Matthew 5:33-37: Give Your Enemies Waffles

Jesus gathered his disciples and walked to a high spot as a crowd swelled with students.

Curious onlookers and possible enemies wanting to hear this religious leader who seemed different.

Could it be the Messiah they have been waiting for to save them from their enemies?

Could the old kingdoms of this world be passing away?

Was this Jesus finally ushering in the kingdom of God?

And then he spoke a verbal attack on unrighteousness and self-righteousness, an assault on I'ma get me and mine.

And it was a message for the broken.

Blessed are the poor spirit, the spiritually bankrupt, those who recognize desperate need for God.

And starting with this deep truth, he dispensed world-changing, life-rearranging understanding.

Love your enemies, be generous to everyone.

Come on.

For real?

You will never be good enough by working harder.

Pray this way.

You are the light of the world.

Do not worry about your life.

Be realistic, Jesus.

Ask, seek, knock.

Stop performing.

Enter the thing.

Enter through the narrow gate.

Set your foundation upon something that lasts.

Today, many likers of Jesus listen to these words and they say, He probably didn't mean that, but if we truly assume Jesus meant what he said, a better kingdom would shine brighter in a darker world.

Together we can look to the Savior on the mountaintop and soak in the teachings of life.

Join us for uncommon sense, joyfully living out the challenges of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.

Good to be with you guys today.

I'm Pastor Dale Huntington.

I'm pastor for one of the pastors for City Life Church.

Today we're going to be in Matthew 5.

Matthew 5.33.

We're continuing in the Sermon on the Mount.

And uh if you don't have a nice study Bible or a Bible in your language, we have them on both sides of the room over there and over there.

We have them in English, Spanish, Haitian Crayol, Tagalog.

Well, guys, um, something that I have learned is that graffiti can be a beautiful thing.

Like I've seen some of the most beautiful graffiti all over the United States, all over the world.

In the Barrio Logan, um, you see some really gorgeous stuff in Chicano Park.

And I especially saw a lot in Bogota in Colombia.

Um, a lot of people call it street art, and it's not always illegal either.

But beyond graffiti, there is something else, and we call it tagging.

I'm sure you know what tagging is.

Tagging is a bit more like a dog lifting its leg over a corner to say, This is mine.

Um and it's not art, it's often intimidation.

That's what tagging is.

So when someone tags in Mount Hope, we're presented with a few options.

The first option is we tag over it.

Somebody tags Market Street, someone tags Market Street Killers on top of it, and then Market Street crosses it out and then tags Market Street, and it's continuing, continuing.

The other thing we have the option to do is paint over it.

This is what we did early in the life of our church, didn't we?

We'd be out there with rollers, just making a perfect canvas for the next guy to tag over, right?

Like just okay, we're just gonna this is easy, we can do it fast, and congratulations, here you go.

Um, something to uh pee on, also.

Um, but the thing is is painting one color was really easy.

Like we knew that it might get painted over, but it was simple, it was easy, there was no problem.

Um, and it's easy to paint things with one color, right?

Good, bad.

Um, those things don't really have nuance, do they?

But the reality is the attitude of just painting over something with one color, it rarely solves anything.

So there's that third option.

As we've said before, remember, um, Christians aren't called to seek our peace.

Christians are called to seek peace.

So uh when there's tagging, uh, we can paint a mural seeking peace, seeking something beautiful.

Um, or if I'm painting it, seeking something beautiful adjacent, similar to beauty.

Um, but it's a risk.

It is a risk to paint something beautiful because you're using all different kinds of things, and when it gets tagged on, uh it's you're not just gonna be able to fix it really easily, are you?

You're not.

It's it can be destroyed in one second.

Matter of fact, we have done actually like dozens of murals in this neighborhood.

You know it takes one nine-year-old kid with a spray paint can, he could ruin everything tomorrow.

He could.

It takes risk to do something beautiful.

If you try to do something creative, it can be destroyed in a second.

Someone can burn it down, someone can step on it, someone can pee on it.

But Jesus encourages us to do what is right, not because it's easy, not because it will be accepted, but instead because it reflects his love.

Because it's who he is, because it's his heart for our neighbors, it's his heart for us.

And so I hope you are with me in Matthew 5.33.

Are you with me in Matthew 5.33?

