1997 issue 5 - sermon on luke 6:17-49 - the demands of love - counsel of chalcedon

8/12/2019 1997 Issue 5 - Sermon on Luke 6:17-49 - The Demands of Love - Counsel of Chalcedon

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(6:27-38) The Demands

of

Love

he Significance

of

but

say

to you

who hear

Jesus begins this section of

His sermon by addressing those

who are really hearing and

taking to heart what

He

is

saying, i.e., His true disciples.

He contrasts with the strong

conjunction, But, alla in

Greek, those upon whom the

woes are pronounced and His

true disciples. To them as the

blessed

ones

He

commands

them to love

their

enemies.

They will be

able to love

their

enemies, etc.

Anew life

and anew

power are

in

their hearts,

those of the

kingdom of God, vs . 20, and

they

will

show their presence in

the most distinctive and

tangible way. The fruits of

repentance which Jesus names

are those which the world

cannot achieve

by any

ethics it

may invent or practice. - Lenski

(6:27-28) The

Command to

Love

.. ove your enemies, o good

to

those

who

hate you, bless

those

who ruTSe

you,

pray

for

those who

mistreat you .

he Meaning of love

In

t is

command Jesus

announces the principle by

which the disciples of His

kingdom must

live

in their

relationships with other

people

.

This is the first time Luke uses

the word,

agapan, love, which

sums

up the whole spirtt

of the

Gospel.

Jesus

stresses that His

followers must love the

unlovely

as well as

those that

appeal to them. There are

several words

for

love

n

Greek.

Jesus was not asking

for stOlge,

natural affection, nor for

eros,

romantic love,nor for philia,

the love of friendship. He was

speaking of agape, which means

love even of the unworthy, love

which is not drawn out by

ment in the beloved but

which

proceeds

from

the

fact

that

the

lover chooses

to

be a loving

person . - Morris

In

the

New

Testament

the

verb

agape

rose

far

above

its old

and broad use,

for

instance in

the LXX, (Septuagint), and

came to be used as the

one

tenn that could express

the

very highest

type

of what

could

be called

love.

It denotes

the

...

m

COUNSEL

of

Cbalcedon Jnne,

997

love of intelligence,

comprehension and

corresponding purpose. It

sees

all the hatefulness and the

wickedness of

the

enemy, feels

is stabs and

his

blows, may .

even have something to do to

ward them off; but this fills the

loving heart with only the one

desire and aim

to free

its enemy

from his hate, to rescue him

.

from his sin, and to save his

soul.

Mere affection is

often

blind, but it

even then

thinks that it '.

sees

something

attractive in

the one

toward

whom it goes

out; the

higher love

may

see

nothing

attractive in

the one

loved, nor is this love called out

by anything that is attractive;

its

.

inner motive , be the object

worthy or not, is

to

bestow true

blessings upon the one loved,

to

do

him the highest possible

good. I cannot like a

filthy,

vicious beggar and make him

my personal

friend;

I cannot

like a low, mean criminal who

may

have

robbed me and

almost taken my

life

; I cannot

like a false, lying, slanderous

fellow who has perhaps vilified

me again and again; but I can,

by the grace of]esus Christ,

love them all, namely see just

what is wrong with them,


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desiie and work to remove that

wrong thing, and to this

end do

them

all good. - Lenski

The

Identify o

your enemies

Your enemies are those

who hate

you,

curse

you,

and

mistreat

you. The Greek

word

for enemies, eththros, is

literally the hostile ones. This

word

is used in the N.T. for

personal enemies, Gal. 4:16,

enemies ofIsrael, Lk. 1:71,

enemies of Jerusalem, Lk.

19:

43,

enemies of N.T.

witnesses,

Rev.

11:5,

and

enemies of believers within

their own families, Mat.

10

:

36

. It also refers for

hostility to God and Christ, .

Lk.

19

:27; Phil. 3:18; Acts

13

:10. Paul uses the

word

to refer to

aU

the forces

that are hostile to God,

including death, I Cor.

