Luke 6:27-34 The Golden Rule

One of the great themes in the Bible is knowing God.

If you have your Bible with you there, I'm going

to open it up to Luke Chapter six.

Please Luke six.

We're going to read today verses twenty seven through thirty

four in Luke Chapter six the Golden Rule.

Today the Golden Rule.

So we've examined here in six just recently, the blessings

the woes were in that section in six called the

Sermon on the Plane, which is the Sermon on the

Mound in Matthew. It's the same, although Luke has a

much shorter version.

Of it than Matthew does.

So last week we looked at the what we would

call in Matthew the be attitudes. Although we don't have

a word for the woes and the woe attitudes, maybe

they're in Luke. Luke's gives us that unique piece. So

we've seen the blessings of the woes. Today we come

to what is widely called the Golden Rule. And you'll

hear people when you talk about the Golden Rule. You'll

hear people say something like, well, the Sermon on the

Mound contains the central doctrines of the Christian faith, or

you might hear something like the Sermon on the Mound

is my Bible, That's what I live by. Or you

might hear someone say, I live by the Golden Rule.

That's my ethic.

All the rest of the Bible I throw it out,

but that I keep. So statements like these create a

theology of works that completely bypasses the redemptive work of

the Cross, says nothing about the resurrection of Christ. And

so to strip away everything else and just say this

is the central theme of Christianity is absolutely wrong. It

is a teaching of Christ, but it is not the

central theme of Christianity. So let us dispense with that idea,

because if it were the central theme of Christianity, there

would be something about the death of Christ and the

resurrection wouldn't there. There would be something about redemption, there's not.

There would be something about you know, atonement and imputed

righteousness and sanctification. Those are central themes of the Christian faith,

justification and adoption.

You don't find that here. What you do.

What happens is people take because it seems simple, and

people want something simple. They'll take the Sermon on the Mount,

the Sermon on the Plane, and they will package it

and say this is Christianity in a nutshell, and then

they create for themselves this idea of well, I must

do these things. I have to do what it says here,

treat others as I would have them treat me, and

so that becomes their gospel theology. Such teaching creates dependence

upon works righteousness. I'm okay with God as long as

I live by.

The Golden Rule.

It says nothing about human culpability, completely leaves out human inability,

and in doing so, it strips God of sovereignty and

providential power and completely ignores Christ's mediatorial work as prophet, priest,

and king.

So you'll hear that.

Matter of fact, I was listening to a sermon this morning,

and the man preaching said, you know, somebody that he

was dealing with said, you know, the Golden Rule, that's

what I live by.

That's dangerous. It's very dangerous.

We're going to talk about that today. We need to

place this passage in the right perspective along with all

the other teachings of Christ and the apostles and the prophets. Remember,

always remember the first and primary rule of interpreting scripture

is that scripture interprets scripture. So we must compare what

we have here with what we have elsewhere. So we're

going to look closely today at Luke six twenty sevent

through thirty four. This portion can also be found in

Matthew Chapter five, verses forty four through forty eight, So six,

beginning there in verse twenty seven. But I say, unto

you which here love your enemies, do good to them

which hate you. Bless them that curse you. Pray for

them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth

THEE on the one cheek, offer also the other. And

him that taketh away thy cloak, forbid not to take

to take thy coat. Also give to every man that

asketh of THEE. And of him that taketh away thy goods,

ask them not again. And as ye would that men

should do.

To you, so do ye also to them likewise.

For if ye love them which love you, what thank

have ye for?

Sinners? Also love them. I love those that love them.

And if you do good to them which do good

to you, what thank have ye?

For?

Sinners also do even the same. And if you lend

to them of whom you hope to receive, what thank

have ye for sinners also lend to sinners to receive

as much. Again, Father, we asked that you would help

us to hear today and to see, and Lord, help

us to love as you love. We ask Father, that

you would give us your grace today. Give me unction, Father,

let the river run in the dry places today, for

I pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Notice that Jesus begins here in twenty seven us comes

right after the blessing in the woe. He says, in

twenty seven I say unto you, which here so who

is the audience? The audience was his disciples, and he

says to them, I say unto you, which here so

does every one of the audience. You see, Jesus said,

my sheep hear my voice, dearre in John chapter ten.

