Give and it will be given to you (Luke 6d)

Give and it will be given to you

Luke 6:27-38
Key Verse v38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

Introduction:

In the first part of the sermon on the plain, Jesus taught about those who are blessed in the eyes of God.  Today’s passage is the second part of that sermon and the main subject is one’s relationship with others. This relationship should be only love, nothing else. But love is a very common word and everyone has his or her opinion on what love is. Jesus teaches godly love that is unique and different from any kind of love that we see in our society. Knowing this love and living in this love will lead us to a great blessing of God. This love begins with giving. We like to learn how to give even our enemies.   

1.         You who are listening (27)

In the first part of the Sermon of the Plain, Jesus taught about what kind of people would be blessed by God.  Through his teaching it became clear who would be blessed and who would be excluded from God’s blessing.  In today’s passage, Jesus turns his subject and opened his word in this way:

Luke 6:27 "But to you who are listening I say

The focus of this teaching is to those who were listening. It is the people who are listening. Jesus has been talking to the crowd since v 20. As we noted in the previous message, there were various kinds of people and can be divided into four different groups; the Apostles, his disciples, and then Jesus’ followers and then those who sneaked in with their own particular agenda.  Though we divided into these four groups of people, actually there were no such four groups that could be discerned visibly. There was only one mass of people. But all looked like one mass of people, in their inner hearts, there are two groups; one who were listening and one who were not listening. Here listening does not mean just hearing what Jesus was saying. Listening implies an inward acceptance of what Jesus said so far. So when Jesus addresses to those who are listening, it meant that those who accepted what Jesus taught so far and accepted that God is the source of blessing to them. So, ‘those who are listening’ were those who established one’s relationship with God in their mind. As the result, God’s blessing became the first priority in their mind.   To those who have this hope, Jesus taught the second part, today’s word.

2.         Love your enemies

Luke 6:27 "But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Jesus taught them to love enemies. Most like these enemies might be the ones that persecuted the believers (22).  Practically it can be anyone around us; wife, husband, friend, fiancée, or even parents and children. Whoever they might be, Jesus taught the believers to love them.

Have you loved anyone before? When we are young, we love our parents, brothers and sisters. As we grow to be teens, we come to know love in friends. Also we open our eyes to boyfriends and girlfriends in love.  As we see all kinds of movies, we find invariably some kind of love in them. In Greek, there three words that describe love:, Eros, Philia, Agape.  In this way, the Greeks recognized that there are different kinds of love.  Like this everyone has different set of ideas about love.

 But often such love is turned to hate and hate each other more than before. So different people have different understanding of what love is. And love is often fragile and turned into hate. It is very conditional. 

 Also we know that love is something of giving and serving and comes from favorable affect and feelings. Also love creates the same kind of positive feelings on those who receive it. We all accept that loving others is good and right.  So we all want to love others as much as possible.  But our love is limited to those few that we care for. 

But here, Jesus taught them to love enemies.  Here the enemies are those who hate, those who curse and those who mistreat. They are most difficult people to love. Even it is impossible to love such people. The reason is clear; These enemies demean our pride, honesty, dignity and integrity.  They attack our characters and smudge our good will and crush our pride. They may not do anything harmful to our physical body. Yet when we are hated, mistreated, and cursed, we are invariably subjected to anger, bitterness, frustration, sadness, hopelessness, and disdain. Simply such attack kills our spirit. It is heart breaking to hear and to feel such hate, curse and mistreatment.

But Jesus taught what to do in such situation; he used three verbs

Do good, bless and pray! These are commands. Jesus does not say; stay calm, or control your mind, or think about good things so on. Instead Jesus used action verbs; what I mean is that they are to act and that acts may affect those people; Do good to them, bless them, and pray for them.

Such teaching or commands are unheard of and even sound irrational for any men. But Jesus did not stop here.

V29-30  If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.

Here are three ways of abuses comes from the enemies: first one is slapping on one’s cheek. Most likely it is a form of insult. This causes a pain and a great humiliation.  The other is taking away one’s coat. A coat is one of the valuable personal possessions.  It might be the only garment that protects from heat or cold because most of people have only one coat.   When one’s coat is taken away, he will be exposed to heat and cold, making himself vulnerable to all kinds of changes in weather. Yet he must be willing to give away his shirt, the only covering left to protect him from such harsh weather. In this way one may lose his own comfort and would be exposed to all kind of harshness of the weather. Like this, if we follow this command, then, we may feel violated and our lives are shaken from its foundation.  Yet one thing is clear; we must make effort to meet the needs of these people positively even by making our selves vulnerable to all kinds of hostile conditions of the world.

By this time we clearly understand that the love that Jesus was telling us to do is totally different from the love that we are accustomed to.

According to the norm of this world, people are well justified to reciprocate such attack with retaliation and vengeance.  It is the norm of human ethics. This is well justified and accepted. Also the Bible seems to say in a similar tone in Leviticus

24:18 Anyone who takes the life of someone's animal must make restitution--life for life. 19 Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the same manner: 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury. 21 Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a human being is to be put to death.