15:25 . The Enemy is

Satan himself in Mat. 13:24{

and Lk. 10:9. He is the

absolute enemy of Christ, His

kingdom,

and

His disciples.

(Obviously we are

not

to love

Satan

in

any sense, since

he

is

totally and irreparably evil.)

The Meaning of those who

hate you

Hate in

verse

27

is literally

the hating

ones. In

the O.T.

hatred

of God's people is hatred

of

God Himself, Num. 10:35.

As

the wicked love evil and

ha t

e good,

so

the righteo1l$ love

good :lnd hate evil, Mic. 3:2.

They hate

what

God hates, Psa.

97

:10 ; Amos 5:15. This hatred

is

not

an emotional thing,

but

an

actual disowning of evil and

those who commit it. Hating

God is ignoring His

commandments

and

persecuting His people. Those

who hate God may

be

strong,

and they show their hatred by

repaying evil for good, but in

the long run their opposition to

God is doomed to failure, Psa.

34

:21; 35:19;

38

:19-20; 69:4;

86:17.

In

Matthew 6:24

and

Luke

16:13 lOving and hating express

the thought of preferring the

on

e master to the other. The

N.T. also teaches that the

disciples

of

Christ will

be

hated

by

others, Lk. 1:71; 6:22,27;

Mat. 10:22 . To

e

Christ's

disciples one must hate all

others for Jesus' sake,

i.

e., the .

unconditional claim of]esus

means that earthly ties

must

be

put second. - TDN This is

not

psychological hatred but a

total commitment that gives

absolute priority to Jesus.

THEOLOGICAL DICTIONARY

OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

Both O.T. and N.T. teach

that God

ha

tes various things

and

people, Dt. 12:31; Amos

5:21; Provo8:13;

Provo

6:16f;

Psa. 5:

5-6

; Rom. 9:13. Jesus

Himself loves righteousness

and

hates and repudiates evil, Heb.

1:9 quoting Psa. 45 :7.

In

the writings of the

Apostle John love and

hatred are frequently

mentioned.

In

John divine

love conflicts

with

cosmic hate.

The

world's

hatred

for God,

Christ,

and

God's people is sin.

The world is blinded and

impelled

by

darkness and

therefore hates the light,

In.

3:20. Since

Jesus

is the light,

the world hates Jesus, 7:7. In

so

doing

it

hates God, 15:23-24.

It

also hates

the

disciples 15: 18.

To live in

the

light is to be a

target of hate. To hate

the

brethren is to live in darkness, I

In . 2:9,11. Yet there is a

proper hatred, as inJn.

12

:25 ,

which

states tha t

one must hate

one

's life in

this

world in order

to

keep

it

for eternal life. - TDNT

The Meaning o

those

who

curse you

Curse

in

Greek,

kataraomai, denotes

wishes

and

utterances designed

to

bring harm

upon someone

from a supernatural

source

.

The

Law of God curses those who

break

or

disregard it, Gal. 3 :

13

;

Dt. 27:26, and

it

is God's curse

which applies to all impenitent

sinners withol.jt exception.

Jesus

took th

e curse

upon

Himself vicariol.jsly for all God's

chosen people,

that we might

be

reconciled to God

and

placed under His blessing, II

Cor. 5:17f.

For

on

e

man

to

curse another is for the

one

uttering the_curse to

act

as God.

It is to wish

harm or damnation

upon

another, in spite of the

death of Christ, because

the

other is ha ted by him.

