1 00:00:00,140 --> 00:00:02,380 We're going to call this talk today, The 2 00:00:02,380 --> 00:00:04,260 Reign of Abba's Love. 3 00:00:04,660 --> 00:00:06,800 Next Sunday will be the last Sunday of 4 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:11,380 Epiphany, whereby the lectionary readings aim at revealing 5 00:00:11,380 --> 00:00:14,740 places in our lives in need of repentance. 6 00:00:15,940 --> 00:00:18,000 What we're entering into is a season of 7 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:19,560 40 days of prayer and fasting. 8 00:00:19,940 --> 00:00:22,440 It's called the season of Lent in preparation, 9 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:24,680 not only for Easter. 10 00:00:25,080 --> 00:00:28,220 That's the big idea, Lent is preparation for 11 00:00:28,220 --> 00:00:28,720 Easter. 12 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:30,220 What does that mean? 13 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:33,100 It's that as we go through Epiphany and 14 00:00:33,100 --> 00:00:35,420 we are confronted with the words of Jesus, 15 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:38,840 especially these radical words, all of his words 16 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:40,300 are radical words, he goes right to the 17 00:00:40,300 --> 00:00:43,140 root and exposes so much that we can 18 00:00:43,140 --> 00:00:44,740 grow up into and live into. 19 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:49,120 He encourages us by giving a biography of 20 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:50,900 himself, really the Sermon on the Mount is 21 00:00:50,900 --> 00:00:52,840 about him and how he will fulfill these 22 00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:54,960 words, right on the cross, you know. 23 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:57,640 And then he invites us to become cruciform 24 00:00:57,640 --> 00:00:58,760 with him. 25 00:00:58,860 --> 00:01:00,680 And that is a process of all of 26 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:03,340 our lives, just day to day, year after 27 00:01:03,340 --> 00:01:08,160 year, becoming more submitted, so grounded and rooted 28 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:08,760 in him. 29 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:10,900 And so it's a life's journey. 30 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:13,240 And so we take out of the year 31 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:16,760 40 days, every year, to do some inventory. 32 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:20,860 And we go, wow, you know, this and 33 00:01:20,860 --> 00:01:23,000 this and this need to come into better 34 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:24,260 alignment with him. 35 00:01:24,260 --> 00:01:29,620 And so, left unmaintained, we fall apart. 36 00:01:31,020 --> 00:01:35,140 Word and sacrament, and then responding, as it 37 00:01:35,140 --> 00:01:36,580 were, to that word and sacrament. 38 00:01:36,940 --> 00:01:38,420 It's a relationship with Christ. 39 00:01:38,700 --> 00:01:42,380 And so, as you begin to make preparations 40 00:01:42,380 --> 00:01:46,840 for the Lenten journey, considering what to crucify, 41 00:01:48,140 --> 00:01:50,880 or another word for that Paul uses is 42 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:52,020 put off, right? 43 00:01:52,020 --> 00:01:54,340 It says put off this and put this 44 00:01:54,340 --> 00:01:54,720 on. 45 00:01:55,380 --> 00:01:57,180 It's a baptismal language, really. 46 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:00,580 As you're considering, and you know, you need 47 00:02:00,580 --> 00:02:03,440 to go into Lent thinking now, and preparing 48 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:06,040 like, okay, what kind of journey, Lord, are 49 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:07,919 you calling me to, as I go into 50 00:02:07,919 --> 00:02:08,900 the desert with you? 51 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:12,300 Jesus spent 40 days and nights in the 52 00:02:12,300 --> 00:02:14,500 desert, and he experienced the same thing for 53 00:02:14,500 --> 00:02:14,880 us. 54 00:02:16,220 --> 00:02:18,480 And so, considering what to crucify or put 55 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:21,940 off among the range of disordered passions addressed 56 00:02:21,940 --> 00:02:26,440 last week, and what to intensify or put 57 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:26,740 on. 58 00:02:26,900 --> 00:02:27,640 Let me say that word. 59 00:02:27,820 --> 00:02:30,860 What you want to intensify in your life, 60 00:02:31,100 --> 00:02:33,860 or invite into your life, for example, acts 61 00:02:33,860 --> 00:02:38,760 of mercy, compassion, generosity, more attentiveness in prayer, 62 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:39,980 and things like this, right? 63 00:02:40,500 --> 00:02:41,580 I can use all of that. 64 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:44,180 Let the Sermon on the Mount provide a 65 00:02:44,180 --> 00:02:48,720 Lenten template, whereby we ask, we seek, we 66 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:49,240 knock. 67 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:51,440 That's what Lent is about. 68 00:02:51,860 --> 00:02:54,960 It's a period where we intensify our asking, 69 00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:58,920 our seeking, and our knocking to be more 70 00:02:58,920 --> 00:03:01,840 like Jesus, to be more Christ-like. 71 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:05,500 And this is the goal in mind today 72 00:03:05,500 --> 00:03:07,480 in all the readings, in all the readings. 