Going The Second Mile | Frank Brancato

It's wonderful to be here with all of you today, and we and we

always say welcome. We have quite a few of our

members that are missing today and we hope that all is well

with them, but we have a great crowd because you are here.

I do consider it an honor always to speak concerning the word of

God, and I'm really enjoying the series that we're doing on The

Greatest Sermon Ever Preached, and that's the Sermon on the

Mount covered in Matthew Chapter 5, Matthew Chapter 6 and Matthew

Matthew 5 · chapter mention Matthew 6 · chapter mention Matthew 7 · chapter mention

Chapter 7. As you can see on the screen, I

have Matthew 5, verses 38 through 42, and I've been titled

Matthew 5:38–42

Our Remarks Going the Second Mile.

And you might remember if you looked at the last thing that I

talked about when Jesus dealt with the concept of marriage and

how marriage is binding and all of that.

There's another group of scriptures that follows that

that I'm going to skip for a time.

I'll probably get back to them, but that group of scriptures is

covering swearing and taking oaths and what all that means.

And that's really a deep subject.

And I thought I would skip that for now because I really want to

talk on this subject. I want to talk about going the

second mile. I want to share something with

you. Before we begin though, when I

was a younger man and I gave a lot of lessons, even as a

younger preacher, I remember that all of my lessons that I

gave were pretty much topical. I would get a topic in mind and

I would study out the topic and I would find passages of

scripture that fit my topic. And while that's fine, what can

happen to us sometimes is sometimes we grab a topic and

then we look at scriptures to support the topic, and sometimes

we don't go into the context of the passages and we can take

those things a little bit out of context and just make our own

application. So something happened to me

about 15 years ago. I was diagnosed with cancer, and

you all know that. And I'm going to tell you,

sometimes with adversity and with pain and suffering,

sometimes comes a lot of good. And a lot of good came from my

being sick. One of the things that came from

my being sick is it changed the way I studied the Bible.

I was so sick and I couldn't talk and I couldn't swallow.

So all I can do is study for like a year and it changed the

way I studied. I no longer studied to write

sermons on topics. I just studied the Bible and all

of a sudden all of these topics started leaping off the page at

me when I just studied the Bible.

So a number of years ago I decided the way that I'm going

to teach is the way that Jesus set the example as the master

teacher, and that is giving an expository lesson or saying the

scriptures, teaching the scriptures, and then giving an

application that people can understand and people could

apply to their life. And that's what I'm going to do.

With regards to this subject of going the second mile.

What did Jesus actually mean? Well, our text is taken in verse

41 of Matthew chapter 5. Jesus said this, whoever compels

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

you to go one mile, go with him too.

What an interesting concept. With the last two sections of

Matthew chapter 5, Jesus is addressing the Christian's

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

position toward his enemies. That's the context.

Please get that Jesus is dealing with the Christian's position

toward his enemies. In fact, in these last two

sections, in verses 38 through 42 that we're going to discuss

today, Jesus is encouraging certain restraints.

And then in verses 43 through 48, Jesus is encouraging certain

actions, but when you put them together, you have a perfectly

balanced code of conduct. In other words, you put the

sections combined, you put them together and proper conduct

emerges. Let's go back to verse 38,

though. It's a very familiar passage and

everybody has quoted this perhaps in their life, the

phrase an eye for an eye. Jesus said this going back in

verse 38. You have heard that it was said

an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

The law of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth actually

goes back to the Old Testament. It can be found in a number of

passages. I'll notice one with you.

It's found in the book of Exodus chapter 21 beginning in verse

Exodus 21 · chapter mention

23. But if anyone any harm follows,

then you shall give life for life.

Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

burn for burn, wound for wound and stripe for stripe.

In other words, under the Mosaic Law, Mosaic law was to be

carried out to the proper judicial form.

But here's the problem. But by the day that Jesus was

living, many perversions were happening within the Mosaic

system. People were taking the law into

their own hands. And, you know, that kind of

happens even today. You know, we have laws that are

over us and we're protected by laws.

We'll get to that in just a moment, but we're protected by

laws that are over us. But sometimes people take it too

far and they pervert what the law is supposed to be, and they

take matters into their own hands.

And when people take matters into their own hands, they have

all kinds of trouble. There was perversions occurring

within the judicial system of Moses.

And you know what happened? Personal revenge started kicking

in. Personal revenge replaced

judicial justice, and people acted as their own judge and

jury. All right, you know who really

misinterpreted the law that was under the law of Moses?

