WHY WE (FOR)GIVE

Sermon • Submitted 2 months ago • Presented 2 months ago

0 ratings

· 2 views

Notes

Transcript

Last week, we had one of the best Super Bowl games in recent memory. Some have even marked it down as one of the greatest games of all time! This may surprise some of you, but I’ve always been more of a Super Bowl commercial watcher; but I can appreciate a good game of football when I see one. And a Super Bowl game that goes into overtime with a walk off touch down is a pretty good one to say the least. And for at least one team, all the hard work that went into preparing for the game paid off.

You know, it really is hard for us to appreciate the time and effort that goes into being a world class athlete: Watching film every week on the new opponent, treating injuries, going to workouts, studying, correcting mistakes, working on a new game plan.

And if you could go back and ask the players even six months ago, “Man, why are you training so hard! The game isn’t until Sunday! There’s plenty of time; just relax.” They would tell you: I know where I’m headed, and why. And you even start to see this in interviews with the players as the season ramps up. They’re talking about the prospect of the Super Bowl because they know what their goal is! See the reality is that players that don’t have a vision for the future fail to make the necessary sacrifice for greatness. There are years and years of training; and only in the end can you see that it was all worth it.

And in our walk with Christ, there will be times when it feels like a grind; just like it does for those players. There will be days where it’s costly. There will be things we have to give up. There will be things we have to let go of. And when it’s costly, we have got to answer the question: Why? Why do we stick with it?

In our Text today, Jesus is going to ask us to let go of some things that we would much rather hold on to; and then He’s going to help us to see why. And as we get into the Text, and as we ask some questions of the Text, and as we wrestle with Jesus’ words, I hope you’ll come to see it too.

So go ahead and open up to Luke chapter 6, and we’ll find our Text for today starting in verse 37. We’ve been listening to Jesus’ teaching about expanding our circle of love, and about how we ought to be merciful as our Father is merciful. And then we hear these words of Jesus that we’re going to dig into. So if you’ve got it, please stand and follow along with me.

37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 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.”

You may be seated.

As we started to see last week, in these two verses Jesus is unpacking the phrase from back in verse 36, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” And as He does so, Jesus uses four short sentences that contain commands. What does it mean to be merciful? It means don’t judge (don’t fall into judgmentalism). It means don’t condemn (don’t be a condemning person). It means forgive. And it means give. The sense is, “If you want to reflect God, rather than being quick to judge, be quick to forgive. Rather than being the kind of person who is just waiting for others to mess something up, be the kind of person who is open handed with all that God has given.

And when we look at these four statements together, we begin to notice this contrast: Jesus gives two negative commands that are similar, and two positive commands that are similar. They probably aren’t exactly the same, but it does beg the question: What is forgiveness, and what is giving, what does Jesus mean by them, and what’s the similarity between the two?

In the original lanuage, forgiveness literally means “to release or pardon,” and would have been used in the context of someone who owed a debt, whether a servant or just a borrower. But in the context of love and relationship, this debt was the debt of guilt that we have when we harm or offend someone. So rather than taking what we are “owed” (or what we feel we’re owed) and shaming the person, or taking revenge on the person, instead we release our right to get even, and we pardon their guilt. That’s what forgiveness is: It’s releasing your perceived right to get even. It’s saying you hurt me, but I’m going to choose to love you instead, and show mercy by giving pardon.

And moving on to giving: The idea of giving and generosity is actually a theme in this passage at large. So if we look back in verse 30 we see that Jesus has already said to “Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back” ( Luke 6:30). So the idea is that there is something that “belongs to me,” some money or some material possession or something of value, and I am giving it up to someone else.

So these two positive commands are both about giving: to give pardon on the one hand, and to give up possessions on the other. And while they aren’t the same, there is at least one similarity: They both require us to let go of things we tend to hold on to. On the one hand, forgiveness requires us to let go of our supposed “right” to be angry and offended at a person, or to defend our honor. And on the other hand, giving possessions requires us to let go of something that we feel we need to be comfortable or happy. And neither of these is an easy task. Neither of these are natural. Both of these cut against our sinful self-centeredness that wants to demand our way, and look out of ourselves.