So we know amongst this group there are those that

are his sheep and will hear him. But of course

then there's the judas Is Scariot, you know him, and others.

Who are not going to hear what Jesus has to say.

And if they do hear with their ear, they're gonna

twist it because their heart is not hearing. So and

that's of course what the that's the That's the finer

point on this hearing is that it's not and the

ear's ability to distinguish words, but it's the heart's ability

to hear the Son of God, the good Shepherd speak.

And so he says, I say unto you, which hear.

Notice what he says, love your enemies, full stop, love

your enemies. And isn't that interesting how this love your

enemies comes on the heels of the blessings when he says,

blessed are you when men shall hate you, and when

they shall separate you from their company, and you shall

and shall reproach you and cast you your name out

as evil for the son of man's sake, rejoice in

that day and leap for joy. Behold, your reward is

great in heaven, for in like manner to their fathers

under the prophets. Well, okay, I can receive that, right,

I can. I can understand that there's a blessing for

the persecution. But now Jesus is calling on me to

respond in a certain way to my enemies that have

done this to me, And he says, love your enemies. Huh, Really,

the word love. Let's start there, Jesus ennobles this word,

and it's it's the highest form of love. This is agapeo.

This is the god kind of love. This is the

love that sent Jesus to the cross.

It's that kind of love.

It's self sacrificing, it's self abasing. All right, this is

the kind of love that caused Jesus to become a man,

take on the form of a servant, live as a

man in such low means.

That's that kind of love.

So he begins with the most noble kind of love

that we can ever imagine. And then he says, do

this to your.

Enemies, love your enemies.

Okay, want to what a godly love comes? And the

weight of that word, then, is it applied to those

who hate you that despitefully use you?

Right, this wonderful love is.

Not for those who are closest to you, but rather

for those who want the worst for you. The enemy

and the Greek word for en means the one hating

or the one that's hostile. So he's actively hating you

and you are actively loving him or her, depending on

the situation. What a marvelous contrast. This is the very

love of God commanded towards those who are the greatest

enemy against God and those who believe in him, those

who are actively hostile to those who love God. And

notice that Jesus he wove into these next statements a

definition of this love. So love your enemies is the

is the is the primary idea here, It's our focus.

And now notice how Jesus describes that love. Very first

thing he says is do good to them. So this

is how I'm to love them. Do good to them

that hate you. Okay, So again we have the love

of God with the hatred or the hostility.

Of the enemy. Do good to them that hate you.

Again, this marvelous contrast. Love is actively doing good. And

notice also that the enemy is further defined as them

which hates you, which we already had previously in the blessings.

Now we have it again. They hate you.

This is why they're your enemy. Notice verse twenty eight

he further defines this love. He says, bless them that

curse you. Could there be a more stark contrast than that.

This is the love of God. Bless them that curse you.

Love is seen in pronouncing a blessing on the enemy,

the one that hates you, doing good in such a

way that it is a blessing for them, being a

hedge from the evil that might overtake them. Notice that

the enemy is further defined as the one that curses you.

So the enemy hates you and he curses you, and

your love is to be doing good to them and

blessing them. Now you can, you know, you could take

that word bless and think of all kinds of ways

that you might bless an enemy do and and in

this in the process doing good to them while you're

giving them that blessing. Blessing is not just a pronouncement,

you know, Blessing.

Is something that you do.

And so here we see that in this, in this

twenty eighth verse the next one, and pray for them

which despitefully use you. Again to contrast the wonderful, heavenly,

marvelous contrast that is here, do good to them, bless them,

pray for them.

This is hard to do.

How in the world do I pray for the enemy

who hates me, who curses me, and despitefully uses me.

