1 Samuel 26:2,7-9,11-13,22-23, 1 Corinthians 15:45-49, Luke 6:27-38
Because as Christians. We are called to something different. We are called not simply to refrain from doing bad things, but to actively do good things.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Please take a seat.
so as we head into Lent, we prepare to think about our character’s. Who are we? Who does God call us to be? What does it mean to be a Christian?
Well, let’s start with our Old Testament reading with Samuel, and you can see Saul has done something dreadful to David usurped the throne. David has no reason to give Saul anything. And God puts in David’s hands this perfect opportunity to slay his enemy. It couldn’t be more perfect.
A deep sleep came upon Saul’s camp, and David was able to walk in. David walks in and he finds the spear right next door to Saul, and Abishai says to him, David, we can end this now. Let’s do it. And picks up the spear. But David says, no, let’s not do that.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure that I would necessarily have the same restraints. David not only didn’t take revenge, but he left the camp with the sword and made a proclamation said to everybody within hearing that he wouldn’t raise his hand against the Lord’s anointed. Now, that speaks to David’s character. It speaks to who God has called David to be. What would you have done in the same situation if somebody had taken everything from you?
If somebody had robbed you of your life, your livelihood, your living, and everything around you, and you were sent out into the desert to be on your own, and you had that opportunity before you? What would you do? But that last line helps us understand where our scripture is taking us today. David will not raise his hand against the Lord’s anointed, and that is setting the Jewish people out as the anointed, as the people who will be saved. And so David will not raise his hand against the people who are set aside to be saved.
But Jesus goes further, a lot further. And Jesus talks about everyone, even your enemies. Jesus doesn’t just say the people that you know and that you like. Jesus says that you have to forgive and you have to act in the way that David acts to everybody, and particularly you have to do it to your enemies. You have to go that step further.
Jesus sets out exactly what it means to live, as Paul puts it in Corinthians a heavenly life, to be a heavenly man. And so this commandment to love your enemies is probably the most debated and the most discussed in theological colleges and amongst theologians. What does it mean? Can I come up with a way to change it so that Jesus somehow tells me that what I should do is hit my enemy? Can I change it so that somehow Jesus says that I have to destroy my enemy?
Can I change it so that all I have to really do is ignore my enemy? Well, let’s look at it. Let’s look and see if we can do that. As you know, I’m not normally a fan of doing Greek in sermons, but in this case, it’s important because the word for love here, the English word love is simply not enough to describe love in scripture. There are three words for love that we want to try and understand.
There is love in terms of sex, in terms of physical love, the love that you have for your wife, for your husband, for your boyfriend, for your girlfriend. There is love that you have for your family and for your friends, a kinship, that special bond. And then there is love there is a love of benevolence. That is a love that is for everybody else, Eran, love of sex, love in the sexual act, Philian, love for your friends and family, Aagapan, And that’s the word that we have here in the scripture. Love, beneficent, love. That Agapan. It’s a huge concept. It’s really big.
And it’s that love. It’s that love, that Agapan. That means that the love that David still has for Saul means that he didn’t act on the opportunity that was in front of him. Because David loved Saul, he had that love of benevolence. That is a love that it means that no matter what you do to me, I desire nothing but the highest good for you.
It’s a love that encourages us to go out of our way, to be good and kind.
We cannot love our enemies as partners, Eran or as loved ones – Philian – that’s not right. But we can seek nothing but good for our enemies. And when you start to understand that’s what this word means in this scripture, then it starts to open it up. This love, this Agapan is a doing word.
It’s not a passive word. It’s not something that you can put on a Tshirt. God is love. It’s a doing word. It is something that you have to practice and go out and do.
The Christian expression of love for our enemies is an act of love. It is doing love. It is not the absence of bad, but the action of doing good. And it’s one of the defining differences between Christians and many other faiths and philosophies that we see in the world. Jewish scripture, the Stoics, Confucius, amongst many others, have a very similar saying.
The way that they phrase it is like this,
What is hateful to thee do not do to another.
Do you see the difference there? What is hateful to you don’t do to another. It’s a negative.
But to be Christian, to follow Jesus means to DO unto others what you would have them DO unto you. Do you see the difference? And that is one of the defining differences between Christians and other faiths and philosophies. It’s one of the things that I say to people when they say, well, it’s all the same, isn’t it? No, it’s not.
Because as Christians. We are called to something different. We are called not simply to refrain from doing bad things, but to actively do good things.
Jesus goes further than that. He says, not only must we do good things, but we have to do the extra thing. Jesus gives examples of people doing good things. Even sinners. Sinners.
Even sinners. Even sinners. And then he dismisses all of it by saying, So how is that special? How is that different?
It’s one thing to be as good as your neighbor. It’s one thing to be as good as people around you. It’s one thing to be as good as the world tells you is good enough. But we as Christians measure ourselves and model ourselves against the heavenly man, not the earthly man. That’s what Paul is pulling out there in Corinthians.
We are called to do more. We are called to be better when we call ourselves Christians. This is the measure. This is the model. God’s love embraces the saint and the sinner.
And it is his love that we must copy that we must emulate that we must model if we truly want to be a heavenly people.
Amen
I know how much you all love a bit of Greek on a Sunday.