SPEAKER_00: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you have a Bible or if you have a device that you use for your Bible, I encourage you to open it and turn to Matthew chapter 5.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't have a Bible, you can use one that is in the seat back in front of you and turn to page 810.
SPEAKER_01: We've been working our way through this New Testament book of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: The last several weeks we've been in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus himself is speaking, he's delivering a sermon, teaching us a little bit more about what God intended from His Word in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_01: And this morning we find ourselves in Matthew chapter 5, beginning in verse 38.
SPEAKER_01: If you have a Bible, if you would follow along as I read, it says, Jesus speaking, You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.
SPEAKER_01: But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil.
SPEAKER_01: But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
SPEAKER_01: And if any one would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
SPEAKER_01: And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
SPEAKER_01: Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I have to say that after our first service this morning and preaching through this text in their first service, I received more questions and comments about this passage of scripture than I have in quite some time.
SPEAKER_01: So I want to tell you that there is a lot of application from this passage of scripture that you're going to have to wrestle with.
SPEAKER_01: We could spend hours upon hours upon hours going back and forth, having discussion about how this passage of scripture applies to various situations in life.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to need to do some of that wrestling.
SPEAKER_01: I encourage you to do it, and the Lord will help you through it.
SPEAKER_01: We can even help you through that a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: We have a Sunday school class on Sunday mornings that will be wrestling with those various application details of our sermons.
SPEAKER_01: I encourage you to check that out.
SPEAKER_01: But what we need to understand is that first and foremost, this is about following Jesus and being like Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: This is hard, hard stuff.
SPEAKER_01: When we start talking about turning the other cheek and going an extra mile, it's difficult stuff, and sometimes it's hard to make that apply to situations in life.
SPEAKER_01: How do we do that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, first we look to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And secondly, we seek to follow him no matter what he says, even if it might be difficult.
SPEAKER_01: Now, with that being said, let's let's think a little bit more clearly about this.
SPEAKER_01: And as we do that, I want you to remember that today is a day in which we as a church remember what the Lord Jesus has done for us.
SPEAKER_01: So if if you are checking out this Christianity thing, it's gonna get a little weirder.
SPEAKER_01: Um we we do this thing where we remember that Jesus died on a cross and we we eat some bread and we drink some liquid to remind us that a body was broken in death and blood was shed because we believe that it paid the price for our sins.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna do that together in a little bit, and that's the core part of our faith, symbolizing what Jesus did for us.
SPEAKER_01: And as we progress through our time this morning, you need to understand that's where we're headed.
SPEAKER_01: It's like we're we're climbing towards a pinnacle, and that pinnacle is remembering what Jesus has done for us.
SPEAKER_01: And in his providence, he has arranged for us to look at this passage of the Sermon on the Mount this morning because it leads directly to that point.
SPEAKER_01: It leads us right to the foot of the cross.
SPEAKER_01: Now, our subject matter in this passage of Scripture is retaliation, or maybe better, non-retaliation.
SPEAKER_01: Taking vengeance on an offense.
SPEAKER_01: I think most of us would agree that the natural response that we have to some kind of hurt is to give hurt in return.
SPEAKER_01: I remember quite clearly my very first fight.
SPEAKER_01: It was with my best friend.
SPEAKER_01: And it was a fist fight.
SPEAKER_01: I don't remember exactly how old we were, probably third, fourth, fifth grade, something like that.
SPEAKER_01: I don't even remember what the issue was.
SPEAKER_01: I just remember we had some sort of argument, we had some sort of disagreement, and of course he he he he slung the fist first.
SPEAKER_01: And I responded in kind.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we do.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody hurts us, our natural inclination is to give hurt back.
SPEAKER_01: Pain for pain, hurt for hurt.
SPEAKER_01: Someone has hurt me, then I want to hurt them.
SPEAKER_01: And that was the pattern 2,000 years ago when Jesus described this situation.
SPEAKER_01: A little bit different than our situation today.