One of the things that was really perverted was by those of

the scribes. And I don't have time to go into

all the things about the scribes.

Bible talks about the scribes and the Pharisees, and Jesus

addressed them so many times, and I don't have time to go into

that. Let me just say this about this

point. The scribes had the knowledge of

the law and they could even draft legal documents.

What they missed the point was under Mosaic law, this point or

this law of an eye for an eye, it was actually designed as a

way of mercy and as a way of benevolence and not revenge.

They used it as a way to justify anger and malice and hatred and

bitterness. And I think that's sometimes

what we do, isn't it? Somebody wrongs us and we want

to go to the extreme, to wrong them back or give them back

what's coming to them because we don't like what happened to us.

And that happens. That's kind of human nature.

That actually happened back then under the law of Moses.

Jesus knew that. But did you know that the

concept or the law of an eye for an eye actually was for four

reasons and actually had four positive results?

This is what God intended. This is what it was for.

It encouraged restraint. It was a control mechanism.

Number two, It was fair and just.

In other words, those that were in a position of judging or

judicial areas, They could fairly judge and they could

fairly sentence #3. It was merciful.

It eliminated excessive retaliation, an eye for an eye.

In other words, it was fair treatment.

And #4, this is huge. It prevented crime, Swift

punishment, produced fear. Some of you that have known me

for a long time have heard me say this.

I actually had this, an old, old sermon many years ago, and I

said this statement. I said crime is not deterred by

the severity of the punishment, but crime is deterred by the

certainty of it. In other words, if there's no

other way out and you're going to get in trouble, you're

probably not going to commit the crime.

Let me give you an example. I use this example too.

I don't know, 20 years ago, but I did a little research,

actually did it this morning. I looked it up and found some

new statistics and it kind of supports my point.

Years ago, Singapore had laws. There was absolutely no

tolerance policy whatsoever. If you were caught drug

trafficking, OK? And all the drug Lords and all

the drug traffickers, if you were caught selling drugs, it

was an immediate death sentence, absolute immediate death

sentence. No big trial, no get the dream

team. No way to get off you were you

died, you were executed. They still have the death

penalty for drug traffickers. But here's the difference in

drug trafficking now in Singapore, it is regulated by

how much drugs you actually have and how much you actually sold.

So guess what? Crime has gone the way back up

again because they modified the law.

Crime is deterred by the certainty of the punishment.

People take chances right on death row.

Right now, as of August 2023 this year, there are 50 people,

50 men on death row in Singapore, and only three

actually committed a murder. So it deters crime.

The problem is, when it's not totally certain, people take

chances. And now guess what's happening

in Singapore? The crime rate for drugs is

going up. What once was no problem at all,

that happens. God said with this eye for an

eye concept. It encouraged restraint.

It was fair and just. It was merciful and it prevented

crime because it was immediate. Jesus says all of that.

But then Jesus says this in the next verse.

But I say to you, do not resist an evil person.

In other words, the child of God must seek a higher ethic, and

that's God. And I'm going to tell you

something, I am not perfect, and sometimes I really want to not

physically like physical altercations, but sometimes I

want to retaliate. In fact, I used an example that

happened. Tanner was there.

I used this example in when I gave a lesson in Oakdale not

long ago. I talked about the spirit of

meekness and meekness. What Jesus talked about is the

epitome of strength. Meekness is about strength.

It's about not worrying what your personal rights are.

There was a guy that we were blocking some parking places off

with cones on a job, We're doing a commercial job, and he

decided, you know, back in between the cones.

Anyway, he talked to my guys pretty rough, said some terrible

things, and I thought, you know what, he shouldn't get away with

that. So I confronted him.

Not to have a physical altercation, just to say, hey

man, there's no reason to talk like that.

It escalated. And the guy wanted to fight.

What are we in high school? I saw that man the other day.

I walked up to him. The guy was mean.

Guy was mad, Guy was angry. Guy was rotten.

He still was when I talked to him again.

But you know what I did? I walked up to him.

I stuck my hand out. I said, you know what, Sir?

There's no reason why we ought to have a problem.

I escalated that because I tried to confront you.

I should have let it go. Clearly you're very angry.

You know what? He said.

I'm not angry. You got mad yelling at me.

I'm not angry, OK? I patted him on the shoulder and

I said, OK, have a nice day. So I should have done the first

time. What we want to do is retaliate

because that's our nature. We want to stand up for our

rights. Jesus is saying, wait a minute.

