Bless the Stabber!

Jesus said, “Love your enemies.” Sounds beautiful—until the enemy has a name.

In this episode of Black, White, & the Red Letters, Ed Grifenhagen and Camy Arnett take on one of Jesus’ hardest commands from Luke 6:27–31: love those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you, and do good to the people who have done you wrong.

They talk honestly about revenge, forgiveness, boundaries, abuse, justice, spiritual maturity, and what it means to refuse to let an enemy set the temperature of your soul. This is not weakness. It is radical discipleship—and it is only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit. 🎙️🔥✝️

#BlackWhiteAndTheRedLetters #HardSayingsOfJesus #LoveYourEnemies

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Two guys, friends, brothers, pastors, Jesus freaks.

SPEAKER_00 0:05

One's Lily White and formerly a Jewish guy. Yeah, and he's still recovering from that. And the other one's a Haitian-born actor who spent many years in Hollywood.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

So yeah, I'm thinking this ought to go well.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Yeah. I'm Camille. And I'm Ed. And every week we sit down and talk about real life.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

And we do it without turning it into a Sunday morning sermon. We're talking culture, faith, purpose, scripture. And race and truth and the stuff that most people avoid. And we're running it all through the words of Jesus. Dude, those red letters, they just don't play. No filter. And no pretending. No churchy cliches. We're just having real conversations about a real savior. This is Black White and the Red Letters. So welcome y'all. Welcome back to another episode of Black, White, and the Red Letters. Me and Camille Arnett are going to be chatting, continuing on this chat about the tough stuff that Jesus says, the stuff that is sometimes hard to understand, some for sure hard to do, I guess, but it's just the tough things. We don't want to avoid the hard conversations. Today we're going to be in Luke chapter 6, starting in verse 27. And this is Jesus talking. So if you got a red letter Bible, these are the red letters. Kind of coincides with the name of the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Kind of fits in.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Yeah. He says in verse 27, But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you, to one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also. And from one who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods, do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. And so I want to ask you a question. Is there any command of Jesus in all of the Bible that sounds more beautiful in theory and more horrible in real life than love your enemies?

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Ooh, I mean, look, you're reading the thing and it's smacking me left and right, right? You're dealing with bullseye and I mean the middle of your forehead here because this is the crux of the matter. You know, I heard somebody say it's one thing to love Jesus, another thing to love Judas. I kind of read that somewhere, someplace. You know?

SPEAKER_01 2:46

Like I always say.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

You know, you know what I'm saying? And so you you sometimes, you know, when Jesus deals with the fact that, you know, in in the church, in the kingdom, there are four kinds of ground, but only one is good. And so you're dealing with four out of three out of uh uh out of four people are gonna rub you the wrong way every day of your life. And that doesn't even include include the world, all right? And so you talk about theory versus actuality here, man. This is where I I look at myself and I say, man, God has so invested himself in us that he actually expects us to be just like him. Because this is exactly what he did for us. Um so, but to take it out of the theory stage is is a lifelong trek, man. I I I find myself having to allow God to really sanctify that in me because there are so many opportunities to not do this.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Oh, every second of every day.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

You know, you you turn right and there's a reason, you try and left, there's a reason. And so I I will say again, I mean we talked about this uh uh a little while ago, Ed. You know, you you're dealing with the the process of life, right? And you you you get saved and and um you're you're jumping into the the word of God and and yeah, you were doing this sin five years ago, and so you come in now five years later, it should be different. You sh that that sin should be an aberration and all these kind of things. And so this right here, you know, this is a if you allow God to press this from within you by the Holy Spirit, this could take you all of your life, man, because if if you're gonna have one thing, it's gonna be haters.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

And and it's a hard, because this is the hard sayings of Jesus. This one is hard. This command is hard, so hard, because it is the exact total million percent opposite of our natural reflex. Somebody cusses me. I'm a grown man, I want to cuss them back. Yeah, there's that it's the fight again between the flesh and the spirit. You know, somebody hurts us, we want justice.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

Justice, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

You hurt me, and I'm not I'm talking about a real hurt, not a some piddly little nothing, but a real hurt. Sometimes revenge it it's just revenge is just dressed up justice.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

And and and you're the world is going to scream the opposite of love you're in. I remember, dude, I'm 60 years old and I was 16, and we had me and Susan, my wife, we had just come from watching either Rocky Two or Three or something. Is it that long? At the movie theater, yeah. Oh my god. Yeah, yeah, it was a long time ago. One of the Rocky movies, and so I was fired up, right? And I was in high school, you know, Mr. Big Shot or whatever. And uh there was a guy that had been fronting on Susan. I went old school with the word front. Uh-oh. Yeah. And so uh one of my buddies was there, and this guy was there. We went place where all of us in high school hung out. And this uh, when I got out of the out of the truck, me and Susan got out, and my buddy came over and he said, so and so's here. He said, You gonna let him do that?

