CW-C Gospel Lesson - Epiphany 7 - Kieth Bernard Kuschel
Luke 6:2738
{27} "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, {28} bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. {29} 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. {30} Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. {31} Do to others as you would have them do to you. {32} "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. {33} And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. {34} 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. {35} 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. {36} Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. {37} "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. {38} 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."
St. Valentine
Meaning of word "saint"
Historical Person
Loved Jesus so much
Love Whom? How? Why?.
History St Valentine
LOVE AS JESUS DOES
I. Whom?
A. Objects of Love
1. Valentine’s Day
2. List of them
3. People who can return the favor
B. Enemies
1. Definition
2. People we hate
3. People who hate us
C. Jesus’ Objects
1. All sinners
2. Enemies who crucified
II. How?
A. Ways to Express
1. Valentine’s Day
2. Usual ways
3. All are giving
B. Jesus’ directives
1. Do good
2. Pray for
3. Give/ Don’t expect back
5. Don’t judge
6. Forgive
C. Jesus’ actions
Gives rain; Offers Word; Gave life
III. Why?
A. Usual Reasons
1. Valentine’s Day expectations
2. Commitment, responsibility
3. You want reciprocity
B. Toward Enemies
1. We are children of God
2. God treats us that way
C. God’s motives
1. Wants us to be His children
2. Wants us to be in heaven
Conc: Do whatever it takes to
Get everyone around you to heaven
IA1 Sometimes the focus of the secular world and our focus as God’s people on Sundays fall together so nicely that it can’t possibly be an accident. For the month before Valentine's day all the advertising everywhere and all the special features in the newspaper and on the television news focused on what? Love. Everywhere you saw what color? Red. Red what? Hearts. And what word? Love. Well, no red hearts on the front of the bulletin today, but LOVE is in big capital letters. Whom are we supposed to love according to Valentine’s Day? Some very special person in our lives .
2 Whom are we supposed to love, really? “Love your neighbor as yourself,” Jesus taught. We are to love ourselves. We are to love our marriage partners. We are to love our family members. We are to love our extended family members. We are to love our friends, relatives, neighbors, and acquaintances.
3 What do all those individuals and groups have in common? They are in our circle of contacts on a regular basis. That means there is a lot of interaction. They have to opportunity to love us back. That is the group that we tend to love, isn’t it? Those who can reasonably be expected to love us back. Did you notice Jesus’ comment about that group? {32} "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them.”
B1 Whom are we supposed to love according to Jesus? {27} “Love your enemies.” And just in case we missed it the first time, Jesus repeats it in verse 35. “Love your enemies.” How many of you saw posters like this over the past two weeks? “Joe loves His enemies.” What is an enemy? The dictionary says an enemy is: 1. A person who hates another. 2. A person who wants to injure another 3. A person hostile to a cause, an idea etc
2 Who are your enemies? Whom do you, if you were only a sinful human being and not a Christian, hate and want to injure? If a drunken driver killed your children, you would react, “Let me get my hands on him, I want to kill him.” If someone raped your marriage partner, you would instinctively respond, “I hope that rapist rots in hell.” If our marriage has been dissolved, who is often the enemy from that point on? Your ex-partner. If somebody burned down your house by falling asleep while smoking, and you lost all the things on this earth that are dear to you, I would venture that you would hate that person and want to injure him. If somebody is constantly trashing you in conversations, your natural human response is to hate that person and want to injure him, at least verbally.
3 Who are your enemies? Who hates you and wants to injure you? Maybe the person on your athletic team who is always second best to you in everything. Maybe your ex marriage partner. Maybe the person who lost his job because you had more seniority when the layoffs came. Maybe the neighbor who lost in a legal dispute over some issue in the neighborhood. Maybe someone against whom we have sinned.
C1 Love your enemies. Whom did Jesus love? He loved His enemies. How do you know that? He asked that those who were killing him be brought to repentance and be forgiven for what they were doing. He cried over the city of Jerusalem because it was rejecting Him.
2 Love your enemies. Whom did Jesus love? He loved His enemies. How do I know that? Because He loves me. On my own I am God’s enemy. (Rom 8:7)“The sinful mind is hostile to God,” St. Paul wrote. I hate it that God makes demands on my life. I hate it that God says I can’t make myself acceptable to Him. God hates it when I sin. God hates it when I insist I don’t need Him. Because of my sinfulness I hate God and He hates me. And yet God so loved the world. That includes me. God loves He enemies. So should we.
IIA1 How are you supposed to love people? It’s really very simple if you listened to and read the advertisements over the pasts few weeks. How is Valentine’s Day love expressed? You buy a card. You buy some flowers. You buy some candy. You go out to dinner. You buy a diamond. And what is the implication if you don’t do these things? You don’t love whomever.
2 How are we supposed to love really? I love my marriage partner by sharing responsibility for the beneficial operation of our family unit. I love my family members by taking care of their needs. I love my friends by supporting them emotionally in the endeavors. I love my relatives by being there for them when they have needs. I love my neighbors by looking out for their well-being. I love my acquaintances by sharing my life with them.
