Two Ways Handout

What’s The Difference? Handout

²⁷ “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸  bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. ²⁹  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. ³⁰  Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. ³¹ And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

³²  “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. ³⁴ 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. ³⁵ 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. ³⁶  Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

If I’m really honest, this is a difficult passage.  Not because it’s hard to understand but because it’s pretty clear what Jesus is saying.  I’m not sure that I really want to do what he says. It’s easy to love those who are nice and kind and good but Jesus doesn’t say that, he says “love your enemies”.  In addition to the struggle of loving our enemies Jesus will make it extremely clear that this love is not expressed in feelings but in actions.  Notice that he gives some clear instructions about what this looks like; do good, bless, pray, give, and lend (without expectations attached).

We will struggle with what Jesus has to say for another reason.  Instead of treating love like a gift, we tend to treat it like a commodity (limited supply) or a transaction (it has to be earned or paid for). That’s not the kind of love that Jesus is describing in these verses.   Donald Miller, in his book Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality, will say this:

“The problem with Christian culture is we think of love as a commodity. We use it like money…  … I could see it very clearly. If somebody is doing something for us, offering us something, be it gifts, time, popularity, or what have you, we feel they have value, we feel they are worth something to us, and, perhaps, we feel they are priceless. I could see it so clearly, and I could feel it in the pages of my life. This was the thing that had smelled so rotten all these years. I used love like money. The church used love like money. With love, we withheld affirmation from the people who did not agree with us, but we lavishly financed the ones who did.”

I would encourage you to join us this Sunday as we look at what Jesus commands about love.  As it turns out, love is something we frequently talk about, but in reality it’s not something we understand or practice very well.

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This Sunday: 05/21/2012

• 9:00 am – Our college age / young adults class.  We are studying Tim Keller’s Gospel in Life.  The topic for this coming Sunday is “Community”.
• There will be a brief congregational meeting after services.  The purpose of this is to inform and update you on what’s happening at College Park.

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God put His Spirit in us so we could be known for our power. Sadly, most believers and churches are known for talent and intellect rather than supernatural power. What’s worse is that we’re okay with it. In Forgotten God, author Francis Chan returns us to the Holy Spirit as the Bible describes Him and invites us to understand, embrace and follow the Holy Spirit’s direction in our lives.

We’ll be doing one chapter a week, beginning May 2.

• Chapter 1: I’ve Got Jesus. Why Do I Need the Spirit?
• Chapter 2: What Are You Afraid Of?
• Chapter 3: Theology of the Holy Spirit 101
• Chapter 4: Why Do You Want Him?
• Chapter 5: A Real Relationship
• Chapter 6: Forget About His Will for Your Life!
• Chapter 7: Supernatural Church

If you would like a more in depth overview – check out this review!

Gospel in Life is an eight-week course on the gospel and how it is lived out in all of life— first in our hearts, then in community, and out into the world.

Week 1 opens the course with the theme of the city: our home now, the world that is. Week 8 closes the course with the theme of the eternal city: our heavenly home, the world that is to come. In between we will look at how the gospel changes our hearts (weeks 2 and 3), changes our community (weeks 4 and 5), and changes how we live in the world (weeks 6 and 7).

Session Titles:
1. City: The World That Is
2. Heart: Three Ways to Live
3. Idolatry: The Sin Beneath The Sin
4. Community: The Context for Change
5. Witness: An Alternate City
6. Work: Cultivating the Garden
7. Justice: A People For Others
8. Eternity: The World That Is To Come

Trailer for Gospel in Life from Redeemer City to City on Vimeo.