WEBVTT 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:06.959 Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:10.719 And blessed be God's family now and forever. 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:11.680 Amen. 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:13.280 Let's pray together. 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:22.000 Almighty God, to you who all hearts are open, all desires know, and from you know the secrets are hidden. 00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:34.719 Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily actify your holy name through Christ our Lord. 00:02:35.039 --> 00:02:35.680 Amen. 00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:48.879 Let us pray. 00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:56.160 Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the Spirit to think and do always those things that are right. 00:05:56.560 --> 00:06:02.639 That we who cannot exist without you may by you be enabled to live according to your will. 00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:09.120 Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:10.160 Amen. 00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:16.160 As you're being seated, our children, grades five and below, are invited to Godly play in the back with Mrs. 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:17.279 Kimberly. 00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:39.519 Reading from 1 Samuel. 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:43.600 Now the Philistines gathered their encampments for war. 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:53.439 They were gathered at Soko, which is part of Judah, and they encamped between Soko and Azekah in Ephizdama. 00:06:53.839 --> 00:07:02.879 And Saul and the Israelites were gathered and encamped in the valley of Eli, and they organized ranks to engage the Philistines. 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:10.720 Now the Philistines were standing on this hill, and the men of Israel were standing on this other hill with a valley between them. 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:17.360 And there went out from the camp of the Philistines a man apart, a champion. 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:20.240 Goliath was his name of God. 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:26.720 His height was six cubits and a span, over nine feet tall. 00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:32.560 A helmet of bronze was on his head, and he was clothed in scale armor. 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:46.240 The weight of the bronze armor was five thousand shekels, or one hundred and twenty-five pounds, and greaves of bronze were on his legs, and a javelin of bronze between his shoulders. 00:07:46.800 --> 00:08:01.839 The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and the iron tip of his spear weighed six hundred shekels or fifteen pounds, and his shoe barrier bearer went before him. 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:15.120 Now David was the son of an Ephraithite man of Bethlehem and Judah, and his name was Jesse, and he had eight sons. 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:21.360 And the man was, by the days of Saul, old and going as mortals do. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:27.199 Now the three eldest sons of Jesse set out and followed Saul to the battle. 00:08:27.519 --> 00:08:37.279 The names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, Abinadab his second, and the third Shemmah. 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:41.840 David was the youngest, the three eldest followed Saul. 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:47.279 David would come and go back from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. 00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:53.759 And the Philistine came forward morning and evening and took his stand for forty days. 00:08:54.399 --> 00:09:01.279 And all the men of Israel, in seeing the man, fled from his presence and were very afraid. 00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:06.799 The Israelites said, Do you see all this as a man who is coming forward? 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:10.000 He is coming forward to insult Israel. 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:21.919 What will happen is the man who smiteth him, the sovereign will make rich, great riches, and he will give him his daughter and make his family free in Israel. 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:32.159 David said to the men who were standing with him, What shall be done for the man who smiteth this Philistine and taketh away the reproach from Israel? 00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:38.799 For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the ranks of the living God? 00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:43.360 The people answered him according to those spoken words. 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:50.399 Thus shall it be done for the man who smiteth him, the word of the Lord. 00:09:57.679 --> 00:10:03.600 Psalm one hundred and eight, verses one through six, eleven through thirteen. 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:08.720 Read responsively, responsively by half verse. 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:10.320 That too. 00:10:18.240 --> 00:10:20.240 Wake the harp and lyre. 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:26.960 I will give thanks to you, ancient one, among the peoples. 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:34.879 For higher than the heavens is your faithful love. 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:42.080 Be exalted above the heavens, God. 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:49.759 That those whom you love may be delivered. 00:10:53.360 --> 00:10:55.759 Have you not rejected us, God? 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:02.559 Grant us help from the adversary. 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:38.240 God, we shall try to be a reading from Ephesians. 00:11:38.960 --> 00:11:43.759 Finally, be strengthened in the Redeemer and in the strength of his power. 