The Challenge of Radical Love
The New Testament Challenge
The Challenge of Radical Love
Jerry Conner
This week we are starting a great challenge here at The Bridge. It is called the New Testament Challenge. This will be a great opportunity for you to read through the New Testament and learn more about Jesus and perhaps your own faith than ever before.
There are several parts to this New Testament Challenge.
- Taking
the challenge personally – I am encouraging you to make a personal
commitment between yourself and God that you want to learn and grow this coming
fall. The BIG CHALLENGE is to read
through the entire New Testament over the next 63 days – I realize this is a
big commitment and I believe each of us can make it however to help everyone be
able to make a commitment to read and learn and grow I have broken the
commitment down into 3 steps
- Read though the gospels over the fall – to do that you will be reading 1-2 chapters / day . You can read through a chapter in about the length of time it takes to listen to a song on the radio. I think everyone can do that and make a daily commitment to grow in your spiritual health. We are going to do this every day, and that might be a bit daugnting, but you know you have gone to a doctor before and they give you a prescription you have to take 1, 2, more times a day, it may be hard to get into the routine and there will be a day where you forget but you get up the next day and start again.
- The second level is to read through the gospels and the Letters of Paul, Peter, James and John. To accomplish this you will be reading 3-4 chapters a day and it will take you about 12 mins to do this – about the length of time it takes to eat breakfast.
- The third level is the Big challenge – to read through the gospels, letters and the reasoning, (Acts, Romans, Hebrews & Revelations) to accomplish this you will be reading 5-6 chapters a day and it will take you about 18 minutes. That is less than the amount of time we are supposed to get our heart rate up for a good cardio workout, but this can have eternal value for your life.
- The second part of this New Testament Challenge is to be part of a Meet-up group this fall. We have 5 meet-up groups so you can find one that fits your schedule and jump in. By being in a meet up group, you will find others who are also pursuing growing through reading the New Testament and there will be some discussion questions that pertain to the readings of that week. You will also find a group of people who will encourage you and pray for you regularly – Dave and Laura are leading one of our meet-up groups and I have asked them to share with you briefly what is going on in their group.
- The third part of this New Testament Challenge happens here on Sunday mornings. Every week I will be speaking on one of the challenges that the New Testament challenges our lives with and how we can face that challenge so we can grow spiritually.
Today we are talking about the challenge of Radical Love
The New Testament Challenge
The Challenge of Radical Love
Oct 4, 2009
Matt 5:43-48
43 "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' 44 But I tell you: Love your enemiesi and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Love is one of the biggest themes of the New Testament.
The Love that God has for us. Our love for God. Loving people. Love is a big part of our lives and when you think about it, it is hard to know exactly what we are talking about. It is so hard that the ancient Greeks had four different words to understand our English word “LOVE”
- “Philos” – Philadelphia – city of brotherly love – Philos means ‘brotherly love’ a heart felt affection for another person eg. close friend, based on the commonality that you have with another person- shared experiences, something they did for you. It is a special and strong kind of love but it is not the radical love we are going to talk about today. We have heart felt affection for friends and people who are in our lives but it is not a RADICAL Love
- “storge” = “familial affection” The love you would have for your family members, the ones you are connected to by blood, connected at birth, born into a family. It is the kind of love a mother has for her child, it doesn’t particularly grow – it is there from the moment the child is born. Storge love is instantaneous and strong, but it is not RADICAL Love. We all feel stroge love, it is not difficult to feel that, it is natural but not radical
- “eros” = “erotic” it is romantic, sexual love.
Interesting that eros is the only greek word referring to love that is not found in the New Testament. Watch movies, television and you know what kind of love that is. Eros is a very special and strong kind of love that everyone longs for and experiences but it is not a RADICAL kind of love.
- AGAPE – the last kind of love refers to an unconditional, selfless, God-like kind of love. It represents the kind of love God has for us and the kind of love we should have for one another. The Bible says this kind of love is a RADICAL kind of love
WHY is AGAPE the radical kind of love? In the New testament it is loving when there is every reason not to love. It is loving when you are facing an enemy. Loving when another person is being mean. Loving when you had a nasty fight with your spouse. Loving when it is not convenient. Loving when you do not agree with the other person. Loving the unlovable. Loving when it doesn’t make sense to love. That is why this is a radical love – it is loving when everything inside of you is screaming for you to do something else.
