Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
so as uh as we have been in the series we're gonna be in first Corinthians
chapter 13 still as we continue
studying this idea of love and the lost art of love
you know in our english language we have a tendency sometimes
in are speaking or in our writing to borrow words
from other languages and kinda make them our own
sometimes not even by by changing anything about the word so for instance
when we want to communicate um
so there you have it instead of saying so there you have it sometimes we'll
just say
Viola that's French right it looks like
viola when you write it on but its French we say
Viola I remember being in France one time in the car driver you know was that
taxi driver got us to the place and
and we got there and he went Voila
and I was like he's gonna like
ok we're here there you have it get out
you know and I was thinking he was doing a magic trick you know
Viola I'm like alright whatever and then
uh in the legal community you have the phrase pro bono
so when something is done pro bono thats borrowed from the Latin and it
basically just means
for the good or for free you know so we have an idea that when something's done
pro bono it's done for free
so we borrow from a variety of different languages there's another word that has
come into vogue
in probably the last couple decades more in print
then it has speaking it because it's a little challenging to say
but the word is a German word and it's the word
Schadenfreude now you're going what?
never heard that in my life we say um in English we can I say
Schaden-froid but its I think its Schadenfreude
would be the German way and close as I could get I listen to a dude online
pronouncing it so I tried my best right
if your German you're going almost you know just cut me some slack show some
grace whatever
Schadenfreude right now what schadenfreude is
is you see it sometimes if you read articles about certain things you'll see
it now more in print
than it ever has been because basically in the seventies in the eighties
I tracked it in the New York Times this word showed up like
once or twice in those decades or whatever and one of them was by a German
guy who wrote an article so you kinda go okay I get that
but now in our recent decade its shown up forty and fifty plus times this word
because it's becoming more and more understood what it means because
it's a word that describes something that we have trouble describing basically
in English when we talk about um
maybe gloat would be the closest word that we could have
to what schadenfreude is but it basically means this it means to
delight in the calamity others
that we take some kind of pleasure or some kind of delight
in the calamity of others thats Schadenfreude
I'm gonna quit saying that in just a second cause you guys are gonna be going God bless
you gesundheit
um cause I you know it's just tough to say so you got that right
this idea of delighting in the calamity or the misfortune
of others. Now why I tell you that is because of what Paul is going to
continue to teach us about what love is
and what love is not in our text today
and you'll see kind of this concept played out just a little bit
where we are in our particular study is we've made our way to verse number six
of first Corinthians chapter 13 and it says this
Love does not delight
in evil but rejoices
with the truth. Now this is one of those
verses that can be reasonably easily glossed over if we're not
um cognizant of what it is we're reading because
upon first blush let's all be honest in here upon first blush we kinda go
okay you know it's
I got that part I was struggling when you start talking about love is patient
I knew I had everyone's attention at that point they're like okay love is patient
all right I better listen to this because I
you know hurry up you know I mean it's one of those right
I know what that's like but then you get to this love does not rejoice or delight
in evil and you're going okay
who in their right mind really
who in their right mind delights
in evil I mean really
because when we talk about evil Jerry this is the stuff of
you know horns and pitchforks man you start talking
evil who really in their right mind
delights in evil well
let's pause for just a quick second and before you start detaching yourself from
this text thinking this doesn't have any relevance for me
this really isn't speaking to me because I can't even imagine myself
delighting in evil in any way let me pause for second let me
me unpack the word the word that is translated in this particular
translation
evil is also kind of more formally translated or more
woodenly translated unrighteousness
it's the idea of anything that works um
in opposition to the nature of God anything that is in
opposition to the nature of God unrighteousness sometimes we could even
use the word
sin. Sin, unrighteousness,
evil all would be fair when we're talking about this text
and here's what we understand about love .. Love does not delight
in unrighteousness it doesn't delight in sin it doesn't delight
in evil now although it's an obvious
kind of application for us to say
okay so I should not actively take pleasure or joy
in things that are contrary to the nature of God we all understand that
right
that's clear but we also what what also love doesn't do
love doesn't even delight in the prospect
of those things love doesn't even delight in the prospect
of misfortune for other people or the prospect
of calamity for other people love doesn't do that it doesn't delight in
evil that is done
by others or done to
others love does not delight in evil that's
done by ourselves of course
but it's not we cant even look and see the prospect of calamity and take joy
in it because that's really not love
let me see if I can help us illustrate that by some places in the Scripture
that maybe you have some familiarity with
because there were some people in the scripture that actually were delighting
in the thought of calamity for other people
and maybe it was selfish in maybe it was motivated wrongly or whatever and maybe
was a misunderstanding of the nature of God and when you have a misunderstanding
of the nature of God you will have a misunderstanding of the nature of love
because God
is love, yeah
so Jonah you remember that guy?