73 00:03:08,140 --> 00:03:11,120 Our Old Testament reading, Leviticus 19, calls us 74 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:12,020 to be holy. 75 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:15,500 Say to all the congregation of the people 76 00:03:15,500 --> 00:03:17,720 of Israel, you shall be holy. 77 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:19,400 You shall be holy. 78 00:03:19,740 --> 00:03:20,220 Why? 79 00:03:22,020 --> 00:03:23,380 Because the Lord is holy. 80 00:03:23,620 --> 00:03:24,020 That's why. 81 00:03:25,180 --> 00:03:26,300 We shall be holy. 82 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:26,820 Why? 83 00:03:28,220 --> 00:03:29,820 Because the Lord is holy. 84 00:03:31,260 --> 00:03:33,240 The Lord is calling us to be God 85 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:35,460 -like, Godly. 86 00:03:36,900 --> 00:03:38,300 What does it mean to be holy? 87 00:03:38,540 --> 00:03:39,520 What does that word mean? 88 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:41,260 You can boil it down to be set 89 00:03:41,260 --> 00:03:42,300 apart for something. 90 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:46,440 It's just setting something aside, setting something apart 91 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:50,260 to make holy, for God's holy purposes. 92 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:52,640 And we are a people who have been 93 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:55,620 set apart within the part of the whole 94 00:03:56,780 --> 00:04:00,120 to be used for God's purposes in the 95 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:00,580 earth, right? 96 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:04,620 To be set apart for the good of 97 00:04:04,620 --> 00:04:05,960 the whole as well. 98 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:08,680 The reconciliation of all things. 99 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,020 Exhibiting the gospel of reconciliation. 100 00:04:12,660 --> 00:04:14,920 We're hearing in the gospel read today. 101 00:04:15,740 --> 00:04:18,040 To see God within God's people. 102 00:04:19,579 --> 00:04:22,940 To see God within God's people as the 103 00:04:22,940 --> 00:04:24,280 salt of the earth, the life of the 104 00:04:24,280 --> 00:04:27,540 world, the temple of the Holy Spirit, as 105 00:04:27,540 --> 00:04:29,220 we heard in our New Testament reading today. 106 00:04:29,840 --> 00:04:34,040 Jesus, in today's gospel, Matthew 5, verse 39 107 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:35,840 and following, and then he ends up that 108 00:04:35,840 --> 00:04:39,120 chapter, is grounding his teaching in Leviticus 19. 109 00:04:39,700 --> 00:04:41,120 That's where all of that's coming from. 110 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:43,720 What does holiness look like? 111 00:04:44,740 --> 00:04:47,020 Our Old Testament reading spelled it out. 112 00:04:48,220 --> 00:04:51,320 It addresses how a nation, a community, would 113 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:56,640 live as God's holy people, ending, you shall 114 00:04:56,640 --> 00:04:59,180 love your neighbor as yourself. 115 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:03,660 And there's a lot of details before it 116 00:05:03,660 --> 00:05:05,200 gets to that of how you love your 117 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:06,140 neighbor as yourself. 118 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:09,500 You shall leave some of the fruit of 119 00:05:09,500 --> 00:05:13,440 your vines for those who are poor and 120 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:16,180 for the refugees and the aliens and the 121 00:05:16,180 --> 00:05:17,900 sojourner and so on and so forth. 122 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:20,640 God cares about the nations of the world. 123 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:24,220 The problem is the interpretation of neighbor, which 124 00:05:24,220 --> 00:05:26,020 Jesus cuts right into, right? 125 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:28,680 Which Israel came to see as their fellow 126 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:30,960 Israelites, really only. 127 00:05:32,020 --> 00:05:37,960 Exhibiting great disdain for the Gentiles, all of 128 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:39,840 us, all the nations of the earth, right? 129 00:05:40,380 --> 00:05:43,820 And this is relevant to Jesus' hearers who 130 00:05:43,820 --> 00:05:48,020 are under Roman occupation, Gentile occupation. 131 00:05:48,620 --> 00:05:51,440 He's telling them to love those Roman soldiers 132 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:54,720 who are making them go a mile. 133 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:55,700 And that was the law. 134 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:57,820 They could actually command them to go a 135 00:05:57,820 --> 00:05:58,040 mile. 136 00:05:58,360 --> 00:05:59,860 And he's saying, go to. 137 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:01,660 Go to. 138 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:05,680 And so the breaking of this nationalistic pride, 139 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:08,400 because the blessing of Abraham is not about 140 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:09,780 the Jewish nation. 141 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:14,140 You're blessed to be a blessing to the 142 00:06:14,140 --> 00:06:14,680 whole world. 