Know and Show Unnatural Love

Luke 6:27-38

27 But to you who are listening I say: 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 slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 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 children 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.”

Know and Show Unnatural Love

Some of you are going to tune out what I have to say today. You’ll listen. You might even make eye contact and bob your head in understanding – you’ll get it between your ears – but when you hear what I have to say, you’ll think to yourself, “There is no way that I am going to do that.” The heart in your chest will laugh out loud, you’ll dismiss it, and you’ll move on with the rest of your day.

This is what I have to say: Love your enemies.

I mean, it’s not difficult to imagine enmity. We live in a world that is full of hostility and hatred. There were credible rumors that Russia might wage war on Ukraine this week. Our prime minister enacted the emergencies act this week, empowering local police agencies to forcibly bust up blockades and disperse people whose protest began peaceably but has become a lightning rod for hatred and violence.

There is plenty of enmity in this world, but Russia isn’t my enemy. The protesters and counter-protesters across the country in Ottawa aren’t your enemies. That’s not who Jesus is telling us to love today. He says,

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also…”[1]

Your enemy is the person who does these kinds of things to you. He’s the troll who lurks on your social media page and cuts you down every chance he gets. She’s the person you have history and bad blood with – the one you haven’t spoken to in years because you can’t stand to be in the same room with each other. It’s the neighbour girl who’s bullying your children, the brother-in-law who cheated on your sister, the contractor who cheated you out of thousands.

If you’re like me, you can name the people who have done these things to you. You might even still be able to see their faces in your mind’s eye. You might not call them your enemies or your nemeses, but that’s who they are; that’s what they’ve done to you.

Now imagine that God has gathered up all these people and put them in a police lineup. There’s a stack of files on the table in front of you listing all the ways they’ve hated and hurt you. But Jesus points at them, turns to you and says, “Love your enemies.”

Could you do it? Do you love your enemies? What would that even look like?

I’m not convinced that we always know – or are willing to admit – what love is. Let me start by telling you what love is not. Love is not a warm and fuzzy feeling you get when you look at someone. You don’t have to like someone to love them. Love isn’t just a feeling.

But love is also not just being nice to people either. You can be nice to people you don’t love at all. You can even be nice to people you hate. Love isn’t just an action.

Love is an attitude. Love starts in the heart. It’s a willful way of thinking and feeling about someone. Love does not leave room for anger or bitterness or resentment, even when that person has wronged you. The love that Jesus calls for goes beyond circumstance. It doesn’t depend on anything that anyone else does to you or for you. It isn’t nullified by hatred; it doesn’t require reciprocation. Love is a willful, intentional, unconditional attitude of the heart.

But it’s also an attitude that takes action. Love is sincere that way. It doesn’t just say the right thing, it does the right thing, regardless of whether anyone else does the right thing or not. That’s what Jesus says:

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.”[2]

In other words, God calls us to do something that runs contrary to our human nature. It’s natural to be nice to people who are nice to you. It’s unnatural to be nice to people who hate you. Enemies are not just people we don’t care for; they’re people who hurt us, who have wronged us, who have brought pain and misery into our lives. And they’re the ones God tells us to love!

But do we? Do you love your enemy? My guess is that you don’t have to search your heart long to find a grudge you’re holding onto – resentment, bitterness, anger toward someone who has legitimately hurt you. It’s only natural, but it’s still sinful, a symptom of a greater spiritual problem in our hearts.

When we cannot love our enemies, we’re sitting in judgment over them. We’re condemning them, i.e. holding their sins against them, if not with our words, at least with our hearts. But Jesus says,

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.”[3]

In other words, if we hold other people’s sins against them, and refuse to forgive them when they hurt us and love them when they hate us, then we should be held to the same standard. Then we should expect not to be forgiven when we hate and hurt other people, when we speak ill of them and give them a taste of their own medicine. Then we should be judged and condemned for our sins.