Love is defined by Jesus is praying for the enemy

that hates you, curses you, and despitefully uses you. And

Jesus taught us just how this looks. You remember when

he was on the cross, What did he do from

the cross? Luke, Chapter twenty three. And when they were

come to that place, to the place which is called Calvary,

there they crucified him and the malefactors, one on the

right hand and the other on the left. Then said Jesus,

this is after Now he's been nailed to the cross

and the cross has been set up. Okay, so all

three now have been nailed, they've been set erect, and

they're being crucified. This is what's happening. And what does

Jesus say? The very first thing, Father, forgive them, for

they know not what they do. Father, forgive them for

them and what they know not what they do. He

prayed to his father to forgive. Is that possible? But

see that's the love of God. That's the love of

God seen in Christ. Jesus he loves so much that

he said, Father, forgive them. They don't know, they don't know.

Verse twenty nine. Here we have a now we're in

that third piece that pray for them. And what we

have here is a sub a subtext or sub idea

to the fact that they are despitefully using You notice

what Jesus says in verse twenty nine, unto him that

smiteth thee on one cheek, offer the other.

Also, this is the abuse those.

Who despitefully use you, they're physically abusive. We are forbidden

from wrath, you know, because the Lord says in Deuteronomy

thirty two to me belong with vengeance and recompense. Their

foot shall slide in due time, for the day of

their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall

come upon them make haste. And then Paul picks us

up in Romans chapter twelve, and he says, dearly beloved,

avenge not yourselves, but rather give place under wrath, for

it is written vengeance is mine. I will repay with

that in mind, with that idea that God is the

one who's going to do the vengeance.

Jesus says, to those who will hear, give the other cheek.

They slap you on one side, turn the cheeks so

they could slap the other one, to give them both

of them. I mean, why not, because what do we

want to do. We want to do the rambo thing,

don't we. I'm gonna pull out the big gun, you know,

and the bandolier or whatever the Rambo always wears over

his chest, and the bandanna on the head, and the

great big you know, cay knife, and you know, but no,

Jesus says no, turning the other cheek. And then again,

speaking of this despiteful use, Notice what he says in

verse twenty nine, him that taketh away thy cloak, forbid

not to take thy coat, also another picture of abuse.

Notice how selfless love makes its way into this picture.

We could perhaps avenge ourselves, but love says do good

Romans Chapter twelve, again verses twenty and twenty one. Therefore,

if thy enemy hunger, feed him, if he thirst, give

him drink, for in so doing thou shalt heap coals

of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil,

but overcome evil with good. Where do you think Paul

got that right here, right right here in this sermon,

and of course in Matthew's.

Version as well.

So loving are loving our enemy, Love your enemies. And

then he begins to describe what that looks like. Do

good to them, bless them, pray for them, turn the

other cheek for them, and.

If they take your coat, give them your coat as well.

That's love.

Verse thirty Give to every man that asketh of THEE,

and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them

not again. So we are to do good to them,

to bless them, to pray for them, and to give

to them, to give to them. Can anyone do this?

I dare say, no, No one can do this. We're

not this way, are we. I mean, we might be

able to go so far, but eventually there's a there's

a stopping point for every one of us. Some of

us is different than others, but there's a stopping place.

Give to every man that asketh THEE. So not just

are not just our our actions, not just our prayers,

not just our blessing whatever that might look like, but

also our finances. And probably that's where people will say, well,

that's where we stop.

Right there, that's where we stop. Can anyone do this?

Not apart from the power of the Spirit of Christ

dwelling in them. You see that the lost band dead

and trespasses and sins is unable, incapable of this kind

of strength. That's why Jesus begins us by saying, those

who can hear, the sheep, the church, the elect, they're

the ones that can hear.

This, Because what do they hear in it. They hear the.

Powerful, overwhelming love of God in this that he goes

so far in loving sinful men that he even sends

his son to the cross to die for them. And

he doesn't ask anything back in return, except that you

believe that's it. No deeds, no works, no nothing. He

gives everything for us. And then you have the golden

rule there in verse thirty one. And Jesus, continuing here, says,

and as you would that men should do to you,

do also do ye also to them.