00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:49.200 Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 00:11:49.519 --> 00:12:02.399 For our struggle is not against blood and the flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the overlords of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:10.720 Therefore, take out the armor of God, so that you may be able to resist on that evil day, and having done everything to stand. 00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:18.320 Stand, therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. 00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:23.279 Find on your feet preparedness to proclaim the gospel of peace. 00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:29.919 With all of this, take the shield of faith, in which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:38.399 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, the Word of the Lord. 00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:07.519 Yet I say to you all, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of the one in heaven who begot you. 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:15.919 For the Son, which belongs to God, rises on the evil and on the good, and God reigns on the righteous and on the unrighteous woman or man. 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:20.159 For if you all love those who love you, what reward do you have? 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:22.879 Do not even the tax collectors do the same. 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:27.679 And if you greet only your sister and brothers, what more are you doing than others? 00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:30.159 Do not the Gentiles do the same. 00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:34.480 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly sovereign is perfect. 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:37.440 This is the gospel of the Lord. 00:16:55.440 --> 00:16:55.840 Amen. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:57.200 Please be seated. 00:16:58.240 --> 00:16:59.919 Happy Sunday, everybody. 00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:07.119 You have heard it say unto you, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:08.240 That's what Jesus said. 00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:12.079 You have heard it say unto you, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:13.759 People were saying that. 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:22.079 And Jesus' response is, but I say unto you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you. 00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:34.000 In fact, you know, there are some scholars that believe that this is Jesus' sort of unique contribution to first century Near Eastern theological thought. 00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:35.839 That nobody was saying this. 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:40.000 We can't find any records of anybody in the Near East that is saying this thing. 00:17:40.079 --> 00:17:43.119 It was an extraordinarily new and difficult teaching. 00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:46.559 But it doesn't get much more Christian than this, does it? 00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:58.880 I mean, even people who don't go to church, didn't go to church, who kind of grew up in our Christian society, if you ask them, tell me like a Christian aphorism, or well, what does it mean to be a Christian? 00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:03.680 They probably likely, if they name a few things, is gonna say, Well, love your enemy. 00:18:04.799 --> 00:18:05.680 Guys, you know what? 00:18:05.839 --> 00:18:07.440 I've even seen it on a pillow. 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:08.799 Now, wait a minute. 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:16.559 You may have a pillow embroidered in your house on your couch right now with red letters on a white pillow that says, Love your enemies. 00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:17.680 I've seen it. 00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:25.839 Maybe you do, maybe you don't, but this is how saturated we are in the love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:27.839 That's what it means to follow Jesus. 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:29.119 It's a core teaching. 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:36.079 And I think that we hear it so much that we often forget, like, how absolutely ridiculous it is. 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:41.200 Like, really, like, really, Jesus? 00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:47.920 Like, love your enemy and pray for those that are per Love your enemy, y'all. 00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:51.279 Like, Jesus doesn't say love the people that annoy you. 00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:58.079 He's not saying when you're driving down I-45 and you get in that left lane to pass, and somebody decides to go 45 miles an hour. 00:18:58.240 --> 00:18:59.759 That's just really annoying. 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:02.480 Maybe a borderline enemy, maybe. 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:03.680 Right? 00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:05.599 You guys know what I'm talking about. 00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:08.000 I mean, it's so aggravating, right? 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:10.000 But that's not what Jesus is talking about. 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:11.359 Not an enemy. 00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:14.079 An enemy is somebody that hurt you. 00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:18.880 An enemy is somebody that has hurt somebody you love. 00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:23.839 An enemy is somebody who is taking something from you. 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:27.759 An enemy is somebody who's betrayed you. 