words that have but here we go so this is a problem in English because in English love primarily refers to a ceiling right a feeling an emotion that happens to you and that's very can you see that Jesus means something very different by agape something totally different so he do you have warm feelings towards ekia Sweeney backhands you is Jesus asking you to generate warm feelings to Zacchaeus when he backhands do the so we're talking about in attitude about a mindset and then an action that flows from that from that mindset God God has chosen to perform actions of kindness and generosity towards people regardless of how they behave regardless of whether they like him or whether he happens to like what they're doing at the moment there's God has chosen to agape chosen and so in in Jesus is teaching it's not like he's this is so embarrassing let's put that down it's not like he he's asking you to somehow generate like Falls or like warm fuzzies hurt your enemy what he's asking you to do is to choose to view them in a certain way to choose to view them the way that God sees this person some within God's economy this person is beloved they're a human being they're made in God's image and they might be screwed up in ways that are different than me cut but they're human being made made in God's image and God has come among us in the person of Jesus to choose to do an act of love on their behalf if I'm a disciple of Jesus I actually don't have the right or the authority to treat someone as unloved when Jesus has treat them as treated them as someone who's loved that's the logic of this here so that you may become children of your father who is in heaven this is an image bearing human being I actually don't have them in the kingdom in the kingdom I don't have the right to deny someone kindness and generosity it's not that you like to lay in bed just like I just love that person it's like I can't stand that person but they're made in God's image Jesus gave His life he lived and died for that person and so I choose to adopt an attitude there are some actions that we do because we feel like them I just have this thing going on inside of me for my kiddos and for my wife and I just do stuff and some many sometimes I'm portraying myself to positively okay so okay so sometimes I act on that there are other times where it's so clearly a choice even for these people that are so close to me and that's exactly his point look at what he goes on to say he says listen verse 46 he says if you love those who love you what reward will you get don't tax collectors either I mean Zacchaeus is really really nice to people who he knows he gets kicked back from so if you greet only your own people what what are you doing more than any others don't pagan and Pagan is not a negative word here it just means a non-jewish person don't the non Jewish people they don't even have the Torah and they like are nice to each other don't they do that so Jesus he's acknowledging like human he's acknowledging that humans are actually pretty decent folk do you see that right there humans are pretty decent there's when we're inside of our circle when we're inside of our tribe when we are with those whom we like it's actually not hard to for us to choose to do acts of kindness and generosity towards people who are like us towards people who are within our circle of family or who are in our religious tribe or our social niche tribe or whatever Jesus says we all behave pretty decently but that's actually not that's not the issue as a societal problem the problem is that as we love each other within our tribes and we hate people from other tribes and who who wants to argue with Jesus on that one it's like the great American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr said groups of people tend to be more immoral than individuals within those groups and you guys know exactly somehow behavior that I would never do as an individual but somehow I've parked its participate in and can even find myself endorsing when it's a group of people about another group of people is what I'm talking about and so that's so Jesus says what human beings are pretty decent when we're within our circle but we're fickle and we're selective and were ultimately self-centered with our agape because you know like you walk you walked into this room right here this morning and you naturally gravitated towards people towards giving a kind welcome or a hug or a hello to the people who you know that are going to give you kickback but we're going to give you a Gotha in return and they're probably people that you know that you have some history with it's just how we operate and Jesus he just like dang it he just he just uncovers what an actually self-centered process that is and and how the kingdom is a kingdom that reflects not how human communities tend to operate the kingdom is a community that operates by children reflecting their father who is in heaven and that's exactly what he means in verse 48 when he says be perfect therefore as your heavenly Father is perfect man many of us have read verse 48 and I've just been like that's it I'm done I'm done for I'll try you know and give it my best shot but the doughnut don't expect much and part of it is our English word perfect man we could do a whole teaching just on this verse right here well we'll just go here we'll do it I just will do one we can't even talk about Leviticus 11 and first Corinthians 11 right now but that's okay the word Telos and if you were to do a word study in the New Testament you will find that the English word and the context in which this word gets used most it's the word mature this is a word used to describe someone who has reached a completion point in their growth and development as a human or if you look at the passages that Jesus is alluding to right here it's the idea of being complete and what Jesus this is both a command be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect but it's also a promise there there is something about when a human being intentionally steps over some relational divide some boundary tribal line and performs an act chooses an attitude and performs an act of concrete benevolence and generosity and kindness to someone who let's just say outside your circle much less someone who's outside your circle who hates you and who you don't particularly like ether but to go against the grain of every intuition that seems natural as a human and to look with compassion and perform an act of generosity Jesus Jesus says you humans are never more like God than they are in that moment there's there's something about love and not the fuzz fuzzy stuff versus this right here biblical love choosing to view someone as a human being with dignity regardless of their behavior or what they've done into others or to me and to do a concrete act of kindness when humans do that when disciples of Jesus do that it's just it's exactly if this teaching I'm certain that inspired that