SPEAKER_01: You see, in Jesus' time, the situation wasn't just prominent that people would seek to take vengeance, but their situation was rooted in their history.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, it was rooted in God's law, and thus it was a religious situation.
SPEAKER_01: It was a pattern that had been followed ever since God laid down the Old Testament law.
SPEAKER_01: You see, he established a law, a set of guidelines to guide proper responses to unjust treatment.
SPEAKER_01: In effect, the law that he set out limited the response that we could give to hurt.
SPEAKER_01: So if someone gouged out your eye, you couldn't kill them.
SPEAKER_01: That was not just.
SPEAKER_01: It was an eye for an eye.
SPEAKER_01: So it set parameters.
SPEAKER_01: It said the punishment has to meet the crime.
SPEAKER_01: Thus, an eye for an eye.
SPEAKER_01: But now, here in this passage, in a surprising move, Jesus says that for those who follow him, that's not enough.
SPEAKER_01: That's not sufficient.
SPEAKER_01: They must exercise, he says, extreme grace.
SPEAKER_01: That's why I'm borrowing the title of my message this morning from Don Hagner, who wrote of this passage that Jesus is addressing the poor in spirit from verse 3, those who understand that they have come to Jesus in an unworthy sense, hungering and thirsting for his righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: And as they've received his righteousness, they've received and experienced the surprise of unexpected grace.
SPEAKER_01: When we come to Jesus, there's unexpected grace.
SPEAKER_01: You see, to not retaliate is an act of grace.
SPEAKER_01: To retaliate, to return an act for an act, hurt for hurt, is to give someone what they deserve, right?
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that what goes on in our minds?
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to give them what they gave me.
SPEAKER_01: That's what they deserve.
SPEAKER_01: To be gracious is to give what is not deserved.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe an example will help.
SPEAKER_01: Tahom is a Cambodian Christian who had some of his property taken away unjustly.
SPEAKER_01: He had some neighbors who bribed a surveyor to alter the property line so that they could take a half acre of his property.
SPEAKER_01: And his first response naturally was anger.
SPEAKER_01: How could they do such a thing?
SPEAKER_01: And so determined that they would not get any of the produce from the property, he went out one night with a machete to cut down every tree of value, every banana plant.
SPEAKER_01: But as he did so, he couldn't carry out his plan because he realized that Jesus would not be happy with that.
SPEAKER_01: So he asked the Lord to forgive him and help him turn the other cheek.
SPEAKER_01: And so the next morning he went to his neighbors and said, You've taken my land.
SPEAKER_01: I'll give you my house too if you want it.
SPEAKER_01: I will go to Boshwain and help the pastor there spread the good news of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's grace.
SPEAKER_01: Most of us, though, are like Sandy.
SPEAKER_01: Sandy was a Canadian lumberjack.
SPEAKER_01: He was a big, big, rugged Scotsman who believed in Jesus and took his faith very seriously, held it very, very deeply.
SPEAKER_01: He was generally a good-natured man.
SPEAKER_01: He wasn't quick to get angry, had a had a high boiling point and was slow to get there.
SPEAKER_01: But you could push him there.
SPEAKER_01: And one day, apparently he pushed somebody else to that point, and a co-worker of his punched him in the face.
SPEAKER_01: Sandy restrained his anger and silently turned his head.
SPEAKER_01: So the other cheek was facing his attacker that kind of caught the guy off guard for a moment, and then he swung again.
SPEAKER_01: Hit Sandy on the other side of the face.
SPEAKER_01: And then Sandy began to pummel him.
SPEAKER_01: Because he thought, I've turned the other cheek, now I'm gonna get my own.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that what we do?
SPEAKER_01: We try to justify everything in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: So we think I can do this, I can follow Jesus and get my vengeance at the same time.
SPEAKER_01: I can do what Jesus said and I can have my own way.
SPEAKER_01: I can have my cake and I can eat it too, but isn't that exactly what the Pharisees were doing?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus has told us again and again and again, your righteousness has to go beyond that.