But at the end of the day, this is the invitation: We get to imitate God by demonstrating mercy, and the two ways to do it are to let go by giving pardon, and to let go by giving possessions. And if you were hanging out on the Plain that day hearing Jesus’ sermon, this is all you might have walked away with: Jesus says that we can show God’s mercy to others by giving pardon and possessions. So: What is Jesus calling us to let go of? He’s calling us to let go of our ENTITLEMENT, and to choose pardon; and He’s calling us to let go of MATERIALISM, and choose generosity. And He’s saying that when we do so, we are imitating God, who is forgiving and generous with us.

BUT NOTICE, that isn’t all that Jesus is saying. Jesus isn’t merely providing commands. He doesn’t only say “Don’t judge, or condemn; rather, forgive and give to others.” He could have! But He goes beyond merely commanding. And this is what’s going to raise some questions for us. Jesus doesn’t simply say “do not judge.” He says, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn and you will not be condemned.” And then on the positive end, Jesus says, “Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you.” So, what’s going on here?

Well when we look at the function of these words, it appears that Jesus couples the commands with these other phrases to give the result, or the reason for the command. So the next question we can ask is: “Why should we show mercy?” We know what Jesus is calling us to do; but what Jesus is communicating with these other phrases is less clear, so let’s spend some time unpacking that, and in doing so, we’ll answer this question.

The first thing I want to point out is that, when we look at these accompanying statements that Jesus gives, all of the verbs are passive voice in the Greek. When a verb is passive, it means that the subject of the sentence is receiving the action rather than performing it. In other words, it’s unclear who exactly is performing the action.

So if you think back to English grammar, we know how to the find the subject of the sentence, right. If we have the sentence, “Clay throws the ball to Pierce,” we know that the subject of the sentence is “Clay,” the verb/action is the word “throws,” and so Clay is the one performing the action. But if a verb is passive, the sentence would appear like this: “The ball was thrown to Pierce.” So now we have Pierce in a room by himself getting a ball tossed at him, but from the language itself, we have no idea whatsoever who is throwing the ball to Pierce, or what their motives are. And it’s very similar in the Greek. Unless the context makes it clear, when a verb is passive, we don’t know who is performing the action.

So back in the text, we’ve got these phrases about judgement and condemnation we looked at last week, and then we’ve got these phrases about forgiveness and generosity that we’re looking at today, and for each one we can ask the question: “Forgive, and you will be forgiven” by whom? Whose forgiveness are we receiving?

And the answer is..... that.... it doesn’t say! The language itself does not specify. So next what we need to do is examine the context. A couple weeks ago I spent a lot of time talking about the so called Golden Rule back in verse 31. And when we read our passage with verse 31, it looks like this:

Luke 6:31, 37-38 “Do to others as you would have them do to you.... 37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged....”

And now it makes sense! In this context, it seems clear that the implied subject is “others”—the people being talked about in the Golden Rule. And if you read this passage in The Message Bible, Eugene Peterson seems to take this view: "Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults-unless, of course, you want the same treatment. Don’t condemn those who are down; that hardness can boomerang. Be easy on people; you’ll find life a lot easier. Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back-given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity." And the point would be this: Be generous and forgiving, because that will have an impact on those around you, and that’s how you would want to be treated.

But now if we go back and read our text with verse 35 & 36, it doesn’t seem so clear:

Luke 6:35-38 “35b Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged...”

And now we have all this language in these verses about “the Most High,” and about “your Father.” And now it starts to seem like maybe God is the subject of these passive verbs.

And if that were the case, the idea is that, when we are quick to judge others, when we are quick to condemn, when we are slow to forgive, and when we’re stingy with what God has entrusted to us, we invite God to do the same to us.