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:32.319 An enemy is somebody that you're scared of. 00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:40.000 An enemy is somebody who maybe holds a belief that you think are dangerous. 00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:46.319 This is hard. 00:19:48.799 --> 00:20:11.839 It's so hard, in fact, that Martin Luther, when he came across this in his writings, right, the Sermon on the Mount in general, but this section, chapter five in particular, where you get these sort of, you've heard it say unto you, but I say these teachings of Jesus, he came to a conclusion where he said, Yeah, the only reason this is in here is because it's impossible. 00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:23.440 And that God and Jesus put it in there to show us how impossible it was to reveal to us the depths of our own inability and shame and worthlessness. 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:28.960 I mean, like truly, he called it the Council of Despair. 00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:40.960 That it was meant to create despair within us so that we get so far down on the bottom that we feel so bad about ourselves and so inept that the only choice that we have is to turn to God for God's love and grace. 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:43.279 That was the conclusion that Martin Luther came to. 00:20:43.440 --> 00:20:45.200 It's one of the reasons why I'm not a Lutheran. 00:20:45.440 --> 00:21:00.559 Truly, because I don't see the world at the you've you've heard Mike and I preach, you've heard me preach long enough to know that the white knuckling through life and believing in our own wretchedness and shame is is not the lens through which I understand the gospel, like the anti-shame, right? 00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:03.519 We're trying to push back into that imago day. 00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:05.440 But this is how difficult this is. 00:21:05.599 --> 00:21:07.279 Martin Luther said it's impossible. 00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:08.079 It's impossible. 00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:11.839 So what we end up doing, most of us, is we sentimentalize it. 00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:12.880 Right? 00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:16.799 You know, from the same word that makes us feel like a good feeling. 00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:19.359 So it's just like we think it just means be nice. 00:21:20.240 --> 00:21:20.799 Be nice. 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:34.960 Take that person that you hate, because I mean that's what Jesus is pushing up against, the person that's betrayed you or hurt you or you think is dangerous, and take all that resentment and anger and hurt and pain and vengeance inside of you, and push it really far down. 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:38.240 And then when you see him, you say things like, bless your heart. 00:21:40.319 --> 00:21:41.839 Just be nice to him. 00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:43.759 Just be nice. 00:21:57.519 --> 00:21:58.160 You know. 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:13.359 It's so hard to believe that people are made in the image of God. 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:23.279 And it's so hard to believe that people can become more than what they are. 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:30.240 See, I think that's ultimately what this is about. 00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:47.680 When Jesus says, love your enemy and pray for those who hurt you, he's calling us to participate in the same love that God is showing the world because it's who we were designed to be. 00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:55.839 This isn't just white knuckle it, pull it together, get through it. 00:22:57.440 --> 00:23:03.599 We know this because at the end of this reading today, Jesus says, I want you to be perfect. 00:23:03.759 --> 00:23:10.319 Now, it's easy for us in our culture to think in perfectionism that that means flawless. 00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:13.359 That God wants us to just be flawless. 00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:14.720 That's the whole point. 00:23:14.880 --> 00:23:16.079 Don't make any mistakes. 00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:18.160 Anyone got perfection stuff? 00:23:20.559 --> 00:23:24.880 But that word telos, actually, I've talked about it before, comes from the word telos, right? 00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:28.559 It's the same thing where it means purpose, the thing that you were designed for. 00:23:28.640 --> 00:23:32.160 Like an acorn has a telos of an oak tree. 00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:39.920 And Jesus says, you were designed to be the image and likeness of God in the world. 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:44.960 Our essence, we were made in the image of God, but that word likeness, it's an interesting thing. 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:47.039 It actually kind of means pattern. 00:23:47.440 --> 00:23:51.519 The other day, Eleanor was like playing with this thing and she was like really focused. 00:23:51.599 --> 00:23:54.319 And I thought, oh, that's Becky Steele's kid. 00:23:54.799 --> 00:24:04.079 Have you ever looked at somebody as a child and you saw their eyes or their ears or their behaviors or their hand gesticulation or their voice tone, and they were like, that's Steve's kid. 00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:07.839 That's what a likeness is. 00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:10.720 Is that our life is patterned. 00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:16.960 We were designed to pattern our life in a way that is a reflection of the God who made us. 00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:20.079 That is what God is calling us to and towards. 00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:23.039 So he says, be perfect if God is perfect. 