But that’s the beauty of God’s love for us. It’s not like ours. His love isn’t conditional; it doesn’t depend on whether we love him back. He doesn’t just love us when we’re loveable. He doesn’t just love us because of what we can give to him. If that were the case, he’d never love us at all!

No, God loves us in spite of us. Jesus says, “He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”[4] God is kind to you and me. That’s why he sent Jesus.

I mean, think about who’s saying this to you. It’s not me! This is not my idea. It’s Jesus. Jesus is the one who is telling you to love your enemy. And Jesus is not telling you to do anything he was unwilling to do for you.

Jesus loved his enemies. The Jewish leaders were plotting to kill him for the better part of a year. One of his own disciples had decided to betray him. And yet Jesus didn’t run away or hide from the Pharisees and Sadducees. He didn’t curse out Judas. He kept preaching and teaching to them, giving them every opportunity to change their hearts and their minds.

Even when Jesus was on trial for his life – accused of crimes he did not commit, abused at the hands of his own countrymen, nailed to a tree by callous Roman soldiers – he didn’t curse anyone, he didn’t fight back. He prayed for them! He asked his Father in heaven to forgive them, even as they were in the process of killing him!

Someone once said that forgiveness is a necessary part of love, and that to forgive someone means that you are choosing to bear all the hurt and pain yourself, to spare the person who did you wrong the guilt or shame that they deserve to feel. We don’t always do that. We want the people who hurt us to feel the pain they inflicted on us, even if they apologize. We want the person who embarrassed us, to writhe in discomfort as they beg for forgiveness. But not Jesus. That’s not God’s love for you.

Jesus chose to bear all the hurt and pain himself. He didn’t hold a stitch of it against us. In love he forgave us. He embodied everything he calls for from us. He loved his enemies. He did good to us, he blessed us, he prayed for us, even though we sinned and continue to sin against him. He was willing to give everything for you without expecting to receive anything from you in return. That’s how much God loves you.

“He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”[5]

Jesus loves you and forgives you. But he even goes beyond that. He gives you a new lease on life and a new way to look at the world.

You don’t have to scratch and claw and demand that people treat you with respect. That doesn’t make you a doormat for people to walk all over. It makes you like Christ, your Saviour, who showed you perfect love, and now invites you to reflect that love to your enemies.

You don’t have to insist on being treated properly by everybody. You can even be treated poorly and painfully. That doesn’t mean you’re losing out on the best that life has to offer. It means that you already have the best that Jesus has to offer. He says,

“Love your enemies… then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High.”[6]

Our reward is our relationship with God, and there’s no better relationship that we could enjoy than being his children.

Love your enemies. It’s easier said than done, but our Saviour said and did it for you. Now may his love inspire yours in return, and may his words not fall on deaf ears, but on forgiven hearts that are ready and eager to be merciful, just as our Father is merciful. Amen.

[1] Luke 6:27-29

[2] Luke 6:32,33

[3] Luke 6:37

[4] Luke 6:35

[5] Luke 6:35

[6] Luke 6:35

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With Hearts Rooted in the Lord, We Will Not Only Survive but Thrive

Jeremiah 17:5-8

5 This is what the Lord says:   

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
    who draws strength from mere flesh
    and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
6 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
    they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
    in a salt land where no one lives.

7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
    whose confidence is in him.
8 They will be like a tree planted by the water
    that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
    and never fails to bear fruit.”

With Hearts Rooted in the Lord, We Will Not Only Survive but Thrive

Do you know what the mission statement of our church is? We actually print it on the back cover of our bulletin every week:

St. Peter Lutheran Church exists to help everyone stand more firmly on the Spiritual Rock, Jesus, so that we faithfully and energetically share his lifegiving water with the community and the world through our words and actions.

It’s a bit of a mouthful, I’ll grant you that, but that’s why we abbreviate it to a short catch phrase:

Standing on the Rock – Sharing the Living Water

Whether you know the Bible or not, I think anyone can understand the first part of that phrase, or at least the essence of it. “Standing on the Rock” means that you have a rock-solid foundation.

