The Sermon on the Plain (Part 3) - Luke 6:36-49

 

What’s in Your Heart? (Luke 6:36-49)

[Slide] Do your remember the Capital One commercials with the tagline, “What’s in Yor Wallet?” I always liked the one with the pirates. A wife comes home from shopping and says, “I found a lot of good deals!” The husband replies, “I hope you didn’t put all that on the credit card. Those interest rates are gonna get us!” Pirates appear wielding swords and knives. As they approach the couple, the wife says, “Don’t worry. I used our new Capital One Card.” The pirates freeze and all of them groan with disappointment. Then the pirate captain yells, “To the neighbors!” The cannon balls fly and mayhem ensues because I guess the neighbors didn’t use the right credit card. If today’s message was a commercial for Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain at the end of Luke 6, the tagline might be, “What’s in Your Heart?” [Title Slide]

Last week we learned about loving our enemies. Jesus continues by teaching us to not judge others. It seems Luke has collected a series of unrelated teachings in the Sermon on the Plain. It goes from the blessings and warnings to the crowd, to the teaching on loving your enemies, and now to judgmental attitudes among his disciples. Then the blind leading the blind, trees and fruit, and lastly houses built on solid or shaky foundations. But these seemingly unrelated topics all work as one message, the quality of our inner lives. It is a logical move to follow a teaching about loving your enemies with a teaching about what gets in the way of love, namely a judgmental attitude.

 

Jesus gave his apostles James and John the nickname, the Sons of Thunder. In Luke 9, a Samaritan village would not welcome Jesus. James and John suggested that they call down fire from heaven to devour them all. (Lk 9:54) Jesus sharply rebuked them for their anger and harsh judgment. He let them know they were way out of line for men representing his ministry.

 

Jesus taught His disciples [Slide] “Do not judge, so that you will not be judged.” Let’s look at what’s happening when we judge others.

 

[Slide] The Greek word we translate as “judge” means

 

1.    to separate, put asunder, to pick out, select, choose

2.    to approve, esteem, to prefer

3.    to pronounce an opinion concerning right and wrong

4.    to rule or govern

5.    to battle or contend with one another

 

When I judge another person, or hold a prejudice against a certain race or class of people, I am, in one sense, separating them out from everyone else. I am portraying them as outsiders, not like me, and not like my kind of people. There can be an elitism in me too, when I judge others. I look down on them as if they are beneath me, a lower kind of human, an undesirable.

 

[Slide] Every major city in America has a homeless population. For many they are an invisible part. When the homeless become visible, panhandling near restaurants and shops, we begin to feel uncomfortable as we are approached for money. Business owners complain that the shopping and dining experience is marred by the presence homeless persons nearby on the sidewalks and alleys. The judgmental rhetoric can be heard in city councils, “We have to do something about them. They are bad for business. They are making the downtown area look bad to visitors to our city.”

 

Notice the use of them and they? That’s separating language. When we feel threatened, when we feel put upon or burdened by another, we might begin using “they and them” language as a means of separating ourselves from the other. Christ calls us to look upon the other, even those who abuse or persecute us, as an object of love. They are us and we are them!

 [Slide] Be merciful as your father in heaven is merciful. In other words, have compassion for the other. Let your heart feel love and concern for them in their need.

“Do not judge and do not condemn”, Jesus says. Do not condemn and you will avoid being condemned.  The word translated as condemned means to pronounce guilty with a feeling of vengeance.

 

HBO celebrated the 20^th anniversary of Harry Potter recently. So Michele and I watched the Harry Potter films. Remember in the second film, The Chamber of Secrets, when Filch’s cat was found frozen stone cold by some kind of magic?  [Slide] Filch, the caretaker at Hogwarts, was so upset about it that he screamed “I want to see some punishment!” That’s what condemning others looks like. Our heart lusts for vengeance.

 

But what does God say about revenge? The apostle Paul wrote:

 

[Slide] “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. (Rom 12:19)

 

Paul is quoting Moses in Deuteronomy 32:35. He goes on to quote the Proverbs,

 

On the contrary:

 

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;

    if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

 

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Rom 12:20-21)

 

[Slide] I realize that when I hold a grudge against another, wanting to see them suffer punishment for some wrong they have done, I am placing myself in God’s position as judge. What right do I have to act as judge over another person? Granted, there are those legal experts who preside as judges in our court system, but ultimately God is judge. [Slide] All of us will stand before Christ and give an account for what we have done and neglected to do. But when we judge and condemn others, we are placing ourselves in God’s seat. It’s like we’re saying, “OK God move over. Take a break. I got this! And we place ourselves in God’s throne. How ridiculous is that idea?! But that’s what I am doing when I judge another person!

 

Jesus said, “The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.” If we are to think and behave with the love of Jesus, we need to humble ourselves. We need to take ourselves off that high and mighty throne in our minds, and revere Jesus as king. Disciples happily submit to Christ’s authority over our lives and behavior.

 

Christ calls His followers to follow His teachings. We are called to put His words into practice. Our obedience is likely to be hindered, until we deal with what’s inside our hearts.

 

Jesus said forgive others and then you will be forgiven. [Slide]

Jesus taught in His Sermon on the Mount that unless you forgive others, your Father in heaven will not forgive you. Ouch!