143 00:06:15,340 --> 00:06:18,400 And this is what they always struggled with. 144 00:06:18,460 --> 00:06:19,480 And that's what we struggle with. 145 00:06:19,540 --> 00:06:21,100 I think that's what the church struggles with. 146 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:24,100 It's really, you know, the covenant of Abraham 147 00:06:24,100 --> 00:06:25,340 is really the Great Commission. 148 00:06:25,980 --> 00:06:26,940 There's not much difference. 149 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:27,780 It's a go. 150 00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:31,540 Go into all the world and disciple the 151 00:06:31,540 --> 00:06:33,700 nations, disciple the nations. 152 00:06:33,980 --> 00:06:35,900 It's people who are different than you, who 153 00:06:35,900 --> 00:06:38,460 have different food and ethnicities and all this 154 00:06:38,460 --> 00:06:39,380 difference. 155 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:42,020 Be Jesus to them. 156 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:44,080 Bring Jesus to them. 157 00:06:45,180 --> 00:06:46,460 And perhaps when you get there, you'll find 158 00:06:46,460 --> 00:06:47,760 out that Jesus was already there. 159 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:51,280 The breaking of this nationalistic pride would be 160 00:06:51,280 --> 00:06:53,640 necessary to obey the last words of Jesus. 161 00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:56,760 Go into all the world, which that word 162 00:06:56,760 --> 00:07:00,240 there is ethnos, all the nations, and make 163 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:00,680 disciples. 164 00:07:02,100 --> 00:07:05,440 As followers of Jesus, we must forgive those 165 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:07,680 who offend or injure us. 166 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:12,300 And to keep short accounts through confession of 167 00:07:12,300 --> 00:07:15,520 sin, monitoring the inner dragons. 168 00:07:16,060 --> 00:07:19,160 We have these inner dragons that roar up 169 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:21,720 and blow smoke out of our mouths sometimes. 170 00:07:22,140 --> 00:07:25,420 Do you know how to barbecue things? 171 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:32,640 And so we're called to love without distinction 172 00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:35,980 in this passage today, whether friends or enemies. 173 00:07:35,980 --> 00:07:39,920 T.K. Chesterton says, we are commanded to 174 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:41,780 love our neighbors and our enemies. 175 00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:44,540 They are generally the same people. 176 00:07:49,220 --> 00:07:52,380 Jesus is addressing issues of the deep heart 177 00:07:52,380 --> 00:07:57,060 by preparing his disciples for how to overcome 178 00:07:57,060 --> 00:07:59,040 evil with good. 179 00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:06,540 But we just intuit more easily tit for 180 00:08:06,540 --> 00:08:06,880 tat. 181 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:10,100 We just intuit that. 182 00:08:10,260 --> 00:08:12,380 I mean, it's a knee jerk reaction, really. 183 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:15,060 You raise your voice at me, I'll raise 184 00:08:15,060 --> 00:08:15,840 my voice back. 185 00:08:18,850 --> 00:08:22,010 You do violence to me and I return 186 00:08:22,010 --> 00:08:22,510 the favor. 187 00:08:24,410 --> 00:08:27,930 And it's because of our own fears, our 188 00:08:27,930 --> 00:08:33,429 own insecurities and our own unresolved conflicts. 189 00:08:34,210 --> 00:08:36,270 I know these things because this is what 190 00:08:36,270 --> 00:08:36,909 I deal with. 191 00:08:39,370 --> 00:08:44,150 They're so easily tapped by another person. 192 00:08:45,690 --> 00:08:47,750 And some people, those things, those insecurities and 193 00:08:47,750 --> 00:08:50,030 those fears and those unresolved conflicts are just 194 00:08:50,030 --> 00:08:51,330 right there, just waiting. 195 00:08:51,690 --> 00:08:52,470 That's the inner dragon. 196 00:08:52,590 --> 00:08:53,910 It's just waiting to go. 197 00:08:55,730 --> 00:08:58,210 You know, you tapped it. 198 00:08:59,090 --> 00:09:00,470 You know, it's kind of like you made 199 00:09:00,470 --> 00:09:01,010 me angry. 200 00:09:01,150 --> 00:09:02,450 Nobody can make you angry. 201 00:09:03,690 --> 00:09:05,090 Take responsibility for that. 202 00:09:05,550 --> 00:09:07,810 It's your anger, not the person who, quote, 203 00:09:07,930 --> 00:09:09,050 makes you angry, right? 204 00:09:10,910 --> 00:09:12,210 That's a cop out, man. 205 00:09:12,290 --> 00:09:13,570 When you say that, you made me angry, 206 00:09:13,690 --> 00:09:13,850 right? 207 00:09:14,810 --> 00:09:17,430 I must take responsibility for my anger before 208 00:09:17,430 --> 00:09:18,570 I can deal with it. 209 00:09:19,850 --> 00:09:21,990 And I've, you know, that's been one of 210 00:09:21,990 --> 00:09:25,230 those, I think, inner dragons for me since 211 00:09:25,230 --> 00:09:27,370 I can remember as a teenager, at least. 212 00:09:28,680 --> 00:09:31,660 It's being kind of, it's all right there. 213 00:09:31,780 --> 00:09:34,520 I'm very touchy-feely and, man, I'm super 214 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:37,080 sensitive and a fire can get lit very 215 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:39,300 easily if that doesn't come under the dominion 216 00:09:39,300 --> 00:09:39,680 of Jesus. 217 00:09:39,860 --> 00:09:41,400 It doesn't come under the reign of Abba's 218 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:43,020 love, what we're talking about today. 219 00:09:45,060 --> 00:09:46,920 And so that's why James says, you know, 220 00:09:46,980 --> 00:09:50,400 be quick, be quick to listen. 