SPEAKER_01: See, these accounts simply illustrate for us the principles that Jesus lays out here in these verses.
SPEAKER_01: Principles that are so difficult for us to put into action.
SPEAKER_01: And I think some of our difficulty in answering questions as to, well, what if this happens or what if this happens are because we struggle to simply do what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_01: Our self gets in the way.
SPEAKER_01: We want our own desires, we want our own way fulfilled while we follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Now, as with so much of the Sermon on the Mount, this section has two parts.
SPEAKER_01: The first part reminds us of the popular practice at the time.
SPEAKER_01: And the second then goes on to detail the proper understanding of God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Let's think first a little bit about the popular practice at the time.
SPEAKER_01: And this is really as easy to understand, I think.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
SPEAKER_01: It might sound to you very much like modern-day personal injury attorneys.
SPEAKER_01: Heard on the streets of Jerusalem, day after day.
SPEAKER_01: Have you been injured?
SPEAKER_01: You know the law grants you certain rights.
SPEAKER_01: Come to attorney so-and-so, and we'll get it all straightened out, an eye for an eye.
SPEAKER_01: They were a little different, though.
SPEAKER_01: In Israel, the rights of persons were not simply considered legal rights, founded in law, but perhaps more importantly, religious rights.
SPEAKER_01: Personal injury issues were grounded in Israel's religious law.
SPEAKER_01: So getting my vengeance, an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth, was not simply taking what I could in the law.
SPEAKER_01: It was God expects me to do this.
SPEAKER_01: I can do this and I should do this because God has put it out there in his law.
SPEAKER_01: So they were known as laws of retribution or vengeance laws, instituted originally to protect from overaggression.
SPEAKER_01: That's what God intended to do.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus references several Old Testament passages here.
SPEAKER_01: We'll look at a couple of them.
SPEAKER_01: First, Exodus chapter 21.
SPEAKER_01: Situation where Moses recounts a situation in which two men are fighting and they injure a pregnant woman in the process, and because of that injury she gives birth.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what it says When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman so that her children are born, but there's no harm to the one born, then the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the husband's husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine.
SPEAKER_01: But if there's harm to the infant, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
SPEAKER_01: Now what's going on there?
SPEAKER_01: Well, whoever hits a pregnant woman, Moses said, and causes birth with an injury to the child should receive the same kind of injury.
SPEAKER_01: That preserved the sanctity of life, on the one hand, and it enforced and regulated proper justice.
SPEAKER_01: The penalty was predetermined and limited to the extent of the original injury.
SPEAKER_01: Similar passages in Leviticus chapter 24.
SPEAKER_01: If anyone injures his neighbor, as he has done, it shall be done to him.
SPEAKER_01: Fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him.
SPEAKER_01: Again, same same same situation in principle.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever injures his neighbor receives the same injury in return.
SPEAKER_01: That too preserves the sanctity of life, and it enforces as well as regulates justice.
SPEAKER_01: You can look at another one on your own, Deuteronomy chapter 19.
SPEAKER_01: It's a situation regarding a malicious witness.
SPEAKER_01: Someone who's a witness to a case or an argument or a disagreement or to a crime, who in some way intends evil to come from his witness, from what he has to say about it.
SPEAKER_01: The malicious witness is to receive the same thing that he intends somebody else to get.
SPEAKER_01: So we get then why it says eye for eye, tooth for tooth.
SPEAKER_01: God is wanting to protect life, but at the same time, he wants to protect people from sin.
SPEAKER_01: And he knows how sinful we are in wanting vengeance.
SPEAKER_01: So he keeps us from going too far.
SPEAKER_01: Personal vengeance was rarely permitted.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it was in certain situations.
SPEAKER_01: But community vengeance, or more accurately, community justice was ordered in these situations.
SPEAKER_01: Moses said, if this circumstance happens, here's what you are to do.