00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:23.920 Be the end. 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:25.519 Move towards the end. 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:27.920 Become who you are as God is. 00:24:28.079 --> 00:24:31.680 That's what Jesus is challenging us to do, challenging them to do. 00:24:31.839 --> 00:24:34.960 And there's something about praying for our enemies. 00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:41.200 There's something about loving them that helps us participate in that becoming. 00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:43.200 It makes us more alive. 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:45.920 It's redemptive. 00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:55.519 And as I was thinking about like that redemptive piece of it, like Jesus isn't just giving us a rule to follow. 00:24:55.680 --> 00:24:59.119 He's inviting us into our own healing and the healing of the world. 00:24:59.279 --> 00:25:04.000 And I was thinking about the word redeem, and I couldn't stop thinking about coupons. 00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:07.119 And it's not, I mean, it's not wrong, right? 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:11.039 Like, because the root of redemptive or redeem actually means to buy back. 00:25:11.119 --> 00:25:14.960 When you look at the Latin, it just means to like to buy something back, right? 00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:15.920 Like it's in place. 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:17.920 Like you, the there's a cost to something. 00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:20.960 It basically means to pay a cost in some way, right? 00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:24.960 It's a bit transactive, but it gets at the point that there's a cost to things. 00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:29.039 And when we sentimentalize love for our enemies, it's cheap. 00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:32.480 And this is hard because it costs us something. 00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:37.440 So I was thinking this week, like, what is it about this love of enemy? 00:25:37.759 --> 00:25:40.400 What is it about this praying for those that hurt me? 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:42.319 What does it cost me? 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:49.440 And the first thing I thought was it it costs me, well, my own sense of self-righteousness. 00:25:50.720 --> 00:25:53.839 I mean, I can't be the only one who likes to be the good guy. 00:25:55.119 --> 00:25:58.000 Like, you know, I'm right, they're wrong. 00:25:58.079 --> 00:25:59.519 I'm good, they're bad. 00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:05.200 In my self-righteous world where there are enemies, there are people that are bad, and I want to be the hero. 00:26:05.279 --> 00:26:14.480 And then all of a sudden, my identity as a good person and as a good Christian necessitates having a villain, having an enemy, having the people that are bad that I push up against. 00:26:14.880 --> 00:26:18.319 I have to sacrifice it and make it more complicated. 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:24.559 I don't get the simple solution of walking around and sorting people, and boy, do I like to sort. 00:26:28.480 --> 00:26:31.359 And I thought it also cost me a sense of safety. 00:26:31.599 --> 00:26:33.119 Because I have to be vulnerable. 00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:34.480 Now, here's my PSA. 00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:48.960 When I say that love of your neighbor and love of those who hurt you like cost you a sense of safety, I am not saying that anybody, anywhere, at any time, should put themselves in an environment where they are physically being harmed or psychologically being harmed. 00:26:49.119 --> 00:26:51.200 That is not what Jesus is saying. 00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:54.400 He's not saying just go back in and take another licking. 00:26:54.559 --> 00:26:54.880 Love them. 00:26:54.960 --> 00:26:55.839 That is not what he's saying. 00:26:56.000 --> 00:26:57.759 Jesus is clear about boundaries. 00:26:57.920 --> 00:26:59.200 He's clear about safety. 00:26:59.359 --> 00:27:09.200 What I'm saying is, is when I open myself up and I love people who have hurt me, it makes me feel vulnerable because they may do it again. 00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:17.920 And there's this lie, this belief that I have that if I hold on to my hate and my anger and my vengeance and my revenge, then that's gonna keep me safe. 00:27:18.079 --> 00:27:20.400 And it's gonna keep the people that I love safe. 00:27:23.359 --> 00:27:27.759 And then the last thing it's gonna cost me is sort of this weird sense of control. 00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:44.319 Like in some ways, I hold on to this anger and this vengeance and this hatred that's inside of me because, well, I think that if I hold on to it enough, I can force people to behave a certain way, and I can force justice in the world. 00:27:44.640 --> 00:27:49.039 I can combat other people's hate with my own hate, and that's gonna work. 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:55.440 It gives me a sense of control, like I'm contributing to the creation of justice in the world. 00:27:56.079 --> 00:27:58.400 And I have to I have to give that up. 00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:10.799 That's what it costs me to love my enemies, the people who have hurt me, the people that scare me, the people that I think are dangerous. 00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:16.640 And like, what this is such a hard thing, y'all. 00:28:16.799 --> 00:28:21.119 And I couldn't stop but think about this story from John, John 7. 00:28:21.279 --> 00:28:22.240 And stay with me. 00:28:22.319 --> 00:28:23.359 I hope you see the connection. 00:28:23.440 --> 00:28:25.440 I'm not trying to jump around too much. 00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:35.599 But in John chapter 7, there's a story where it says that this group of men drug a woman into the temple where Jesus was teaching and put her at Jesus' feet. 