221 00:09:51,260 --> 00:09:53,600 Be slow to speak and slow to anger. 222 00:09:55,460 --> 00:09:57,460 Be quick to listen, slow to speak and 223 00:09:57,460 --> 00:09:58,120 slow to anger. 224 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:05,600 But Jesus is saying that we must experience 225 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:12,860 deep conversion, whereby our old internal buttons are 226 00:10:12,860 --> 00:10:13,580 not set off. 227 00:10:15,810 --> 00:10:22,930 Retaliation, reaction, vindication, all must come under the 228 00:10:22,930 --> 00:10:24,650 reign of Abba's love. 229 00:10:26,030 --> 00:10:29,490 The opposite spirit, which is the Holy Spirit. 230 00:10:30,010 --> 00:10:32,210 You ever heard somebody say, you just need 231 00:10:32,210 --> 00:10:33,730 to learn how to move in the opposite 232 00:10:33,730 --> 00:10:34,290 spirit. 233 00:10:35,270 --> 00:10:36,530 Easier said than done, right? 234 00:10:37,430 --> 00:10:38,810 In the heat of the battle, that is. 235 00:10:40,170 --> 00:10:42,890 But that opposite spirit really is the Holy 236 00:10:42,890 --> 00:10:43,250 Spirit. 237 00:10:43,410 --> 00:10:45,850 It's not an attitude as much as it 238 00:10:45,850 --> 00:10:49,590 is a person developing his attitudes in us. 239 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:58,300 And it must replace the indwelling of this 240 00:10:58,300 --> 00:11:00,420 Holy Spirit within us, making us a temple. 241 00:11:00,420 --> 00:11:03,580 The Holy Spirit comes to make us holy 242 00:11:03,580 --> 00:11:10,420 by replacing the unbridled passions that are unruly 243 00:11:10,420 --> 00:11:11,180 in our life. 244 00:11:12,650 --> 00:11:14,310 We would call that sanctification, right? 245 00:11:15,150 --> 00:11:16,670 Growing in Christ's likeness. 246 00:11:17,770 --> 00:11:19,610 Now, this is why we're reflecting on these 247 00:11:19,610 --> 00:11:21,810 passages before Lent. 248 00:11:22,970 --> 00:11:25,650 Lent is a season of repentance and replacement. 249 00:11:26,370 --> 00:11:28,130 I like those two go together. 250 00:11:28,310 --> 00:11:29,470 Repentance and replacement. 251 00:11:29,710 --> 00:11:31,010 Putting off, putting on. 252 00:11:31,010 --> 00:11:32,710 Just don't empty the glass. 253 00:11:33,330 --> 00:11:34,810 Pour something into it, you know. 254 00:11:35,110 --> 00:11:36,450 You don't want to be an empty glass. 255 00:11:36,810 --> 00:11:39,350 Because there's plenty of things out there that 256 00:11:39,350 --> 00:11:40,730 will feel like empty glass. 257 00:11:43,460 --> 00:11:47,140 And so, he emptied himself, Jesus did. 258 00:11:48,260 --> 00:11:50,340 And was anointed by the Holy Spirit. 259 00:11:51,660 --> 00:11:54,180 And was sent right into a time of 260 00:11:54,180 --> 00:11:55,100 Lent himself. 261 00:11:55,260 --> 00:11:57,360 A time of fasting for 40 days and 262 00:11:57,360 --> 00:11:57,720 nights. 263 00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:01,200 And just contending with those inner voices. 264 00:12:08,340 --> 00:12:10,860 And so, Lent is a season of repentance 265 00:12:10,860 --> 00:12:11,600 and replacement. 266 00:12:11,820 --> 00:12:13,140 A time to reflect. 267 00:12:13,900 --> 00:12:15,680 A time to go with Christ into the 268 00:12:15,680 --> 00:12:18,560 desert and deal with specific disordered passions. 269 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:20,840 Which need to be nailed to the cross 270 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:21,280 of Christ. 271 00:12:21,380 --> 00:12:22,460 Well, I thought it was just giving up 272 00:12:22,460 --> 00:12:22,820 chocolate. 273 00:12:24,500 --> 00:12:26,500 I'm sorry, that's not what Lent's about. 274 00:12:27,180 --> 00:12:28,840 It's to deal with your disordered passions. 275 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:31,860 This is the way the desert fathers saw 276 00:12:31,860 --> 00:12:33,580 it in the 4th century. 277 00:12:34,780 --> 00:12:36,320 They went out into the desert to deal 278 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:38,280 with those passions that we all. 279 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:39,780 They're universal passions. 280 00:12:40,140 --> 00:12:40,940 They're disordered. 281 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:43,260 It's that fallen self of ours. 282 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:48,060 And so, we need these seasons of repentance 283 00:12:48,060 --> 00:12:51,860 and replacement to deal with that. 284 00:12:52,420 --> 00:12:53,360 We don't go alone. 285 00:12:53,620 --> 00:12:55,900 We go, the Holy Spirit sent Jesus into 286 00:12:55,900 --> 00:12:56,340 the desert. 287 00:12:57,060 --> 00:12:58,320 And we go with the Holy Spirit. 288 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:02,020 So, when Jesus says in verse 43, you 289 00:13:02,020 --> 00:13:04,460 have heard it said, you shall love your 290 00:13:04,460 --> 00:13:05,680 neighbor and hate your enemy. 291 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:08,820 I think I can do that. 292 00:13:10,180 --> 00:13:12,300 But I say to you, love your enemies. 293 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:14,060 And here's how to do it. 294 00:13:14,140 --> 00:13:16,000 Here's step number one. 295 00:13:17,460 --> 00:13:18,680 Pray for them. 296 00:13:19,300 --> 00:13:20,920 You won't be able to do that first 297 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:24,660 injunction, love your enemies, unless you can go 298 00:13:24,660 --> 00:13:26,840 first and begin to pray for them. 299 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:32,580 And you may just be clawing and resisting 300 00:13:32,580 --> 00:13:36,580 and resenting even the name of the person, 301 00:13:36,680 --> 00:13:37,100 perhaps. 