SPEAKER_01: There was immediate and swift response designed to limit sin and limit retaliation.
SPEAKER_01: By Jesus' time, retaliation for anything was legalized.
SPEAKER_01: So the phrases, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, were lifted out of their original context, effectively removing them from any kind of proper interpretation, proper guidelines for use, and they were made to stand all on their own, giving them a meaning that God never intended them to have.
SPEAKER_01: So rather than rather than being used as a means of proper justice, they were used to get my way.
SPEAKER_01: They were used as a means of selfishness.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm gonna make sure that justice is done, but I'm gonna get what I deserve.
SPEAKER_01: And in response, Jesus says that his followers must not simply do what the law commands, but they need to go beyond the law by being unexpectedly gracious.
SPEAKER_01: And let's start there with our application.
SPEAKER_01: I had some questions this morning about well, what what if the law says that you can defend yourself?
SPEAKER_01: What if the law says this?
SPEAKER_01: What if the law says that?
SPEAKER_01: First thing we need to understand is Jesus never says, disobey the law.
SPEAKER_01: He never says that.
SPEAKER_01: What does he say?
SPEAKER_01: I came to fulfill God's law.
SPEAKER_01: So first we need to understand the principle that God expects us to follow his law.
SPEAKER_01: What Jesus is saying is simply doing what God's law tells you to do, that doesn't give you the righteousness that you need to get into Jesus' kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: He expects more than that.
SPEAKER_01: What then is the proper practice that Jesus expects?
SPEAKER_01: We see here familiar passage to many of you giving us illustrations that emphasize a response to hurtful situations, painful situations.
SPEAKER_01: These illustrations that Jesus give us show us that we are to extend a surprising amount of grace when retaliation is the expected response.
SPEAKER_01: Now we've we've said again and again and again throughout the Sermon on the Mount that much of what Jesus said here can be summarized by the command love your neighbor.
SPEAKER_01: Love your neighbor.
SPEAKER_01: Now it's easy to talk sentimentally about love.
SPEAKER_01: It's easy, easy to express that most of the time.
SPEAKER_01: Sure that the Nelsons, congratulations on Alexander, are able to express that sentimental love for newborn Alexander.
SPEAKER_01: It's much more difficult for us to express love for our neighbor practically when they have hurt us.
SPEAKER_01: What does that look like?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, here's what it looks like.
SPEAKER_01: You extend surprising grace.
SPEAKER_01: Now look what he does.
SPEAKER_01: He talks first about personal retaliation.
SPEAKER_01: He says, do not resist the one who is evil.
SPEAKER_01: Don't resist.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Don't hold your ground.
SPEAKER_01: Don't stand firmly planted in the ground saying, I'm gonna be here no matter what you do.
SPEAKER_01: Just don't resist the evil one.
SPEAKER_01: Now remember, he's not doing away with the law.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 17 tells us he's come to fulfill the law.
SPEAKER_01: The law gave very strict allowances for the community to retaliate in order to uphold the sanctity of life and establish justice.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the expectation of Jesus' time would be that you would seek your retribution, your vengeance through the court system.
SPEAKER_01: Just like today.
SPEAKER_01: You hurt me, I'm taking you to court.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
SPEAKER_01: Get even.
SPEAKER_01: That's what the Pharisees would say.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, if you've been injured, get an eye for an eye, but make sure you do it properly.
SPEAKER_01: Make sure you follow the patterns that God has laid out and everything will be okay.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus says, offer astonishing grace.
SPEAKER_01: Don't rush to get even.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, give an offender what they don't deserve.
SPEAKER_01: Now notice that there is a spiritual level here, a spiritual content.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Don't resist the one who is evil.
SPEAKER_01: These are people whose actions are not driven by the Spirit of God, but by the spirit of the evil one.
SPEAKER_01: We're not talking simply about breaking the law or breaking God's law.