Don't have the spirit of retaliation.

Remember, the higher ethic is God.

Let God deal with it. Paul addressed this issue in

Romans 12/17. Repay no one evil for evil.

Paul said this in First Corinthians 4:00 and 12:00.

And we labor working with our hands, being reviled.

We bless. Being persecuted, we endure in

First Peter chapter 2 and 19. Peter actually commends those

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

who suffer wrong and you know what he does?

He uses Jesus as the example of somebody that suffered and did

nothing. Wow, the example Jesus did with

his behavior. But I think the Lord's command

must be interpreted, though in light of its context, because

Jesus was not teaching that we are to be spiritually passive.

In fact, Jesus is saying this minimize personal pride,

personal dignity, and be willing to accept behavior that comes

our way. That's not fair, and sometimes

that is difficult for us to endure.

That is not fair. In other words, revenge is

unacceptable because God is ultimately in control and God

will take care of it. Romans chapter 12 and verse 19.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

Beloved, do not avenge yourself. Would rather give place to

wrath, for it is written. Vengeance is mine.

I will replace as the Lord. You know what this means.

Give place to wrath. It's divine wrath.

Give it to God. I'm going to tell you something

When you're angry because of what somebody has done for you,

they may or done to you, they may leave and never think about

you ever again. And you're boiling inside

because of what happened. Don't let him do that.

Don't give him the power. Don't give him that kind of

control over your life. Give it to God, because God says

I'll take care of it. Now, first of all, I have to

make a point that the Lord is not teaching that Christians

cannot take advantage of legal or civil rights or civil

authority or civil protection. That is over them.

Because in Romans chapter 13, I love Romans 13.

Romans 13 · chapter mention

I'm so glad that God has put together these structures.

The Bible says in Romans 13 that the powers that be are ordained

of God, even to the point when it says he does not bear the

sword in vain, even the death penalty.

God has put that in structure to take care of two things.

There's two things, by the way, that the law does for us, and

we're allowed to benefit from it and take advantage of it.

You know what the two things are?

Here They are #1. It protects the innocent #2.

It punishes the wicked. And Paul says in Romans 13, you

don't have to worry if you're a good person obeying the law.

You don't have to worry about the law.

It's there to protect you. You can see a police officer and

wave to him. Be happy.

If you're breaking the law, man, you run from the law.

It's to put fear in evil doers and it's to give comfort to

those who do good. All that being said though, we

need to exercise caution because even with the illegal structure

that protects us, what often times begins as a quest for

justice quickly ends in a hint, a hunt for vengeance, Letsky

said. This the law is not placed in

our hands, but is taken out of them.

The very God who placed that law and its execution where it

belongs, into the hands of the government, places another law

and its execution, the law of love, into the hearts of

Christ's disciples. OK, but there are areas where we

should not be passive. When should we not be passive

#1? When God's honor or truth is at

stake, we should not be passive. Christians have to resist some

stuff too. Even though we don't resist an

evil person personally, we do resist evil have to.

Another thing we got to resist. And if you're having trouble

with temptation, please the most practical passage.

One of the most practical passages in all the Bible about

temptation is James the 4:00 and 7:00.

If you're having a struggle, then remember what it says.

Submit yourself therefore to God and then resist the devil and he

will flee from you. Two things I got to do, both I

got to submit to God and I got to resist the devil.

So if I'm having a really hard time with temptation and

weaknesses and falling back, and most of the time we fall back on

the same weaknesses over and over because that's our

weaknesses. If that's the case, then ask

yourself, am I doing both? I have to do both.

I have to submit to God and I got to resist the devil.

I got to do both. So we do have to resist some

things. What does Paul tell Titus?

Paul told Titus resist evil talkers and Titus, Excuse me,

Titus chapter one, verses 9 through 13.

Even when Jesus cleansed the temple, he came in and he was

angry. By the way, being angry is not a

problem. Sinning because of your anger is

the problem. Jesus was angry and he

overturned the tables of the money changers who were stealing

from people and he said you've made my father's house a den of

thieves. He was angry and he overturned

the tables of the money changers.

What was Jesus doing? He was resisting evil.

He was not resisting an evil person that he is telling us not

to do. So what was he talking about?

What's the point? What the Lord is talking about

here? He's referring to all forms of

personal treatment. Here they are.

What do we resist, these forms of personal mistreatment.

Here they are the loss of honor, the loss of property, the loss

of freedom, and the loss of control.

