A World of Hurt

 So - here we are, brothers and sisters in Christ. And we always agree 100% of the time - right? Even amongst Christians who have shared values and a common goal, we could find something about which to squabble. But we're family - and by God's grace we can overlook an awful lot of things in the family, right?

- But what about the people outside of the Church who don't share our one unifying truth - that Jesus is Lord? How many disagreements could we have with them? There are those who deny the existence of God - and that places us in direct opposition to their world view. Many are becoming more and more vocal and even hostile against Christianity and a belief in God.

And in an ideal world, yes - I would like non-Christians to at least respect God and our religious beliefs. But the truth is, spiritually speaking, as stated in scripture - the world is at war with God. Why would I be surprised or offended when a non-believer in the world disagrees with a believer? The question for us then becomes...

I. How do we respond?

I'm at times grieved by the world, I'm saddened by the evil in the world, I'm disappointed and frustrated by the increasing rejection of Christian values in our country, I'm apprehensive about raising children in this world... It seems like every group has protected status except Christians. TV and Hollywood and the media mock Christian values, and anyone who simply takes a stand for Christ is labeled an extremist. And there's a temptation to get justifiably angry.

And that can be our usual response - it can be my usual response. There are times when Erin threatens to turn off the TV because something got me started on one thing or another. And while it may be 'okay' for me to lecture my TV - my relationship with my TV isn't a big deal. However, as a follower of Jesus - I don't really have the luxury of letting my personal feelings and frustrations get in the way of what I'm called to do.

What I mean is - do we ever let our frustrations, our offense at the 'garbage of this world' to get in the way of loving the lost? Do we get so exercised about some particular cause or issue that we forget who we follow and how He viewed and responded to the world?

Many people who mock or attack Christian values are unaware of the truth and the ones who do know better aren't really attacking me - they're actually fighting against God. The offense isn't really against me personally, but God. And as God, He can choose to respond however He pleases. But He has instructed me as to how I personally should respond....

A. With grace

- But that's not always overly... satisfying. If someone insults me or my beliefs, or my God, I want to fight back. - I just shared a passage from Matthew three weeks ago that addressed this idea - but I wanted to look at it again - this time from an extended passage from Luke. I wanted to look at this 'chunk' of Jesus' teaching in a bigger context from Luke 6:20-35 (NIV)...

Looking at his disciples, he said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. (21) Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. (22) Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. (23) Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

(24) But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. (25) Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. (26) Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets. (27) But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, (28) bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. (29) If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also.

If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. (30) Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. (31) Do to others as you would have them do to you. (32) If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. (33) And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that.

(34) And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. (35) But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked."

"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you" ...but what if I don't want to...? I wish that I had a much stronger desire to love people who do me wrong, but I don't always feel that way. A lot of the time I want to 'get even' - but we're called to 'do good' to our 'enemies'.

Now that's not saying that we can't take a stand for the truth - we should - always. But how we take that stand makes all the difference. Am I responding out of love or anger? When I see someone's Facebook post blasting my beliefs and values, or see Christians portrayed in the media as 'bigoted, hate filled crazies' - I don't always want to show love.

But scripture doesn't say "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you only when you feel like it." My point is - Jesus gave me a command and the temptation is to put a lot of qualifiers on it; to explain 'what Jesus really meant was...' And I'm not saying that we're called to be 'doormats' but Jesus did say to love my enemies and to...

B. Be a blessing

Jesus always raises the bar of expectations - not only should I not strike back, but I should actively be a blessing to my enemies - wow. And many times, we read things like this - and we nod in acknowledgement, but then we still choose to do things our way, the way we feel it should be done. But God's ways are always the best ways and He always has reasons for His commands.

1 Peter 3:9 (NIV)

Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

When my boys were much smaller, one day they were begging me for snacks. And they knew to ask Daddy because Daddy gives the best snacks. I was just about to raid the pantry when I noticed Benji, who was two at the time, standing on the couch, already munching away on something. I said, "Buddy, what are you eating?" Now he didn't really talk much yet, but he clearly said, "Pop Tart".

Now I knew we hadn't had Pop Tarts for weeks, so I asked him, "Where'd you get that?" He pointed and pulled back the couch cushion and grunted, "Here..." I was preparing to give him a great snack and he chose to eat a stale, disgusting Pop Tart tucked under a couch cushion.

But don't we do the same thing? God give us commands, He tells us to be a blessing to our enemies - so that we also can receive a blessing from Him - God prepares this great banquet feast of blessings for us, but we say, "No thanks, I'll do things my way - I'll settle for this old Pop Tart under the couch cushion..."