SPEAKER_01: We're talking here about personal offenses, when somebody has offended you, when someone has insulted you and your sensibilities, your view of what is right and wrong.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus says when we are impacted by the sinful actions or the sinful words or even the attitudes of another person, we're not to let our own sin well up inside of us and respond with a desire for vengeance, but instead to respond with grace.
SPEAKER_01: Let them hurt you again.
SPEAKER_01: Let them inflict pain again.
SPEAKER_01: Do they deserve that?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: And that's the point.
SPEAKER_01: To allow them to hurt you again is astonishing.
SPEAKER_01: It's a surprising, unexpected grace, and Jesus says that's what it means to love your neighbor.
SPEAKER_01: Saint Augustine said it well.
SPEAKER_01: Have learned how to offer the other cheek.
SPEAKER_01: But not too many of us know how to love the one who hit us in the first place.
SPEAKER_01: Most of us are like the lumberjack Sandy, aren't we?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I can I'll I can learn to turn the other cheek, but just wait until I'm done with that.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, No, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01: If somebody's offending you personally, it goes a step beyond that.
SPEAKER_01: So he talks then about personal insult.
SPEAKER_01: If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
SPEAKER_01: Now, we see here the sentence that we're all familiar with, turn the other cheek.
SPEAKER_01: Now, some have used that passage to teach pacifism, the idea that Christians should not go to war, that Christians should not participate in an army.
SPEAKER_01: Some have used this to teach that a Christian should never defend himself in any way or any situation.
SPEAKER_01: I have a personal pastor friend who believes that, who has a conviction that he should never participate in a conceal and carry law because he should not be in a position to defend himself.
SPEAKER_01: He lets God defend him.
SPEAKER_01: Is that what this is teaching?
SPEAKER_01: What does this say about security at a local church?
SPEAKER_01: What does this say about ISIS burning churches with people inside of them?
SPEAKER_01: How does it apply to those situations?
SPEAKER_01: Those are all questions that we can wrestle with that we don't have time to answer this morning, but I do want to point out this to you.
SPEAKER_01: This verse does not teach pacifism, and it does not teach us to not defend ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, it's not talking about that at all.
SPEAKER_01: If we seek to answer those kinds of questions from this passage, we might end up simply frustrated.
SPEAKER_01: Because what Jesus is doing here is referring to a deeply cultural issue.
SPEAKER_01: Striking someone on the cheek in the first century was one of the greatest insults that you could give someone.
SPEAKER_01: Other than physical harm or personal injury, it was one of the most grievous insults of that era.
SPEAKER_01: So much so that both Jewish and Roman law permitted prosecution if somebody hit you in the side of the face.
SPEAKER_01: It was a personal insult.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't something that was coming at you for your life or saying that, hey, I disagree with you or I don't like what you believe.
SPEAKER_01: It was insulting you.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus says if someone insults or offends you in the worst possible way, let them do it again.
SPEAKER_01: And again.
SPEAKER_01: You may even be allowed by law and culture, expected by culture to retaliate, but don't.
SPEAKER_01: See, before coming to power, he had been thrown into prison and kept in chains and dungeon.
SPEAKER_01: Later, when he did become king, he was urged by all of his counselors to take vengeance on those who had put him in that position.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, what he did is he had a scroll prepared and he had all of the names of those who had hurt him and offended him listed out on that scroll.
SPEAKER_01: And then he personally took a pen and used red ink and put a cross after each one of those names.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when those folks heard about that situation, they were afraid for their own life.
SPEAKER_01: They thought they were going to die.
SPEAKER_01: But then the king explained it.
SPEAKER_01: He said, The cross which I drew beside each name was not a sign of punishment, but a pledge of forgiveness extended for the sake of a crucified Savior who upon his cross forgave his enemies and prayed for them.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Jesus says his people are like.
SPEAKER_01: When it's expected that you get your own in return, you don't.
SPEAKER_01: That's surprising.
SPEAKER_01: Then he talks about personal property.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 40 if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
SPEAKER_01: Now, most people in that time, especially the poorer classes of people, possessed only two garments, just two.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't have full wardrobes like we do today.