Anybody got a bound Bible?

Um, not that I don't love your phones.

Yes, I just love seeing bound Bibles.

And um, you'll see that it's very helpful to have one of these big old things for context sometimes.

In today's text, you'll see that.

So um, by the way, got nothing against phones.

I see a lot of them, they're awesome.

Matthew 5.33, you guys ready for me?

Here we go.

Again, you have heard it said to our ancestors, you must not break your oath, but you must keep your oaths to the Lord.

But I tell you, don't take an oath at all, either by heaven because it's God's throne, or by earth, because it is footstool, or by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great king.

Do not swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black, but let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no.

Anything more than that is from the evil one.

You have heard it was said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, but I tell you, don't resist an evildoer.

On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him also turn the other to him also.

As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well.

And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him too.

Give to the one who asks you, and don't turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have?

Don't even the tax collectors do the same?

And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you doing out of the ordinary?

Don't the Gentiles do the same?

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

All right, easy demands from Jesus today.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for bringing us here today.

Bringing us as your imperfect children.

And so, because we are imperfect children, we receive this profound grace that we understand we could never deserve.

We grab a hold of it and we want to grab a hold of it almost like we earned it.

But we all know deep inside how corrupt we've been, how very little we've had to offer you in your kingdom.

And because of your massive grace, we stand before you today.

And we can pray and we can sing and we can cry and we can do it all knowing we are safe with you, Lord.

We can come before you as your redeemed children, basking in this inheritance earned by your son.

And even though we didn't earn our way into your family, we'd love your help in growing into our inheritance, becoming more and more like your son in ways that can only be traced to you.

And so we plead with you today.

Teach us, help us, empower us, show us the way, and give us the power to be obedient.

May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of our hearts be pleasing to you.

We pray this all in Jesus' name, and all God's people said, Amen.

All right, the Lord knows that whenever I preach on something, He wants to make sure that He teaches me first.

And let me just tell you, I have had so many chances to practice what I preach this week.

Um Thanks, Lord.

Um The Lord has been working on my heart when people were yelling at me this week.

Um, and I've had to respond the best I could, and I'm just gonna be honest with you.

I didn't do it perfectly, but I'm growing.

I'm not who I was ten years ago.

Now I'm really hoping I can practice next week's text, and then it says how Jesus wants you to be humble when he gives you a million dollars.

But I actually have looked ahead and it's not there.

So we're gonna see what happens.

But guys, I'm gonna today I'm gonna give you um Jesus three killer bees that we cannot do without him.

Jesus, three killer bees that we cannot do without him.

And so my first point is this be true to your word because he is.

Be true to your word because he is.

Now I accidentally skipped this uh text when I was planning ahead, so I kind of stuck two texts together, but I think we're gonna be okay, all right?

So um verse 34, Jesus said, I tell you, don't take an oath at all, either by heaven because it is God's throne, or by the earth because it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great king.

Do not swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black, but let your yes mean yes, your no mean no.

Anything more than this is from the evil one.

Now we have to really like dive into this.

It's it's difficult at times to understand what Jesus is saying, because he speaks in such harsh terms, doesn't he?

Now, now what is Jesus saying here?

He's saying something confusing.

The question becomes, is he saying a vow is bad?

And I would say, no.

Um if you listen to Numbers 30 one through two, Moses told the leaders of the Israelite tribes, this is what the Lord has commanded.

When you when a man makes a vow to the Lord or swears an oath to put himself under an obligation, he must not break his word.

He must do whatever he has promised.

Now Jesus gets to interpret the scripture for us.

That's the thing that happens.

The vow is not the problem.

Once again, as we've talked about everything in this text, everything in the Sermon on the Mount, this all comes down to the heart.

The heart.

He was saying, stop tossing around your words like they're cheap.

Stop tossing around your words like they're cheap.

Empty words and empty promises, these are an affront to God.

So some people they swear on a Bible or they will swear honestly under oath, but the rest of the time you can't trust what they have to say.

Just be honest.

Every time, this is what Jesus is saying.

Now, now oaths for many people at the time of Jesus had become the new way to lie.

It showed that you were serious, and so you would make an oath on the temple.

And to make an oath on the temple and lie would be unheard of, which is why you could get away with making an oath on the temple and lying.