302 00:13:37,260 --> 00:13:38,240 That you might have bitterness. 303 00:13:38,380 --> 00:13:39,860 You might have a root of bitterness so 304 00:13:39,860 --> 00:13:40,720 deep in your life. 305 00:13:40,740 --> 00:13:43,020 Until you tap it in prayer and you 306 00:13:43,020 --> 00:13:46,280 begin to cast it out through blessing. 307 00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:50,920 Then it will remain painful in your life. 308 00:13:51,140 --> 00:13:53,340 This is for the good of the body. 309 00:13:53,340 --> 00:13:56,740 Because that root of bitterness defiles the man. 310 00:13:58,260 --> 00:14:02,000 It just speaks and reproduces itself. 311 00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:05,120 That's not what we want reproduced in our 312 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:05,660 lives. 313 00:14:07,500 --> 00:14:09,900 And so, love your enemies and pray for 314 00:14:09,900 --> 00:14:11,340 those who persecute you. 315 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:14,120 This is a context where he's preparing them 316 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:18,420 for battle, for rejection, for martyrdom. 317 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:21,500 And to be a witness comes from that 318 00:14:21,500 --> 00:14:22,280 word, martyrian. 319 00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:25,720 The word for be a witness for Christ, 320 00:14:26,060 --> 00:14:28,040 it's the word for martyr. 321 00:14:28,860 --> 00:14:29,620 That's the good news. 322 00:14:29,820 --> 00:14:30,420 No, I'm sorry. 323 00:14:31,860 --> 00:14:33,160 Are we encouraged yet? 324 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:34,120 No, I'm sorry. 325 00:14:35,380 --> 00:14:36,820 We're going to hear a lot about the 326 00:14:36,820 --> 00:14:38,280 cross of Christ during Lent. 327 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:41,860 And Jesus is preparing us for that. 328 00:14:44,240 --> 00:14:45,560 Love your enemies and pray for those who 329 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:46,280 persecute you. 330 00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:48,160 So that you may be sons and daughters 331 00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:50,060 of your Father, who is in heaven. 332 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:52,860 He's saying that reciprocal love is much easier. 333 00:14:53,660 --> 00:14:54,820 I love you, you love me. 334 00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:59,020 That's much easier than all manner of evil 335 00:14:59,020 --> 00:15:01,760 being extinguished by Abba's love. 336 00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:04,340 There's no love in return coming back. 337 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:06,380 It stops evil in its tracks if you 338 00:15:06,380 --> 00:15:08,000 don't respond to evil with evil. 339 00:15:09,660 --> 00:15:12,880 We overcome evil with good, Paul says in 340 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:13,440 Romans 12. 341 00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:17,020 This is counterintuitive to our fallen selves. 342 00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:19,820 This is why we need Lent every year. 343 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:22,360 This is why we confess our sins every 344 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:22,840 Sunday. 345 00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:24,780 And really every day. 346 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:26,700 I use that confessional every day. 347 00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:28,660 Your priest really needs it. 348 00:15:29,620 --> 00:15:32,420 As long as we're responding back tit for 349 00:15:32,420 --> 00:15:34,620 tat, we're replicating evil. 350 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:35,960 We're multiplying it. 351 00:15:36,240 --> 00:15:37,160 It lives on. 352 00:15:37,900 --> 00:15:41,740 But when it stops here, it can't live 353 00:15:41,740 --> 00:15:42,080 anymore. 354 00:15:44,270 --> 00:15:45,670 You have heard it said that an eye 355 00:15:45,670 --> 00:15:47,430 for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. 356 00:15:48,250 --> 00:15:50,030 But I say to you, do not resist 357 00:15:50,030 --> 00:15:51,410 the one who is evil. 358 00:15:52,130 --> 00:15:54,590 But if anyone slaps you on the right 359 00:15:54,590 --> 00:15:56,050 cheek, turn the other cheek. 360 00:15:56,710 --> 00:15:58,310 If you get slapped on the right... 361 00:15:58,310 --> 00:15:58,870 I'm sorry. 362 00:15:59,210 --> 00:16:00,010 I thought that was there. 363 00:16:00,850 --> 00:16:01,610 There we go. 364 00:16:04,110 --> 00:16:04,390 Yeah. 365 00:16:05,250 --> 00:16:07,070 That was sermon illustration number one. 366 00:16:07,830 --> 00:16:09,030 But if you get slapped on the right 367 00:16:09,030 --> 00:16:10,930 cheek by a person slapping you, that means 368 00:16:10,930 --> 00:16:12,530 that they're slapping you with the back of 369 00:16:12,530 --> 00:16:14,750 their hand, which in this culture was the 370 00:16:14,750 --> 00:16:15,870 ultimate insult. 371 00:16:16,710 --> 00:16:18,230 It wasn't just an act of violence, but 372 00:16:18,230 --> 00:16:20,690 it was also an act of shaming because 373 00:16:20,690 --> 00:16:22,170 it's the backhand slap. 374 00:16:23,370 --> 00:16:25,390 And these are just illustrations that Jesus is 375 00:16:25,390 --> 00:16:25,710 giving. 376 00:16:26,090 --> 00:16:28,390 There's so many other ways that these are 377 00:16:28,390 --> 00:16:30,990 just three little illustrations of what he's trying 378 00:16:30,990 --> 00:16:31,490 to get at. 379 00:16:31,670 --> 00:16:32,630 It's the spirit of it. 380 00:16:33,790 --> 00:16:36,590 It's get retaliation out of your system. 