SPEAKER_00 6:29

Oh yeah, instigator.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

And oh, 100%, 100%. Literally the only physical fight I've ever got into in my life, and it was because my friend, supposed friend, kept saying, You're a grown man. I wasn't a grown man, I was a 16-year-old punk. But he said, You gonna let him do that? You don't he don't need to get away with that. Look, the and I was way lost. I was nowhere near, I didn't know nothing about no Jesus at 16. But he he he he played on that natural reflex to get back at somebody for something, and that happens today to all of us.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

And and and you know, the thing about it is that the guy probably hadn't even done anything, at least not that day yet. No, definitely not saying and and that's the thing about the the flesh, man. The flesh has these buttons, and we all have different kinds of buttons, but we all have them buttons in the flesh, and the devil knows your buttons, and he knows my buttons, and he will push them, and he will send the best of friends to push them, you know? And so that's what our our Lord and our savior is dealing with here is that look, you can't ask for no enemies. You're gonna have enemies. You can't ask for everybody to love you. Most people ain't not gonna love you, not gonna want you, not gonna want to hear from you, that kind of thing. But the thing is, we're not given the the right, if you would, to be just like them. We're not given the right to be outside of our new nature. Not if you claim the name, not if you claim the name. And and and he's so he's attacking our old nature right off the bat.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

And again, he's good at it. And it's funny because Jesus, when he says, when he starts this off in verse 27, and he says, uh, when he tells us to, he doesn't just say love your enemies and let your behavior be neutral. He says, love your enemies and do good to those who hate you. Like that is up, that's up in the bar again.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

Yeah, because you know, you talk about premeditated murder. This is a premeditated goodness, meaning that you have to decide ahead of time. You you know, it's like we we used to do this exercise, right? Where you have to write down what you can you pick a person and then you write down all the ways in which you could be a blessing to that person. So basically Jesus is saying, find yourself some good enemies, some real good people that that hate you and you hate them real good, and go home and write down how you could be a blessing, how you can do them good. An action that's not just a thought. Don't just go pray for them, you know, but go out and actually find out what you can do. Put down on paper so that you don't forget what you could go do to actually be good to that person's life. The very one who wants to put a dagger in you, that's the one that you want to go and and and make sure that you're a blessing to.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

And that would not be normal behavior. Abnormal.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

But for kingdom people, then you can go with that kingdom people stuff right.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

It should be normal. He is calling us to an extremely unnatural type of love because the natural um sort of reaction to personal injustices is to get even. That's right. And maybe not even to just get even, to one-up it.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

Yeah. I mean, I can't like you, like you said, are you gonna let them get away with that? You know, I I we right? You know, you've your your manhood gets gets shook. You know, I you know, uh I used to say tell people in the congregation, will you be a punk for God? Because you got to get punked. You you basically are walking around and trusting God enough that if you will live this way, He won't let you fall by the wayside. You've got to put so much trust in the one who saved you that you are willing to bring salvation to the people who hate you the same way that the Lord and Savior that died on the cross, say forgive them for they know not what they do, did for you. That's not like you said, that's not natural.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

And think about you just you just talked about um what the Lord did for us. Well, he shows us love and mercy when we deserve death and hell. So in the middle of me, Ed Griffenhagen, shaking my fist and cussing him out, he willingly died on a cross. So if my starting point is I deserve to be thumped off the planet and spend eternity in hell, then anything better than that is like the best ever.