beautiful poem in first John chapter 4 brothers and sisters let us love one another for love is from God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God because God is oh there's something about this these actions the disciples of Jesus we're it's like we're participating hiding in the very heartbeat of God where we are entering into the meaning of the universe when we deny what seems so natural to our broken selfish condition and we we perform a concrete act despite our own feelings about it right some action do you do because you feel like doing them there are some things you do as an action and the feelings might have to follow and and when disciples of Jesus do this we were participating in the very life and essence of God's own being this is perfect this is I don't even know what other words to you but that idea itself a verse 48 is worth many cups of tea of Prayer and and humble reflection because and just think about you most of us have had some moment write some altruistic moment where this came out of you in some way right and if you've ever had that experience where you've done an act like that and you've reflected back on it you know you like it's so it's like the mountain it's so beautiful it's so compelling you you can look at it others can look at it and just say like that there's something about that act agape that that sums up what it means to be a human being are you guys with me like we know it deep inside of us that's what this is about and so Jesus with these words they just this is a mountain in the history of human conversation about what it means to be human and Jesus just plants this mountain of his teaching right here and it's the hardest thing that you and I will ever do and it's also I'm convinced the mote there's a reason why this is the last teaching I think it's this climactic teaching because this is what the whole deal is about and when Jesus's disciples do this things happen the disciples of Jesus who have made the most deep and significant impacts in human history are people who have chosen this course and they're specifically people who have chosen this call and ended up with a fate much like Jesus himself in our culture there is still one individual who's an icon we name streets after this man and he's presented as an icon of justice in our culture he saw everything he was doing deriving out of this command and teaching of Jesus right here who am I talking about two things this is one I think it's my favorite and most I think impactful picture of Martin Luther King jr. it was a day in 1963 and he came out this front house someone did you know burned a cross happened many times burned a cross in his front yard and he such a powerful story and he he got up in the morning he put on his suit his best suit and he went out to the front yard the reporters are there and he picks up the cross and pulls it out of the grass and he begins to utter a prayer that God would show favor and bless the people who did this now now the way that Martin Luther King jr. gets presented in our culture because he was trying to communicate this to a wider audience he did so many essays and speeches where he doesn't talk about Jesus and those are the ones that have become famous I read his letters from Birmingham jail and you will see as this man he had lots of flaws like we all do but this this is it man this is what drove this man and you can see it reflected in this quote here he says the ultimate weakness of violent retaliation is that it is a rending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy instead of diminishing evil it multiplies it through violence you may murder the liar but you cannot murder the lie nor establish the truth through violence you may murder the hater but you do not murder hate in fact violence merely increases haze and so it goes returning evil for evil adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars darkness cannot drive out darkness only light can do that hate cannot drive out hate only love can do that love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend this is a man who saturated themselves in the gospel and in the teachings of Jesus and it it generated a life and a series of life choices that has captured our whole nation's attention here we are 50 years later still in awe of this simple man who just followed the teachings of Jesus and so I want us to to conclude by just taking us to the bread in the cup because ultimately what what drove this is inspirational but what what drove Martin Luther King himself is Jesus himself and and it seems to me that as we go on through the Gospel of Matthew the the only way we're going to deal with any of these six issues that came up in the last month and a half and these teachings is is to look towards Jesus in trust and faith and hope that he lived as the teleosts human beings in in my place he was the human that I'm called to be but failed today and he did it as an act of agape love and He gave His life as an act of agape love and so turned an enemy into his friend and so the kingdom of Jesus people were were people who are imperfectly but imperfectly trying to enter into the very heartbeat of God and recognizing that Jesus have already blazed the trail on our behalf and what we're called to do is in trust and face believes his agaves for and is agape for your enemy I wonder if any of us are going to be around people that we find it difficult to be around in the next seven days or so alright maybe oh yeah right there's the thing Christmas and like your uncle right your cousin so here's what I'd like us to do we're going to take the bread in the cup as we always do kind of a climax of our gathering and I just encourage you to give one person give one person in your mind the co-worker the family member the roommate it's spouse it's it's someone at school it's your actual neighbors above you whatever and just whoever for you this this is this is it this is the issue you can't stand them and they can't stand you you know don't take yourself out of the equation here and and just as you take the bread in the cup and remember Jesus agape for you just ask yourself what could you do the next seven days before we gather again what could you do to adopt a mindset and do something for them this is the one week of the year where it actually would maybe make sense to do that in first everything X Jesus has given his gift of himself to us what could you do for that person that would be surprising counterintuitive you didn't even see it coming before you encounter these words of Jesus and to just see what happens just see what happens inside of you and in that relationship and so I just get that person in your head let me close in prayer and let's um worship the beautiful Jesus who gave us these words and his life amen you

Channel: Tim Mackie Archives

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Length: 46min 24sec (2784 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 19 2017