Because it started to become common practice that people were throwing around these words.

These words were a way to act holy.

But you uh you were acknowledging with your actions that God and his temple didn't matter.

Making an oath related to God and then not following through was showing that you believed God was either A, impotent, or he didn't exist.

That's a problem.

Now I took an oath once, and uh I was more formal about this oath that I took.

I might have even said, God, I want to do this thing, and if if I don't do this, you can punish me, is what I said to God.

Um it was not smart.

Um, I promised God a lot of things in that.

I promised him of the sins that I would reject, and and I said that I was done with this sin, and so you punish me if I if I sin this way again, Lord.

Um, that wasn't just repentance, that was beyond repentance.

It was trying to somehow get beyond repentance and make a rash promise to God.

And I remember um I went back to that sin.

And I'm I'm gonna be real with you, I woke up the next day with mono.

It was crazy.

I I'm not telling you that that's how it's always gonna happen, but I can just tell you the one time I made a promise to God that I would stop a sin and he could punish me if I did it.

I woke up the next day with mono.

So I tell you, do not be flippant with your words.

Jesus had seen the way people had used oaths to give a false impression of earnestness.

Flippant words, words with no meaning.

You guys, it's why when someone curses today, you might call it swearing.

Right?

Abusing a sacred oath was using words for evil.

In the same way, we use our words to destroy people.

Thus, we have that term swearing now.

Now, I I think we all like to think, um, we like to tell Jesus why the rules don't apply to us this time.

Like rarely um uh we won't even consider the circumstances.

We just tell ourselves to do that we did what we needed to do.

So we tell God, God, I'm not gonna do this anymore, I'm or God, I'm gonna do this now.

And then we find ways to excuse ourselves, not not accepting the fact that we have now lied.

And a lot of times we've lied to God and we've lied to people.

Often that means we say one thing, but we mean something else.

Friends, when we baptize someone, I often ask them like about very important, very deep things.

And I would say, oftentimes, when we ask them about their commitment, about what they're about, what they're doing, what they're gonna do with this baptism, how they're gonna follow through with Jesus, you would be surprised at how often uh we don't see them again.

Like there's this weird thing, like they're working up to this point, like where they get baptized as the very beginning, where they've promised, I'm gonna follow Jesus now, and then what ends up happening is we don't see him again.

I don't know what that's about, but it seems to me at times that they're not really believing what they're saying.

There have been times we've had people stand up on a stage and say they're gonna become partners of our church, committing to certain things.

And then it's only days later that I find out they're doing the exact opposite.

And guys, this is not just them, this is not the other people, it's not just you, it's all of us.

This is something that we tend to do.

I think a lot of people, when we're asked a question that's very serious, do you intend to follow Jesus in every area of your life?

I think if we're honest, we say yes, and in our head we say, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

No, there's a difference, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm good.

Yeah, yeah.

You know what that is?

That's that's not a true commitment.

We commit to following through until we don't want to, and then we ghost people based on the numbers.

One day, some of you who have committed to the people in this room, you will ghost them.

The ghost of the people sitting around you, and you will hurt them, and it won't matter because you will have some extenuating circumstances, and I say, fight against that feeling.

Jesus wants your words to others and your words to yourself to mean something.

Now, let me ask you this.

Can you recall what Jesus was talking about right before this?

For those of you who have your Bibles open, it might be a little easier.

That's why I'm saying it's good to have that.

Everybody's like scrolling right now, like, I'm gonna find it, I'm gonna find it before the book people.

Um, but what was Jesus talking about right before this?

Divorce.

Interesting how we take things contextually away from each other.

He's talking about marriage, right?

Like people wanted to divorce over anything and everything, and yet God cares about our commitments to each other.

We're not talking about abuse here, okay?

Remember that.

But Jesus challenged those who felt they had the right to divorce over almost anything.

If you commit to someone in marriage, though, you are committing to them if they have a stroke and they can never have sex with you again.

You commit to them if they are mentally ill.

You commit to them if they have cancer and they lose all their hair.

Will the state let you divorce them?

Of course.

The state has like a very low view of marriage.

But we're talking about Christian marriage.

That is a covenant between you and God first before it is with that person.

Don't break your commitment to God because that person didn't turn out the way you want it to, or because you don't have the same feelings anymore.