This is adopted by people as the basic rule of reciprocation against others’ wrong. Here the key word is restitution. If we apply this rule in the setting of this teaching, then one can curse those who curse, one can hate those who hate and one can mistreat those who mistreat. This is restitution and justice.

What Jesus is teaching is totally different for this rule. It is a radical shift from the old way of justice. It is far more than what we are willing to do for others. Such love demands us to risk everything of us; our pride, our good will, righteousness ideas, wisdom… more so our comfort, stability, and even our security and wellbeing. 

This love that Jesus is teaching us is unique in few ways:

a.    Since sense that such love is to all, not just few or particular people or limited number of people, as he says: 30 “Give to everyone who asks you” such love should be the life style of believers.

But also, after such offer, we should not demand it back! : ” if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back”. What does it mean?

b.    Also the love is sacrificial in nature. It is life-giving love.  Love of the world is focused on equal reciprocation.  We all know how good it is to receive love. So when we give our love to others, we like to reciprocate love as much as we loved them. When such expectation is not met, then love is turned to hate.  But the love that Jesus teaches us in all out giving and sacrificing. So we can call it ‘life-giving’ love.

c.    In this situation we should not follow the world; seeking vengeance, or even restitution by our own hand. We are to give and to love them. Jesus commanded them to positively by giving all that we have. . Do it with positive affect and compassion for them. It has to do with power within. This power is necessary because it has to do with overcoming the evil and ungodliness.  

How can it be possible for us? Desire for vengeance, or restitution or vindication is flowing in our blood.  How can we handle this? Should we be a good person of good ethics, hide and suppress all these feelings raging in our blood and do express joy in giving?

Here Jesus explains the basis or principle of this command by which we must reconfigure our inner being.

V31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

First principle is to consider others as ourselves.

As much we love ourselves, we are to love them and care for them. This is a total departure from our way of thinking about our lives. We feel that we have to survive above all competitions from millions of people. So we have to be powerful and smart and better than them. So the best way to survive is to stand over them or to top on them. They are our competitors and even enemies, as we receive such hostile treatments.

Jesus says that though they are enemies, we should not treat them as our enemies. We have to treat them as our own.  When I am cold, I like to wear a nice and heavy cloak. What about the one next to me who does not have a cloak?  The root of love sits at a deep sense of oneness with and deep empathy for the one next to us, no matter how hostile he or she might be.  This is not a humanistic compassion but it is saddled on the deep conviction in God’s grace and mercy for sinners. It is to share and impart the peace and joy that we acquired with fellows men suffering from the same predicament.

Second principle is that we need credit from God.

V32-33 32 "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.

When we love only those who love us, then we implicitly condemn and punish our enemies. This is to withhold our love for them. How does God see this? We are not much different from sinners and we have no credit in the eyes of God.  We definitely need credit from God. What does it mean? We have chosen God as the Lord and we believe that God is the source of our blessing. What is the substance of that faith? Or what is the proof of that faith? That substance or proof must manifest in our lives that are distinctively different from those who do not believe God as the source of blessing.  When we believe God as the sole source of blessing, then we must entrust our lives in His hand and we must believe his ultimate blessing for us. The attack from enemies in form of hate, curse and mistreatment shall not deter our faith in God’s blessing. The moment one takes the restitution or justice in his hands, he is saying that the blessing for me is on my hand and I will keep and preserve my blessing. 

If so, then we are not different from others sinners. We will face the same fate with sinners. Do we want to be one of the wicked and ungrateful?  No not at all! Even with such cost? Yes we are willing to take that cost and wait for God’s blessing!

This credit concept is clearer when we lend money. As we get the money back from the lender, the credit is gone. We are even. We have no credit at all.  This is how the world lives and to make even, sins are paid back with sin and this repeat the cycle.

KJV  Romans 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

NIV  Romans 12:19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.

Third, God is our reward, give us full restitution

Despite of the heavy cost, despite of hardships, Jesus reinforces his command:

V35a  35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

At the same time, Jesus offers the important reason to do so.

35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

1.    The reward will be great. The reward that we will get is far greater than any suffering and hardship that we face by life of giving in love. When we give away almost everything that we have, we feel insecure and vulnerable to all kinds of threats to our lives. But God is the provider of our need and he will surely meet all our needs. He has already secured our lives as his children.  So we can dare to give and to serve in our love for all.

2.    We will be children of the Most High.  It is a great privilege and honor to be children of the Most High. The glory and honor that we will attain to is beyond our imagination.  John 13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Fourth, because love is God’s essential nature and we are to be clothed with that nature.

Why do God and his Son Jesus demand us to do so? Because love is the essential nature and character of God himself; he in love is kind even to the ungrateful and the wicked.
1 John 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. (1Jo 4:7 NIV)
1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1Jo 4:8 NIV)
36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. This is the command of God for us.