 

Forgiveness is hard work! There is wisdom in Jesus’ sharp warning. Our relationships are a reflection of our relationship with God. If something is off in my relationship with someone, then there is something lacking in my relationship with God.

 

 [Slide] Did you know the coat hanger is a symbol for marriage? The coat hanger is shaped like a triangle. The bottom of the triangle represents the relationship between a person and others. In marriage we often only think about the relationship between the spouses, but all human relationships are triangular in nature. At the top of the coat hanger is the shepherd’s crook.

 

We’ve all heard King David’s psalm. “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.” Or I have everything I need because the Lord is the one watching over me. He leads me to nourishing green pastures and refreshes me by still waters. He leads me on right paths for the glory of His name and defends me against evil in the darkest of times. I will not fear because the Lord is at my side. And because the Lord is my shepherd, I lack no good thing. He blesses me with abundant provision and honors me at His table, even under the jealous eyes of my enemies. My soul overflows in satisfaction and praise for God’s goodness showered upon me. And because of Him, I am secure with the Lord forever.

 

Our relationship with our shepherd is the issue at hand. When things go wrong down here between one person and another, you can bet there is something off in one’s relationship with God. We aren’t fully trusting, nor are we acknowledging the authority of the One who truly has authority. But the more I trust God and submit to His authority over my heart and life, the stronger and healthier my relationships with others will be.

 

What Jesus is really driving at is what’s in our heart. How much do we trust God? In what ways are we holding back what belongs to God? How are we reluctant to follow Christ’s teaching to forgive, to love?

 

 

 

 

Jesus said that the measure of mercy and grace we give to others will come back to us. We will be repaid.

 

[Slide] “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:38)

 

Jesus seems is teaching something similar to the Proverbs.

 

One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered. (Proverbs 11:24-25)

 

And Paul wrote in regard to generosity toward others, “whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” (2nd Corinthians 9:6)

 

Jesus taught if we are blinded by our own prejudices and resentments, and judgmental attitudes toward our neighbors, then how can we lead anyone? The blind will fall into the pit and those who follow along fall into the pit with them.  How can we sit in judgement toward another person when we are blind to our own sinful thinking?

 

[Slide] “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Luke 6:41-12)

 

In other words, how can I point out somebody else’s sins, when I’ve got plenty of my own issues to work through? Instead of trying to correct the errors of others, we ought to first work on ourselves.

Jesus knew that would take a lifetime, which means there’s no time for obsessing over someone else’s shortcomings.

 

[Slide] Jesus then turns the metaphor from blind leading the blind to trees bearing fruit. He’s still leading us to look at our own lives, instead of judging the lives of others. Jesus teaches that good trees bear good fruit. Bad trees cannot bear good fruit, nor do good trees bear bad fruit. You can know a person by their actions. Their words and their actions are the fruit born from their inner lives.

 

[Slide] “People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers.” If your behavior is prickly, hostile, unwelcoming, then people are going to avoid you. They won’t be looking to you for anything good. To use a contemporary proverb, “Honey attracts, but sour grapes repel.”

 

[Slide] A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. (Luke 6:44-45)

 

But what’s stored up in your heart?

          A judgmental attitude?

          Resentment, an unforgiving spirit?

          Pain masked by anger, cynicism and bitterness?

 

The things we think and say and do reveal what’s in our hearts. Jesus would free us of these burdens. They are barriers to Christlike behavior.

 

I’ll be honest with you. I struggle with this stuff. I live with PTSD. I struggle with anger over abuses and betrayals in my life. It’s difficult letting go, but that is just what it means to forgive, to let go.

 

 [Slide] There is a story that African natives used to capture monkeys by placing a shiny piece of metal or glass inside a hollowed out coconut. The coconut was connected to a rope at one end and a hole on the other. The monkey would find the shiny object when inspecting the coconut for food. The curious monkey would reach inside to grab the object. With its hand around the shiny object, it can’t pull its hand back out. The hunter then pulls the rope and coconut, with the monkey dragging along, trapped by its refusal to let go of the shiny object.

 

What’s the shiny object for us? Is it security from our enemies, plenty for our families… health? God promises us all these things. But we replace faith with fear. Instead of trusting God to work justice, we want to punish those who do us wrong. And by refusing to let go of resentment and fear we get trapped, just like the monkey.

 

So hear Jesus once more: Be merciful as your father in heaven is merciful. Have compassion. Be generous with His love.

 

If we are truly listening, we will put Jesus’ words into practice.  If we continue in the ways of the world by backbiting, blaming, hating and instigating conflict, then we will remain weak like a house built on sand. We will remain trapped, a weak witness to Christ. But when we share a generous and compassionate love from the overflow of God’s goodness in our hearts, we will grow strong like a house built on a solid foundation. Our lives will withstand everything the world throws at us.

         

Let’s pray:

 

Lord Jesus, You are the Great Physician who heals every wound. Lord look upon our wounded hearts and heal us of every resentment, every regret, and free from the chairs of fear. Turn our eyes away from all that causes us grief, disgust, and fear. Keep our eyes on You, the light of the world. With Your light, drive out the darkness within us. Cleansed of hate and fear, and filled with your love, lead us into loving action. Amen