he gets a bad rap and rightly so
Jonah was called by God to leave where he was
and go to Ninevah. Now
it seems pretty easy when we start thinking about that almost like if you
got called by God to
you know leave your job and move to Cleveland or you got called by God to
leave your job
or move to wherever your some of you are going could it be you know somewhere this warmer you
know whatever I whatever
it's not that simple Ninevah? bad town
big town Ninevah?
was a place of real high degrees of paganism the sort that
Jews did not want to be around or be a part of
Ninevah was a violent place in fact
and what Jonah wanted to see happen was this
I would like you God the to blow the place
up to completely rain down fire and sulphur and anything you want to create
for the demolition of humanity
and I would like it to be targeted specifically to Ninevah
because they're everything that you have taught us
not to be they are everything that people of God are not supposed to be
this is known about this is the height of paganism
so God says to Jonah I want you to go to Ninevah and I want you to preach to
Ninevah
and you preach to them that unless they repent
judgment is on its way
and he's like man I ain't doing that
because there's the prospect what if they listen to me
what if they actually do repent then they're not gonna get blown up
and I want them blown up
so he tries to run but through a whale of events Jonah ends up
you see what I did there Jonah ends up
making his way to Ninevah and there he preaches
it takes him the city so big it's three days to get through the city when you're
walking the Scripture says
it's a big place and on that day he goes in and he begins to preach to the city
and you know what they did
they repented from that king
on down they repented
and you know how Jonah responded chapter 4 tells us
I'll just give it to you real quick says this beginning in verse 1:
but to Jonah this seemed very wrong and he became angry
he prayed to the Lord isn't this what I said Lord when I was still at home
this is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish
I knew that you were gracious and compassionate God slow to anger and
abounding in love a God who relents from sending calamity
now Lord take away my life for it is better for me to die than to live
but the Lord replied "Is it right for you to be angry?"
this is Jonah man! you know what that was?
not love because you know what love doesn't do
love doesn't take delight in
the calamity of other people love doesn't take delight in the misfortune
of other people that wasn't love or maybe another illustration from the New
Testament when Jesus taught
you remember the parable of the prodigal son
right he's off he's the youngest
of the two boys and he asked his dad for his inheritance in
he takes it and he goes and squanders it on crazy living
who knows what all that involved but let's just say it was crazy living
he finally gets to a place where he's in
he's basically in with the pigs and this was not exactly fine dining
this was swine dining and in that place he is thinking to himself
I could do better as a servant in my father's house at least I'd have something
to eat and all that stuff and he comes to his senses and he's like what have I
been doing
I've been wasting my life I mean this guy had sowed
a forest full of wild oats at this point
and now he comes to his senses any makes his way back not knowing what kinda
reception he's gonna get
and there is a father who meets him not just by saying come to me
but who runs to him and embraces him and kisses him
and kills the fatted calf and throws a party
you would think when he saying my son who was basically dead
is now alive again he's come home again
and his brother was so happy for him
Not! remember the response of the brother it's in Luke 15 it says
meanwhile the older son was in the field and when he came near the house he heard
music and dancing so he called one of the servants and ask him what was going
on
your brother has come he replied and your father has killed the fattened calf
because he has him back safe and sound
the older brother became angry and refused to go in
so his father when out and pleaded with him but he answered his father look
all these years I have been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders
yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends but when
this son of yours who squandered your property with prostitutes comes home
you kill the fattened calf for him course the father goes on to tell him that
everything I have is yours everything I've had is always been yours
but he was angry because he was taking delight
in and wanted the prospect of his younger brother
suffering that's what he wanted to see he wanted to see him get his comeuppance
that's what he wanted to see that's not love
love does not delight in evil
the Scripture says the reason that love does not delight in evil ladies and
gentleman is because God
doesn't delight in evil. God is love
remember we're not talking we're not divorcing ourselves from this idea of love
as if it's
if it's some just kind of theoretical posture
this is God we're talking about He doesn't delight himself in evil listen
in fact to how he responds when wicked people die
in the book of Ezekiel listen to the voice of God chapter 18 he says
do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?