SPEAKER_01: They had an inner garment called a tunic.
SPEAKER_01: They had an outer garment called a cloak.
SPEAKER_01: And under Jewish law, theft of either one of those pieces of clothing would lead to legal action.
SPEAKER_01: They were considered extremely important, in fact, vital to the life of a person.
SPEAKER_01: So you could not steal those pieces of clothing.
SPEAKER_01: They even went so far as to describe what a creditor could take.
SPEAKER_01: A creditor could not come and take the outer garment, the cloak, from a person if they owed them money.
SPEAKER_01: Because that might be a person's only blanket.
SPEAKER_01: That was taken from Exodus chapter 22, where Moses really lays this out.
SPEAKER_01: He says, if you ever take your neighbor's cloak and pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down.
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's a long time to have something in pledge, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: You can take it in the morning, but make sure he gets it back at night.
SPEAKER_01: So there's a limit there.
SPEAKER_01: Why would he say that?
SPEAKER_01: Well he says, because that's his only covering.
SPEAKER_01: It's his cloak.
SPEAKER_01: He says, it might be his only blanket.
SPEAKER_01: And if he cries out to me that you've taken his only blanket, I'm gonna hear him.
SPEAKER_01: We'll hear what he has to say.
SPEAKER_01: Prime compassionate.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus says, if someone sues you and takes what he's allowed by law to take, that's the inner garment.
SPEAKER_01: He can't take the outer garment, but he can take the inner garment.
SPEAKER_01: He says, if he sues you and takes what he's allowed to take, give him what he can't take as well.
SPEAKER_01: Go a step further.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, be willing to give it up.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is telling us here to value gracious responses to those who offend us more than we value our own possessions.
SPEAKER_01: If someone wants to take from you everything they possibly can, then go ahead and give them everything they possibly can take and more.
SPEAKER_01: Give it to them, let them have it.
SPEAKER_01: Be willing to stand before the judge naked, having given away your most basic possession as an act of surprising grace.
SPEAKER_01: You've probably heard the expression always borrow from a pessimist because he doesn't expect it back.
SPEAKER_01: More likely we should follow what Elizabeth Babesco said.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting.
SPEAKER_01: Exercise astonishing grace, unexpected grace.
SPEAKER_01: When people expect you to put up a fight, don't give to them.
SPEAKER_01: Wow, what's going on here?
SPEAKER_01: Well, he has another illustration related to personal freedom, verse 41.
SPEAKER_01: If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
SPEAKER_01: Here's another cultural issue.
SPEAKER_01: Roman soldiers had the legal right, the legal authority to conscript labor, to use civilians for their purpose, to use civilian animals for their work, or even to take food from local residents for themselves.
SPEAKER_01: They could even force civilians to carry their packs or their gear for up to a mile.
SPEAKER_01: So they grabbed a man from North Africa, Simon of Cyrene, to carry his cross.
SPEAKER_01: Roman soldiers were viewed by the Jews with bitter hatred.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus steps in and declares, your personal freedom shouldn't be of concern if you belong to my kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: I would suggest to you that perhaps this is the most difficult item in this list for Americans to grasp.
SPEAKER_01: We have lived so long and so well with personal freedoms that it's difficult for us to comprehend giving them up.
SPEAKER_01: If you're forced to do what you hate to do, then do double.
SPEAKER_01: Show them that being obedient to the Lord is more important than your personal freedom, your personal free time, or your own resources.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, listen, my people who have my righteousness display loving, gracious service to those who oppress them, to those who offend them, to those who insult them.
SPEAKER_01: Where the apostles demonstrated this in life.
SPEAKER_01: The apostle Paul said, When we were reviled, we blessed.
SPEAKER_01: When we were persecuted, we endured.
SPEAKER_01: When we were slandered, we entreated.
SPEAKER_01: He goes on and on and on saying, when this happened to us, this is how we reacted.