381 00:16:37,630 --> 00:16:41,010 Learn how not to react, but respond in 382 00:16:41,010 --> 00:16:41,430 love. 383 00:16:41,590 --> 00:16:42,370 This is conversion. 384 00:16:44,210 --> 00:16:44,990 This is conversion. 385 00:16:45,150 --> 00:16:46,010 This is why we need Lent. 386 00:16:47,350 --> 00:16:49,630 You have heard it said, You shall love 387 00:16:49,630 --> 00:16:51,370 your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I 388 00:16:51,370 --> 00:16:52,730 say to you, love your enemies and pray 389 00:16:52,730 --> 00:16:55,370 for those who persecute you so that you 390 00:16:55,370 --> 00:16:57,170 may be sons of your Father who is 391 00:16:57,170 --> 00:16:57,610 in heaven. 392 00:16:58,450 --> 00:17:00,350 For he makes his Son to rise. 393 00:17:00,410 --> 00:17:02,190 This is what the Father's like, right? 394 00:17:02,410 --> 00:17:04,690 He makes his Son to rise on the 395 00:17:04,690 --> 00:17:05,990 evil and on the good. 396 00:17:06,990 --> 00:17:09,290 God's generous, Jesus is saying. 397 00:17:11,490 --> 00:17:16,010 The Father has no conflict in blessing all 398 00:17:16,010 --> 00:17:16,369 people. 399 00:17:17,810 --> 00:17:20,490 For if you love those who love you, 400 00:17:21,349 --> 00:17:23,109 what reward do you have? 401 00:17:23,310 --> 00:17:25,109 Do not even the tax collectors do the 402 00:17:25,109 --> 00:17:25,310 same. 403 00:17:25,970 --> 00:17:28,030 And if you greet only your brothers, your 404 00:17:28,030 --> 00:17:32,090 fellow Jews or your fellow Christians, what more 405 00:17:32,090 --> 00:17:33,070 are you doing than others? 406 00:17:33,210 --> 00:17:35,910 Do not even the Gentiles, those who are 407 00:17:35,910 --> 00:17:37,370 un-Jewish, do the same. 408 00:17:37,790 --> 00:17:39,310 You, therefore, must be perfect. 409 00:17:39,630 --> 00:17:41,410 You see now the context of perfection? 410 00:17:42,330 --> 00:17:43,510 This is the context. 411 00:17:44,070 --> 00:17:45,270 He just illustrated it. 412 00:17:45,270 --> 00:17:47,290 And so he's not talking about some sinless 413 00:17:47,290 --> 00:17:50,710 perfection here, even though that is the goal 414 00:17:50,710 --> 00:17:53,790 in our sanctification and our deification when we 415 00:17:53,790 --> 00:17:57,130 are all changed in a twinkling of an 416 00:17:57,130 --> 00:17:59,570 eye to be married to Jesus. 417 00:17:59,690 --> 00:18:01,490 That's the goal. 418 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:07,260 There's a lot of transformation between this day 419 00:18:07,260 --> 00:18:08,100 and that day. 420 00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:10,160 And you, therefore, must be perfect as your 421 00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:11,280 heavenly Father is perfect. 422 00:18:14,130 --> 00:18:17,730 Anybody tracking with Bishop Stewart's sermons that I 423 00:18:17,730 --> 00:18:19,390 sent out a link about, it's called Fully 424 00:18:19,390 --> 00:18:20,450 Alive, the series is. 425 00:18:21,110 --> 00:18:24,630 Series number three, his wife shares on what 426 00:18:24,630 --> 00:18:26,430 it means to be a woman. 427 00:18:27,530 --> 00:18:29,390 Catherine was raised on the mission field in 428 00:18:29,390 --> 00:18:33,290 Brazil, and she's describing an episode with her 429 00:18:33,290 --> 00:18:35,710 mother on the way to the market one 430 00:18:35,710 --> 00:18:35,950 day. 431 00:18:37,250 --> 00:18:41,230 She says mother's walking with her grocery bags, 432 00:18:41,270 --> 00:18:42,750 and she's on the way to the market, 433 00:18:42,750 --> 00:18:44,990 and she gets held up by a robber. 434 00:18:44,990 --> 00:18:48,050 And the guy says, give me your money. 435 00:18:49,170 --> 00:18:50,950 And she just walks up to him and 436 00:18:50,950 --> 00:18:52,890 puts her hand on his shoulder and says, 437 00:18:53,390 --> 00:18:55,870 in the name of Jesus, don't do this. 438 00:18:56,250 --> 00:18:58,790 What's causing you to do this? 439 00:18:59,810 --> 00:19:01,830 And she just disarmed the guy right there, 440 00:19:01,930 --> 00:19:02,170 right? 441 00:19:02,610 --> 00:19:05,030 In the name of Jesus, don't do this. 442 00:19:05,090 --> 00:19:06,550 What's caused you to do this? 443 00:19:06,670 --> 00:19:07,970 Why do you need my money? 444 00:19:08,130 --> 00:19:08,850 I don't have it. 445 00:19:09,470 --> 00:19:12,270 And he says, well, I lost my job 446 00:19:12,270 --> 00:19:14,150 and I've got kids and I've got mouths 447 00:19:14,150 --> 00:19:14,510 to feed. 448 00:19:14,510 --> 00:19:15,950 And he just goes in and she starts 449 00:19:15,950 --> 00:19:16,570 to interview him. 450 00:19:17,970 --> 00:19:20,310 And they get in the conversation and she 451 00:19:20,310 --> 00:19:21,570 says, well, what are your skills? 452 00:19:21,690 --> 00:19:22,290 I'm a baker. 453 00:19:22,550 --> 00:19:23,790 Have you tried this over here? 454 00:19:23,830 --> 00:19:24,450 Have you gone here? 455 00:19:25,050 --> 00:19:27,890 And she says, well, go with me to 456 00:19:27,890 --> 00:19:29,510 the market and I will give you money, 457 00:19:29,590 --> 00:19:30,730 but you will not take it from me. 458 00:19:31,690 --> 00:19:33,110 He puts his arm around her and they 459 00:19:33,110 --> 00:19:33,710 go to the market. 460 00:19:33,830 --> 00:19:36,510 And that's very common in Brazilian culture because 461 00:19:36,510 --> 00:19:39,370 it's matriarchal and mother's everything. 462 00:19:39,570 --> 00:19:41,490 So sons don't move away from their mothers 463 00:19:41,490 --> 00:19:42,850 in a Brazilian culture. 464 00:19:42,850 --> 00:19:44,530 She knows that. 465 00:19:44,730 --> 00:19:46,790 He spent some time in Brazil, but he's 466 00:19:46,790 --> 00:19:47,890 back in children's church. 