If you uh if you do that and you move on, you'll just get divorced again.

Your problems will always follow you, but God has called us to be resilient and true to our word.

And in uh Deuteronomy 23, if you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay in fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin.

And remember, our commitment is always to God first, above everything else.

There is no commitment that should supersede our commitment to God.

So, friends, it matters so much that people can count on you and can count on your commitments.

So here's what I would say when you offer to help somebody to move and then something better comes around, help them move.

When you RSVP to something as a Christian, they should always expect you to be there.

We've had people RSVP to bring food to city groups, to Ash Wednesday, who just don't show up and they don't give a reason.

I'm not mad at them.

This is our culture.

We've had people sign up to help with our chunk or treat event and they plan on helping and then they decide to do something else.

Lots of people to commit to serving in kids, serving in safety, serving in the food pantry, but there are only a few people that ride it out all the way.

Because let me just say, sometimes serving in kids means you get thrown up on.

Sometimes serving in the food pantry means people get mad at you because you don't let them take 10 pairs of shoes.

Sometimes cleaning up means you're cleaning a toilet.

These things are all difficult.

But to continue to our word, to continue and say we would uh say we would do something and then actually do it and continue to do it, this takes resilience and it's from God.

Friends, if that's you that has not not continued in your promise, I'm just gonna tell you, you're normal.

You're normal.

I get it, but we are called to be more than normal.

We are abnormal, we are super normal.

How about that?

Jesus wants to empower us to just be true to our word.

So don't commit when you mean yes, unless something better comes along.

That is not a commitment.

Um, and it's it's dishonoring to God.

God is meant to be revered.

Don't babble his name, don't say, Oh my god, unless you are seeking to glorify him.

And in the same way, don't swear to him if you mean it, if you don't mean it, because that is swearing.

Now, much of this is a resilience issue.

Many younger people today have been accused of lacking resilience, the grit to stick to it, to hard things.

And there is some evidence, let's be honest.

But it but your generation, the younger generation who's struggling with that right now, let me just tell you, it did not start with you.

Let me tell you a story from when I had been a believer for five years.

I've never told anyone this story.

No one.

Um I was probably 20, and I was an adult, and I was in a punk band, and my punk band got asked to play a place in Kearney Mesa called The Scenery, and we helped set the show up with a band that I really looked up to called Dogwood, and a band I really looked up to called Craig's Brother.

You've never heard of any of them.

I understand it's okay.

You never heard of my band either, so it's alright.

But we worked so hard for the show, and then we got a call from Dogwood, and they said, Hey guys, um, our label booked us somewhere else now, and we have to go to Florida.

And so it meant it was us and Craig's brother, and that wasn't gonna be enough.

It was about a 500-seat venue, and um, our band was not popular enough to fill that in San Diego because we played San Diego every other week.

And so uh we had we we would need a call and cancel.

And so uh I called the venue and they said, Oh, that's fine.

And then I called the guy from Craig's brother.

Now let me just say, I really loved this band and I looked up to them.

And when I called and I I got the voicemail, I I I I stuttered and I couldn't get out any words.

And I called one more time, and then I couldn't get out any words, and I just said, No, I'm out.

And that's all I did.

And then one day the guys from Craig's Brother called the scenery to confirm that they were playing the next week, and they said, You're not playing here.

It was canceled.

I did not follow through.

I hurt other people, I was ashamed and I was embarrassed.

And anytime I tell the kids that they're not resilient, I just say, I was too afraid of conflict to actually follow through there.

So I just want to say that.

And I've never, I don't know if I've ever told anyone that.

So there it is.

My wife didn't remember, didn't know it.

So, but guys, God's perfect law reveals our inability to save ourselves.

The good news is that we have a good and loving God who is making you to be consistent.

He is transforming us into people not only of the word, but our word.

He makes us resilient.

And if you are sitting in the room today and you are thinking, I am not true to my word, I'm not honest, I'm not resilient, I don't follow through like I want, guess what?

Now is the perfect place to start.

Recognize you are poor in spirit like the rest of us.

Let me just tell you, resilient, honest people aren't born.

They are forged from fire and pain.

You don't start resilient, you become resilient.

If you want to learn more about that, go to Romans 5, 1 through 5.

But we need to be Resilient because we know that suffering is coming for all of us.