SPEAKER_00 11:43

That's right. And if we have that mindset in the process of living life, we begin to look at other people in a different way. As an image bearer. And as an image bearer, as someone because, see, the same Jesus that died for us died for them. You know, that same Jesus that died for us died for Judas. You know what I'm saying? Judas didn't have that, he could have repented if he would have repented. Jesus will just grab him and say, I love you, just like anyone else. I mean, look at Peter, man. Peter went and denied the Lord. And when it came time, Jesus pointed him out, chose, go tell my disciples and Peter. Make sure Peter knows that I love him. You know, and so the reality of it is that the people that that Jesus is talking about here, our enemies and and those who who hate us and persecute us, and and those who slap us on the cheek and all that kind of stuff, all these people that that Jesus is talking about are people that he died for. And that he wants to use us to reconcile.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

So so this passage is hard. Clearly, love your enemies and do good to those who hate you. Clearly, it is it is hard because it challenges our behavior, but it doesn't just challenge our behavior, it challenges our instincts. Because my instinct is is is to get back at somebody. You know, hopefully when I get saved, my instincter changes a little bit. You know, I hope and I pray that I'm walking in the newness of life, and it changes that too. But it is one thing to say to somebody that has hurt you. It is one thing to say, I forgive you, and and really forgive them, not just to do it lip service, but it but even when you really forgive them, it's one thing to say to them, you know, I forgive you, but it's another thing to pray blessings over someone who has really wounded you.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

Yeah. I mean, to pray blessings on, to want to see, and like you said a few minutes ago, you know, to and to actually really forgive them, to really want to see them flourish in life, to really want to see them accomplish the things that God has really put them here for, and to be now a reason why that happens. Because it's like I said, you can pray and you can even really want that, but net, but can God send you as a blessing agent? Can God send you and I and I and I'm when I say you, I'm I'm talking commie. Can God send you as a blessing agent to do good to someone that you know hates you, and that not only hates you, but has done things that are diametrically opposed to you flourishing in life. Can you go be the reason why they don't miss it?

SPEAKER_01 14:39

So you think about Jesus doesn't say in this passage, nor anywhere else, he doesn't say feel warm and fluffy towards your enemies. He really says choose their as much as you can have an effect. Choose their good when everything inside of you wants their downfall. And we've all seen, I imagine, the YouTube videos or on the news or something of a parent who is at the trial of the murderer who murdered their son or their daughter. And the person, the parent is a believer. And praying over the person who took the life of their child, yeah, that is supernatural.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

That's supernatural.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

That is not a that is not natural behavior.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

That will, I mean, cause you to really take a look at your theology, take a look at what you believe and how you live, because all those examples of those that have actually lived this out, it it just bumps up the standard, man. You know, and and when when I say standard, again, I I I I I use that word because sometimes we may think of it as an uh uh uh just a uh just just a doing. You know what I'm saying? We talk about doings all the time and not be about being but not doing. But the the reality of the situation is if you are a new bee, your do will be different. And sometimes when we see other people's do, we're like, wow, I I I got another further to go.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Because that you would look at that and say, Oh my goodness, that is nothing but the Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

That's Holy Ghost.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

And and you know, love is not just a sentiment. It it's to your point, it takes action. And Jesus, in these few uh four verses, he gives us verbs, not just nouns, he gives us verbs. Love, he says do good, he says bless, he says pray, and he says give. So he doesn't let love just stay theoretical, he makes love become um visibly manifest in our life. So I'm gonna ask you this question why why do you think that Jesus connects love with action, doing good, blessing, praying, giving? Why do you think he connects those?

SPEAKER_00 17:16

Well, you know, I think about it, you know, uh when when you when you ask that question, the first thing I uh that came to mind was faith without works is dead, you know, and so if you sure you don't have a Jewish background? Well, you know, I do, you know. Uh I'm I'm I've been grafted in to the trunk. So yes, my background, Abraham was my forefather. Anyway, so you know, so you you're you're you're dealing with love is express is an is an expression for God so love that he gave. So you can't say you love, but there's no doing of that love. It it's like uh the uh God had God gave me a perspective a while ago as everything that will invest, it has to be a two-sided coin. And so you can't just invest one side of the coin. You gotta invest both sides. So if you're talking about love and you have that that compassion and and that that perspective towards someone, then that there's ought to be a corresponding action. You know, if you believe there's a corresponding action, and so all of that is what he's giving us. He's giving us the corresponding actions to what we say love is. To give us an understanding of what love looks like, he gives us the actions of love. Okay? Now, again, sometimes again, when we understand the that love is truly a person, we understand that we can be in action, just like the Pharisees and Sadducees, they were in actions, but they weren't really motivated by love because love is that person, it's God Himself. But if you have God Himself, then you ought to still be fulfilling those actions that someone else may be doing, but it's empty. But yours ought to have the substance because it's motivated by love. But don't think that just because you have Jesus, the one who is love, that you don't have anything to do.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

And I think Paul, this is maybe looking at it, it's not looking at it differently. But when we when we look what at what Paul writes in Galatians chapter five, he's talking about the fruit of the spirit. And it is interesting that it's not fruits of the spirit. People mess that up all the time. He says, the fruit of the spirit, and I believe if you look at the original language, not getting we're not in seminary, but it is the fruit of the spirit is love. And then he lists seven or eight things which are really action things, attributes of love. That I that are attributes of love, absolutely, that are it's it's like if you are a believer, if you claim the name, if you are born again and and you profess Jesus Christ as your savior, then you have, you should have and display the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, but it manifests itself in joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. That's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine attributes. And I don't I I don't believe that we that there's such a thing as a fruitless Christian. You will display those things.