Likewise I'll be able to read it correctly here in

a minute. And what does this sound like?

Sounds like the second Great Commandment, doesn't it? Great Commandment

gives the same message, yet from a different perspective.

Matthew Chapter twenty two.

Jesus said, the second is like unto it, Thou shalt

love thy neighbor as thyself read that against here six

thirty one. As ye would that men should do to you,

do ye also to them Likewise. Loving the neighbor then

is doing good, blessing him, praying for him, giving to him.

Jesus told a story that illustrates this whole idea in

Luke chapter ten. In Luke ten twenty five through thirty seven.

We call this story the story of the Good Samaritan.

Let me just turn over there real quick, Luke chapter ten,

and they're in thirty seven. He's he's talking to the

religious guys, and he's Jesus said go and do thee likewise. Oh,

I'm sorry, And that's thirty seven. I'm down at the

bottom of the story. Up here in versus Man twenty five.

Up in verse twenty five, a certain lawyer stood up

tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit

eternal life? They thought they were going to trap him,

and he said, what is written in the law?

How do you read?

In verse twenty seven, he says, he answered, thou shalt

love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, with

all thy soul, with all thy strength, with all thy mind,

and thy neighbor as thyself. And he said into him,

thou hast answered, right, this do and thou shalt live.

So you see, the lawyer knew the second great commandment,

treat to neighbor as yourself, which is the golden rule.

He said, you've answered right, do this, and thou shalt live. Well,

that of course wasn't enough for the religious fellow. The lawyer,

he said, willing to justify himself, he said, unto Jesus,

who is my neighbor, okay, And of course he asked

Jesus a question like that, you're going to get an answer.

And Jesus said, well, let me tell you a story.

He said, there was a certain man that went down

from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, which stripped

him of his raiment and wounded him and departed, leaving

him half dead. And by chance there came down a

certain priest that way, and when he saw him, he

passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite,

when he was at the place, came and looked on him,

and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan,

as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he

saw him, he had compassion on him and went to

him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine,

and set him on his own beast, and brought him

to an inn and took care of him. And on

the morrow, when he departed, he took out two pence,

gave them to the host, and said unto him, take

care of him, and once over thou spendest more. When

I come again, I will repay thee which now of

these three thinkest Thou was neighbor under him that fell

among the thieves, And he said, he that showed mercy

on him, Then Jesus sending him, go and do thou likewise.

See what you have here in the story of the

Good Samaritan is exactly what we have here in Luke

chapter six. The love of God demonstrated, and doing good, blessing,

praying for giving to is all seen in the story

of the Good Samaritan. First we have the condition of

the man. He was stripped, wounded and half dead. In

what state do you find those who are your enemies?

This is really a description of all men without Christ,

stripped wounded and half dead. When the Samaritan finds him,

he has compassion on him. Notice the other fellas, the

priest and the levite, didn't have compassion. They saw him,

but nothing was moved in their hearts to do anything

for him. The Samaritan bound up the wounds, pouring in

oil and wine, placing him in his own beast, and

carried him to an inn. All of those are good

things and blessings for the man. The Samaritan rented a room,

stayed up all night with him, and cared for him.

You notice it says there.

It says he brought him to an end and took

care of him. That means all night long he was

helping the man survive so that he could recover, so

that his wounds could knit. The Samaritan rented a room,

stayed up all night, and cared for the man. The

Samaritan gave the innkeeper enough money for the upkeeper the

wounded man until he returned. Why because he had compassion

on the man. That's why he did good to him.

He blessed him, He prayed for him. That is, he

spoke to the innkeeper and said, here, take care of

him until I come back. This doing good, blessing, praying

for him, giving to the man in the story was

probably Jewish. The man that fell among the thieves, and

the Samaritan was his enemy. You notice that it turned

on its head. The Jewish man was the enemy to

the Samaritan.

All the Jews were. They hated the Samaritans.

They excluded them, They set them outside the temple.