SPEAKER_01: We didn't take vengeance, we didn't seek retaliation.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, we sought to extend surprising grace.
SPEAKER_01: Do you think this kind of action would be surprising today?
SPEAKER_01: I think it'd be astonishing.
SPEAKER_01: I think it would be astonishing.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus doesn't stop there though.
SPEAKER_01: He goes on to talk about personal belongings.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 42 give to the one who begs from you and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
SPEAKER_01: So if someone asks you for something, if you have it to give, then give it.
SPEAKER_01: If someone wants to borrow something, let them borrow it.
SPEAKER_01: And notice that there's no questions asked.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say, make sure you have a list of questions.
SPEAKER_01: How are you going to use this?
SPEAKER_01: How long are you going to have it?
SPEAKER_01: When are you going to return it?
SPEAKER_01: Make sure you sign on the dotted line.
SPEAKER_01: I have a hard time with this with my books.
SPEAKER_01: My books are my friends.
SPEAKER_01: I interact with them.
SPEAKER_01: I talk to them.
SPEAKER_01: They talk to me.
SPEAKER_01: I underline them, I circle.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's hard to lend out a book and not expect it to be returned.
SPEAKER_01: See, the point here is that things don't matter to the resident of the Lord's kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: Possessions don't matter.
SPEAKER_01: That's why the early church was said in Acts chapter 2 to have everything in common.
SPEAKER_01: They weren't trying to establish a socialist kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: They weren't establishing a pattern for everyone to follow from time memorial onward.
SPEAKER_01: No, it's that they were able to meet one another's needs because people were more important than things.
SPEAKER_01: Living out the grace of the kingdom was more important than hoarding or holding back.
SPEAKER_01: They said, we want others to be more important than anything that we possess.
SPEAKER_01: We have been afforded an immense blessing by our God by being placed in a place that has the privilege of certain freedoms, many freedoms.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, our Declaration of Independence proclaims that we have certain unalienable rights given to us by our Creator that are to be upheld in our country.
SPEAKER_01: I would suggest to you that as Christians, we have sometimes taken those freedoms to the extreme and are now neglecting the commands of the Lord Jesus in this passage.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I wonder if we're more like the Pharisees than anyone else.
SPEAKER_01: We may play the part of the righteous Pharisee and say, you know what, I don't take people to court.
SPEAKER_01: What are you saying?
SPEAKER_01: I don't sue anybody.
SPEAKER_01: I don't retaliate to my unkind neighbor.
SPEAKER_01: They're mean to me, they're cruel.
SPEAKER_01: They toss their trash into my yard.
SPEAKER_01: I don't get back at them.
SPEAKER_01: Well, that may be true.
SPEAKER_01: But the Pharisees do that.
SPEAKER_01: Do you then show surprising grace to them?
SPEAKER_01: Do you go beyond the expected hurt to be exceedingly gracious?
SPEAKER_01: The author, Sir Walter Scott, apparently had difficulty with this passage of scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Told the story of one day throwing a rock at a stray dog trying to chase it away.
SPEAKER_01: Except he made a mistake and his aim was a little straighter and his delivery a little stronger than he had intended.
SPEAKER_01: And he hit the dog in the leg and he broke the dog's leg.
SPEAKER_01: But instead of running off, he says the dog came limping up to him and licked the hand that threw the rock.
SPEAKER_01: Sir Walter Scott said, That dog preached the Sermon on the Mount to me as few ministers have ever presented it.
SPEAKER_01: I can imagine the Lord Jesus saying to us today, Since when did you, your desires, your thoughts, your rights, your property, your possessions, your funds become more important than showing my grace to someone else?
SPEAKER_01: I can imagine him saying to us, lay aside your own selfishness and consider others as more important.
SPEAKER_01: Commit to showing others the divine grace that you have received and showing it in an unexpected way.
SPEAKER_01: Now I fully, fully anticipate that our response to this passage of scripture and hearing Jesus say these things is going to be, really?