This is our second killer bee from Jesus that we cannot do without him.

And the second one is this be long suffering and generous because he is.

Be long suffering and generous because he is.

Verse 38, you have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

But I tell you, don't resist an evildoer.

On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him, turn the other to him also.

Now you guys gotta understand something about this.

This slap that Jesus is talking about, it sounds like serious violence, okay?

Doesn't it?

But it goes beyond the violence that you might be thinking about.

This is less about violence.

This is more about disrespect.

Okay?

Now here's how we know this.

Um, because we understand that uh the way a slap would go on your right cheek, so typically most people are considered right-handed, the way that a slap would go on your right cheek is the back of the hand.

Now we have learned that uh as of now and as in Israel, this is a very disrespectful act.

Um and so uh it was more about shame.

Pastor Matthew Guzek, he calls it a deep insult, not a physical attack.

So how do you respond to being shamed?

You show them the other side of your face, waiting for an open-handed slap, which is violence.

The defenseless person has not resisted, and still you slap their face again?

It shows the kind of person you are, not them.

And it also shows that they are patient and long-suffering.

Verse 40, Jesus, as for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well.

If anyone forces you to go one mile, go to.

Give to the one who asks you, don't turn away from the one who wants to borrow.

You have heard that it was said, love your neighbor, hate your enemy, but I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Now, Dr.

Tony Evans once said, God doesn't show kindness only to believers, he extends common grace to all, meaning that there are certain blessings that he gives to all people.

You don't have to be a Christian to feel the sun shine and breathe oxygen.

And Jesus continues, For if you love those who love you, in verse 46, what reward will you have?

Don't even the tax collectors do the same thing?

And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you doing out of the ordinary?

Don't even the non-religious people do the same thing?

Now we've been taught to get revenge.

Actually, I think that we might have an innate sense of justice that demands revenge in our hearts.

When most children get hit by another kid, what do they instinctively do back?

They hit back.

Now, I will tell you, my daughter, when she was like between the ages of like two and eight, she would just look at them like, why?

But every other kid that I've ever met, including myself, if they got slapped, they're gonna slap back.

It's natural, right?

Like it's instinctive, they hit back.

In this broken world, in this broken world where we are poor in spirit, we are broken, we are spiritually bankrupt, and we instinctively desire revenge.

But instead, Jesus tells us to respond with love, to be taken advantage of.

When an oppressor mistreats us, we continue to do the right thing.

But I'm still gonna say to you, wives, um, you don't need to be in a situation where you're being abused.

The person, that person is not supposed to be an enemy.

He is supposed to be your protector.

Okay, so hear that, please.

But friends, when somebody sues you, you give them what they want and maybe more.

When someone needs help, we help, even if there are enemies.

In other words, be perfect.

You've been told to love your friends and the likable people in your family, but I tell you to love everyone, even those who trash talk you.

Pray for people who hate you because of Jesus.

It's easy to love the people you get along with.

Everybody does that.

Christ's followers love the people who hate them.

Now, Indian pastor Brian Winta once said Jesus advised his followers to disarm or defeat violence by being prepared to accept even more than the perpetrator inflicted.

What a fun expectation, Jesus.

That's swell.

Thanks for that.

But Jesus also knew violence only leads to violence.

It's endless.

It's like the tagging, right?

Like it's never solved with more violence.

And I'm sure many of you know the quote by Dr.

King when he said on his sermon, on this text, darkness cannot cast out darkness, only light can do that.

Hatred cannot cast out hatred, only love can do that.

Now, I had someone from the community call me on the phone this week and yell at me about how when I do things for the community, it's for me and my name.

And that when the news contacts me or I contact the news, that I'm really trying to seek my own glory, that I am a glory hog, that I don't actually care about anyone.

I took some deep breaths.

Um, I let him know that he hurt my feelings and that he's not allowed to assume my motives.

But I tell you, um Isaiah was there for part of it.

I think he kind of like walked out the room when he said, Um, but I I didn't attack him, I didn't say anything about him.

He told he told me I was a pastor and I should just get over it.

But I refused to attack him.

And friends, you know I have stuff in my back pocket that when somebody comes at me, you know I got something back there ready to go.

But God is challenging me constantly to put that weapon down.

Remember, God wants his children to be meek.