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:41.680 And like because she was like notoriously full of sin, like she deserved to be stoned according to them. 00:28:41.920 --> 00:28:43.920 And they wanted to get Jesus' opinion on it. 00:28:44.079 --> 00:28:50.480 Now, what's interesting, right, is that it says the rain falls on the just and the unjust. 00:28:50.799 --> 00:28:54.480 Like, we don't get to know whether her behaviors were what she was doing. 00:28:54.640 --> 00:28:57.839 Jesus actually doesn't sort of adjudicate that. 00:28:58.240 --> 00:29:03.279 Like, this isn't us like saying, well, we're gonna forgive people because they deserve it. 00:29:03.440 --> 00:29:04.720 It's not that big of a deal. 00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:08.000 No, we want justice, we want boundaries, right? 00:29:08.240 --> 00:29:12.480 We want a sense of righteousness that we're moving towards in the world. 00:29:13.359 --> 00:29:17.200 But they take this woman and they put her in front of Jesus, and we don't get much of the details. 00:29:17.279 --> 00:29:24.079 And Jesus stands between the woman and those that are gonna stone her, and he says, You who is without sin, cast the first stone. 00:29:24.400 --> 00:29:29.519 He makes it more complicated, the reality of God's love and justice in the world. 00:29:29.599 --> 00:29:33.119 And one by one, each one of those men drops their stones. 00:29:33.519 --> 00:29:34.960 And now here's the kicker. 00:29:36.240 --> 00:29:43.200 Jesus turns to her, and I imagine he like helps her get up, and maybe, you know, stands there for a second and he looks at her with love. 00:29:43.279 --> 00:29:44.559 And you know what he says? 00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:48.720 He says, Now sin no more. 00:29:49.359 --> 00:29:51.200 Isn't that interesting? 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:58.000 Like he says, I will not abandon you, but I also will not abandon the person that you can become. 00:30:00.720 --> 00:30:03.200 Do you see the connection with our enemies? 00:30:04.480 --> 00:30:12.079 What Jesus is saying is that can we still see the people that other people are capable of becoming? 00:30:12.880 --> 00:30:20.480 Have we lost our ability to look at somebody that we think is an enemy and say, and you can be so much more? 00:30:21.039 --> 00:30:23.039 And it's love that does that. 00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:28.640 It's not hatred, it's not vengeance, it's not violence. 00:30:37.440 --> 00:30:38.400 I wonder. 00:30:41.119 --> 00:30:43.119 Who do we have in our life right now? 00:30:43.200 --> 00:30:44.960 I mean, there's this middle ground, y'all. 00:30:45.039 --> 00:30:46.880 Like, it's so easy for us. 00:30:46.960 --> 00:30:53.279 I mean, notice that Jesus didn't say hate or be lukewarm or love. 00:30:55.200 --> 00:30:57.200 He didn't give us three options. 00:30:58.160 --> 00:31:02.640 Like, there is an option that forms us into the likeness of God. 00:31:02.880 --> 00:31:06.160 And we can sit here and say, Well, I don't have any of that hatred, I don't have any of those enemies. 00:31:06.240 --> 00:31:07.359 I just stick my ears in, I'm good. 00:31:08.400 --> 00:31:09.759 Not me, not me, not me. 00:31:10.240 --> 00:31:14.960 But Jesus is saying that it's a part of this human condition and reality that we're in. 00:31:15.839 --> 00:31:21.039 And that there's something about engaging it that makes us more who God designed. 00:31:21.200 --> 00:31:22.480 It it heals us. 00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:23.920 And what does it give us? 00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:32.160 I think it gives us the freedom to not let other people determine who we are going to become. 00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:40.079 We are people that are becoming, and we become the way that we behave and the things that we do. 00:31:40.240 --> 00:32:02.400 And let me tell you, waking up at one o'clock in the morning and thinking about all of the ways that you think somebody else deserves to be punished, or taking pleasure in the harm that happened to one of your enemies, that's Schaden Freud, like, oh yeah, they got what they deserved, or rehearsing all of the ways that you're gonna get them back, holding on to that is not making us become more like God. 00:32:04.319 --> 00:32:08.079 It's not making us become who God designed us to be. 00:32:08.400 --> 00:32:10.640 And we are imprisoned to that. 00:32:13.200 --> 00:32:23.519 And I think Jesus is inviting us to freedom, to free ourselves from letting our hatred determine who we become. 00:32:24.559 --> 00:32:29.839 Letting our enemies and their actions determine who we are becoming. 00:32:33.599 --> 00:32:43.599 So maybe at some point this week, you take a moment and you, you know, bring somebody to mind that does that thing inside of you. 00:32:43.759 --> 00:32:45.119 You know what I'm talking about. 00:32:45.359 --> 00:32:46.559 You don't have to do it right now. 00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:48.240 Please don't do it right now, actually. 00:32:48.720 --> 00:32:50.319 Don't know how it's gonna go. 00:32:50.960 --> 00:32:56.799 But maybe at some point you just bring to mind that person that that does that thing inside of you. 00:32:59.200 --> 00:33:08.559 And, you know, don't fabricate feeling, don't drop any of your boundaries, don't justify or, you know, explain away any of their actions, right? 00:33:08.960 --> 00:33:11.119 Just sit with that person. 00:33:14.079 --> 00:33:20.640 And then say, I refuse to let your actions determine who I am becoming. 00:33:23.759 --> 00:33:25.359 And then pray for them. 00:33:27.680 --> 00:33:46.559 Pray that whatever hurt and wound, brokenness, pray that that gets healed, pray that justice might reign and that they might experience truth, and then they might fully come to understand that they were made in the image and likeness of God, and that God has a desire for them to become more whole. 00:33:47.839 --> 00:33:53.440 And that whatever pain they're living in is not the way that God designed it to be. 00:33:57.200 --> 00:34:01.279 Because the sun rises and the rain falls, and God loves. 00:34:03.039 --> 00:34:07.680 And Jesus says, We can do that too. 00:34:09.039 --> 00:34:09.679 Amen.