467 00:19:49,270 --> 00:19:52,750 She's got him wrapped around her finger through 468 00:19:52,750 --> 00:19:53,810 honor and respect. 469 00:19:54,010 --> 00:19:56,330 They're walking through the market and the people 470 00:19:56,330 --> 00:19:58,030 who know her are going like, do you 471 00:19:58,030 --> 00:19:58,470 need help? 472 00:19:58,690 --> 00:19:59,310 No, no, no. 473 00:19:59,410 --> 00:19:59,890 We're fine. 474 00:20:00,050 --> 00:20:00,370 We're fine. 475 00:20:01,030 --> 00:20:02,230 And so she gets some money. 476 00:20:02,330 --> 00:20:03,210 She gives it to him. 477 00:20:04,030 --> 00:20:06,370 And then she says, well, here's a church 478 00:20:06,370 --> 00:20:07,110 you need to go to. 479 00:20:07,230 --> 00:20:08,570 And this is where you need to go. 480 00:20:08,890 --> 00:20:10,330 And here's my phone number. 481 00:20:10,330 --> 00:20:12,430 I want you to follow up with what 482 00:20:12,430 --> 00:20:14,190 I'm telling you and call me. 483 00:20:15,050 --> 00:20:18,130 And so she walks away and he's following 484 00:20:18,130 --> 00:20:18,430 her. 485 00:20:19,450 --> 00:20:21,810 And she turns around, says, what do you 486 00:20:21,810 --> 00:20:22,210 want? 487 00:20:22,690 --> 00:20:24,690 And he says, can I go now? 488 00:20:29,120 --> 00:20:30,620 That's what it means to be Christlike. 489 00:20:32,120 --> 00:20:33,920 Make me like Catherine's mother. 490 00:20:34,740 --> 00:20:35,560 That'll be good enough. 491 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:38,460 And she says, can you imagine if a 492 00:20:38,460 --> 00:20:40,960 dude was in place of my mother? 493 00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:42,340 What would have happened? 494 00:20:44,100 --> 00:20:45,640 Oh, my gosh. 495 00:20:47,730 --> 00:20:49,210 I don't have to comment on that, right? 496 00:20:51,630 --> 00:20:53,550 But we're created in the image of God, 497 00:20:53,670 --> 00:20:54,570 male and female. 498 00:20:55,410 --> 00:20:57,350 And I need that part of God's image 499 00:20:57,350 --> 00:21:00,590 rising up in me in those situations instead 500 00:21:00,590 --> 00:21:03,450 of taking out vengeance and being Mr. Tough 501 00:21:03,450 --> 00:21:03,710 Guy. 502 00:21:04,850 --> 00:21:07,490 We don't have many situations like that every 503 00:21:07,490 --> 00:21:07,830 day. 504 00:21:08,810 --> 00:21:10,210 And it is challenging. 505 00:21:10,310 --> 00:21:11,910 These are the challenging words of Jesus. 506 00:21:11,910 --> 00:21:15,590 And you go, yeah, but take the outbuts 507 00:21:15,590 --> 00:21:16,210 into prayer. 508 00:21:17,310 --> 00:21:20,330 Just don't come out changing everything Jesus has 509 00:21:20,330 --> 00:21:20,530 said. 510 00:21:20,650 --> 00:21:20,970 That's all. 511 00:21:21,150 --> 00:21:21,850 That's all I'm saying. 512 00:21:21,910 --> 00:21:23,310 This is taking that his word, right? 513 00:21:23,910 --> 00:21:25,010 That's the challenge. 514 00:21:26,470 --> 00:21:28,110 Love covers a multitude of sin. 515 00:21:29,860 --> 00:21:31,720 And so Jesus, the second Adam in all 516 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:34,140 of these teachings, is telling us how to 517 00:21:34,140 --> 00:21:35,440 be fully human. 518 00:21:36,620 --> 00:21:38,620 He's telling us how to be fully alive. 519 00:21:39,420 --> 00:21:41,560 He's illustrating how to be peacemakers. 520 00:21:42,380 --> 00:21:44,620 Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be 521 00:21:44,620 --> 00:21:45,880 called sons of God. 522 00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:48,960 Like father, like son. 523 00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:51,940 Like father, like the son. 524 00:21:53,120 --> 00:21:56,960 He sends us out as lambs among wolves. 525 00:21:57,720 --> 00:21:58,760 We have to be good with that. 526 00:22:02,630 --> 00:22:05,130 And so this is a call to cruciformity. 527 00:22:06,210 --> 00:22:07,530 Maybe a new word for you. 528 00:22:08,350 --> 00:22:09,650 Michael Gorman uses it a lot. 529 00:22:10,750 --> 00:22:12,530 I think it's a good word because we 530 00:22:12,530 --> 00:22:13,910 talk about spiritual formation. 531 00:22:13,910 --> 00:22:17,770 And yet our spiritual formation is rooted in 532 00:22:17,770 --> 00:22:19,950 the cross of Christ Jesus. 533 00:22:20,190 --> 00:22:23,310 Crucified, risen, reigning and returning. 534 00:22:24,530 --> 00:22:27,030 This is the call to cruciformity. 535 00:22:27,770 --> 00:22:31,550 The cross will form our lives around the 536 00:22:31,550 --> 00:22:32,530 values of Jesus. 537 00:22:33,830 --> 00:22:35,130 And it's called suffering love. 538 00:22:36,310 --> 00:22:37,090 Suffering love. 539 00:22:37,250 --> 00:22:39,130 Love suffers in Latin. 540 00:22:40,130 --> 00:22:42,830 Compassion means to suffer with. 541 00:22:44,490 --> 00:22:45,010 Compassion. 542 00:22:45,210 --> 00:22:45,730 Passion. 543 00:22:46,450 --> 00:22:48,290 We didn't really celebrate the passion. 544 00:22:49,050 --> 00:22:49,550 The suffering. 545 00:22:50,290 --> 00:22:52,150 And we're called to be compassionate people. 546 00:22:52,390 --> 00:22:54,070 I mean, you got to think about what 547 00:22:54,070 --> 00:22:54,630 that means. 548 00:22:54,730 --> 00:22:56,590 The implications of being compassionate, right? 549 00:22:56,670 --> 00:22:57,950 It's suffering love. 550 00:22:58,190 --> 00:23:00,330 That's what Jesus is trying to illustrate here. 551 00:23:00,830 --> 00:23:02,890 This is his instruction on how to deny 552 00:23:02,890 --> 00:23:03,710 ourselves. 553 00:23:04,170 --> 00:23:06,010 That is the disordered self. 554 00:23:07,370 --> 00:23:10,270 And take up our cross in union with 555 00:23:10,270 --> 00:23:11,970 the crucified and risen Lord. 556 00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:15,000 Our Old Testament passage. 