That's what he's going to deal with, with these passages that

are before us today. Four real life applications.

Notice the first one found in the second part of Matthew 5 and

39. And man, when you look at this,

this is a rough one. Here we go.

But whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other to

him. Also, everybody has heard the

phrase, turn the other cheek. Everybody's heard that phrase.

Well, what does it actually mean?

Was Jesus actually saying that if somebody smacks me on this

side of my face, I got to stand there and go ahead and be

smacked on the other side of my face.

By the way, I can't imagine anybody standing there getting

smacked in the face. And now they got a sport.

Yeah, they got a sport. Now they stand there like this

and the one guy gets his rear back and smack him as hard as he

can, and if the guy doesn't fall, then the other guy gets,

he gets his turn. What a dumb sport.

Jesus was not talking about literally necessarily being

smacked in the face as a command.

Please notice this part is a command.

But I tell you, do not resist an evil person.

That's a command. In other words, don't have the

spirit of retaliation. That's the command.

The example that he's using is extreme, and it's the idea of

somebody slapping you on the cheek.

What's he talking about? He's talking about somebody

taking your honor. That's the point.

I got to tell you something. I'd rather be punched in the

mouth and smacked in the face. When somebody slaps you in the

face, it is a form of disrespect.

Absolutely. What they're saying is I'm

taking away your honor, your manhood.

What are you going to do about it?

You know, some societies, in some countries, when they have a

duel, you know what they do? They take the gloves out and

they smack the other person in the face, provoking a duel.

You know why? Here's my honor.

I'm going to take your honor, smack you in the face.

What are you going to do about it?

Then you take out your swords and you go to the duel.

That's what certain customs in certain countries do.

That's what he's talking about. It's a gross insult to be

smacked in the face. It's public, it's antagonistic.

It's deliberate. What he's saying is, is don't

have the mind or the spirit of retaliation when somebody wants

to take away your honor. And the extreme example he gives

is even if somebody smacks you in the face, Wow.

Well, let's talk about Jesus. Let's talk about the greatest

man that ever lived, the strongest man that ever lived.

What did Jesus do? He had the perfect example of

this disposition. He staunchly defended the truth.

He staunchly upheld the law of God.

But he didn't care about himself.

He didn't care about his own personal honor at all.

He didn't care about that at all, Wasn't concerned about that

one born bit. They they spit in his face.

They beat him. They mocked him.

He never retaliated. He was, as the prophet Isaiah

spoken Isaiah 53 like a lamb before the slaughter, like a

sheep before its shear is dumb. So he opened, not his mouth.

I'm going to tell you something. If you think that's weakness,

that is not. That is strength.

Have you ever stopped to consider Jesus said I could call

down 12 legions of angels and put a stop to the whole thing.

That's how influential he was. That's how powerful he was.

That's how much he had from God. He could have done it, but he

didn't. He submitted.

Submission is the ultimate form of strength, man.

That's that's strong. Isaiah predicted this too.

About Jesus. Notice these This is speaking in

the words of Jesus before Jesus was crucified.

Isaiah 50 and six. I gave my back to those who

struck me and my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard.

I did not hide my face from shame and spitting when Jesus

was hanging on the cross. And you know, this is really a

picture of forgiveness. And I want you to please grasp

this because sometimes people think I don't have to forgive

somebody unless they ask me. I've actually heard people say

that in fact, I'm not required. In fact, I even heard somebody

say one time I'm not even allowed to forgive unless they

really say forgive me. Did you know you could forgive

anybody for any reason at any time?

Now there's a difference between us forgiving somebody and God

forgiving somebody. If they want God's forgiveness,

they got to get it from God. But my forgiveness, I can give

it to anybody. Give me the perfect example.

Jesus is hanging on the cross in Luke 23.

And of all the things that were happening, the painful nails

between his hands and his feet and all that, and he says, you

know the words, Father, forgive them, for they know not what

they do. What was Jesus doing?

We talk about the pain of the cross.

What about the shame? What about the honor?

Was he concerned about his own honor?

No. Hebrews 12/2 says, looking unto

Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy

that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame,

and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God, the

shame of the cross. That's loss of honor now.

Jesus can deal with loss of property.

He says this. Now if anyone wants to sue you

and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak.

Awesome. What's this talking about?

By the way, a tunic was an undergarment or a shirt.

OK, the cloak was more important, it was more valuable,

it cost more. And the cloak was more valuable

because the cloak was used. I don't know, like a long

overcoat, but the cloak was used at night time as a blanket.