“Sharing the Living Water,” on the other hand, is a little more nuanced and niche. If you don’t know the Bible, you might think that we’re the Culligan Man, selling water softeners, or that we’re a landscaping company that specializes in rock fountains.

The truth, of course, is so much more profound, and it’s based off passages like the one we read from Jeremiah today where he contrasts the person who trusts in man’s strength with the person who trusts in the Lord. One is like a bush in the wastelands. The other is like a tree planted by water. One is going to struggle every day and is going to dread every piece of bad news and fear every threat that could possibly come. The other is going to confident and resilient and unworried even in the face of severe affliction and certain danger.

The contrast is clear enough. Where we fit in this picture is a little more complex. We’d all love to say, “We’re like the tree. We’re believers. We’re in church. We trust in the Lord.” But do you know who else said the same thing? The people of Judah in Jeremiah’s day. They went to synagogue every Saturday. They called themselves believers too. But really in their heart of hearts they were little better than bushes in the wasteland, and the prophecy that Jeremiah had to share with them was a perfect example.

God had sent Jeremiah to be the bearer of bad news. Babylon was coming. The biggest, baddest bully in school was coming for their lunch money. And God said that he was going to get it. Babylon would conquer Judah and carry its people into 70 years of captivity across the desert in a foreign land. That’s what Jeremiah was sent to say.

The way the people of Judah reacted showed exactly where their hearts were. They didn’t turn to the Lord. They turned away from him. They put their trust in man and drew strength from mere flesh. They tried to a make deal with the Assyrians and the Egyptians, of all people, to protect them.

Now, maybe that doesn’t mean a whole lot to you, but remember who the Assyrians and the Egyptians were. The Egyptians were the ones who enslaved the Israelites for 400 years. God had to send Moses to miraculously save them from the Egyptians. Now they wanted to crawl back into Egypt’s arms.

The Assyrians were the ones who totally destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel, literally wiping them off the face of the map. Those tribes – Judah’s own family, 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel – never returned, never recovered. And rather than turning to God for help, the remaining people of Judah tried to make an alliance with the Assyrians and the Egyptians, even though God had sent his prophet Jeremiah and pleaded with them to return to him.

Their hearts were like bushes in a wasteland, looking for water in parched places, in a salt land where no one lives. They were far from those fearless trees planted by streams who have no reason to be scared when the heat comes. They were terrified and must have felt like they were hanging by a thread.

Of course, we don’t live in ancient Judah. Babylon’s armies aren’t marching toward our borders. But there are plenty of troubles on the horizon. We have more than enough reasons to be afraid about what might happen next, as a nation, as Christians, as people. There are viruses with variants that threaten our life and health. There are politically motivated policies and protests that threaten our way of life and our mental health. There are laws and legislations being pushed through parliament that endanger our spiritual way of life, even threatening jail time for people who express belief in what the Bible has to say.

The danger is different but it’s just as real and it’s just as scary. How we react to the danger is what determines whether we’re a bush in the wasteland hanging on by a thread or a tree planted by the water who fears no threat.

Where does your confidence come from? What is it that enables you to face danger without fear?

When the doctor delivers the diagnosis you’ve been dreading, what’s more comforting to you – that there’s a treatment and a possible medical cure, or that your God loves you whether you live or die, and invites you to cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you?

When money is tight, what’s more comforting to you – that your next paycheque is just a couple days away, or that your God loves you and promises to provide your daily bread?

When you face rejection, hatred, even persecution for what you believe, what’s more comforting to you – that we live in a country that promises to protect the right to our free expression of faith, or that your God loves you and includes you in his kingdom?

Now, don’t get me wrong. Medicine, money, even our MLAs can be wonderful resources to use in this life. But they are not the reason to be confident. They are not the source of our strength. They are not the things that will enable us to weather the storms ahead. That distinction is God’s alone.