And also, if we take this route, Jesus appears to pick up from the idea in verse 35 that “your reward will be great.” In our verses Jesus talks about “a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap.” What’s being imaged here is a marketplace where goods are being weighed and packed, and the point is clear: Someone is taking care to give you more than what you paid for. That’s what we would all want to receive! You know what it’s like to open a bag of chips and see that the bag is half full! We want the grain to fill the whole container! This is why we always order fries at Five Guys—they understand biblical generosity! Seriously, go to Five Guys, buy a medium fry, and feed your family of four!

And if the subject is God, then you get this sense that as we’re generous with what God has entrusted to us, He will continue to bless us. You’ll hear people say, “You can’t outgive God.” And, technically, that’s true! When we give, God is faithful to us. He has all the resources in the world, and we can probably field many stories in this room about God’s faithfulness when we choose generosity! And on this view, the point at large would be this: Be generous and forgiving, because God is a righteous judge who is paying attention, and He is faithful! When we are merciful to others, God will be merciful to us.

So which is it? How should we finish the sentence? With other people, who will come back around and return our love; or with God, who is watching and will reward us? Well, as we’ve seen, it depend on what you prioritize in the context.

What I found so interesting as I leaned into this tension is that we can get so caught up in trying to figure out which is which that we actually miss the point that Jesus is making. We need to recognize that, while there difficulties, there’s truth in both of these answers. Our mercy has an impact on our community, and God is paying attention and is faithful to us. And yet at the end of the day, we don’t obey Jesus because of what we would get out of it: Whether from others or from God Himself! And we don’t obey Jesus because it makes sense all the time! Our commitment to Christ comes first; our full understanding comes later. And if our understanding would change whether or not we follow Jesus, then we have some other problems.

In the end, whichever view you take, it in no way changes what Jesus is calling us to. The point is clear: We should show mercy! Period. So, as we wrestle with these words let’s recognize that, if nothing else, we should show mercy because Jesus commands it, and that should be enough. And if resolving the tension would change whether we obey Jesus’ clear instruction, then what does that demonstrate about our real motives?

Let’s remember that there are times that we are going to love like Jesus, and the result is going to be hatred, mockery, and persecution. Jesus is talking about the blessed life; not the easy life. He’s talking about what it’s like to be a kingdom citizen. And He’s saying that we should love others by showing mercy. And that mercy should take the form of giving pardon and possessions. And if that’s all the clarity we can get, then that’s all the clarity that we need.

But that will still leave us with questions. It doesn’t resolve the tension, but it does help to remind us of what’s important. And yet, I believe there’s more for us to learn here from Jesus’ words.

Because I also want to point out that this isn’t the only time that Jesus talks about rewards, or about treasure, or about God responding to us when we forgive. As a matter of fact, in Matthew’s recording of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spends a lot of time talking about these things. So for example, at the end of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6, Jesus says “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” It’s hard to get clearer than that. Whatever Jesus is saying in our passage, we can at least concede that here He’s making Himself abundantly clear.

And He goes on to say in Matthew 6:17–18 “But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

So Jesus does not shy away one bit from this idea of us getting a reward from God. Rather, He repeatedly teaches that there is a congruence between how we act towards others, and the way God acts toward us. That’s the idea in our Text when it says “For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” There is some kind of connection when it comes to forgiveness, and there is some irreducible mention of reward.

The problem is that people want to take Jesus’ words and take this connection and turn it into an equation, or a formula. And when we start to talk about this in light of judgement, condemnation, and forgiveness, people start to wonder if Jesus is talking about a works-based salvation. I mean, if my judgment, and if my forgiveness are based on how I treat other people, isn’t that me working for or somehow earning my salvation? Yet of course, we know from other Scriptures that the answer is clearly no. Salvation is by grace through faith in Christ.

