And for our Old Testament reading, please turn to the book of Deuteronomy. Chapter 9. And we will read this morning verses 1 through 12. Deuteronomy 9. 1 through 12. Listen to this. This is the very word of God. Here, O Israel, you are to cross over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, who can stand before the sons of Anak?
Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the Lord your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly as the Lord has promised you. Do not say in your heart after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, it is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land. Whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God is driving them out before you. And that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.
Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. Even at Horeb, you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you.
When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. And the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God. And on them were all the words that the Lord had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. And at the end of 40 days and 40 nights, the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. Then the Lord said to me, arise, go down quickly from here for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made themselves a metal image. And then for our New Testament reading, and the text for this morning’s message. Please turn to Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 6, where our text will be verses 32 through 36. Luke 6, 32 through 36.
And 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 land 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.
That’s the reading of God’s word. Let’s pray that he’ll bless it to us now. Heavenly Father, as we come to the preaching of the word, we pray that we, by faith, might hear Christ speaking to us. We pray that he would be exalted among us and that you would refresh our souls with the gospel. We ask this in Christ’s name, amen. Verse 35 says that if we love our enemies, do good and lend expecting nothing in return, that we’ll be sons of the Most High.
That got me to thinking about family resemblances. I taught in a Christian school for nine years. We’ve all seen family resemblances in others, and there’s lots of examples of it on display in this room today. But I was thinking of a young man that I met who was the son of one of my colleagues, actually. This man had two sons. One of them was a senior my first year there, so I had a little bit of time with him before he graduated. But the other, the older son, had gone off and graduated college. And I got to meet him for the first time.
And obviously, there were some similarities between these younger men and their father, with whom I taught. But what really struck me was one day that older son who I had not known very well Was giving a presentation during our Sunday school hour at our church or maybe it was before Sunday school because he was getting ready to go on a short-term mission trip and he was giving a presentation about that and And as he stood in front of the gathering and as he spoke, I was thinking, not only does he look a lot like his father, a lot of facial features and just physical attributes in which he resembled his father, but even the mannerisms, just the way he carries himself and little things like that, traits and behaviors, in all those things, it was so obvious. He was just like his dad.
We’re looking just at verses 32 to 36 in Luke 6 this morning. They cover similar and even parallel themes from the verses we looked at last time. And it’s not unusual, for instance, when ministers are preaching through Luke, to treat verses 27 through 36 as a unit. In fact, a lot of commentators, if their commentators are sort of sermonic in their layout, they’ll often take that whole section. But as I was trying to figure out how to parcel up Luke to preach through it, I thought there’s enough extra content that deserves our careful attention in verses 32 through 36 to consider it separately. But there’s definitely overlap.
The thing that really comes to the fore in these verses in particular, as Jesus is teaching us how to relate to others and specifically how to relate to those who aren’t our friends, those who hate us, those who are our enemies, what comes out in this passage is that the way we’re to relate to such people is in imitation of God.
And these verses teach us that the imitation of our Heavenly Father is the surest evidence that we are truly His children. just like my colleague’s son, who stood up in front of the Sunday school class, and I was like, that is Scott’s son, I can tell. His facial expressions, his mannerisms, just little things he says. You know, some of it maybe was learned behavior, but a lot of it’s just in his genes, because he’s that man’s son. Well, when we do good to those who hate us, when we pray for those who spitefully use us, when we love those who are unkind to us, we’re reflecting the image of our Heavenly Father. And so the imitation of our Heavenly Father is the surest evidence that we’re truly His children.
Now, for those of you who’ve come from out of town, I hope you’re not feeling gypped, but there’s just two points this morning, two-point sermon today. If you want a three-point sermon, come back tonight. The two points are this. It basically covers these two categories of people that we’re considering or that come out in the text.