declares the Sovereign Lord rather am I not please when they turn from their
ways
and live? this is God who was talking he's saying
do you think do you think I'm happy about the wicked
dying? I'm not happy about that
I want them to turn from their wicked ways
and understand what life is in the way that I've made them and created them
the reason that love does not delight in calamity and love does not delight in
evil is because God doesn't
and so Paul is here saying if God doesn't we ought not to
this is not what love does in fact we even have an Old Testament reminder
using one of those
words that I told you about gloat Proverbs says it to us this way
do not gloat when you're enemy falls when they stumble do not let your heart
rejoice
why? because that's not what love does
love doesn't rejoice in evil it doesn't gloat when other people are
are in calamity or or hardship or bad things happen to them
love simply doesn't do that maybe that's why God called David
you remember King David right? shepherd boy who became King
slayer of giants David right? maybe that's why God call David a man
after my own heart
David was called a man after God's own heart he was imperfect but you know why
I think in part he was called the man after God's own heart
because if you remember David was um chosen by the Lord
to be the king but there was already a king his name was Saul
Saul had a son named Jonathan David was really good friends with Jonathan we
talked about that in just
a couple weeks ago but Saul he was really jealous of David to the point
that he wanted to kill David and he actually sent people out to try and find
David and have him killed because
Saul knew this guy's gonna take over the kingdom and its not a good thing
and one-time Saul was in a cave and he was relieving himself and David was on
the run and happened to be hiding in the same cave
and he could have killed Saul he could kill them but instead he came up and cut
just a little piece of his garment off
and then after Saul got out and David showed it to him David felt bad about it
he's like I shouldn't have even done that
because I'm honoring the fact that you're the king and and now I'm gonna be
the king at some point and he knew that
but I'm gonna honor that but he decided not to killing me not to do harm to him
because that's not what love does and guess what we saw was killed in battle
and Jonathan was killed in battle you know what David's response was
man yes now I get to be the king!
No. His response was oh how the mighty
have fallen. He did not take delight
in the calamity of others. He did not take delight
when bad things happen to others why? because that's what love does
and David as a man after God's own heart did that very thing
so in our text love does not delight in evil but rejoices with
the truth that's an interesting contrast isn't it
because the contrast you would think when you read this is this
love does not does not in delight in evil but rejoices with good
because you think the contrast is going to be evil and good
and by the way contrasting evil and good is proper
in fact Paul does that in another portion of Scripture in Romans chapter
12 verse number nine he says this
love must be sincere hate what is evil
cling to what is good so he contrasts evil and good
but here in our text he contrasts
evil and truth not evil
and good he says love does not delight in evil but rejoices
in or with the truth
you see here's what you need to understand love
loves truth
but listen to this truth
loves love
don't miss those love loves truth
truth loves love this is important because these two things conceptually
are not to be divorced
listen you cannot love
the way that God intends love to be
demonstrated unless truth is present
you cannot have truth the way that truth is supposed to be present without love
you say no no truth is truth regardless of whether there's love or not mm hmm
no it's not. it's not.
you're wrong. nobody's even arguing with me what am I talking about
I won that argument no one is even arguing. It's not.