3 What do all these ways of loving have in common? Giving. That’s what loving is - giving. I am willing to give up my lifestyle and my favorite things to benefit my marriage partner. I am willing to give 40 hours a week to earn money to take care of my family’s needs. I am willing to give myself emotionally to help support my friends. I am willing to give my money to help people with their physical needs. I am willing to give my time to monitor how my neighbors are doing. I am willing to give my time just to be with people.
B1 Love your enemies. Jesus said. How do you love your enemies? Jesus tells us how in the verses before us today. {27}Do good to those who hate you. You send a Bible to the person who is in jail for burning your house down, raping your marriage partner, or killing your children. After the storm you help clean up the yard for the person who is verbally trashing you, who lost his job even though you didn’t, who was the loser in the neighborhood dispute, or who is your ex-marriage partner. You let the other person excel in events even though you are better than he is.
2 Love your enemies. How? {28} “Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”
“Lord, lead the arsonist, the slanderer, the rapist, the murderer to repent of his sins and receive eternal life because of Your life, death, and resurrection. Lord, bless my ex-marriage partner, the person who lost his job or his legal dispute with financial security. Lord, bless my rival with a sense of satisfaction.”
3 Love your enemies? How? {30}“Give to everyone who asks you. Lend without expecting to get anything back.” You give of your time to go to talk to the repentant arsonist, rapist and murderer who asks to talk to you. You faithfully give child or spousal support to your ex marriage partner. You give your time to help your rival on the team to get better at what you are doing. You lend the equipment which used to be both of yours to your ex-marriage partner, or to your laid off neighbor, or to your angry neighbor when it is needed without demanding payment.
4 Love your enemies? How? {37} “Do not judge. Do not condemn.” Jesus has told us very clearly we are to point out sin and inform people that sin leads to God’s condemnation. From the verses that come later we learn what He means when He says here “Do not judge. Do not condemn.” We are not to look at other people in a condescending fashion, acting as if we have never or could ever sin in the way they have. Rather than being judgmental and condescending I am to approach my enemy humbly acknowledging that I am just as much a terrible sinner.
5 Love your enemies? How? {36} “Be merciful. {37} Forgive,” Jesus says. “Lord, please lead the arsonist, the rapist, the murderer, the slanderer, my ex-marriage partner to repent and come to trust that You lived and died and rose for him.” When you pray that prayer, you have forgiven your enemy. If you insist that you want to punish them and they should rot in hell, you haven’t forgiven them. You may never want to be in the presence of the arsonist, rapist, slanderer, and murderer again because you still don’t trust them. That is another issue. Forgiveness means you are willing to let God and His appointed representative the government deal with the person about punishment, but you want the person to repent and go to heaven.
C Love your enemies? How did/does Jesus love His enemies? He gives rain and sunshine and all other earthly blessings humans need to enemies as well as believers. He gives His Word, the Law and the Gospel to all humans beings, enemies as well as believers. He gave His life to pay for sins, so He could offer forgiveness to the world, enemies as well as believers. He offers the holiness that He lived to all people, enemies as well as friends. He offers eternal life, which He won by resurrection, to enemies as well as friends. Jesus gives to His enemies. So should we.
IIIA1 Why express love to people this week? Because it is required. Valentine’s week puts a certain amount of pressure on us to conform to what everybody else around us is doing. You do it because you have to. That is a pretty cynical evaluation, isn’t it.
2 Why do you love people really? I love my marriage partner because I have a commitment to God and to my partner that I will always be there until I die to benefit her. I love my family because that is my responsibility under God. I love my friends because God has told me I am to support and uplift the people around me. I love my neighbors because the Lord has told me to love them as much as I love myself. I love my acquaintances because God has told me I am to always be ready to answer them about Jesus.
3 Why express love to others? Another reason: {31}“Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Or. {35}“Then your reward will be great.” Or. {38} “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." Ordinarily people treat you in a similar manner. That is nice. That is good. I want that. So I love others to get that.
B1 Why express love to others? {35} “Then you will be sons of the Most High.” Now remember Jesus is talking to His disciples here. People who are believers. People who trust that the Savior God will forgive them, cover them with His righteousness, and give them eternal life. We are already sons and daughters of the Most High. But when we express love to others including our enemies, it will be very obvious to them that we are sons of the Most High. It is called being witnesses for Jesus with our lives and actions.
2 Why express love to others? {36}“ Just as your Father is merciful.” God sends Jesus into this world even though I as a sinner hate Him. He blesses me with everything I need, even though I as a sinner curse Him for every bad thing that happens in my life. Jesus prays for me even though my sins crucified Him. He willingly listens to our complaints even though they are all insults to Him. He fills my requests. He never expects me to give Him back what I am using when I am finished. He loves me even though He knows I can never give Him the same kind of love in return. He gives me forgiveness, holiness and eternal life even though I deserve hell. Why love others including enemies? Because that is how God treats me.
C1 Why does Jesus love His enemies? Because He wants us to be part of His family. He wants to have an intimate relationship with us. He wants to spend the times of our lives here on this earth with us.
2 Why does Jesus love His enemies? Because He wants us to be with Him forever in heaven. He wants us to have an intimate relationship with Him forever. He wants us to spend eternity with Him.
Conc: Why love others even our enemies? Because we want to give whatever it takes to get all the people around us including our enemies to spend eternity with us and Jesus.