What they would do is they would take their cloak.

It was very valuable and they would cover themselves at night.

It would protect him from cold and rainy nights.

Very important. That's what it was.

It was valued higher than the undergarment or the tunic.

And the people of the Lord's day, they only had one cloak

because nobody had. You know, there were very many

people that were rich. Something about the cloak In the

Old Testament, you could actually give your cloak to

someone as a token. In other words, I'm going to

give you something as a pledge, whether you have a deal, a

business deal here, in order to show you that I'm telling the

truth, Here's my cloak. But the cloak had to be returned

under Mosaic law by nightfall. Why?

Because that's what you used as a blanket at night.

Watch what the Bible says in Exodus 22 and 26.

If you ever take your neighbor's garment as a pledge that's

talking about the cloak, you shall return it to him before

the sun goes down. Why am I showing you this

passage? I'm showing you this passage to

show Jesus is saying if somebody comes to you and they say give

me your tunic, give me your shirt, give me your cloak too.

Now what it doesn't mean is this.

It doesn't mean if somebody literally sues you for something

that you don't have, you don't, that's that.

In other words, you don't have to give that they're wrong, they

wrongfully sue you and then you just give them double.

That's not what that means. It's a principle and an example.

If somebody basically saying this, the Christians have this

mindset, If somebody says, wait a minute, give me your shirt,

oh, OK, give me your cloak too. It's all part of second mile

stuff that we're going to get to in just a moment.

In other words, give them both voluntarily.

That's the spirit of the Christian.

That's loss of property. What about loss of liberty or

freedom? And now we get to our passage.

Matthew 541, Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him too.

What is this talking about in context?

During the Day of Jesus, Roman rule prevailed.

And you had to. You had to live under Roman law.

OK, one of the laws, believe it or not, that existed was a Roman

soldier could have a Jewish person travelling along as a

companion on a journey. And by Roman law, the Roman

soldier could make the Jewish citizen carry his pack for one

mile. In other words, here's my pack.

You are a Jewish person following me.

Carry this one mile and you would have to do it by law.

It infuriated the Jewish citizen.

They hated that it relieved the soldier, but it inconvenienced

and angered the citizen. You know why?

Because you're asking somebody to carry their enemy's weapons.

Look at the mindset here. Look at the picture that Jesus

is describing here about second mile going the second mile.

He's going to teach a great lesson.

Here he uses the example of somebody compels you to go one

mile carrying the pack, carrying the that the weapons of your

enemy for one mile you're going to go to.

Now let me just mention something about Rome and the

Jews. They hated being under the Press

of thumb of Rome, and I'll be very brief.

But I have to mention, do you remember when Jesus made his

triumphal entry into Jerusalem and he rides in on that Sunday?

I believe it was on a Sunday. And he rode in on the back of a

colt of a donkey, and they began to say hosanna to the highest.

And the word hosanna can be interpreted and can be defined

as a form of praise. But that's not what they meant.

The word hosanna there comes from the Hebrew Hoshiah Nah, And

that means God save us. Did Jesus come to save him?

Yes, But they misunderstood. They thought that Jesus was

going to save them with an earthly Kingdom of the

oppressive thumb of Rome. Finally, Rome's going to be off

our backs. What they didn't realize is

Jesus didn't come to to save them from Rome.

He came to save them from sin, like he did for the whole world,

and they misunderstood the whole thing.

So the oppressive thumb of Rome was always on them and they

hated it. So when a soldier would, say,

carry my pack for a mile, it infuriated them.

You know what Jesus says, oh, I got a different, I got a

different thing. You're going to, I got a

different tactic. I got a different mindset for

you. This is a humiliating practice,

by the way, and it didn't originate with Rome.

It traces all the way back to the Persian Empire under Cyrus

and it was adopted by Rome. This practice.

What's the point? The point is this.

Every servant of God must be also a servant of those that

rule over us. That's the fact.

At this time it would have been Caesar.

So that's what going the second mile means in the context that

Jesus gave it. This is extreme.

Absolutely. In other words, what he's saying

is do it cheerfully. If somebody compels you to go

one mile, the application is go with him too.

Don't you see the mindset? I don't care about my rights.

I'm going to be a servant. I'm going to be a server of

others. Our brother prayed about and I

thought about that song about the beauty of Jesus.

Remember that song? Let the beauty of Jesus be seen

in me. That's what it's all about.