truth is not completely truth unless love is present
because these are things that are tied up in the nature of God
love truth we'll see in just a sec
so here's what I want to remind you of what truth and love do because they go
together and they're important to have together and Paul's reminding
us of that here that love does not delight in evil but love
rejoices in the truth here's what you need to understand
what truth does is it points to love
that's what truth does in fact um Paul was writing to young Timothy and listen
to how he said what he said
he wrote to Timothy said the goal of my command
is love which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere
faith
you know what is interesting? Paul is teaching truth
he's teaching truth to Timothy and he says the point of my teaching truth is
not just truth for truth's sake the point of my teaching truth
is love. that's what he says the point is
so love points to truth or truth points to love but also love points to
truth
both work the same they both point to one another
truth points to love the goal of the command is
love but
love also points to truth Paul when he's writing to the Corinthian church
as you may have known from some of if you've been here in in any of the weeks
that we've been here
this church was messed up it had all kinda craziness going on right
craziness big-time immature sin issues all kinda stuff
really gifted church really immature church unbelievable
and he's writing to them but then he writes a follow-up letter second
Corinthians
and listen he's written all of this truth to these folks because he's got a
cut straight with 'em
he's gotta tell them and teach 'em what the deal is when it comes to the nature of
who God is
and what they're doing is sin and it's wrong and all that stuff but listen to how
truth points or love points to truth in 2nd Corinthians chapter to listen to
what he says
for I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears
not to grieve you
but to let you know the depth of my love for you
you see love and truth go together ladies and gentlemen truth points to
love
and love points to truth we struggle with the idea of truth
in our world don't we. what's true for you is true but it's not necessarily true for me blah blah
you know you just hear that all the time right it's just so tiring and I used to hear it in
college classrooms all the time even when I was in college back when you know
we had just
tablets and stones and we'd carve stuff out of em. back then even
I can hear you know that stuff come out and one of my communication classes I was a
major in speech communications and one of my
communication professors this woman she just came right out and said it
she said there are no absolutes
and there is no absolute truth and I had just become a believer
really I hadn't been a believer very long and so all the smart aleck-ness
was not gone from my life I had not sanctified my way out of being a smart
aleck at this point
and so when she says there is no such thing as truth there you know
there are no absolutes I just raise my hand she said yes and I said
wasn't that an absolute statement
she told me to shut up
truth is something it's not just something that we argue with and
struggle with in our own culture but it was going on certainly it's been going
on as long as humanity's existed
everybody's always struggle with the idea of what truth is in fact
do you remember when Jesus was standing before the man known as Pontius Pilate
remember that time frame kinda the Roman
guy who was a an official that was in charge and the Jews had taken him to
taken Jesus to Pilot because they wanted to kinda offload the
the actual consequences of what was going on
do you remember the conversation in John 18? I'll refresh you its
you can see it on the screens Pilot went back inside the palace and he summoned Jesus
and he asked him are you the King of the Jews
is that your own idea Jesus asked or did others talk to you about me
Am I a Jew? Pilot replied your own people and chief priests handed you over me
what is that you've done Jesus said my kingdom is not of this world
if it were my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders
but now my kingdom
is from another place. You are
king then said Pilot. Jesus answered you say that I'm a king
in fact the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the
truth
everyone on the side of truth listens to me
What is truth? retorted Pilot
with this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said I find no basis
for a charge against him
isn't it interesting that Jesus says everyone on the side of truth
listens to me and Pilot says "What is truth?"
interestingly Jesus answered that question just a few chapters prior
do you remember what he said in John 14 verse 6? Jesus said "I am the way
and the truth and the life
no one comes to the Father except through me see." you see ladies and gentleman
Jesus is the truth
when somebody says there's no there's no absolute truth.. ooh yes
there is!
and his name is Jesus. He is
the truth! He
is the truth.
you're going alright man now you're starting to get a little philosophical.. maybe
slightly and I'm not gonna stay there but think about what what we have learned
God is love
right Jesus is
truth so would it be fair to say based on our text which says this
that what love does is it it rejoices
in the truth that's what love does right
God is love. Jesus
is truth. God rejoices
in Jesus.
you see this is important for us because we're trying to understand why
why are we have having to learn how to love
why as we read the contours of this passage of Scripture
why are we learning how to love
because when we begin learning how to love ladies and gentlemen we will start
understanding what it really means to rejoice
in Jesus because that's what love does
love rejoices with the truth
the truth is Jesus and when you and I are in a position where we are learning
how to love
we get to a place where we are learning how to rejoice
in Jesus everywhere and in everything
and we don't take delight in the calamity of others
we want to see them know Jesus we don't take delight
in the misfortune of others because we want them to come to Jesus
that's what love does and when love is being formed in us
that's where it takes us but let me let me tell you where I'm going in this
message because you're wondering cause you saw the title of this message and went what??
let me tell you why we are trying to understand how to learn to love
write this one down we need to understand we need to learn how to love
because this is the foundation for the government of God
this is the foundation love is the foundation for the government of God
now in the place that we sit absolutely today
um there's lots of outrage
about the fact that our government has shut down
slimmed-down whatever our government
is in a shutdown there's a lot of outrage
there's also some Schadenfreude going on here
because there are some countries in the European Union that we lectured about
their potential for default because they couldn't get their government stuff
together a few years ago
who are sitting back going uh huh!
