Living in God's Kingdom: Love Over Retaliation

today we're looking for the statements Jesus makes right in a row that maybe, more than any others, cause people to look at the CM of the mount and say this is not realistic I don't know what to do with this he says somebody hit you let them hit you again somebody wants to sue you give them even more than they asked for somebody wants you to force you to do something you don't want to do do it and then do more than that anybody wants you to give to them go ahead and give [00:00:08]

you have heard that it was said I for an eye and tooth for tooth but I tell you do not resist an evil person if anyone slaps you on the right cheek turn to them the other cheek Also if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt hand over your coat as well if anyone forces you to go one mile go all them two miles give to the one who asks you and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you [00:01:36]

now Jesus is not addressing this at all in terms of uh how do Nations need to apply Justice what he's addressing is then people would look at that law in the Old Testament and say ah okay now eye for an eye tooth for a tooth you hurt me I'm going to hurt you and that became a general prevailing assumption and of course we're all guilty of living that way that's just that's human flesh and Jesus is saying no [00:02:20]

now all of this is dependent on the reality of the Kingdom now because you live in the care and the presence of God you no longer have to live your life uh in that same way and uh so so he goes on to say but I tell you do not resist an evil person now you may be able to think of several evil people immediately in your mind and think well they must be resisted [00:03:09]

don't retaliate against somebody um that doesn't mean that you should never stop an evil person from doing something evil of course uh very often that needs to happen killer should not be allowed to kill abusers should not be allowed to abuse what he's saying is don't allow ill will in another person to overcome will for the good love in you do not let evil outside you um produce evil inside you [00:03:53]

Jesus brilliantly just rips off um four illustrations if somebody's living in the Kingdom what creative alternative might be available to them I have a friend and there's a quote from a movie I would never ever recommend but the character in the movie says my mind is a raging torrent of um thought cascading over into a waterfall of creative Alternatives and now if you want a waterfall of creative Alternatives about what do it like to live in the Kingdom then you come to Jesus [00:04:38]

these now are not laws about what you have to do in any given situation and when people mistake them for that they don't understand the nature of Jesus's teaching and his absolute Brilliance and they think now he's just given a new series of laws to replace an old series of laws and we're stuck with them no no no these are not laws these are creative examples in some ways probably quite unlikely but of what a person living in the Kingdom might might do [00:05:12]

so somebody strikes you that's probably a form of an insult they strike your right cheek it's a blow certainly for your honor what do you do and the natural human response is ey for eye Truth For Truth you hit me I'm going hit you back but now in the Kingdom it's not necessarily so you don't have to do that you have creative possibilities it does not mean it's real important um there's a big difference between what Jesus talks here turning the other cheek [00:06:39]

if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt hand over your coat as well um court systems are kind of made up to produce adversarial spirits and we all know what that's kind of like this is not a real likely solution ancient world you know they didn't have pants like we do you basically had these two garments so if you literally did this you'd end being naked which would um probably not be a really good idea but it's just way of saying you know what um if there's another person you think they're trying to take advantage of you [00:07:56]

if anyone forces you to go one mile go with them two miles Jesus is speaking in Israel when they're occupied by Rome one of the least popular laws of Rome was a Roman soldier could force you to walk with them for one mile and carry their burden and of course people hated that the zealots in particular hated that that's why they wanted to violently overthrow those soldiers Jesus says oh you know if that happens to you when you get to the end of the mile just just look that Soldier right there and say you know it's a long day and you have difficult task [00:08:33]

give to the one who asks and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you now if the zealots wouldn't have like that third law go with them a little farther uh the Romans and the Sadducees who kind of colluded with them in order to get everything they could they would not like this idea and often people will think well this one's not very realistic because um what about codependency what if I start giving to somebody in then they just enter into a life of passivity and it damages they C do you think Jesus had not thought this out [00:09:58]

freely you have received freely you have given freely give a good friend of mine was saying today uh the other day to me that statement from Paul where Paul says For the Love of Money is the root of all evil it just gets us and gets us and gets us but then a greater love comes to us now says now you're living there is a kingdom that is greater than the kingdom of money and you can live in it if you want to and now the the the great offer of that uh kingdom is freely received from God this moment right now and then freely give [00:11:26]