What Is Love? [4-13-2025]

April 13, 2025

Luke 6:27-45

“What is Love?”

Here’s today’s passage:

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye.

For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

Is there a lot in these verses to talk about? Yes, there is. We’re going to bullet point the hugest points before we get to our primary focus.

Let’s do this:

A backhanded slap on the cheek could be a literal slap or an insult. Either way, it’s an immediate threat to your well-being. By maintaining your composure, you turn an act of violence intended to cause harm into an act of kindness intended to do good. If possible, deescalate the situation.

Outdo one another in generosity. Often, we give in order to get.

That’s the premise upon which the prosperity gospel is built. Give

without expecting anything in return.

Treat others the way you want to be treated. How many times have you heard me say, “We excuse in ourselves behavior we condemn in others?” Verse thirty-one basically says, don’t be that kind of person.

If you only love those who love you, you are living a closed-off life. What about being a positive presence in the lives of those you don’t know? Jesus expects us to be gracious at every level of life. Do kind things without expecting anything in return.

When Jesus says to lend money expecting nothing in return, the literal translation is to lose hope. In other words, you ain’t getting nothing back. When it comes to money, Jesus says we need to find the balance between helping others and material self-interest.

Respond mercifully to those who seek you harm. When it feels like you’re under attack, cool, calm, collected is the demeanor for someone who is confident in Christ. As Proverbs 26:4 reminds us, “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself.”

Jesus is not expecting us to be devoid of discernment. We judge people and situations all the time. As Fred Craddock, one of my favorite preachers from a generation ago, once said, “Without justice and fairness, grace degenerates into permissiveness, just as justice without grace hardens into cruelty.” Jesus is referring to condemning judgment. Leave final judgment to God. As the prophet Daniel shows, in the end the wicked will be judged and the saints will reign with Jesus. Therefore, we will not be troubled by the wickedness of the world.

We don’t give generously in order to receive an abundance of material blessings. We give generously because our nature has been transformed.

The log and speck is a deliberate cartoon image painted by Jesus. As someone wisely observed, the cure for thinking oneself better than others is a mirror.

Finally, goodness comes from a good heart. A good heart is that which has been transformed by faith in Jesus Christ. Remember, the most important thing about Jesus isn’t that he gets us. It’s that he changes us.

Now, on to our focus for the rest of our time:

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.”

For me, those are the most counterintuitive words in the Sermon on the

Plain.

What’s the not normal part of these two verses? Love your enemies. Love your enemies. Love your enemies. Did I say love your enemies? Is Jesus being unrealistic? Is he being unreasonable? We live in a culture of not loving your enemies and not blessing those who curse you. But love is the way of Jesus and his followers. Love your enemies.

Decades ago, I went to the sentencing of someone who, in a moment of distraction, caused an accident in which a young woman was killed. It was a horrible, tragic, negligent moment. He was truly remorseful. He plead guilty. Any one of us could have found ourselves in a similar circumstance. In the courtroom that day, hatred and anger poured out of her family and friends. The ugly side of human nature was on full display.

Let’s connect that to so many other areas of life. There’s hatred for abortionists and people in cults and homosexuals and the sexually promiscuous and Muslims and terrorists and global warming deniers and big corporations and drug dealers and capitalists and Marxists and the list goes on and on. Who people hate is truly nondiscriminatory. In many regards, hate has become a virtue.

But Jesus stops us in our tracks. Do not hate. To put a finer point on it, the only thing we are to hate is our own sin. Otherwise, love your enemies and do good to those who hate you.

I’m sure you’ve heard the cliché, “If he was on fire and lying in a ditch, I wouldn’t pee on him to put it out.” Harsh, right? But it accurately captures how hatred distorts attitudes and actions. Jesus shows us a better way.

I love how former NFL player Robert Griffin III captures these verses:

“Choose kindness. There is so much hate in this world, but you can’t meet hate with hate and expect to build a better world for our kids and the next generation.

Choose kindness not prejudice and discrimination against entire groups of people.

Choose kindness not hate of those who don’t have the same skin color as you.

Choose kindness not hate of people who don’t have the same life experiences as you.

Let’s choose kindness every chance we get.”

Do you know what the Dead Sea Scrolls are? They were scrolls of Scripture text produced by a Jewish sect, the Essenes. The Essenes were around at the time of Jesus. Here’s one of their values – “love all that God has chosen and hate all He has rejected.” They also wrote, “Love all the sons of light and hate all the sons of darkness.”

Jesus is counter-cultural. Here are two promises from God’s Word:

“Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.” {Deuteronomy 32:35}

“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” {Romans 12:14-21}

Paul is simply building on what Jesus taught. In the end, let God deal with your enemies. Here’s something you might want to write down:

DON’T ALLOW THE EVIL FROM ANOTHER PERSON TO OVERWHELM YOU.

You are to love them and pray for them. Are you doing that? Do you desire salvation for your enemies? Do you desire salvation for those who hate you or despise you? If you believe that your sins have been forgiven through Jesus’ death on the cross, then the answer to those questions is a definitive “Yes.”

Why do we do this? Because we are different. We’re not normal. Knowing

that the death of Jesus Christ saves us from sin and death, it reorients our hearts. Our new disposition is to love our enemies and pray for those who abuse us. That is transformation. Here’s the whole point. This is what transformation means. All of these challenging verses mean one simple thing:

FROM A GOOD HEART COMES GOODNESS.

As we move toward Good Friday and Easter, we close with this observation from Charles Spurgeon:

AND BEST OF ALL, THE HIGHEST PORTRAITURE OF JESUS, TRY TO FORGIVE YOUR ENEMIES, AS HE DID; AND LET THOSE SUBLIME WORDS OF YOUR MASTER, “FATHER, FORGIVE THEM; FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO,” ALWAYS RING IN YOUR EARS. FORGIVE, AS YOU HOPE TO BE FORGIVEN. HEAP COALS OF FIRE ON THE HEAD OF YOUR FOE BY YOUR KINDNESS TO HIM. GOOD FOR EVIL, RECOLLECT, IS GODLIKE. BE GODLIKE, THEN; AND IN ALL WAYS AND BY ALL MEANS, SO LIVE THAT ALL MAY SAY OF YOU, “THAT PERSON HAS BEEN WITH JESUS.”