that's what they're doing there they're delighting in they're rejoicing in
our calamity
love doesn't do that obviously but nonetheless that some of what's going
on
and now in our world in our position today because this hasn't been solved
although they are now officially negotiating but
it hasn't been solved what you have is you have one side blaming the other so
um you've got all these people who have thoughts on why the government shutdown
and who's to blame for it and
if you're the president and the Democrats the responsibility is the
Republicans they're the reason that our government shutdown
if you're a Republican then the reason our government shutdown is because the
president and the Democrats and it's really interesting because
I've read articles and it's interesting people post them on their social media
and do all this stuff and
here this article over here and it's like look
let me break this thing down for you it's really simple
and then you read all the rationale and at the end it's it's the Republicans
fault
or you got this article that says let me break it down for you this is so simple
and here all the reasons and it's the president and the Democrats fault
now we're not naive enough to think are we that it
all the blame lies in one place? seriously? these are human beings
who all have political aspirations and political posturing
we're not naive enough to think that it is that simplistic are we
apparently some people are because they want to make their political points
I'm not suggesting that you can't make political points but let's not be naive
these are people these are human beings there is sin at work
but regardless of whatever the case may be here we are in a place where the
government has shut down
it is ceasing its proper function now in the world that we live in
but what disturbs me the most about this whole process
and what is most disturbing and maybe what is creating most outrage for people
is that there are actually Republicans
who are rejoicing in the damage that's being done to the president and the
Democrats
during this government shutdown there are people over here that the president
and the White House and the Democrats that are rejoicing in what they feel like is
damage being done to the Republicans
that's not whatl love does. love does not delight
in the calamity of others. love doesn't rejoice
in unrighteousness or evil or misfortune to people
that is not at all what love does and so
now we sit back and were outraged we are outraged
BUT I would ask you to hold on to your outrage for a second
because to greater or lesser degrees
we all do the same thing we all do the same thing
you know those perfect parents that you're friends with they're perfect
and they tell you about it all time they know everything about parenting
they know everything about everything they're perfect parents
and the other day their son
did something stupid and got arrested
and you're not terribly unhappy about it.
love doesn't do that
that's not what love does. love doesn't rejoice
when those things occur
or that guy who's at your high school or your college
or at your workplace who just thinks he is all
that. God's gift to women
and his girlfriend dumps him
and you're not terribly upset by it. in fact there's some kind of
satisfaction in it listen
love doesn't do that. that's not love does
am I meddling now at this point because I wasn't gonna let you just fly by love
does not delight in evil I would never delight in evil eh heh
yeah you would.. not letting you off the hook
not for a second
maybe that woman who's always lecturing you on social media
about the stuff you're eating
gets food poisoning from organic food
and you're like hahaha
listen I know we're kinda laughing love doesn't do that though
it's not what love does love would not rejoice in that
maybe you buy those magazines at the checkout at virtually any check out
place in any grocery store
or some store like that you know the magazines that you've got right there at
the checkout
and you buy 'em because you just want to see
if Miley or Justin
or the Kardashian's life is imploding
because there's something inside of you that just goes
good.. love doesn't do that
love doesn't take joy in those things
or when Osama bin Laden got killed
and you were in a party mood
and you wanted to dance on his grave
love doesn't do that. I'm not suggesting that sometimes things
don't have to happen maybe they do
but it doesn't mean we take joy in them
love doesn't do it
why do I tell you that I tell you that because this kind of living where we are
we're finding ourselves even in these small ways we're finding ourselves not
really exemplifying love
this is no way for people listen this is in no way for people who are going to be
cabinet members in the government of God
to act. you have an internship
that is going on when you become a child of God you you start an internship
in the governments of God in the world
some people in the Scripture you know Jesus refer to it as a kingdom we don't
understand kingdom so well in our day and age but we understand government
and what you are is you're now you're interning in the government of God
you have a cabinet position you are preparing for
not only a government that is breaking into the world that we now live in
this kingdom from God that this government of God
but one that is going to be fully realized at the return of the Son of
God
and you and I that believe in Jesus and walk with Jesus
we are going to be cabinet members in this government you did know that we're going to
rule and reign with Jesus not in his place but
He's going to allow us that possibility you knew that right
remember what the Scripture says in a couple spots second Timothy chapter 2
says this if we endure
we will also reign with him
Romans chapter 8 verse17 says this now for children than we are heirs
heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in
order that we may also share in His glory
and then do you remember what Paul wrote to the Corinthian church when they were