557 00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:15,760 Be holy. 558 00:23:16,380 --> 00:23:17,660 Our New Testament passage. 559 00:23:18,180 --> 00:23:21,880 You are a temple of the Holy Spirit. 560 00:23:22,660 --> 00:23:25,920 Same idea, except now it's been given inside 561 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:26,560 of us. 562 00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:28,560 And then our gospel. 563 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:30,600 Be perfect. 564 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:32,720 Like your Abba. 565 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:35,500 I want to end with a prophecy. 566 00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:37,360 You didn't know that Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a 567 00:23:37,360 --> 00:23:37,940 prophet, right? 568 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:42,240 The cost of discipleship is an exposition on 569 00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:43,040 the Sermon on the Mount. 570 00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:49,180 He starts riffing here on page 150. 571 00:23:50,180 --> 00:23:51,140 And I just want to read this to 572 00:23:51,140 --> 00:23:52,020 you and we'll end. 573 00:23:53,340 --> 00:23:56,100 This was written in 1937. 574 00:23:56,820 --> 00:23:59,040 He later became a martyr by the Nazis. 575 00:24:00,860 --> 00:24:03,760 This commandment that we should love our enemies 576 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:07,120 and forego revenge will grow even more urgent 577 00:24:07,120 --> 00:24:09,420 in the holy struggle which lies before us 578 00:24:09,420 --> 00:24:12,260 and in which we partly have already been 579 00:24:12,260 --> 00:24:13,720 engaged for years. 580 00:24:16,130 --> 00:24:18,610 In it, love and hate engage in mortal 581 00:24:18,610 --> 00:24:19,050 combat. 582 00:24:20,350 --> 00:24:22,190 It is the urgent duty of every Christian 583 00:24:22,190 --> 00:24:25,370 soul to prepare itself for God will incur 584 00:24:25,370 --> 00:24:27,990 not only the hatred and the fury of 585 00:24:27,990 --> 00:24:30,570 the world, for on the whole it has 586 00:24:30,570 --> 00:24:34,450 come to that already, but complete ostracism from 587 00:24:34,450 --> 00:24:36,350 human society, as they call it. 588 00:24:37,470 --> 00:24:39,510 The Christians will be hounded from place to 589 00:24:39,510 --> 00:24:44,350 place, subjected to physical assault, maltreatment, and death 590 00:24:44,350 --> 00:24:45,130 of every kind. 591 00:24:45,990 --> 00:24:48,930 We are approaching an age of widespread persecution. 592 00:24:50,630 --> 00:24:52,990 Therein lies the true significance of all the 593 00:24:52,990 --> 00:24:54,670 movements and conflicts of our age. 594 00:24:55,530 --> 00:24:58,270 Our adversaries seek to root out the Christian 595 00:24:58,270 --> 00:25:01,550 church and the Christian faith because they cannot 596 00:25:01,550 --> 00:25:04,490 live side by side with us, because they 597 00:25:04,490 --> 00:25:06,630 see in every word we utter and every 598 00:25:06,630 --> 00:25:09,310 deed we do, even when they are not 599 00:25:09,310 --> 00:25:12,450 specifically directed against them, a condemnation of their 600 00:25:12,450 --> 00:25:13,990 own words and deeds. 601 00:25:14,890 --> 00:25:16,310 They are not far wrong. 602 00:25:17,790 --> 00:25:21,010 They suspect, too, that we are indifferent to 603 00:25:21,010 --> 00:25:21,970 their condemnation. 604 00:25:22,810 --> 00:25:24,750 They must admit that it is utterly futile 605 00:25:24,750 --> 00:25:25,670 to condemn us. 606 00:25:26,210 --> 00:25:28,930 We do not reciprocate their hatred and contention, 607 00:25:28,930 --> 00:25:31,590 although they would like it better if we 608 00:25:31,590 --> 00:25:35,250 did, and so to sink to their own 609 00:25:35,250 --> 00:25:35,630 level. 610 00:25:36,170 --> 00:25:37,490 And how is the battle to be fought? 611 00:25:37,870 --> 00:25:39,370 Soon the time will come when we shall 612 00:25:39,370 --> 00:25:42,570 pray, not as isolated individuals, but as a 613 00:25:42,570 --> 00:25:44,770 corporate body, a congregation, a church. 614 00:25:45,330 --> 00:25:48,110 We shall pray in multitudes, albeit in relatively 615 00:25:48,110 --> 00:25:49,390 small multitudes. 616 00:25:49,750 --> 00:25:52,590 And among the thousands and thousands of apostates, 617 00:25:52,990 --> 00:25:55,710 we shall loudly praise and confess the Lord, 618 00:25:55,710 --> 00:25:58,110 who was crucified and is risen and shall 619 00:25:58,110 --> 00:25:59,190 come again. 620 00:25:59,630 --> 00:26:03,830 And what prayer, what confession, what hymn of 621 00:26:03,830 --> 00:26:05,430 praise will it be? 622 00:26:06,490 --> 00:26:08,790 It will be the prayer of earnest love 623 00:26:08,790 --> 00:26:12,130 for these very sons of perdition, who stand 624 00:26:12,130 --> 00:26:15,170 around and gaze at us with eyes aflame 625 00:26:15,170 --> 00:26:18,310 with hatred and who have perhaps already raised 626 00:26:18,310 --> 00:26:19,670 their hands to kill us. 627 00:26:20,430 --> 00:26:22,950 It will be a prayer for the peace 628 00:26:22,950 --> 00:26:26,810 of these erring, devastated and bewildered souls. 629 00:26:27,510 --> 00:26:29,830 A prayer for the same love and peace 630 00:26:29,830 --> 00:26:31,590 which we ourselves. 631 00:26:35,180 --> 00:26:37,900 Love your enemies and pray for those who 632 00:26:37,900 --> 00:26:39,020 despitefully use you. 633 00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:41,100 In the name of the Father and the 634 00:26:41,100 --> 00:26:41,800 Son and the Holy Spirit.