And what does meek mean?

Power under control, right?

The Dodge Viper going 65 on the freeway.

We know it can go faster than that, but it refuses to just to show off.

Just because you can win a fight doesn't mean you should.

Jesus could have fought back, but instead he ran to the cross for his enemies.

He deserved only worship and he received only scorn from us.

Now, for further context, there was a law in Israel.

A Roman soldier could make you walk a mile with his stuff.

It didn't matter if you were pregnant, it didn't matter if you had bad corns, it didn't matter if it was your birthday.

He could say, Hey, Hebrew, Jew, take my stuff a mile now, go.

If they make you go a mile, Jesus said though, go too.

What I love about this is how subversive it is.

Like Jesus is saying, like, um, you don't have to be controlled by evil.

Yes, people can hurt you, but they cannot stop you from being kind.

If they ask you to go a mile, go too.

You're showing them that they don't control you.

When they control us, they can stop us from being kind, and the devil wins, but they can't control us when we do more than they ask.

Now, about a month ago, there was a police stop in our community, and one of the officers was leveled up.

Um, I already told you the story, so I'm not going to go into too much detail.

It was a hot day, and I was hungry and I was sweaty.

First thing I did is I went and got waters for my friend who had been stopped, and for the officers, and the officers declined the waters.

I was hungry, and my wife ended up bringing me and my friend some of them Trader Joe's Ube waffles, which is my kryptonite.

And together me and my friend, who said he didn't want any, ate a bunch of waffles while they searched his car.

But as we ate, another friend approached us and appeared upset.

She wanted to know why we were bringing waffles to the police.

Now we hadn't actually offered any waffles to the police because they had declined the water.

But her being upset about us trying to show love to somebody, even somebody that might appear as an enemy, made me very sad.

If they wanted waffles, the Christian thing to do would be to give waffles to the police, whether they were being kind, generous, or not.

Friends, we are Christians and we show generosity to everyone.

We show generosity to bloods, to crips, to Serenos, to Norteños, to Donald Trump fans and to Democrats, to those who are gay, to those who are straight.

We show love and decency to good cops and to bad cops and to addicts alike.

Why?

Because we no longer belong to the ways of the flesh.

We have died, and now we have the Spirit of God within us helping us to show kindness even to our enemies.

Does that mean we invite everyone into the intimate moments of our lives?

No.

We have boundaries.

Does this mean we should tell everyone our personal feelings about everything?

No.

Someone will use that against you.

You have to know who you should speak safely to.

Find the right people for those things.

Now, Dr.

Evans, once again, he says, loving your neighbor doesn't require having warm and fuzzy feelings for them.

It means uh seeking his well-being.

But here's what I would say: Jesus makes it clear if we are to be like him, we are going to show love and peace to people who don't deserve it because that's what he does.

And hopefully, one day, you will have fuzzy feelings for your enemies.

How cool is that! That's who our God is, and that's who we are becoming through him.

Proverbs 25 says, if your enemy is hungry, give him waffles to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.

I might have changed that slightly.

What we are doing here is what Paul says in Romans 12.

He says, We are conquering evil with good.

Hebrews 13 2 says, Don't neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this, some have welcomed angels or guests without knowing it.

For some of you guys, this is natural.

This is just how you roll, this is how you were before you were a Christian.

Congratulations.

I'm sure Jesus' list has got you in a different way, though.

I'm all right.

For me, this is not natural, okay?

I think if you only had a few words to describe me, if you met me in high school, the first word would be this dork, dorky, okay?

But the second word would probably be around jerk or punk.

And while that meant an awful life before Jesus, while I had bad relationships, now, now when I show kindness to somebody who doesn't deserve it, when I show patience or love, I know exactly where that originates.

And it's not from a jerky punk dork.

It comes from Christ in me, the hope of glory.

Because it's definitely not me.

Christian rapper Tadashi, he says this, I love this quote.

He says, It's hard to throw stones while you're washing feet.

It's hard to throw stones while you're washing feet.

You see, guys, God's perfect law reveals our inability to save ourselves.

But when we rely upon his Holy Spirit, bitterness and pettiness they start to melt away, and our words and our actions and our thoughts increasingly begin to reflect his.

Friends, if you are slow to patience and quick to anger, I just tell you there is hope in Jesus.