June,

1997

f THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon f


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The Meaning of

those who mistreat you

The Greek word for

. mistreat, epereadzo, is used

only

three times in the N.T.,

Luke 6:27, Matthew 5:44; I

Peter 3 :16. It means to

threaten, mistreat, revile;, abuse.

he Historical and Theological

Context for this Command

he Enemies ofGod's People

According to the B ~ e d i c t u s

In Zacharias' hymn

of

praise,

THE BENEDICTUS, Luke

1:68-79, Zacharias praises God

by saying:

Blessed

by

the

Lord

God of

Israel,

for He has

visited

us

and accomplished redemption for

His people; and h ~ r a i s e d up q

horn

of salvation for US in the

house

ofDavid His servant---as

He spoke by the mouth ofHis holy

prophets from ofold--- 'Salvation

from our enemies, and from the

hand

of all who hate us ... '

vss. 68-71. Verse 71 describes

salvation in terms of victory

over our enemies and over

those

who

would

harm us

as

.

the people

of

God. Salvation,

according to Luke, is

not

escape; rather it is deliverance

from enemies by victory over

those enemies. God delivers

His

people

from their enemies,

not

by

rapturing thern out of

the midst

of

their enemies, but

by destroying their enemies ..

This is the work of the mighty

Horn

of

Salvation

for

us

in

the

House

of

David

, Le., jesus.

Christ.

He

strikes and destroys

our enemies for us. Our

enemies are any individual,

force human r d ~ c i I i i c ,

movement, in$titution, nation

or culture that seeks to hinder

us

from hallowing Goo's riame

and

doing God's will

on

earth

as

it

is in heaven. See Psalm

106:10-12 to which verSe 71

refers.

These enemies are to be

dealt with

in

two ways

, according to the

Word

of Goo:

(1).

We

are to love them; and

(2). We are to hate h ~ .

We are

to

Love

these

Enemies, Luke 6:27

lovable

in

us or

in

the world?

Was

it

something that

stimulated the eternal heart of

love? Nothing whatsoever.

It

was entirely

and

altogether in

spite of us .What rnoved God

was His own eternal heart of

love unmoved by anything

.outside itself.

It

generates its .

own o v ~ n t and activity--

an utterly disinterested love.

lloyd-Jones, pg.

304

This is a t r ~ e n d o u S l y

important priftciple, betause

When olitenemies harm us according to our Lord that is

we are not to seek our own the kind oflove that we are td ' .

revenge and strike them back; have, and the love that we are .

we must maintain a proper to manifest with respect to

attitude toward them. Our others. The whole secret of

treatment of others

mUSt

never . .living

this

kind

of

life

is

that

depend upon

what

the:y; are, or man should be utterly

upon

what they do to

us

. It . .detached. He

must

be

detached

mUst be entirely contrc>lled and . from others in the sense that

hiS

.

governed by our view of them behavior is

not

governed' by

and of their condition. --- what the:y do. But still more ;

There are people who are evil, . important, he should be

foul

and

unjust; nevertheless detached from himself until

GOdsends

ram upon

t h ~ and . a

man

is detached from

hi inself

causes the sun to shine upon he will never be detached from

t h ~

Mat. 5:45 . -- How does what others do to that self.

As

He do so? The answer must be long as a man is living for

thatGodisnot dealing with himself, he is sensitive,

t h ~

according to what

the:y

watchful and jealous; he is

are or according to whatthe:y enviolls and is therefore always

do to Him. What is it, if one reactingirnrnediately to what

may ask such a question with others do. He is in intimate

reverence, that governs God's contact with them. The only ,

attitude to them? The answer is way to detach youtselffrom . .

that He is governedby His own what others do to you is that ,.

love which is absolutely you firshJf all detach yourself

disinterested. In other

words f rom

yourself. -

lloyd-jow

,

it does not depend

upon

pg.304.

anything that is in

US, it

is in One of the most tragic ,

spite of us . - Lloyd-jones, pg. things about us is that our lives

3D3

What moved God to love are 50 much governed

by

other

the world, John 3:16? Was it people and

by

whatthey do to

something loving, lovely, or us and think .about us . Try to

6

I m

COUNSEL o Chalcedon .

1

June, 1997


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recall a single day in your own

life.

hink

of the unkind and

cruel thoughts that have come

into your mind and heart.

What produced them?

.Somebody else

How

much of

our thinking and acting and

behavior is entirely governed by

other people.