When we learn to do things God's way - everyone is blessed. You see, the way God wants us to respond to the world is bigger than us! If we do the natural thing and respond in anger it puts even more distance between us and our adversary. That's not God's plan! Being angry at the world when they sin isn't going to accomplish much but leave us feeling upset and bitter. God's plan is not for us to 'have our way' or win an argument or even to avoid pain or loss -but God's larger plan is to...

II. Save the world

And we are called to the incredible task of showing love to the people in the world even if they hate us. And that is exactly what Jesus modeled. Even though Jesus knew He would be rejected by His own people, He knew that He would be nailed to a cross by those He came to save - He came anyway.

John 3:17 (NIV)

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

And this has always been God's larger plan. God has always wanted His people to show the world the radical difference that following Him makes in a person's life. - And it's not only the New Testament that commands us to respond with love to those who don't like us, to those who are against us. We find this passage back in the Old Testament in Exodus 23:4-5 (NIV)...

If you come across your enemy's ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to take it back to him. (5) If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help him with it.

Why would God instruct His people to do that? Is it because God is just an 'animal lover'? God wants His people to be, and has always desired His people to...

A. Be different

People who don't know God would probably enjoy seeing their enemy's donkey in trouble. God's people are to be visibly and dramatically different from the world in the way they respond to people. We are to be different not so we can go around saying how good we are, but in order to show how great God is! Peter wrote this in 1 Peter 2:9-10 (NIV)...

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (10) Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Human nature says to love those who love you and hate those who hate you. That makes sense to us - but God calls us to something that seems to go in direct opposition to everything we see around us and even what we may feel inside. But it's only by the power of God's Holy Spirit in us that we can learn to respond differently - that we can learn to respond in love.

And did you catch that part in the passage we just read - 'that you may declare the praises of him who called you'? How do we declare His praise? - By living differently. And we don't only declare that difference with our words - but with our actions; how we respond to the world - how we respond to those who do not know Jesus. God calls us to...

B. Be ambassadors

Right now - in this war between Russia and Ukraine - what's the job of a Ukrainian ambassador? They represent their country and its interests and speak up for their people. Their goal is to works for peace between their country and the invading country. They have to give up their time, their self interests, even put their own personal safety on the line for the sake of their home country. - All in the interests of peace!

If we are to be God's ambassadors, we need to put aside our own desires and feelings and adopt God's plan to win the world for Him. Too often, when the world attacks us - or the Church, or Christian values - instead of responding as ambassadors on God's behalf with love - we let our own personal feelings dictate how we respond rather than submitting our will to God's. We've probably all seen Christians respond in anger or frustration to the offense - rather than responding to the person in love. Christians can say some very 'un-Christ like' things to non-Christians at times.

'But it's not fair! They get to lie about us, and mock the Church and our values - they get away with saying all sorts of mean and hateful things about us!' Yes, they do. And Jesus would probably respond with a phrase He used before - "Father, forgive them - for they know not what they are doing".

...We are to win the world by being different, by being people known for our abounding love and grace. Too often, we want to condemn, we want to fight back. But it's the Holy Spirit's job to convict people's hearts -our job is to show them how Jesus loves them. And that's hard. And I need to work on that.

1 Peter 3:15-16 (NIV)

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, (16) keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

Our calling is to share the incredible, life changing love of Jesus Christ! And one way we do that is by loving our enemies.

So What?

One thing I'd like to point out is that 'loving our enemies' doesn't mean surrendering to them. We need to show them to whom we've already surrendered. I've been in plenty of situations where I've disagreed with non-believers. So far, getting mad at them doesn't seem to get them to a Church service on Sunday. But it's hard to go wrong with showing grace...

Is it possible we get so caught up in fighting battles that we lose sight of the bigger war for lost souls? - Of course those outside the Church disagree with us - they're headed a different direction than us. The world is looking at things one way and we're looking from a very different vantage point. But if we all headed toward Jesus - as we get closer to Jesus, we'd get closer to each other - and our views and values would all become more and more like Jesus' views and values. And we'd find we then have a lot more in common than before we knew Jesus - that's what brings unity...

We can't really expect anyone to agree with us on moral or social issues if we don't introduce them to Jesus. When we agree on Jesus, then everything else falls into place.

We talk to our friends, coworkers, neighbors and family all the time about all sorts of topics and issues, world events, politics, entertainment and culture. And you're probably going to get tired of hearing me say it - but we need to talk to people about Jesus. We need to talk to people about spiritual things - talk to them graciously about God and the Church. People don't necessarily need to know what we think about a lot of different things - they need to know Jesus.