God the Father is slowly transforming you into the image of his son through his Holy Spirit, who is alive and working in the hearts of his followers.

This is good news.

But it's also devastating news to those of you who do not follow Jesus.

And this is where we get our third killer B, we cannot do without Jesus.

Be perfect because he is.

Be perfect because he is.

If you don't like this last point, like you got an issue, not me, because it's just Jesus' words.

Now, to understand what it means to walk with Jesus, we first understand the idea of justification.

You've heard this before.

I hope that one day you can make fun of me by telling somebody else about this.

Justification is the idea that you're in a courtroom and all your sins are being read, and Jesus says, I will pay the price.

And the and the judge, God the Father, says, Not guilty.

Now you have been guilty, but it's been paid for.

Jesus took the punishment you deserved.

This puts us instantly in good graces with God.

That when the Father looks upon us, he sees the righteousness of who?

Jesus.

Thank you.

When the Father looks upon us, he sees the righteousness of Jesus.

Yeah, so God views Christ's followers now as holy because of the Son's sacrifice.

We call this stance holiness.

But does this mean you're going to make all the right decisions?

No, no, no, no, no.

Then you have sanctification, okay?

This is a process towards perfection, towards holiness for the person who has God's Holy Spirit in them.

Not perfection, but growth towards holiness.

Zambian pastor Joe Coppolo, he adds some nuance here.

He says this to be perfect does not mean to be sinless, but simply to strive to fulfill one's purpose.

Jesus calls his disciples to meet the highest possible standard.

We are to aim for conformity with the character of God and not settle for anything less.

So based on Jesus' sermon on the mount so far, this is a perfect person.

Never violent, never speaks ill of anyone, never thinks bad thoughts about someone, never lies, doesn't have to defend himself, doesn't demand their own rights, loves the people who speak poorly about her.

And who is this actually describing?

Is this describing any human being on the face of the planet?

It's describing Jesus.

That's it, man.

But when we recognize that we are spiritually bankrupt, which you've heard a little bit, poor in spirit, just like he said at the start of his Sermon on the Mount, when we recognize that, then we can truly repent and receive the unconditional grace that we don't deserve but we need.

Because nobody is above the law, nobody is above rules, nobody is above accountability.

But as we grow closer to God, we begin to seek these things naturally.

When we rely upon his Holy Spirit, our words, our actions, and our thoughts increasingly become like his.

To those of you who have not committed your life to Jesus and you've not repented of your sins, choosing to follow Him over your broken desires are the only way that you can be good in God's eyes.

Now you may be thinking of all the ways you are good right now, though.

I know that I did.

So it'd be like, hey, you're a sinner.

I'd be like, man, I'm nice to old ladies.

I'll help them across the street.

But God doesn't work that way.

God doesn't undo the things that break his heart.

Good things don't undo the things that lead to death.

That sentence is difficult.

Not gonna go into my second sermon.

That's confusing.

Jesus says though, anger is as bad as murder in the way that it destroys our relationships with him and others.

So here's how I want you to think about it.

I know a lot of you are thinking, but I do some good things too, man.

I'm alright.

I could just kind of like walk this like line with Jesus when I feel like it, do some good things, and he'll accept me.

Let's let's think of it this way.

Do you guys know who Pablo Escobar is?

No.

My goodness.

If you're listening to this, uh someone said that's my guy.

And you know, it's crazy because when I was in Bogota, actually, when I was in Medellin, where he's from, everybody was buying shirts with his face on it, and people were talking about how great Pablo Escobar was.

They were.

He's a famous drug kingpin in Medellin, Colombia, and he did terrible, terrible things.

He planted a bomb on a passenger airplane in 1989, killing 110 people.

His men set off a truck bomb in basically what would be the CIA quarters of Colombia.

His men attacked the Supreme Court of Colombia in Bogota in 1985, killing over a hundred people, including eleven Supreme Court judges.

He had a terror campaign referred to as Plata or Plomo.

Um basically, this was for the police and people in power.

And what it meant was you can have silver or you can have lead.

Like we will bribe you or we will kill you.

Um this meant that uh you would take lead from them in the chest.

Now he was also famous for the assassination of several presidential candidates who opposed him.

