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In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Dear Saints of God, Jesus has hard words for us today, again, in this sermon that he preaches from Luke chapter 6. I think maybe let’s run into it in this way. If you’ve ever wondered why the Lord Jesus does not simply baptize us straight into glory, glory? Why, after we’re baptized, there’s not a fiery chariot to carry us into heaven like Elijah or like Enoch, who walked with God and then was taken from this earth? Why it is that when we don’t become a Christian, the Lord doesn’t take us immediately to glory, but why does He leave us here below with all the suffering and all the affliction and all the sin and temptation and sickness and weakness and sorrow and everything else? Why does the Lord leave us here?
The reason is this. The Lord has left you here to love and to be loved. Specifically, and I want us to think about this because this is very different than the world would teach us to think. The Lord Jesus has given you as a gift to your neighbor so that you might love them and serve them.
Now, we can understand neighbor in this context in an expansive way. Your family is your neighbor. Your spouse is your neighbor. Your children, your parents are your neighbor. The people that you work with are your neighbor. The people sitting next to you in church are your neighbor. The people in your neighborhood are also your neighbor. Those are your neighbors, and Jesus has given you to them so that you might bless them.
Now, this is an important way to think of our own lives and to think of ourselves and our neighbors because normally in our fallen, sinful nature, we do the exact opposite. We think, how can my neighbor bless us? Or how can I avoid being hurt by my neighbor? Or maybe we just ask, how can I avoid my neighbor altogether? But that is not why you are here on earth. In fact, it reminded me this morning of how Luther talks about the fall and the sin and Adam and Eve, and how before the Fall, Adam and Eve too had this perfect wisdom and they could have looked at all the creatures and known exactly why God created them. That Rhinoceros was created in this way for this purpose, and the dolphin and the parakeet and whatever else, and Adam would have perfectly understood them and he could have perfectly given them just the exact right names.
But then after the Fall, after Adam and Eve had fallen into sin, now Adam and Eve can only look at the animals and ask, can I eat it or is it going to eat me? Everything is a matter of the belly. And that’s probably how we are tempted also to think of our neighbor. Can I get something from them or are they going to take something from me? This is not how Christians are to think. We are set in this world to love, to bless, to serve the people around us. That’s why Jesus has left you here, why he’s given you life and strength and all your other resources.
The problem is, and this is where the sermon gets hard that Jesus is preaching, the problem is that not all of our neighbors are lovable. Not all of our neighbors love us. Not all of our neighbors want to be loved. In fact, because we live in a world full of sin, we are not only sinners, but we are also sinned against. And this makes us angry. That’s what happens when we’re sinned against, and this is how it works. It’s probably nice for us to just remember the whole business of anger because it’s such an important part of our own lives.
It’s one of these diagnostic questions that we want to always ask ourselves, what am I angry about? Who am I angry with? Because we know that when someone sins against us, we become angry with them, and what happens when we’re angry is that we think, well, now I don’t have to love them. In fact, I can get even with them or I can ignore them or I can whatever to them. Now I’m angry and so I can sin back. In fact, anger is a kind of justified lovelessness. I know Jesus says I’m supposed to love everyone, but look at what they did to me and look at how they hurt me. In fact, I’m probably right to seek vengeance against them after all they deserve it, and maybe they do. You see what happens is you justify that lovelessness and you sin against them and then they’re angry and they sin back and so it goes until they become your enemy.
You have enemies, and people think you are their enemy. In fact, it’s just helpful to have that language from Jesus of enemy because we don’t often use that particular language, but there’s often times when I’m visiting with people, even with husbands and wives, and the devil gets you in this sort of cycle of sinning against each other to where you reach a certain point that now that person can’t do anything right. This is probably what it means to be an enemy. You go from anger to bitterness to you’ve hardened your heart against that person, and now even if they do something good to you, you can’t receive it as a gift.
So, the husband brings home flowers to his wife and she says, well, that’s because he was late. Or the wife does something kind for the husband and he says, well, he’s probably trying to butter me up for something. You see, even a good work, if someone is a friend and they bring me a cup of coffee, I receive it with joy, but if someone’s my enemy and they bring me a cup of coffee, now I’m suspicious. What do they do? They spit in it? Are they trying to trick me into something? You see what this happens? Once someone has become your enemy, then you can’t even receive… not only do you not love them, but you can’t even be loved by them. The devil has cut you off from being loved. It’s a really pernicious place.