We children of God must do the same thing. This love is unique and different from any love that we see or think of. It may require us of all that we have, including our pride, dignity, our righteousness, whatever we think is right. Love is the most important character as a child of God. It is more important than much biblical knowledge, wisdom. Also it is important than my personal pious life. This love is the kind of love that gives one’s life to others. The best example is Jesus. In his love for us, Jesus gave us everything; his life, as ransom for us.  

Here we are commanded to do the things that are very hard for any men. As we are, the life giving love is an impossible task.  But here Jesus explains what should happen in our inner being for this to happen in our lives. In this way we discussed about change of our understanding or philosophy. But this must be followed by two actions in our inner being.

Fifth, Do not judge but forgive

37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you.

Here first time, negative commands appear; It is about what happens long before one moves into action. In this regard, this is the primary and the first step should take place in one’s heart in obeying the command to love others.

Do not judge and do not condemn. This command is well known to the people of the world. Often they quote this command saying to us ‘do your own business’ We judge others with two purposes; one is for discernment and the other is to condemn. When Jesus said “do not judge”, it means not to judge someone for the purpose of condemnation. This distinction is important and well revealed in Jesus word:

15 "You people judge according to the flesh; I am not judging anyone. 16 "But even if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and He who sent Me.  (Joh 8:14 NAS)

Most of the time, when people judge someone, they do it in order to uphold his own good or righteousness. This is happening in our hearts daily and these judgments are the driving force of our action; when we judge one good, we do favor and when we judge one bad, then we withdraw our love. Long before what we do in our actions, these things happen in our inner mind. Jesus is telling us not to judge and not to condemn. Judging other is the beginning of condemning. Its goal is inevitably to uphold our good to protect our honor, hide our sins, and to suppress others and to keep hold on our powers. 

Instead of judging, Jesus is telling us to forgive. Both of these, judging or forgiving are ways to handle sins and weaknesses of others. One is to bring restitution of the wrongs of others with my own hand and the other is to forgive and wipe away the wrongs of others in me. We must choose to choose to forgive others.  If we forgive others, then we will be forgiven by God as well.

I like to mention what we went through on Lev 24:18-21. Often people took this as the way of life God is teaching for them to do. Such understanding takes the word out of its context. When God gave such word, it was to be within the theoretic kingdom where God is the ruler of the kingdom. In other word, it is God who does such restitution on the wrongs of sinners. God is not recommending for any men to take this as his or her own principle of life. Also this is the rule for the chosen ‘nation’ and the nation as a whole would implement, not an individual. If we can get one thing out of this is that through this it is unambiguously clear that all human beings know that one does wrong, a punishment will come to him  in any form. There will be no sin go unpunished.

We are to be the first to give and to forgive; then it will come back to us.

Conclusion:

38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

Jesus sums up the simple truth; Give and it will be given to you.

This is a command that we believers must initiate first. It is not a simple reaction or reciprocation to someone’s action. You are the first one to give, while no one is willing to do. This is the single and most important character of the believers. This is in every situation and to every man and even to the enemies. 

Behind is a dare to believe that even if I give all that I have, God will reward me with abundance of good things! It not only honors God for giving him his prerogative to measure, judge, and punish according to his justice and righteousness, but also is demonstrate of our faith in God’s sovereignty and his goodness.

Remember give, and it will be given to you! 

There two kinds of people in this world; one is those who wait to receive. The other is those who do all to take from others. But we shall not belong to them. Not all beggars are real beggars but most of them have beggar’s mentality. That is to wait and wait and wait to receive. Giving or life sacrificing is not in his vocabulary.  So no one pays any attention to him and he remains as a beggar day after day. Do you know what the most important thing in the mind of true beggar is? It is me and mine and me …mine… how to save my life… it is the center of everything in his life.  We believers should never be like this!  The other one is takers. They search every opportunity to take from others. The will do and try many things to take for himself or herself. The important thing in their mind is the same as baggers. It’s me, mine, me first…. In this regard they are not much different from the baggers.

But we believers live by God’s grace and God’s blessing. Whether we have or not, we strive to give in love. Though we may not be perfect in this regard, yet this must be our spirit and the rule of life. All these are because God is the source of our blessing and he has guaranteed our riches in his kingdom.

But the moment one give things to others, it catches attention of many. We believers must believe that when we give, we will be given. It is God’s principle and truth. The most blessing that we will be given is the right to be His children and to be in his kingdom. 

When we give, how much would it come back to us?  V38b

Here is a langue of farming; When one come to buy a bushel of corn to you and pays for one bushel of corn,  you can give him a bushel in three different ways; 1. You can fill to the brim of a bushel bucket. 2. You can do that with shaking, so that all empty spots are filled with corn. 2. You can press down and fill on top of the bucket. You know which one is good and generous. When we begin to give, no matter how the other party is unfavorable to us, such richness of blessing begin to overflow in your life. The blessing is so much and so great that it fills over the full capacity that we can handle.  We can begin giving today! You will see how blessing are coming back to you!  Read v38.