SPEAKER_00 20:21

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 20:22

And they they manifest themselves, obviously, in your relationship with the Lord, but but big time in your relationship with other human beings.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Well, I mean, that's how we express our love to God, is by how we love one another. And so the the reality of the situation is that if it wasn't about each other, then I mean, God can save us and we can just go ahead and go to heaven. But the reality of it is that the expression of that changed life is in how we now begin to display that to one another because we're the reason also why each other grows. Because while I have the fruit of the spirit, I may be proficient in my joy and in my long suffering. But hey, you may be proficient in your kindness and your self-control. And we use that.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

Susan would not say I'm proficient in self-control.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

Susan, if you're listening, give a brother a break. Anyway. Sorry about that. But you know what I'm saying? So it's like we we kind of like uh are the buffer for each other, but also we buffer each other in in and providing reasons why you have to use fruit. Okay, and so you allow me to bite on you and I get long suffering out of you because I I'm biting on and I'm I'm in need of you being long suffering. I uh you end up biting on me and you and you're in need of my joy and of my peace, whatever it may be. But the bottom line is that we're giving one to another out of the fruit of the spirit, out of the love one for another. Then we are displaying our love for God by being able to be that. To each other. That's what all of that is about, too, guys. And so when we when Jesus is talking to us here, you know, even your brother in an area of life while he's growing can be, or at least distribute attributes of an enemy.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Well, that's the can I put it that way? Sure. And that's the body of Christ being the body of Christ. That the elbow is not the hand, is not the foot, is not the knee. And so Jesus does not in any way, shape, or form at all. He does not define love as simply a feeling that we need to protect. He defines love as a as a mercy that we practice.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

Yeah. Every day.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Every day is the way now. I'm going to ask you this question.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

Is he bombarding me with questions today? What's happening here?

SPEAKER_01 22:53

Well, I'm asking him before he asks me. But this one is a little rhetorical, so I'm really asking the people listening to think about this question. And it is, so you don't have to answer this. But who is the person that I would least want to bless? And what would obedience look like there? Wow, man. I think I think I'm not asking you to frustr somebody else.

SPEAKER_00 23:24

I am not going to say anybody's name. Don't worry about it. You know, but but I think in the process of asking that question, man, all of us who are listening, you know, unfortunately, we can't only think of one person. You know, they are there are these these people that you know that the very mention of their name or the very uh uh thought of them, you know, it's almost like shuts you down, you know. And those are the very people that God is saying, that is the depth to which I want you to go. You know, that is the depth of, and again, we're not talking about, you know, because as when we when we're dealing with forgiveness and everything else, we could talk about uh that that's a whole other story. But the the the thing about it is that we're not talking about fellowshipping with people because I God is not sending you in to get stabbed and beaten all over again, but God is saying to you, I want to use you to love on these people.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

It's your what you talked about a little while ago about writing a list down of the ways that you could bless this person that would arguably be arguably be the very last person that you would ever want to bless.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

You know, it's like when when when you when you think about the you know boxing, right? You think about boxing, there's you know, that in that inside fight where you're like right up on somebody, but there's also that stick and jab, uh stick and jab, jab, jab, jab, and get out, jab and get out, jab and get out. And so, you know, when you're dealing with blessing people that hate you, that persecute you, God is saying, hey, you know what? Go deliver that gift, go home. Go do this and then step back. It's not a matter of, hey, letting that person inside your inner circle being so that they can hurt you again, but it's by using certain ways and means for the people to know that Jesus Christ is in love with them in spite of the hate, in spite, and and so there's wisdom that falls into this. You know what I'm saying? Because the letters are red. The letters are red, and and so they so so they're they're they're they're right, they're they're holy, they're wonderful, they'll give you the right results one way or the other, but then you have to also now correlate this word, this hard word, with another word over here that gives you the wisdom on the how-to's.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:54

And God is just that good. He'll show you how-to, all right? He's just like he's not gonna get send you in there just to get stabbed, but he'll show you how to bless a stabber and not get stabbed. And even if you do, know where you can take a stab, you know.