Now we all have enemies. We all have people that are like this, and it’s at a huge advantage that Jesus is telling us that this is what we should recognize and this is what we should call them, and we should see that we have enemies because then we have this really clear word from the Lord and we know what to do. Jesus says it like this: love your enemies. In fact, he gives us four things to do. Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. Now this is not easy, but it’s clear; this is how Jesus wants us to live. This is why, in fact, He’s given us life, so that we would be the loving, good working, blessing, praying kind of people, even to those who do not deserve it, even to those who sin against you.
Jesus says, what good does it do if you love the people that love you? Even the sinners do that. What good is it if you bless the people who bless you? What good is it if you lend to the people who pay you back? Even sinners do that, and I’m calling you to a new kind of life, to a life of love, even for those that have hurt you, even to those who are your enemies.
And this is why Jesus says, don’t judge. Judge not, so that you will not be judged. This is one of the favorite verses that people have today. In fact, I think everybody’s favorite Bible verse used to be John 3:16, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, whoever believes in Him won’t perish but have eternal life. But it seems like the favorite Bible verse nowadays is this one, judge not, and the reason is because we think that Jesus is telling us that we don’t have to worry about doing anything wrong. It’s like what my brothers used to say, well, alright, it’s like what me and my brothers used to say to each other. This was our whole childhood: you’re not the boss of me, and that’s what judge not means. You’re not the boss of me. You can’t tell me what to do. You can’t say that this thing is right, or especially this thing is wrong.
We use this verse to try to fight back against our condemning conscience. Now, we should know this, that every single person, every single person created in the world, every single person born, every single person that you’ll ever run into, from Adam and Eve to the end of the world, has a conscience that’s judging them and is saying about the things that they’ve done and said and thought wrong, it’s saying that they’re guilty of that. Everybody has a conscience that’s making that argument against them. You do, and your family does, and your neighbors all do.
And we should know this with absolute clarity, that the only way to silence that voice of the conscience is through the blood of Jesus. But that does not stop people from trying to silence that voice in other ways. And this verse is one of those ways. Don’t judge. When someone says, don’t judge, they’re really talking to their own conscience. Stop telling me about all the things that I’ve done wrong. Now, you should see what an incredible blessing you are to the world that you know this. That you know that everyone around you has a bad conscience, and you know that the only way to a good conscience is through the suffering and death of Jesus, through His Word, which says that He forgives you all of your sins, to His blood, which cleanses us of all unrighteousness. That’s the only way to get a good conscience.
So that’s not what judge not means, but this is what it does mean. When Jesus says judge not, he means that we don’t come to our neighbor as their judge and their accuser, but rather as their friend, or even better, as their servant. We come to our neighbor to bless them. We come to our neighbor, even our enemy, with love and good works and blessing and prayer and care and service, even to those that don’t want it, even to those who despise it, even to those who reject it and who reject you. That’s what you’re called to. That’s why you are alive.
Now, how is this possible? Pastor, you say this is tough. It’s probably past tough. It’s probably completely out of reach for sinners. But the how is in verses 35 and 36. Jesus says, love your enemies, do good, lend expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great. You will be sons of the Most High, who is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Now, let those words sink in. God, your God, is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. He’s probably talking about us there. And the Lord is kind to us. The Lord is kind to you.
Paul says it like this: that even while we were his enemies, Christ died for the ungodly. So, the Lord looked down from heaven and saw you, and saw me in our sin, hands covered in violence, feet covered in filth, and hearts saturated in sin, running headlong, plunging towards condemnation, living as His enemies. The Lord Jesus looks down and sees us in our active rebellion against everything good and everything that He’s put in place, and He does not despise us. He does not despise you. He says, I’m gonna go save him, and he does. I’m gonna go get him. I’m gonna go rescue him. I’m gonna sink myself into their flesh and blood and into their sin and into all the wrath that they deserve from me, and I’m gonna take it myself so that I can deliver them from it and be kind to the rebellious and to the evil and be merciful to sinners. That Jesus has done all, freely, to rescue and redeem you.
That is the God that you have. That is the God who has you. And that one, that kind and merciful one, that crucified and risen one, that Lord Jesus, who loves you and delights in you and is pleased to call you his friend and to press down and shake together and run over with all of the mercy that he has and pour it into your lap, that one who blesses you beyond measure also sends you to bless your neighbor. Can you imagine? To love your enemy, to bless those who curse you, to pray for those who abuse you, and to do good to those who hate you.
Now we fail, and still the Lord loves, still the Lord blesses, still the Lord feeds, still the Lord forgives and sends us out again. So God be praised that this Father of all mercies is merciful to us and is even loving to our neighbor through us. May God grant us this hope and this peace and this confidence and this joy through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.