And if somebody compels you to go on mile, don't think about

your righteous. Go to OK and do it cheerfully.

That's the point. I know all this stuff's hard.

And by the way, if it wasn't hard, the Lord wouldn't have to

instruct us. We just do it automatically.

But it's hard. Go the Second Mile too in

application for us then. What does Second Mile religion

mean? It means we are to manifest the

same demeanor that Jesus is talking about specifically in

this example, in our everyday lives, in our spiritual lives,

in our family relationships, and even in our occupations.

Yes, even in our jobs. Ephesians chapter 6 Beginning in

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

verse 5. Bond servants be obedient to

those who are over, who are your masters according to the flesh,

with fear and trembling insincerity of heart as to

Christ, not with eye services men pleasers at, but as bond

servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart with

goodwill, doing service as to the Lord and not to men, knowing

that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from

the Lord whether he is a slave or free.

Paul adds something though in Philippians do all things

without complaining and disputing OK, When a person

complaints OK, everybody looks bad, including the person doing

the complaining. Sometimes we think that if we

complain, the only one looking bad is the one we're complaining

about. But really, when you complain,

you are also looking bad. What about in the workplace?

It's like the person that complaints to all the other

employees about their employer, or about their boss or about

their manager makes everybody look bad.

So I'm going to say this, this does not mean that if you have a

dispute, if you have a true complaint, that you cannot go to

your superior, your supervisor, your boss, and you can voice

those things. It's not what that means.

What it means is be the right kind of person in every aspect

of your life, including as an employee, and do it without

complaining to other people. All right, what about this?

What if you got a rotten boss? Now?

I got a rotten one. Well, I got a rotten one.

What about this first Peter? Two and eight servants.

Be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only for the

good and gentle, but also to the harsh.

Got to be the same way. And if we can't be that kind of

a person or that kind of a Christian in our workplace, then

just quit, get another job. You don't have to put up with it

if you're being mistreated, but take the complaint to the one

that can matter and not just complain and murmur behind the

scenes. When you do that, everybody

looks bad. All right, let me give you a

great example of what all this means.

Second Mile religion is this that Christians need to show a

willingness to be imposed on rather than wanting to impose on

others. And the greatest example that I

can think about is a very familiar example.

I'm going to tell you a little Bible story.

The story when that there was a lawyer, there was a man, I I I

won't spend too much time, but I got to tell the story.

There was a lawyer and he comes to Jesus and first of all the

Bible says he comes to Jesus trying to test him.

That's a big mistake. He comes to Jesus and he tries

to test Jesus, think he's going to stop Jesus.

And he says, tell me master, what must I do to inherit

eternal life? And Jesus says, what does the

law say and how do you read it? And the lawyer says, you shall

love the Lord your God with all your heart, without your soul,

with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor

as yourself. And Jesus says, OK, you've said,

well, do that and you will live. But then the Bible says that the

lawyer seeking to justify himself, he says this, oh, wait

a minute. But who's my neighbor?

Who's my neighbor? You know why he didn't want to

go the second mile? He didn't want to do that.

He wanted to know, Give me the bare minimum.

That's all I'm going to do. Jesus says, well, let me tell

you a little story. He said there was a man one time

and he was on the road to Jericho and he fell among

thieves. And the Jericho Rd.

That went from Jerusalem to Jericho descended some 3000 feet

and covered about 15 miles. It was filled with highway man.

It was rough and rife with robbers and all of that.

The man's by himself and he falls among thieves and they

beat him and they leave him for dead.

And a priest came. Yeah, a worshipper of God.

And the Bible says when he saw him, he passed by on the other

side, did nothing. Then here comes a Levite, a

worker in the temple. Here he comes, and he's worse.

You know what it says? It says when he came and looked

on him, he passed by on the other side.

That was even worse. Maybe the man that's laying

there for dead, looking over and seeing the priest says, oh,

that's a worshipper of God. He's a servant of God.

Surely a servant of God will help me, but he doesn't.

And then when you saw the Levite, the worker man, he's a

worker. He understands stuff.

He'll help me. But he passes by on the other

side. And Jesus says, here comes a

Samaritan. And the Jews hated Samaritans.

It was a combination of a Jew and a Gentile.

They hated him, wouldn't worship with them, couldn't stand him,

avoided Samaria on their travels, everything.

And he comes, and he sees the man, and he gets off his animal,

and he seizes wounds, and he takes oil and wine, and he pours

it into his wounds, And he takes bandages, and he wraps it up.