And while his cartel created millions of cocaine addicts and ruined the lives of millions in countless countries, Pablo also looked at the poorest people in Medellin and he built 2,500 free homes.

And he named that community Barrio Pablo Escobar, which is like, okay.

He built soccer fields for them.

He built a hospital, he built schools, he was known for walking poor communities and handing out money and toys to children.

And so people would say, Pablo Escobar has a bad rap.

He's a good dude.

And you know what?

That's what Pablo wanted.

He he was intensely insecure about what he was doing.

And he felt like it shouldn't matter what he and his men were doing with young girls, underage girls behind closed doors against their will.

He felt like it shouldn't matter where he got his money and who he hurt or who he killed to get it, so long as he did some nice things.

So long as he was a nice guy who did nice things and built 2,500 homes and a hospital.

But since most of us who are regular people who have not killed upwards of potentially 50,000 people, we can laugh at his do-gooderness and we can say, hey man, that ain't it.

We know that you're a bad dude.

Pablo, you're not good.

Stop trying to convince yourself, stop trying to convince us.

But to those of us today who do not belong to Jesus, you compare yourself to somebody like Pablo Escobar and you think, man, I'm good.

I don't do that.

The problem is that God doesn't compare us to Pablo.

He doesn't.

He doesn't compare you to your awful mother-in-law, he doesn't compare you to your boss who is stealing from the company right now, or the person with a longer record than you.

There's no comparison there.

He doesn't do that.

God compares you to God.

And to be in relationship with someone who is perfect, you must be perfect.

And no matter how many orphans you help or hospitals you build, no matter how many marches you attend, no matter how many people you register to vote, no matter how many people you feed, it cannot cover up the fact that you are broken and sinful.

Be perfect, therefore, as your father in heaven is perfect.

But if you can't be perfect, what do you do?

Try harder, right?

Just keep working at it.

Just keep working at it.

So somebody can say, Yeah, that person is perfect.

But that's not it.

It's the gospel.

The gospel is the only way that Jesus looked upon us, his enemies, and said, They're not perfect, it's not going to get better.

And he willingly came to this earth, lived a sinless life on our behalf, died on the cross on our behalf because we could not do it.

We could not do enough good to cancel out any of the bad we'd done.

It left a stain on our souls, and only he could clean it.

But when Jesus rose again on the third day, defeating sin and death, he conquered that.

He finished it.

He said, It is finished.

And so, for those of you now who embrace the gospel, embrace Jesus in your life, say, I want to follow you, don't make a rash vow.

Truly consider what you're committing when you say, I want to follow you.

Because he's crazy, man.

He's gonna ask you to do things that are stupid to you.

Care for your enemies, show love to the person who shows you hatred, give to the person who sues you.

Like he's gonna ask everything, he's gonna demand everything, so don't make a rush rash vow.

But we know the wages of sin is death, and the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If we would but commit our lives to Him, if we repent of our sins and say, I choose to follow you now.

Friends, if you've tried it your way, but you now recognize you'll never be good enough.

It's time to set your sights on Jesus.

Give your life to him, let him save you.

Find one of us today.

Let us pray with you to give your life to Jesus.

But you gotta go, like, hey man, I'm in it to win it.

I'm in it with you.

Doesn't mean you're not gonna fail.

But count the cost, friends.

Don't give up so easily.

If you commit to Jesus, it has to be more than a weak commitment.

He wants everything.

I heard someone once say, Jesus wants a blank check of your life.

I don't usually say that because people think pastors are about money, and that's not about money.

He wants your whole life, he wants everything.

He wants you to be baptized because it's a sign that you have died and you rose again and are resurrected just like him.

But then we get the joy of living for him, living with him, learning from others who have learned from Jesus.

We call that discipleship.

And we ask that you would let us help train you up in the ways of Jesus.

Get yourself a Bible, read it every day, but you won't be perfect still.

Neither will we.

We will fail you.

You have to stand on the perfect sacrifice of Jesus alone, and then you become more and more like Jesus.

And so, City Life Church and guests, I close with this.

I leave you with this reminder: God's perfect law reveals our inability to save ourselves.

We are dishonest, we fight, and we rage.

But when we rely upon his Holy Spirit, bitterness and pettiness slowly melt away while our words, our actions, and our thoughts increasingly reflect his.

Let us pray.