SPEAKER_01 26:11

That's a sermon title of just bless the stabber. A stabber, be careful of the stabbers. You know, and then he he says in verse 29, he talks about the you know, turning the other cheek. And so I'm gonna ask this question, but I'll ask it of myself. You know, how do we, and this is for y'all listening to all of us, you know, how do we obey this turn the other cheek, give him the other cheek also, without enabling abuse or injustice or something like that? Because I think that we can we can misunderstand that because I do not think that Jesus is telling believers to enable evil, to justify evil, to ignore crime, or somehow to pretend that uh wickedness is harmless. The context that he that he when he says this in the first century really probably involves persecution, not ordinary um criminal assault.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

And that point is not so much inviting more abuse as refusing revenge and offering forgiveness, because it's not on me. Revenge is not on me. Yeah, not as a not as a citizen of the kingdom, revenge is not for me.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

Well, that's the thing though, you know, the it's one thing for me, and when we talk about justice and you know, and when you bring up this word revenge, it's one thing for me to stand for you when someone is doing something harmful to you, for me to provide justice for another. But when I do it for myself, it's it ends up being revenge. So it's like what happens is that we're supposed to be each other's helpers, you know. So if someone is coming in here and wants to do harm to Ed, now for me to take up for Ed, and for me to make sure that that doesn't happen, for me to get in the way, for me to defend, that's one thing. And we're supposed to do that for one another. And that's the problem, is that we're not doing that for one another, but we want to do that for ourselves. But the reality is that that's part of the wisdom aspect, is that if we are a brotherhood of men, then that means that instead of having me on my mind, I have, let's say, 10 other guys that are fending for Camille, then Camille can now be totally off his own mind and be one of the 10 for the other guys. And that's how it's the justice is supposed to work. And then we don't even have to think about if we're being harmed because we're living a kingdom life.

SPEAKER_01 28:49

Yeah, yeah. Now, uh again, the the because don't hear this, because this is not what Jesus is saying. Turning the other cheek, it does not mean that evil is okay. But it does mean, and this is jiving with what you just said, it does mean that revenge is not my master.

SPEAKER_00 29:11

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 29:11

Revenge, maybe for me 30 years ago, maybe revenge was my master. Because if somebody did me dirty, I was gonna do them dirty ten times worse. Because I had no spirit and flesh in battle with each other. I just had the flesh.

SPEAKER_00 29:31

Just the flesh. That was that was that was your lord.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

That's right. So the flesh was gonna say, go get him. Whatever that means, go get them.

SPEAKER_00 29:39

Yeah, I I think I've heard that from my flesh. Go get them. Go get them. Yeah, yeah. Don't let them get away with it.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

You know, yeah. And and it's funny because we keep going back to this walk in the newness of life. But part of that, he is he is he's not calling us to be doormats, but he is calling us to be free. Free from bitterness and free from wrath, and free from retaliation, and free from revenge, and free from letting our enemy set the temperature of our soul.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:11

And I do not, the devil is not gonna set the temperature of my soul. Maybe he used to, but he ain't no more.

SPEAKER_00 30:17

And and what we see in this too is that we're being armed. Jesus is basically arming you with a mindset, with a perspective that is predisposed. You know, I think sometimes we wait for something to be done to us or wait for uh uh uh something to happen and we we're reactionary. But the reality is that we're supposed to be now having read this, don't wait to have an enemy, don't wait for an enemy to come. You have to be predisposed to live this kind of way with everyone, and it becomes kind of like easy because you've practiced it so much on an everyday basis because that this is the the new you that it becomes part and parcel of who you are in the process. It's not an aberration, it's not it's not something that you're trying to uh uh muster up because this is how you live on a regular everyday basis. And I think that that's part of what happens in the in the in the Christian life is that we are waiting for these dire situations to occur, and then we haven't really grown the muscle on an everyday basis to be able to handle that major thing. It's like, hey, you know, if you have a cold and you want to live by faith and you want to go ahead and kill that thing by faith, well, then you don't want to wait for cancer to have to do that. You better start with the cold. All right, that kind of thing. And so we don't we don't really grow in a in a life that's able to follow the depth of who Jesus is asking us to be and saying that we're empowered to be right here because, hey, man, you have a little tiff with your brother, with your sister, and you won't even, you know, go out and apologize. You know, you you're not building that muscle to be able to go handle an enemy when that enemy comes.