That’s, first of all, the sons of this world. They’re not called that here, but that’s what they are, the sons of this world. That’s point number one. The second point is we’ll consider children of the Heavenly Father, which expression is also not in the text, but that’s what it’s talking about. First of all, passage from Luke’s gospel brings to our attention a category of people that we could call the sons of this world. It doesn’t use that expression, sons of this world, to contrast with sons of the most high. The term used in the passage, and it’s used three times, is sinners. You see it once in each of those verses, 32, 33, and 34.
And as Christ talks about the practice of sinners, he’s telling his disciples, don’t think you’re doing something noble. Don’t think you’re doing a virtuous thing if you love those who love you. Don’t think you deserve kudos for being kind to those who are kind to you.
And then that phrase that he delivers three times is, even sinners do that. Even sinners do that much. Now, to use this term sinners and to contrast it to some extent with his disciples, he’s talking about sinners. If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
It would be fair for us to pause and say, hey, wait a minute, aren’t we all sinners? In fact, didn’t we just a few minutes ago confess our sins? Yes, yes, we’re all sinners. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But there are redeemed, repentant, converted sinners. And then there are sinners who are still dead in trespasses and sins. And the term sinners is being used here to denote, as a general term, the people of the world.
Those who, up to this point, are still in a state of nature, we might call it, a state of nature, their fallen nature, rather than in a state of grace. They’re still fallen. They’re still apart from God. They’re still without hope in this world. The term sinners in these verses should be understood to refer to those who do not live according to the principles of God’s kingdom. In other words, they’re still of the world.
And that’s why I’m speaking of them this morning and in this context as the sons of this world. When you read the book of Revelation, if you’ve ever studied it carefully, you’ll see many references to things that will happen to or things that will come upon those who dwell on the earth. And even that is really, theologically speaking, it’s technical jargon, and it’s referring to those, not just who dwell physically or living, existing on the earth, but those whose life and whose hearts and everything is bound up in this earth. So that phrase that you’ll see in Revelation, and usually it’s in the ESV, it’s phrased, those who dwell on earth, that’s talking about this same category of people, the sons of this world, sinners.
And Christ makes this observation. He points out to his disciples, and he points out to us, too. Those people, those poor souls, love those who love them. Those people do good to those who do good to them. Those people will lend, just so long as they’re sure that they’ll get back what they lended. get back the same amount.
And so Christ says, if that’s all you do, what benefit is it? Now, if you’re looking at the ESV translation of this text, you’ll notice in verse 32, he asks, what benefit is that to you? He asked the same question in verse 33. And in verse 34, He asks, what credit is that to you?
So obviously, it brings up the question, is there a different word there? And if so, is there sort of a play being made on the idea of lending and credit? And the answer is no. In fact, in all three verses, I’m not sure why they translated it a different way in verse 34, but it’s the same word in all three of those verses in the Greek.
And in fact, the word happens to be charis, which is the word that we normally translate grace. So if you love those who love you, what grace is that to you? Grace in the sense of, do you deserve thanks for that? Do you deserve any kind of commendation or praise for loving those who love you?
And the point Jesus is making is, no, you really don’t, because everybody does that. To do those things is simply to follow nature. It’s no more than unbelievers do. It’s no more than the world does. As one commentator expressed it, he said reciprocity is not enough. Some of you kids might not know that word reciprocity. It just means you do for somebody the same that they did for you. It’s kind of a one for one trade. If they do something nice for you, you do something nice for them, that’s reciprocity.
And the message of the scripture, the message of our Lord Jesus is that’s not enough. What we read about in verses 32 to 34 are not gospel kindness, they’re merely an exchange of benefits. So if we love those who love us, Do good to those who do good to us, lend only expecting to receive back the same. As J.C. Ryle puts it, our practice does not rise an inch above the level of an old Roman or Greek idolater.
And that’s the standard, the legacy, and the praise of the sons of this world. And so Jesus says, you’re my disciples. And so this is what you need to do. This is his instruction to the children of the heavenly father. I love that hymn and would like to have included it in the liturgy today, but we’re not going to sing it today. But when he says you’ll be sons of the most high, that’s just another way of saying you’ll be children of your heavenly father. And that’s what we are.