having all these disputes and wanted to sue each other and all that stuff listen to
first Corinthians 6
do you not know that the Lord's people will judge the world
and if you're to judge the world are you not competent to judge trivial cases
do you not know that we will judge angels? how much more the things of this life
therefore if you've got disputes about such matters to you asked for a ruling from
those whose way of life is scorned by the church
we're going to be having this opportunity to be
ruling and reigning with Jesus and listen the foundation of His government is
love
and if we don't become apprentices in love
we will not be the kind of cabinet members
that he is intending for us to be in this world he will perfect this in the
world to come
but we are now we are now trying to operate
now like we will live
then because this is the foundation
this is a government where love and truth
go perfectly hand in hand there's there's no fistfight between them they
go perfectly hand in hand this kind of government the government of God the
kingdom of God
in fact it's a government of extraordinary love do you remember when Jesus was
laying out what people are supposed to be
in the in the economy and the governance of God and the kingdom of
God what kingdom citizens were supposed to be like
he talked about in the Sermon on the Mount remember that and in Matthew chapter
five and six and seven
in the Sermon on the Mount he talked about what kind of people make up
citizens of the kingdom
who are these people like? and he talks about the way his kingdom is and the
extraordinary love that's associated with it
listen in fact to verse 43 through 48 of Matthew chapter 5
you've heard that it was said love your neighbor and hate your enemy. but I tell
you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you that you may be
children of your Father in Heaven
he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good
any he sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous
if you love those who love you what reward reward will you get
do not even the tax collectors do that? and if you greet only your own people what
are you doing more than others? do not even pagans do that?
be perfect therefore as your heavenly Father is perfect
he saying this is an extraordinary love that my kingdom is built on its
extraordinary
but Jerry we live in a real world and there's real issues oh Jesus knew that too
he knew that too that's why he gave some illustrations of how you function in a
way
that demonstrates extraordinary love but shows that
there's a different governance in place
in fact in the same chapter Matthew five if you just backed up a few verses
listen to what he says beginning in verse 38 you've heard that it was said an eye for
an eye and a tooth for a tooth
but I tell you do not resist an evil person that talks about
a violent resistance kind of like a war or a fight
if anyone slaps you on the right cheek turn to than the other cheek also if
anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt
hand over your coat as well if anyone forces you to go one mile go with them
two miles you go okay Jerry
this is the trouble that I have I struggle with the fact
that if I'm a kingdom citizen that basically what Jesus is saying is these
you got this
governance of extraordinary love but I'm gonna have to just according to
Jesus just take my beating and like it
nope. I've taught you this before those who've been around for a while
I've taught you this before he's not saying take your beating and like it
he saying you're going to deal in a different way because love and truth
will be
hand in hand they will be together because that's what love does
love does not rejoice in evil but rejoices
with the truth how do you do that then Jerry when
when people slap you on the cheek and you're supposed to turn to the other no
he says something very specific he says when people slap you on the right cheek and he's talking
about oppressors
these Roman oppressors if they were to slap you on the right cheek they're
showing you that they are superior you are inferior
if you understood the culture you would know that the right hand is the
right hand of power
and if I am a superior over you I'm a Roman you're a Jew
the only way that I am gonna slap you is with my right hand and if I'm gonna slap
you on the right cheek the only way that i'm gonna do that is I'm gonna do it
based on a backhand
you point your right cheek point your right cheek
here's my right hand how am I gonna get to you the other right
there you go. I'm messing with you
people going wait a second you mean when you're looking at me here when I'm
looking at you
no your right cheek right here's my right hand the only way I'm gonna slap
you on that side
is with the backhand you know why would I use a backhand? because I am
demonstrating that I am superior
and you are inferior that's exactly what the Romans were doing to these Jewish people
they were slapping them down showing that I am superior you are inferior
Jesus says
if they do that to you then here's how you respond as a citizen of the kingdom
you turn your other cheek to them
then they've got a choice to make either I'm gonna treat you
like an equal or the violence is going to stop
what Jesus was saying was this you can deal
with people behaving unjustly
but you will not do it in the same way that the world does it
you slap me on my cheek I'm gonna slap you upside the head like 20 times
that's what the world does an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth Jesus says
that's not what my kingdom looks like that's not what my government looks like
it's different than that
my government is a foundation of love and if you want to be a part of my
government you need to learn how to love
because this is how you gonna represent me in the world but love
rejoices with the truth so when injustice occurs
love doesn't just go oh man here we go I guess we're just gonna have to take our
beating and like it No!