Rather, when it comes to forgiveness, the idea here is this: When we fail to love others it impacts our communion with God. Back in Matthew 6, this is why Jesus invites His disciples to pray for forgiveness at the same time that they’re praying for daily food: Because our sin impacts our relationships, and that includes our relationship with God. Put differently: How can you expect your communion with God to be uninterrupted when you are holding on to a deep grudge against one of His children? You know, there’s a reason that Jesus says “if you are giving your offering and there realize you have to settle something with your brother, by all means go and do it!” It’s because God knows that our sin impacts our intimacy with Him. It doesn’t have anything to do with salvation; it has to do with communion, with intimacy.

In a recent sermon I told a story about how when I was a child, I accidently broke my dad’s piggy bank. But even though I sinned against my dad, my dad was never considering removing me as his son; but it did impact our relationship. I was suddenly unsure of myself. I was suddenly afraid to run to him. And it’s just the same with God: As believers, we pray for forgiveness every day not to stay out of Hell, but to stay close to God. So, we shouldn’t use our behavior toward others as a transaction to try and win salvation. Jesus isn’t intending to give us an equation for eternal life; rather, He’s trying to teach us to love well here and now.

And when it comes to reward and treasure, people want to take Jesus’ words and turn them into an equation not for eternal life, but for worldly gain. Some people read this text and think, if I want God to bless me financially, I need to start giving money away. And they read Jesus say that a good measure will be poured into your lap, and they have visions of God filling their pockets to overflowing. This is what has become so popular in America, and what many call the “prosperity gospel,” which teaches that what God really wants for me is material success, and to have my dreams fulfilled in this life.

And I think in both of these cases, it’s most helpful to understand these statements not as equations, not as formulas, but as encouragements. Jesus’ point is not to lay out the plan of salvation, or to teach us a good retirement strategy; His point is to teach us about kingdom living. And in that sense, His words have more in common with something we might read in the book of Proverbs.

What I mean is that, if you read through the book of Proverbs, which is part of the Bible’s wisdom literature, you find a lot of these “if/then” kind of statements. These “if/then” statements are generally true, and they encourage people to live well, but they aren’t without exceptions. A lot of times, people want to treat Proverbs like promises; but they aren’t promises; they’re principles.

So for example, you get things like Proverbs 22:6 “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” And that is generally true. But the Proverbs are not supposed to be cosmic rules that you can then use in court to accuse God of failing to hold up His end of the bargain; rather, they’re tools for God’s people to use to grow in wisdom.

And with these proverbs, just like in our text, the point is usually clear: Intentionally raise your children up to know God. That’s the point. That’s the wise thing to do. That’s what it’s trying to communicate.

So back in our passage, we should show mercy not because it’s some sort of equation to rig the system in our favor, but because Jesus commands it, and because wisdom commends it. Obeying Jesus is the wise thing to do, and generally, when we obey Jesus, things will go well.

And yet! It’s really not about what we get out of it! Remember that back in verse 35, Jesus says “Give without expecting anything in return!” THEN, “your reward will be great.”

And isn’t it interesting that, in all these passages that talk about heavenly reward, the reward itself is so vague! We run to get the prize, or the crown, or we enter into the Father’s happiness. It’s like God wants us to know it’s a good investment, but also wants us to know that the investment shouldn’t be our focus. Rather, He just wants us to know that when we suffer loss to follow Jesus, in the end, it will all be worth it. And so even if the reward isn’t always clear, what is clear is that there is a reward.

And let’s be reminded that Christianity is not opposed to reward; but it is opposed to earning. It’s not ever going to be about what I have accomplished, or what I stand to gain apart from Christ, or what God owes me. Rather, it will forever be about what Christ has accomplished on the cross, and about the scandal of grace by which God offers me new life with Him through His Son. Like Paul says in Philippians 3, (to par.) “everything else is considered loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.”‌ Christ, and Christ alone, is who and what we look toward. We could lose everything else, and gain Christ, and have gained everything. And by grace, through faith, He is the One thing we’re guaranteed!