SPEAKER_01: Really?
SPEAKER_01: That's going too far, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And when we get to that point, then we're starting to understand what Jesus intends.
SPEAKER_01: He wants us to grasp that stretching.
SPEAKER_01: Because if he is our Lord, if he is our King, then our righteousness must go beyond that of the Pharisees.
SPEAKER_01: We are recipients of His surprising grace, and He calls on us to display that to others.
SPEAKER_01: So we're not being asked to give something that we don't possess.
SPEAKER_01: We're not being asked to do something that we have not ourselves experienced.
SPEAKER_01: We're being told not to hoard what we have been given by Jesus, but instead to have open arms and to give it out.
SPEAKER_01: I like to paraphrase it as when we were in the act of slapping Jesus in the face, he died for us.
SPEAKER_01: That's unexpected grace, my friends.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we did not deserve.
SPEAKER_01: That is surprising.
SPEAKER_01: While we were in the act of sinning against a holy God, he extends surprising grace to us.
SPEAKER_01: And now he says to us, those who have experienced my surprising grace, extend that same surprising grace, especially to those who hurt us, insult us, and offend us.
SPEAKER_01: You see, a citizen, a citizen of the kingdom of God, Jesus is its king, has been transformed by King Jesus and now begins to exhibit the characteristics of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: And we place others in positions of greater importance than ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: We are to consider others more significant, even at great cost to ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: I told you that we're heading to the cross.
SPEAKER_01: As we do that, I want you to see Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Because first and foremost, ultimately, over all of this, this is not about you.
SPEAKER_01: It's not about me, it's not about what we do.
SPEAKER_01: First and foremost, it's about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Let me show you how this how this happens.
SPEAKER_01: And it's important that you look at this so you can see it yourself.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Peter chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: Sorry, 1 Peter chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Peter chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: We need to see that Jesus walked this road first.
SPEAKER_01: He's not calling on us to do something that he hasn't already done.
SPEAKER_01: He's not asking us to walk a road that he has not already tread.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Peter chapter 2, beginning in verse 19, he says, This is a gracious thing when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, somebody has slapped you across the face for no apparent reason.
SPEAKER_01: Someone has sued you for no apparent reason.
SPEAKER_01: You're suffering unjustly, unrighteously.
SPEAKER_01: He says, that's a gracious thing.
SPEAKER_01: For to this you sorry, verse 20, for what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure?
SPEAKER_01: In other words, discipline comes when we sin.
SPEAKER_01: But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.
SPEAKER_01: So if you extend unexpected grace, that is a gracious thing in God's sight.
SPEAKER_01: For to this you have been called.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't commit sin like we do.
SPEAKER_01: Neither was deceit found in his mouth.
SPEAKER_01: When he was reviled, he did not revile in return.
SPEAKER_01: When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.
SPEAKER_01: And here is the ultimate example of this.
SPEAKER_01: He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: By his wounds, you are healed.
SPEAKER_01: When we give unexpected grace to others, we show that we are part of Christ's kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: We show that we have received that unexpected grace ourselves, and we emulate his actions in giving that grace.
SPEAKER_01: And so as we prepare to celebrate together, to remember together that broken body of Jesus and the shed blood, it's my prayer that you are overwhelmed by the unexpected grace of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And that while you were in the act of sinning, he died for you.
SPEAKER_01: Would you pray with me?
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, we come to you this morning confessing our sin.
SPEAKER_01: It's so difficult for us to follow through in these ways.
SPEAKER_01: But we trust that by the work of your spirit within us, that we would be made more like you, and that each and every day we would extend that grace to others.
SPEAKER_01: Help us with that.
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, if there's someone present this morning who has not experienced the wonderful grace of Jesus Christ, give them faith to trust in you this very moment and to begin walking with you.
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, as we prepare to receive this bread and this cup, by the grace of your spirit, fill us in such a way that we might be overwhelmed by your unexpected grace to us.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
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