Eph 5:2
Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that. (THE MESSAGE)
A cautious love is loving when it is convenient and makes sense - cautious love would be like philos, or stroge or eros – it is love when you get something in return. But what is extravagant love? It is loving when there is every reason not to love. When love is not necessarly deserved, when you are not going to get anything in return for loving that way
In fact a Radical kind of love is a choice that you make through the actions you take.
A radical love is important because if we don’t make a decision today to love, it leaves a void in your life, an emptiness. But it doesn’t just remain empty, it gets filled up with apathy – apathy is the opposite of love, it is not caring. The opposite of love is also hate, apathy leads to bitterness, bitterness leads to resentment, and resentment leads to hatred. So the decisions we make today are important and can have significant and lasting impact in our life. Having God’s love in our lives is the antidote for hatred.
Dr Martin Luther King Jr said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.
The decision to Love Radically has significant implications for our lives, our families, our community and our world, each one of us are the solutions and these four choices are the keys to driving out darkness and hatred. We have to face our enemies with the responses of these choices.
When we are called to love our enemy what kinds of choices will that require of us?
1 . Choose to respond peacefully - raises the bar in our life
Enemies hurt us or threaten us in some way, our natural response is not to love.
Our natural response to an enemy is to hurt back, get revenge - Peaceful is Radical.
We love revenge – many storylines of movies and tv shows are based on revenge movie producers know that we like vengeance – vengeance sells – we will pay to see it. But Jesus says...
Matt 5:38-42
38 "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.'g 39 But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
In ancient Israel you could legally get vengeance by hurting someone the same way you were hurt
We want fair - the problem is God is not fair and he doesn’t want us to live by a code of fairness – fairness is not extravagant – fair is cautious – fair is pragmatic, but God is not that
To respond peacefully says we must throw water on a fire not gasoline, we must seek peace and be motivated by it.
Who do you need to show radical love to by forgiving them for something they have done to you? To love our enemies we will need to:
2. Choose to forgive freely - the bar goes higher... it is one thing to respond peacefully and another to forgive someone who has hurt us, insulted us, taken advantage.
Radical love chooses to forgive when it is undeserved
A lot of times we will hold our tongue instead of saying something harsh and we walk away with bitterness and hurt. We don’t forgive them, we just avoid them.
When we forgive it frees the other person and frees ourselves
Psychologists have discovered the number one element that leads to psychological, emotional and spiritual healing is forgiveness, the ability to let go of what has trapped us and weighs us down.
Most of the time, the other person doesn’t even know that we haven’t forgiven them and all we are doing is hurting ourselves, holding on to bitterness hurts us and keeps our enemy our enemy.
When we don’t forgive someone it is like drinking poison in order to get back at the other person. the one that is really hurt is us. Choosing not to forgive and holding a grudge creates a barrier. Look at this...
Matt 6:14-15
For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Unforgiveness in your heart blocks love. When we don’t forgive we create barriers between each other – and a barrier is erected between us and God.
It is Radical love is to forgive someone who has wronged you – God wants His love to be in your life, he wants you to experience His forgiveness so you can give it freely.
When we forgive it can heal relationships, broken marriages, yourself emotionally & restore your relationship with God
Forgiveness is hard and Jesus takes it to a high level, anyone can forgive a friend (Philos) or family member or spouse(Storge), but Jesus wants us to forgive our enemies
Only a person with God’s love in their hearts can love an enemy , someone who has first hurt them
Dr. Martin Luther King:
“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”
Enemies stay enemies as long as we treat them like enemies but we must take them off trial, when we forgive we stop judging them, they are no longer in debt to us
Responding in love and forgiveness can turn an enemy into a friend
Never mistake forgiveness and trust – some enemies can be forgiven but not trusted
Forgiveness can happen quickly, trust is built over time
Responding to hate with love is perhaps the most life-changing action in the entire world but it is a choice, it does not happen naturally. We have to choose to respond in a loving way to someone who is hurting us when we don’t feel like it, because what happens when we respond in love is that God’s love enters our life and begins to grow in us and change US.
We need to give up the fight to be right and the right to be right.