So we should show mercy because Jesus commands it, and because wisdom commends it. Jesus’ command is enough; and Jesus wants us to know that in the end, wisdom will vidicate every sacrifice we make in the name of Christ.

But there’s one more thing I want to point out in our Text this morning. What I want to point out is that the mercy that we show is not in the hope that God will one day respond to us in kind. In all these things, Jesus is teaching us to “be merciful as your Father is merciful.” So we are merciful because Jesus commands it, because wisdom commends it, and we are merciful because God models it. And all that we can hope to do is to pass along what God has already given to us.

And so to close, I want to remind you of a story that Jesus tells that communicates this exact point called the parable of the Unmerciful Servant out of Matthew 18:21-35.

In the parable, a king decides to settle accounts with his servants. And there was one servant in particular who had a massive debt that he was unable to pay. And what that servant deserved was for his family to be sold, and for him to be placed in jail until he could pay off the debt, which would probably never happen. And so the servant pled with his master, asking for patience, asking for a chance to repay the debt. And Jesus says, “The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.” So not only did the master give the servant time, he wiped the slate clean! He gave the servant a gift that he didn’t deserve, called grace! He withheld the punishment that the servant was due, which is called mercy! This man’s life was spared; His fate changed forever! In place of death, he was given life! In place of slavery, freedom! In place of judgment, mercy!

And we would expect that he would walk away a changed man.

But next Jesus tells us that this same servant went out, found one of his coworkers who owed him a small debt, and began to strangle him, demanding repayment. Just as he had once done, now the coworker fell to the ground and begged for patience. But servant had his coworker thrown into prison anyway.

So the master catches wind of this, calls the servant in, and says “You wicked and unmerciful servant! I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” And the answer is clear: Yes. To his shame, in light of all he had been forgiven, in light of the fact that he supposedly knew what it was like to receive mercy, he should have freely given it away.

And so the point of the parable is this: we show mercy because we know what it’s like to receive mercy. And as followers of Jesus, we are called to “forgive each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32). We give because [in Christ] God already gave.

So for those of us who have fallen on our face at the foot of the cross and received pardon… on what grounds do we then withhold mercy? And those of us who have received eternal life through Christ, and with Him everything, how could we be so focused on this world as to not lend to someone in need?

What makes the parable so tragic is that the servant was forgiven a debt he could never have hoped to repay, and then was at his neighbors throat over a comparatively meaningless debt. See, when we harbor unforgiveness toward one another, it’s like we’re raking each other over the coals for pocket change.

And we protest: You don’t know what that person did to me! And you’re right! Maybe I don’t! But what I do know is that it could never compare to what you and I did to Christ. It could never compare to the offense that our sin represents to the God of the Universe. And yet God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, canceled our sin debt by paying it with the blood of His only Son, our King! And when we withhold forgiveness, we disgrace the One who so freely gave it to us.

See, it’s His mercy that teaches us mercy! To withhold it from others would be a great tragedy. So far be it from me to allow the mercy that God has poured out to stop in my heart. Freely we receive; so freely we ought to give. And what I want you to remember from this morning is that… Only when we understand the mercy we’ve been freely given in Christ will we be free to give [that same mercy that God has given us] to [those around us].

And if you’re struggling to give mercy this morning, it could be that your next step is to receive it. Maybe this is the first time you’ve really understood the mercy of God. If that’s you, as we sing about what God has done for us, I would love to invite you down to the alter to pray with me. And if you’ve been a beleiver a long time, but you are holding tight to unforgiveness, let me remind you, God’s compassion is never failing! His mercy is new every morning, and it’s new for you today. Great is His faithfulness! Mercy is waiting for each one of us today. And it’s His mercy that will transform us, and enable us to let go. To give pardon. To live generously.

The offer is there. The call is clear. All we’ve got to do is receive His mercy.