And yet, how many times don’t we put our hope and confidence in medicine, money and MLAs? How often aren’t we devastated when the treatment doesn’t work or when the petition that’s circulating doesn’t change anything? How often doesn’t it feel like life is hanging by a thread and if the one thing that we’re hoping and praying for doesn’t happen, it feels like everything is going to fall apart?

That’s what it feels like to be a bush in the wasteland. That’s what life looks like when you trust in man and draw strength from mere flesh while turning our hearts away from the Lord.

But that’s not what God has called you to. He has called you to be like a tree planted by water, to trust in the Lord, to find your confidence and comfort in him. Then, and only then, can your life be truly fearless and fruitful. Then, and only then, can you go through life without worry even in a year of drought and heat.

That’s the thing about the bush and the tree that Jeremiah mention here. They can go through the exact same external circumstances. One will wither, one will thrive, not because one is hardier than the other, but because of where their roots are.

The tree is planted by the water. It sends out its roots by the stream. It doesn’t matter how much the sun beats down. It doesn’t matter how dry the wind is. It doesn’t matter how many days go by without rain. If the tree is planted by the water, it will always have enough not only to survive but to thrive and be fruitful and fearless.

That’s what God promises you when you put your trust in him. It doesn’t matter what diagnosis the doctor delivers. It doesn’t matter what your chequing account reads. It doesn’t matter what the most recent fear-inducing news headline is. If you put your trust in the Lord, you will not only survive but thrive and be fruitful and fearless.

And while this promise becomes yours by faith, it does not become yours because of your faith, and that’s a big difference. The bush in the wasteland can have the deepest, longest, thickest, most fibrous root system, but if it’s not planted by the water, it’ll do no good. The tree can have the thinnest, shallowest, shortest root system, but if it is planted by the water, it’ll live and grow.

The point is that it is not the strength of your faith that matters. What matters is what you put your faith in. Or, rather, whom you put your faith in.

Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord.

As many things as man can do – as much hope as medicine, money, and MLAs can give us – there is one thing that they cannot guarantee: the future. But God can, and he has. He doesn’t promise you that there will never be any heat or that there will never be any drought. But that’s the thing about blessedness. It doesn’t depend on any external circumstance. You can be blessed even in the most miserable conditions because blessedness is being filled with the love of God.

God loves you so much that he sent his Son into this same world filled with fear-inducing headlines and dangers on every horizon for you. Jesus willingly went through life unfazed by and unafraid of the threats to his life. Even in matters of life and death – whether he was on a boat at sea in a storm or on trial for his life in Jerusalem – Jesus didn’t start frantically bailing water or desperately pleading his case. He prayed to his Father in heaven and put his trust in the Lord. Even while he was hanging on a cross, he didn’t summon a squad of angel soldiers or save himself as he had the power to do; he committed his life into his Father’s hands and died for me and you.

We’re the ones who all too often put our trust in man. Jesus never did. But he’s the one who suffered the curse that we deserved and gave us the blessing that his perfect trust had earned.

That’s why you can put your trust in the Lord. That’s why you can know that you are blessed no matter the circumstance of your life, because you know how much God loves you. He sacrificed his Son for you to give you hope and a future. He loved you enough to give his life for you, and to give you life, not just someday, God-willing in the distant future, when you go to heaven, but here and now through every threat and danger that looms on the horizon. With your hearts rooted in his love and made resilient through faith, you will not only survive but thrive and be fruitful and fearless.

Again, that’s not a promise that you won’t suffer. That’s not a promise that the heat won’t come. It’s a promise that when the year of drought arrives, you can and you will endure because God has planted you by the lifegiving water of his Word.

So drink deeply, dear Christians, and stay thirsty. Remain rooted in the good news of God’s love for you in his Word – be diligent in your personal devotions and persistent in your daily prayers – and you will know blessedness, you will know God’s love, all the days of your life. Amen.

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