It’s what the apostle John wrote, isn’t it? Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us that we should be called the sons of God, the children of God, and such we are. In fact, we are God’s children because something happens when a person is united to Christ. When a person is united to Christ, he or she is born again. They receive new life.
Any such person becomes, as it says in 2 Corinthians 5.17, a new creation. They’re converted. Talked about that at Men’s Fellowship just Friday, about what it means to be converted. It means we’re changed. We’re not the same. as we used to be.
A change has begun on the inside and that change works its way out and it will eventually culminate and it will reach consummation in the age to come. But it’s begun already. And once it begins, it can’t be stopped. Because he began a good work and you will be faithful to bring it to completion. He promises.
Any such person is also therefore adopted into the family of God, which is why we can call him our father. Formerly, we were sons of this world like everyone else, but now we’re sons of the Most High. In other words, a Christian is a child of the Heavenly Father. And by grace, through the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, children of the Heavenly Father begin to show the family resemblance. We begin to, I say it reverently, we begin to look like Christ. We begin to look like our Heavenly Father. How? Well, he tells us in verse 35, through these exhortations, through these imperatives.
Love your enemies. Do good, implied in that is do good to those who hate you. Lend, even if you think you might not get back what you loaned. Because normally people don’t do those things. But because you’re born again, because you’ve been changed, because you are sons of the Most High, you’ll do these things. There’s no credit, he says. There’s no commendation for simply reflecting the world and its practices and its standards.
These things, the things that we see in verse 35, go beyond the mere exchange of benefits. They go beyond mere reciprocity. And if by grace you do them, By grace, you will be rewarded. And let’s remember the reward is also a matter of grace. He says, if you do them, your reward will be great.
And we’ve got to keep in mind, we’ve got to remember this isn’t something earned by merit. It’s not something we deserve. Because even the desire to do those good works, is wrought in us by God. He prepared those good works beforehand that we might walk in them. And so then that reward that comes to us that he graciously gives is exactly that. It’s a blessing, it’s a reward.
It’s like, it’s the same as with Abraham. When God appeared to Abraham, Abraham hadn’t been seeking God. Abraham was living in Ur of the Chaldees, worshiping the moon and worshiping other false gods and God appeared to him. And God said to Abraham, your reward will be very great. It wasn’t something he’d done anything to earn, but God calls it a reward. And here Jesus says, love your enemies, do good, and land expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great. Same words he spoke to Abraham.
Because the blessings come from the same covenant. They come from the heart of the same gracious God. And if grace is at work in our lives in these ways, it’s proof that we are sons of God. There’s an article in Table Talk magazine back in 2023 that spoke of this. In fact, it was kind of expounding this very passage. Listen to what the writer said. Love for our enemies is one of the strongest evidences that we actually belong to Jesus.
Only those who have been transformed by the Lord can actually do it. Only if we have been made children of God can we be merciful as he is merciful. So when it says in verse 35, you’ll be sons of the most high, It’s not that we earn or achieve sonship. It’s that we’re exhibiting the evidence that we have received sonship, that we are sons, that we are daughters. Because God bestows his gifts and his kindness even upon the worst of the sinners.
That’s why we read the passage that we did from Deuteronomy. Because as we think back on God delivering his people out of bondage in Egypt and bringing them into the promised land, sometimes we might lapse into this assumption that there is this sort of golden age where the Israelites were all doing exactly what God told them to do. Wasn’t the case. And as God, through his servant Moses, rehearsed that to them in Deuteronomy 9, he reminds them that from the time they came out of Egypt, to the time they reached the shores of Jordan.
They’d been grumbling and rebelling, disobeying. So God bestowed, but he was continually gracious to them. I don’t know if you’ve ever taken time to reflect on this, but think of the supernatural things God was doing for the Israelites as they wandered through the wilderness. He was leading them with this supernatural pillar of cloud, that at least in some measure was providing shade for them in the fiery heat, the blistering heat of the wilderness. At night, that cloud would turn into fire and give them light. This was supernatural.