And he takes the man, and he puts him on his animal, and he

takes him into the inn. And he spends the night cooling

his fevered brow. And he carries for him all night

long. And the next morning he goes to

the keeper of the inn, and he reaches into his pouch and he

pulls out money. How much to Daenerys?

That's two days wages. Now think about what you make in

a day. Two days wages.

And he hands it to the keeper of the inn and he says, you take

care of him while I leave now, and when I get back, when I get

back, if that's not enough, I'll pay for it.

Jesus says tell me who was neighbor to that man.

And the lawyer said the one who showed him mercy.

And Jesus says go and do likewise.

That is Second Mile religion. Sometimes we think that Second

Mile Religion is only our service to God because we

misunderstand what our service to God is, and we think that our

service to God is just. I go to church all the time.

I'm just, I follow with the word of God.

I follow the Bible and then go do whatever I want.

No service to God. Yes.

Is worship to God. Yes, it's included, yes.

But serving God is also including serving others.

I'm going to make a very bold statement.

You can't serve God acceptably without serving others.

Now, serving others does not erase your duty to God in

spiritual matters. It's included, but let's not

exclude the kind of people we should be.

What did that lawyer say? You got to love the Lord your

God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and your

neighbor as yourself. Finally, the last one.

Jesus deals with a lot lack of self or the lack of control.

Not self-control. The lack of control.

In this passage, verse 42 talks about lending.

He said give to him who asks you and from him who wants to borrow

from you, do not turn away. All right.

Again, a very extreme example. Nobody.

You never relinquish control more than when you lend your

money to somebody else. I want to say something about

control, though, OK? And those of you that are older

probably would agree by way of experience.

But what I found in my life when I was younger, I thought, man,

I'm going to be, I'm a control guy.

I'm going to control stuff. I'm going to make all these

decisions so that I am in control.

I've got it all mapped out. I've got it all lined up.

Here's my plans, here's my business plan.

Here's my financial plan. Here's my family plan, man, I

got her dialed in. Do you know the control is an

illusion? You could be in business and

today it can be good and tomorrow it can be bad, and it

could be totally out of your control.

Understand control is an illusion.

What Jesus is trying to instruct here is the concept of losing

control. You relinquish control

personally when you give or lend to somebody else.

You don't know if you're going to ever get that back.

You have no idea if you're going to ever get that back.

Human nature says this man. Hold on selfishly to what is

mine. I'm not Sharon.

But remember this, OK? Remember this.

God owns everything. What you have, God has blessed

you and allowed you to have. If you are blessed and you are

blessed in your giving, God has blessed you with more so you can

give more and do more. Don't you see?

Our entire life, our lives, our life of surface.

It's our life. By the way, Christianity is not

what we do is what we are. It's who we are.

I can stand here and I could preach a long time and I try

hard not to do that. I'm almost finished, but I'm

going to tell you I could do that.

But that's not the most important thing in terms of my

influence over those that either listen to me or follow me or

know who I am or watch my example, I'm going to tell you

right now. The most important thing is, do

you see it in my life? That's what matters.

Like the saying that says your actions speak so loudly I cannot

hear a word you say. Christianity is who we are.

It's what we are in every aspect of our life.

We are not our own. We've been bought by the price.

1st Corinthians 619 Or do you not know that your body get this

is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?

Let that soak in. When I was 18, I was so dumb I

thought, Man, I'm old man, No, no.

Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy

Spirit, who is in you, who you have from God, and that you are

not your own? So our conduct needs to be

generous, dread generous, and liberal toward others.

Now Mosaic law provided for lending to the poor.

So Jesus's words must be interpreted in light of such a

context. In Exodus chapter 22, beginning

Exodus 22 · chapter mention

in verse 25. If you lend money to any of my

people who are poor among you, notice you shall not be like the

money lender to him. You shall not charge him

interest. If you ever take your neighbor's

garment as a pledge, here's that passage again.

It's a different passage, same thing.

You shall return it to him before the sun goes down, for

that is his only covering. It is his garment for his skin.

What will he sleep in? And it will be when.

But when he cries to me I will hear, for I am gracious lending

in the Old Testament. OK, I got to say this too.

And I want to tell you this too. And this is not in any way,

shape or form a a positive on me.