You couldn't come in. As a matter of.

Fact, in Jesus's day, the worst grossest curse that you

could give somebody was to call them a Samaritan. And

guess what they called Jesus. Then, oh, you're just a Samaritan.

So the Samaritan in the story is the good guy.

He's doing good to his enemy, which is exactly what.

Jesus said in Luke chapter six.

Love your enemies, and he explains that do good to them,

bless them, pray for them, give to them. So we

have this beautiful example of the Actually it's a fleshing

out of the Golden Rule and illustrates the love of

God for our enemies. So this principle of the Golden

rule is lived out for us by the Samaritan. This

is what God's love looks like. Another instance where the

love of God is revealed is found in the Epistle

to the Ephesians. Paul tells us about the love and

action of a Christian husband for his wife.

We know this one Ephiesians chapter five.

If you begin in Ephesians five, look at verse two

Ephesians five to two, you have this statement that.

Is very interesting. I think he says walk in love.

There in Ephesians five two, as Christ also hath loved us,

and hath given himself for us and offering in a

sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. Walk in

love as Christ has loved us.

So what does that mean.

It means our behavior, our lifestyle is to be a

walk of love. We're to engage in love, and we're

to do it just like Jesus did it. He gave

himself for us, an offering as sweet smelling savery. We

know what that means. He gave to the last ounce

of his ability to give, because he died for us.

Then you just look down the end of the chapter.

And we have it again.

Husbands, love your wives. This is verse twenty five. Even

as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it.

So again, how do we love as a man with

a wife, how do you love that wife? You're to

love her as Christ loved the church and gave himself

for it, his last ounce of ability for the church.

That's love.

Then, just a few verses again, we have in twenty

eight through thirty three this little piece which I'm sure

everyone who's been engaged in a wedding ceremony you've probably

heard this at some point. So men ought to love

their wives as their own bodies. You hear that the

golden rule, isn't it he that loveth his wife loveth himself.

For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but

nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ, even as the

Lord the Church. For we are members of his body,

of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause

shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall

be joined into his wife, and they too shall be

one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak

concerning Christ and the Church. Nevertheless, let every one of you,

in particular, soul his wife even as himself, and the

wife see that she reverence her husband. We are to

love as Christ loved the Church. In our marriage setting,

in our social settings, and in our religious settings.

We are to be men and women of love.

And it doesn't matter whod is who's on the other

side of that, whether it's people we know or people

we don't know, people we like, or people we don't like.

And notice that Jesus deals with that very thing in

the next statement. We've had the golden rule, Well, how

about we look at the sinner's rule. Notice how Jesus

makes a difference between those who can hear and the sinner.

The sinner cannot hear this because they already have their

preferred rule, their manner of behavior. It's already been figured

out verse thirty two. For if you love them which

love you, what thank have ye for? Sinners also love

those that love them.

Isn't it so much easier to love the people you like?

Sure is?

And we do, don't we We love the people we like.

Jesus said, love your enemies this manner of love. Verse

thirty Two's manner of love is easy loving those that

love you. Sinners love those that love them. Okay, look

at verse thirty three. Here's the doing good part. And

if you do good to them, which do good to you,

what thank have ye for? Sinners do the same?

Okay.

The sinner's attracted to the ones that don't hate them

but do good to them. The sinner is not persecuted

by other sinners, but finds comfort with them. And I've

often found, over now thirty some odd years of pastoral ministry,

as I've noticed the lives of people in the church

and out of the church, that sinners of a certain

stripe attract ciners of the same stripe. I've often noticed

how gossips just seem to be attracted to one another.

It's almost like magnetism. They can walk into the room

not knowing each other, and all of a sudden you'll

find them in the corner talking.

It's just the way it is.

Do good to those that do good you what thank

have you for? Even sinners do the same. Yeah, we're

attracted to those who do like us, the good that

we do, whatever it might be, or the bad that

we do. And then verse thirty six, notice he goes

on talks about lending. If you lend, and if you

lend to them of whom you hope to receive what

thank have you for? Sinners also lend to sinners to

receive as much. Again, here again is the giving issue.