It

is

one of the

things that make life so

wretched. You

see a particular

person and your spirit

is

upset.

-- Other people are controlling

you. 'Now,' says Christ in

Romans

12:17-21-- Neverpay

back

evil

for evil t

anyone.

Respect what

is

right in

the

sight

ofall

men.

fpossible, so far as

it

depends on

you,

be

a

peace

with

all men. Never

take your

own

revenge, beloved, but

leave

room

for the

wrath ofGod,for it

is

wriUen, 'Vengeance

is

Mine,

I will

repay, says the Lord

. 'But

ifyour

enemy is hungry,feed

him, and

if

he is thirsry,

give

him a

drink;for

in so doing you

will

heap burning

coals upon

his head.

Do

not be

overcome by evil, but

overcome

rather we are to keep on' loving

people, knowing that God will

take care of our enemies. (5).

We

are to feed our enemies,

Provo

25:21, which will

tum

them away from harming you,

Mat. 5:38f, silence them, Tit.

1:11 ,'shame them and possibly

lead them to conversion, I Pet.

3:16. And (6). we must not let

evil

get us down or seduce us;

but by goodness of life

overcome evil, vs.

21.

We are

to Hate

these

Enemies,

Psalm 139:19-24

ffect,

'you must get out of that

condition.

Your

love must

become such that you will

We mllst believe that C;od

is

the Judge and

leave

the

execution of vengeance

and retribution to Him,

no longer be governed and

controlled by what people

say. Your life

must be

governed by a new

principle in yourself, a new

principle oflove.'

This may sound

shocking to some; but hear

me out. The disciples of

Christ live out the entirety

of their lives

in

terms of

the commands, definitions

and limitations on

life

"The

moment we have that,

we are enabled to see people in

a different way. God looks

down upon this world and sees

all the sin and shame, but He

sees it as something that results

from the activity of Satan. -

We must learn to look at other

people and

say

:

'Yes,

they are

doing this, that and the other to

me. Why? They are doing it

because they are dupes of

Satan; because they are

governed by the

god

of this

world and are his helpless

victims. I must not be

annoyed. I see them as

hell-bound sinners. I must do

everything I can to

save

them.'

-lloyd-Jones, pg. 304-305.

The

New

Testament expands

this command to

love

our

enemies in several texts, the

most notable of which is

evil with good. (1). As private

Christian citizens we must not

take upon ourselves the

responsibility to execute the

demands of justice in the place

of the

civil

government,

vs.

17

a.

(2). We must maintain a

deportment that finds approval

among people generally,

vs.

17b.

(3).

We must be

fully

and

totally committed to peace in

all our goals, methods and

relations, vs.

18.

(4). In

everyday relations, we must not

take revenge upon those who

may deserve it; rather we must

rest our

case

with the perfect

justice of God,

vSS.

19-20. We

must believe that God

is

the

Judge and leave the execution

of vengeance and retribution to

Him. We must not be

concerned with revenge; but

found in the written Word

of Christ the

King.

Christ

commands us to love our

enemies in His Word, defines

how that command

is

to be

obeyed in His Word, and also

places limits on that command

in His Word, I John 2:15. The

point

is

that the same Lord who

commands us to love and help

our enemies

also

commands:

Should you help

the

wicked and

l ve those who

hate

the LORD

and so bring wrath

on

yourself

from

the Lord?,'-

II Chron. 19:2.

A

man who is laden with guilt of

human blood

will be

a

ugitive

until

death

; let no one support

him

,

Prov. 28:17.

0

that

Thou

wouldst slay the wicked,

0

God;

Depart from me, therefore,

men

of

bloodshed. For

they speak

wickedly, and Thine enemies take

Thy name in vain. Do

I

not hate

those who hate Thee, 0 LORD?

June, 1997 'IlIE COUNSEL of

lu\kedon

7


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1997 issue 5 - sermon on luke 6:17-49 - the demands of love - counsel of chalcedon

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