I I'm an easy target. I I know that and I've been

taken advantage of. If somebody asks me for

something, says they promise it's not for drugs or alcohol or

whatever. I've been taken advantage of

they. And one time I saw the guy

around the corner bought a bottle and flying around the

corner at the at the mission in San Luis Obispo egg because all

way back to college I've been doing that so I get I could be

an easy mark. Well, there's some encouraging

passages here. First of all, it's never wrong

to give. If you give and you get taken

advantage of, it's OK. But I'm just saying this.

I've learned a little something because I usually feel really

guilty about not giving to everybody that asks or needs.

So I I feel a little bit better. A Christian is under no

obligation to lend to those who are lazy, undeserving or greedy

because that would violate other scriptures.

Second Thessalonians chapter 3 and verse 10.

2 Thessalonians 3 · chapter mention

For even when we were with you, we commanded you this.

If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.

Now I got to tell you, there's a difference between somebody's

looking for a job and just hasn't found one yet, and

somebody that refuses to get a job who's gonna kick back, do

nothing. The Bible says that a man that

does not work should not eat first Timothy 5 and verse 8.

But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for

those of his household, he is denied the faith and is worse

than an unbeliever. Another passage, first

1 Thessalonians 4:11

Thessalonians, chapter 4, verse 11, that you also aspire to

leave a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with

your own hands as we command you.

OK. All that being said and all

that's true, the Christian must be open hearted and generous to

those who do have legitimate needs.

And we know the difference. James, Chapter 2.

James 2 · chapter mention

I love this passage because sometimes people say, you know,

works don't matter. Yeah, works matter.

Not works of merit, but works of obedience.

Sure, you demonstrate your faith by your works.

How do you do that? James Two says, what is it?

Profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith and does not

have works, can space save him? If a brother or sister is naked

and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, depart

in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do nothing for them.

You do not give them the things which are needed for the body.

What is a profit? That's also faith by itself.

If it does not have works, is dead.

So what's Jesus doing in these passages?

In this masterful sermon, he is covering 4 forms of mistreatment

and how to respond to each one of them, and it requires A

tremendous amount of self restraint.

Here's the four points. Again, loss of honor.

If somebody tries to take your honor, don't have a spirit of

retaliation. You know what God will deal with

that. Have the spirit of meekness.

Like Jesus said earlier in the chapter.

He even gives the extreme of slapping on the cheek.

Don't have a spirit of retaliation #2 loss of property.

Somebody comes to you and says, hey man, give me that, give me

that coat, give me that shirt. I really need to shirt, OK, give

me cloak too. It's the mindset.

It's the giving mindset. Loss of liberty or freedom.

Somebody compels you go a mile, go to go the extra mile.

And we do that in every aspect of our life, both spiritually

and temporally, in our relationships and our

occupations and all of that. That is our life.

That is who we are. But just remember this, this

includes or the context is dealing with how you deal with

people. Please get that.

How you deal with people. And finally the last the loss of

control, somebody asked to borrow, relinquish control.

Remember, it's all God's anyway. And those that are deserving and

those that really need it do what you can.

When ability meets opportunity, then we have responsibility to

give. And that's the purpose of what

the Lord was trying to say. I'm finished this morning.

Thank you so much for your kind listening.

I hope this makes sense. I hope something was said that

was helpful to you in some way. We never close a time when we

teach from the word of God without extending an invitation

to somebody that might be subject to the gospel call, the

invitation to become a Christian.

Very simple. Romans 10/17 says.

We got to hear the word of God. So then faith comes by hearing

and hearing by the word of God. That's what has the ability to

produce being saved. Then we have a choice to make.

We got to believe with all your heart.

Hebrews 11 and six. Without faith, it's impossible

to please him, For he who comes to God must believe that He is

and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

But then I got to make a change. I got to change my life.

I got to change my heart. I got to change my ways.

All that is a simple word called repentance.

Repenting of my sins, Acts 17 and 30.

Truly these times of ignorance, God overlooked, but now commands

all men everywhere to repent. And then be willing to make the

greatest statement you will ever make, confessing Jesus Christ as

the Son of God. Acts 8 and 37 Then Philip said,

if you believe with all your heart you may.

And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the

Son of God. Upon taking these steps of

obedience, you're now a fit candidate to go to the point of

salvation, to contact the blood of Jesus at baptism, which is

what saves you in Mark 1616, be baptized for the remission of

sins. He who believes and is baptized

will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.

We thank you for listening to our podcast put on by The Church

of Christ at 2215 Plans Rd. in Bakersfield.

If you would like any additional information or you would like to

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