Now we'll talk about that more next time. So if

you don't want me to reach into your pocketbook, don't

come back next Sunday. Here's the giving issue that Christ

raised in verse thirty Giving without expecting is hard if

you love money, isn't it? Can you just let your

money go or do you need some sort of guarantee

that's going to be paid back? There's all kinds of

sin that happens over money, ladies and gentlemen.

Here's the root of it.

Hoping to receive. See, sinners hope to receive back. Sinners

do good because they're going to get good back. Now,

Sinners love because they're going to be loved back. What

if none of that were was to happen. What if

you were to love, never to receive love back. What

if you were to do good and never receive any

good back? What if you were to land and never

receive anything back from it?

Would you do it? See? Here's the question? Can this

be kept?

A command so hard that it cannot be kept perfectly?

Why would God give.

Us such a command? Well?

Why would he give us the Ten Commandments? We can't

keep those, And here we have commandments from Christ?

Can we keep this?

Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you,

blessing that curse you, Pray for them that despitefully use you.

Can we do that?

Can we lend to those that we're not going to

get anything back from? Can we do good to those

that will never do us good? Is it possible?

No?

Not in our human ability, this is not possible at all.

Is it possible that we are the sinner?

Here in this.

Situation, the enemy, the hater, the abuser, the cursor. Is

it possible that Jesus is talking about us? Absolutely, Absolutely

he is, because this is our condition, isn't it When

he gives us listen thirty two? If you love them

that love you, what thank you you for?

Sinners?

Also those that love them. He's talking to the condition

of every man because we're lost in sin, and this

is what we do. And notice how Jesus uses the

word sinner here, sinner. This is what the sinner does.

If you do good to them, which do good to you,

what thank have you for?

Sinners? Do the same sinners? Who's he talking to?

He's talking to David Smith, That's who he's talking to.

And if you lend to them, of whom you hope

to receive, what thank of you for?

Sinners?

Also lend to sinners and receive as much. Again, who

is he talking to? Is it possible that Jesus was

telling his disciples and us that he would give every

ounce of devotion, love, blessing, prayer, gifts for the sinner.

Yes.

Yes, When Jesus said love your enemies, he was talking

about himself because he knew nobody else in that crowd

could do it. No one, nobody else could do this,

only Jesus. And so he's describing for us exactly what

was going to happen. What has happened that Jesus was hated, cursed,

despitefully used, and yet he still loved.

You see, this is the perfect love. This is God's love.

And what happens to the sinner when this love of

God is displayed, Well, I'm sure all of us could

stand up and give a testimony. At some point when

we were born again and we saw the love of

God on that cross, we recognized our sinful condition.

Because Jesus was right.

I am a sinner, lost and bound for help.

I knew that. So suddenly and I saw the love of.

God displayed on that cross, and I said, Jesus, save me,

Save me. What happens when this love is displayed? Men

and women come to Jesus. And then suddenly something takes

place in the heart and the love of God is

manifested in our heart. It's shed abroad by the Holy

Ghost within us, and in small ways, we too then.

Are able to love in a way we never could

have loved before.

You see that this is not a formula, ladies and gentlemen,

for works. This is not a works based salvation that

Jesus is laying out for us. No, No, A thousand

times no. This is a picture of the love of

God for sinners.

That's what this is. Love.

Your enemies can't do it. It's okay, I did it.

Jesus said, I did it.

I did it. Those that despitefully use you.

I loved them. And that includes you, David, That includes you,

It includes all of us. This is how we apply

this passage. Dear Father, help us today as we consider

where we stand there on that plane, a sinner or

maybe a man woman born again the cause of this

great love. We thank you for the demonstration of it.

We thank you for the pictures of it. We thank

you Father that Jesus gave all for us, a sweet

smelling savor to save us from the wrath of God. Oh, now, Father,

that you would speak to our hearts. As we conclude

with this last peace, we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.