To love our enemies and love radically we need to:
- 3. Choose to view others graciously – this takes radical love to a new level.
We can begin to respond to someone peacefully who has hurt us. And maybe we can forgive them, but in our hearts and minds we view them with suspicion – we don’t expect a lot out of them. We still don’t view them with grace.
Not only did Jesus say we should turn the other cheek and forgive them, but Jesus says that radical love means giving other people the benefit of the doubt.
Choosing to see the best in them, not the worst. Seeing them optimistically not pessimistically. Reading above the line not between the lines.
This is when we begin to look at them differently, with hope not discouragement.
Jesus is a God of grace, who extends grace even to those who do not deserve it and may distort and abuse his good grace. While Jesus never ignored the difference between right and wrong, good and evil. He is not suggesting we should accept all moral standards as the same, because he is definitely raising the bar for his followers in how He wants us to live
Jesus said. “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
God treats us all with grace.
It is easy for us to have critical spirits and in our hearts see our enemies as bad
Grace begins to provide opportunities for success and change to occur. Every day God gives each of us a new day. He gives rain to the righteous and unrighteous. Rain to the hears in that day is not like rain to us. Here it rains all the time. But in ancient Israel it rained in seasons. That was an agricultural based economy. Rain held a lot more importance because if it didn’t rain then you had a drought, long enough and it would be a famine. People’s lives were desimated, people died in famines because it didn’t rain. But when it did rain it meant you would have a successful year, you made money because it rained. God grace brings success to good and evil people. His grace is indiscriminate and he wants us to be extravagantly graceful people, not judgmental, critical people.
If you view people graciously, they will view you graciously,
God wants the best for us. He wants to forgive us. When we have received God’s grace and know it has been extravagantly applied to us, we can extend grace extravagantly too. So we love others radically by viewing them graciously instead of judging them.
If I want to love with radical agape kind of love, I have to respond peacefully, forgive freely, view others graciously and then finally – the toughest thing that we have to do to love radically is to
- 4. Choose to love sacrificially – this is where pragmatism in faith runs right out the door. It doesn’t make sense to love sacrificially and one might choose to love a friend sacrificially because they are their friend; one might choose to sacrificially love a family member (and you will have to to have a healthy family), but to love an enemy sacrificially is RADICAL. This does not make sense to the worlds way of thinking – This is Extravagant kind of love, not cautious.
Jesus said: “But I tell you: Love your enemiesi and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven”
Eph 5:2
2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
To love an enemy I may be able to choose to respond peacefully and I might be able to choose to even forgive them, It is really pushing me to begin to look at them in a totally different light, to look at them graciously, but to sacrifice for an enemy is a hard thing to swallow. Especially when you know who your enemies are, when you are able to put a face to them, when you can name them and the temperature of your blood begins to rise.
Maybe you don’t know who your enemies are, maybe you dont’ think you have any enemies and so for you this is a philosophical idea, lets turn the tables around a bit and consider how you are an enemy of someone one.
One person you are or have been an enemy of is God. If you are a Christian, before you received God’s grace, before you experienced his forgiveness, before you experienced his peaceful invitation, you were his enemy. We were all his enemy, we chose to do things on our own, we chose to discount him, deny him, undermine him. We tried to live as if he were not God.
Can you imagine if someone were constantly trying to undermine you, trying to discount you at every opportunity, to live as if you did not matter or even worse, to live as if you were evil. That is what we did before we responded to his grace and forgiveness, that is what it looked like for us to be God’s enemy.
Rom 5:8
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
And while we were his enemies, He sacrificed himself – his son for us that we might become his children, because we were not his children but he wanted us to be his children and so he sacrificed himself for us.
That is what it looks like to love an enemy sacrificially and in our own strength we can not do that. We can not sacrifice ourselves for an enemy on our own, but in the love that He provides we can reach out and love the unlovable, the undeserving, the one hurting and seeking our destruction.
43 "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighborh and hate your enemy.' 44 But I tell you: Love your enemiesi and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven
This morning I want you to consider and decide to answer the questions on the back of the hand out...
Who are my enemies - name them
How will I respond in peace to them this week…
I will forgive them for…
I will begin to view them as…
I will sacrifice for them by...