love calls out injustice you slap me on my right cheek with the backhand I'm
gonna turn mine the other direction I'm gonna demonstrate how
unjust what just happened was this is how we are to function
then he says okay you got a tunic and a cloak. you've got two garments right
not like us in Buffalo when we're a twenty garment people in February
these people in the Middle East they were a two garment people they had an
undergarment and they had an outer garment
Jesus says if they unjustly sue you like they were doing by the way
and they sue you for your and they basically have to take your our
garment he says give em your undergarment too!
there you are in court by the way if they're a two garment people
and they have sued you for your outer garment and Jesus's says okay that one's gone
give em your undergarment too. what is he saying?
stand there in the courtroom buck naked
you're like what? Jesus said that? yep he's giving an illustration
you know why because in that day and age it wasn't shameful to be naked
it was shameful to view nakedness
and he was demonstrating that upon doing that you're going to show I didn't have
anything to begin with
and you're going to perpetuate this injustice on my life but you're going
to do so in a cloud of love not
acting the same way that the world acts you're gonna do this out of love
but you're still going to deal with the injustice or he says
when they make you walk a mile
go with them two! do you remember what that was? it was Roman impressment law
the Romans had a law that they could force you a Jew they could strap
something on your back and say
carry this for me and you'd have to do you remember Simon of Cyrene carrying the
cross for Jesus? that's exactly what it was
when he had to take up their cross we know he was within one mile
of wherever he was going to be because that was the law. you can only make them
carry it for a mile
so he says when they make you carry it for a mile you come to the mile marker. he says
ok give it back to me and you go no I'm good
I'm good
I feel fine. Come on! You obviously needed some help with it
Come on buddy. He's like no no no
you take it off right now. Naw I'm good. Come on.
and then he starts.. where he was mister superior
now he starts pleading with you hey man I'm gonna get in big trouble with my boss
could you take that off now seriously because I mean that would be breaking
the law could you do that?
now all of the sudden he's treating you like an equal. Do you see what Jesus is doing here? it's brilliant.
it's brilliant. He's not saying hey take your beating and like it
what he's saying is this: my governance is very different in the way the world operates
it's one that's foundation is love it doesn't
it doesn't just close our eyes to injustice but has a way of dealing with
injustice
not in the same way that the world deals with it in a way that is clouded with
love that shows people that there's a different kingdom at work
you see ladies and gentleman the reason I'm teaching through the understanding of
what love is
is because when we understand how to love we're understanding who God is
and I'm also teaching about the reason that we need to understand love this because
this is the foundation for the government of God and
this is what we are preparing for this
is what we are preparing for. A kingdom citizenry
we're love and truth walk hand in hand
in the world that we live in so
I would ask you love does not delight in evil
but do you? are there areas of your life and
I said some things that were almost kinda comical if they weren't so
true
that maybe we understand that love doesn't rejoice
doesn't delight in other people's misfortune
it doesn't delight in the prospect of their misfortune
but love rejoices when the truth wins out
God is love Jesus
is truth God rejoices
in Jesus and so should we
that's why we're learning how to love bow our heads together
before you leave two things one
as your heads about eyes are closed if you here and you've never come into a faith
relationship with God through His Son Jesus
when we dismiss from this place on this campus
we'd ask you to come by the Fireside Room that's right in the atrium clearly
marked if you're at the Lockport campus
then I encourage you to touch base with Pastor Jonathan
but I'd ask you simply this
are you loving? are there areas of your life where
you know that love is not winning because ladies and gentlemen anytime
that love doesn't win that government will shut down
when love is not love that government will shut down
every government in the world where love and truth cannot walk side by side will
eventually bow their knee
to the government that will demonstrate love and truth the kingdom of God
this is what we are preparing for and that kingdom will never
shut down and we should be
active ambassadors, cabinet members
in a different government how can we
actively show the love of God how can we
actively be on the side of truth which means being on the side of Jesus which
means rejoicing whenever Jesus is doing anything
anywhere with anyone
instead of delighting when maybe in some petty way
we see calamity happening to people around us
Father I pray that you would purify the love that we are to have
because we know God the love that you have is authentic
that it is pure and it flows from the very nature
who you are help shape us
in your love so that we might demonstrate your glory in the world
in Jesus name amen. Love you folkds
have a great week