SPEAKER_01 32:06

And if you're a walking bucket of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, channels, self-control, you will build that muscle. That's right. You'll build it, and it's way, and your mom and daddy probably told you, and everybody's did, that um it's hard for somebody to be mean to you when you're just constantly kind back.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

People run people who are really mean and nasty run away from people who are really joyful.

unknown 32:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:34

It's a protector. And if you're the really joyful one, you better be chasing them down exactly with the joy and the peace and the patience and all that stuff. And you know, those examples he gives us about the cheek and the tunic and the giving and the cloak and all that, and not demanding things back, they all press into the same issue, and it is who owns you? If Jesus owns you, it's different. If your reputation owns you, you're gonna feed things for reputation's sake if your if your rights, I'm a grown man, I got a right to do whatever I want. Yeah, well, maybe you do, but that doesn't mean you should, right?

SPEAKER_00 33:14

Um, so it's who owns you? Yeah, but see, now you're hitting the core. You know, that ownership piece, that lordship piece is the foundation of it all. Who owns you? Are you owned by God, or have you have you kept a percentage for yourself? You know what I'm saying? Is this a a collaboration in the sense of, you know, he has you know 60% and I got 40%, or is he have 100% of you? And and that's that's really the bottom line here, you know, and because again, that fruit is out of the Holy Spirit. So does the Holy Spirit have ownership of you where he can actually live his life through you and it's no longer your own?

SPEAKER_01 33:58

Because you know, you don't you you don't own you anymore. So does so he wants to be lord of my whole life.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

The whole life, the whole thing, and we have to decide have we given him lordship and ownership of the whole.

SPEAKER_01 34:16

So let me let me at least start to land this plane. The the last thing he says in verse 31, we would call it the golden rule. Um, and I would say the golden rule is more demanding than we really think it is, because we often will reduce the golden rule down to Ed. Just don't be a jerk, you know? But he but but Luke, that's verse 31, says, and as you wish others would do to you, do so to them. So he says it's more than Ed, Kami, whoever you are out there, it's more than just don't be a jerk. It's that uh and the truth is that many traditions, and we could even say many faith traditions, had a negative version. Do not do to others what you do not want done to them. But Jesus flips that and makes it proactive and and positive. Whatever he says, no, you you are a Christ follower, then you need to go do the things that you want others to do to you. That's right. That's a different deal.

SPEAKER_00 35:28

It's again that predisposed perspective of of goodness and righteousness and blessing, and you're not waiting, you're you're going home and filling yourself up, putting that putting all those those things in your bag to go out and and and just invest it in other people's lives before they even have an opportunity to become, you know, a problem. I mean, you are you are walking out of your house packed with the fruit of the spirit to go uh get get bit on and and give them a response that you have already. How does is it proverb that says that that a wise man studies how to answer? You know, and so you way before the question. Way before the question. You got to have the answers, you know, and you you study to do that. You prepare all of that through life. What's gonna be, you know, what am I gonna need? How am I gonna bless this? How am I gonna do good to this one? The one that's in the office has been lying about you. How am I gonna go? That's before you before the next lie. You got to be prepared to, you know, almost like stifle the lie by how good you are to them. That's what we'll it's it's uh it's being offensive, or offensive. Yeah, not offensive, not offensive, but offensive.

SPEAKER_01 36:51

Offensive. And I I I know that that uh that most of our Bibles have little headings that are not part of the scripture, but little headings. And in my Bible, it says love your enemies at the top of this. But I think David Platt, who's a great preacher, great teacher, I think he would probably say, no, we should put at the at the head of this. Everything that we just talked about, I would argue it's radical discipleship. It is radical discipleship. So y'all want to leave y'all, I just want to leave y'all with that. We need to be radical disciples. Yeah. Because the things that Jesus says in those four or five verses, that's about as radical as it gets.

SPEAKER_00 37:35

Dude, that's that's that's about as hard as it gets because it really takes you out of being a flesh man. You really have to be a spirit man to fulfill that. You know, so it it's challenging for all of us, but you know, since since since Jesus has commanded us in this place, and he's also saying that we're well able, at least the Holy Spirit is well able within us. So let's get about it, Saints.

SPEAKER_01 38:07

Well, thank y'all for being with us today on Black, White, and the Red Letters, and we will uh see you next week.

SPEAKER_00 38:14

Next time.