And despite all their rebellion, he never withdrew that. Every day he was giving them manna to eat. They got bored of it. They got tired of it and grumbled about it. But he was feeding them supernaturally with this manna. And the manna never stopped, even though all they do is complain.
That’s our God. He bestows gifts. He bestows kindness on the worst of sinners, including grumbling covenant people. And so our generous giving When God gives us opportunity to give to others, to lend to others, expecting nothing in return, reflects the character of God, because that’s exactly what he does. J.C. Ryle said, every year, God pours benefits on millions who do not honor the hand from which they come or thank the giver of them. Yet every year, these benefits are continued.
You think about people have been wondrously gifted by God. God bestows gifts of intellect. God bestows gifts of artistic talent. God is the one who gives in various measures to different people, things like athletic ability. Those are all from him. And brilliantly gifted stars parade and flaunt their skills and don’t give a thought to the source of them. And they’re going to be accountable to God on the Day of Judgment for how they use those amazing gifts that he gave them.
Now, these instructions that Jesus gives us in verse 35, love your enemies, do good, lend. Those verbs are in the present tense and their imperatives, meaning that these are things we are to continually do. These are things that should continuously characterize us. We should be people who love and do good and lend. And it emphasizes our duty.
And it shows us that that duty is based upon God’s character. Because as he says in verse 36, summing this all up, Jesus says, be merciful even as your father in heaven is merciful. Which runs beautifully parallel to other admonitions that we find in scripture in several different places, but you know what I’m talking about. When God says, you be holy because your father in heaven is holy. Because in that, mercy and compassion, but also in holiness, we are to be imitators of God. He wants us to be these things because that’s what he is. Jesus puts forth that principle with respect to mercy. And you see the same principle in Ephesians chapter five, verse one. related to the fact that we’re adopted children of God. It says, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children.
So in the natural world, children look like their parents. They also have common mannerisms and behavioral traits, some of which are learned, you know, children, deliberately sometimes imitate things their parents do and say, and the ways they do and say them, or they’re acquired, but sometimes they’re just genetic. But another thing kids do is they imitate their parents. They imitate their parents out of love for them.
And again, I think back to my teaching years, we had spirit week. at this school, and they’d have a special day, special event, or special activity taking place each day of the week. And on one occasion, one of the days of Spirit Day, the Spirit Week, was Hero Day, and students were allowed to dress up and come to school dressed as their hero. There’s a young lady in the upper school, probably 10th or 11th grade, she came dressed as her mom, because her mom was her hero. She wanted to be like her.
And I think of my own son. All the kids in first grade brought backpacks to school, but not my son, Sam. Sam carried a briefcase. Why? Because dad had one. I think he even used some of his own birthday money to buy himself a briefcase so he could be like me. Kids do that. And Sam did that, and this young lady in the upper school did what she did out of love. And that’s what we’re called to. We’re not called to imitate God out of some slavish obligation. We’re called to imitate God because we love Him. It’s to that loving imitation of God that we’re called.
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. That’s how we show the family resemblance. And it’s a tall order, admittedly.
Christ commands that we do acts of charity, that we do acts of mercy, and that we shouldn’t withhold out of fear of losing what we lend. And we ought to lend out of the sheer joy of helping the person in need. We must do good, even to those who do us evil. We must. We’re commanded to love our enemies. But here’s the good news. In Christ, we can do all those things. In Christ, we will do all those things because our motivation is to love him who first loved us.
And he himself empowers us by his own grace. You see, he takes care of the problem of the will. He motivates us. He takes care of the problem of the power because he gives us strength through the spirit and by his grace to do the very things that will lead us to be imitators of Him and of our Heavenly Father.
Praise God. Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for the work of grace you’ve done in so many of us. We pray that you continue to bring to completion that work of grace, and as you do, help us more and more to imitate you, to be like you, out of love for you, This is our prayer that we’ll show forth the family resemblance for the rest of our lives. And we so look forward to seeing you face to face when we’ll be fully like you. We pray this in Jesus name, amen.