Luke 6:29

Luke 6:29

Jesus said in Luke 6:29-35, "And unto him that smites thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that takes away thy cloke forbid not to take away thy coat also. Give to every man that asks of thee; and of him that takes away thy goods ask them not again. And as you would that men should do to you, do you also to them likewise. For if you love them which love you, what thank have you? For sinners also love those that love them. And if you do good to them which do good to you, what thank have you? For sinners also do even the same. And if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive, what thank have you? For sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love you your enemies, and do good, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and you shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil."

Jesus is in the midst of explaining to us one of the great blessings that He pronounced. In Luke 6:22 Jesus said, "Blessed are you when men shall hate you." He had pronounced several other blessings also, but this one He gives the most attention to, perhaps because it’s the most important or perhaps because it’s the most difficult to understand and live up to. Maybe you think that you have followed Jesus and His teachings for a long time. Maybe you have a reputation for being a consistent and mature Christian. But if you are like most other people, this may very well be your greatest challenge: to love your enemies.

Many religions of the world teach things that are similar to the teachings of Christ. Many religions teach that a human being should be generous to those less fortunate. Many religions teach that you should pray to God. Many teach that you should not commit adultery or murder, but only Jesus teaches this great and high and noble standard: love your enemies.

Why should we love our enemies? Why did Jesus spend so much time telling us to love our enemies? For one thing we were once enemies to God, but we were reconciled to Him by the love of Christ. It should always be our goal to treat our fellow man the way that God treats them, and God wants everyone to be saved. God loves everyone. Jesus said to Nicodemus in John Chapter 3, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Every human being has something good about them, a good quality or a good side or a good gift. Every human being was created in the image of God.

You can love your enemies because God loves them. You can love them not for what they are now, but for what they can be: for their potential. No matter what someone is now, if they come to know Christ and follow Him consistently, there is no limit to what they might become, and God might use you to help them on their way, if you love your enemies.

If Jesus told us to love our enemies, then it must be a very important thing to do in the service of God. There are some who have loved their enemies, and because of it they saw great things accomplished. Jesus loved His enemies. He was nailed to the cross by them, and yet He looked up to heaven and said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." If Jesus did not love His enemies, you and I would be lost forever. In the book of Acts we are told about Steven who was stoned to death by his enemies simply because he spoke to them about Jesus. As they were stoning him, Steven said with a loud voice in Acts 7:60, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." Saul of Tarsus was standing nearby, and undoubtedly the testimony of Steven had a great effect on him that bore fruit later on. The Lord wants you to be a testimony and an influence on those around you, and there will be no greater testimony than to put into practice the teaching that Jesus gave to you when He said, "Love your enemies."

Jesus gave us several details to be careful about as indicators to us concerning His great teaching on loving our enemies, our opponents, and our competitors. Where do we stand? How well are we doing? Are we slipping? Are we becoming like the world around us? One of the things that characterize the people of the world is the taking of revenge. Christians are not supposed to get revenge on someone. They are not supposed to get even. "Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay." When you take vengeance on someone, you are not trusting in God to take care of you, and you are not loving your enemies. Jesus said, "Unto him that smites thee on the one cheek, offer also the other." The people of the world can be very aggressive, even physically aggressive, against those whom they consider to be their enemies. I do not think that the Lord is speaking against self-defense, but I do think that He is making very clear that His believers should not take vengeance into their own hands. If you believe that God is all-powerful, then you can believe that everything that happens to you fits into God’s plan for your life.

There are appropriate ways of handling the aggression of the world that may come against you. The believers let Paul down in a basket over the wall of Damascus so that his enemies could not get their hands on him. Years later when Paul was arrested and would have been put to death, he used the Roman legal system to his benefit and appealed unto Caesar, and thereby escaped the death that otherwise he would have suffered at the hands of his enemies.

Over the centuries many believers in Jesus have given their lives because of what they believed. Of them the world was not worthy. Largely because of such martyrs, the testimony of Jesus did shine brightly in a dark world. As we see in this passage, the teachings of Jesus concerning human behavior emphasize non-violence. Jesus knew that many of His followers would suffer horrible and violent persecutions. He made it clear that they were not to take vengeance on the people who attack them. Beware of anyone who claims to be a teacher of the Bible and who incorporates violence or the justification of violence into their teachings. When Paul wrote to Timothy, he said that one of the qualifications for a pastor was that he not be "a striker."

As we consider our enemies and our relationships to them, and where we stand compared to this great commandment to love our enemies, Jesus had a lot to say in this passage about our material possessions. You could view the world as containing you, all the other people of the world, and your material possessions and the possessions that you hope to acquire. There are people in the world who place a priority on material possessions. Things, the acquiring of things, and the holding onto the things that they have acquired are more important to them than people. We know what God’s priority is. Jesus said, "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." When someone has their priorities mixed up, they will get angry with people and they will oppose people if their material possessions are in any way threatened.

Jesus said that His followers should not be like the people of the world in regards to material possessions. Often the people of the world will only give if they think that they have something in return to gain for it. A person of the world will take his neighbor to court to sue him at the law for any loss or perceived wrong. There may be a time when you must sue some at the law, but before you do, you should carefully consider the teaching that Jesus gave to His followers in Luke 6:30, "Give to every man that asks of thee; and of him that takes away thy goods ask them not again."

Sometimes people are enemies because of the spiritual conflict between believer and unbeliever, but one of the things that makes people enemies in this world is the competition for material things. Make sure that when you are faced with conflict, no matter what its source, that you remember the teachings of Jesus here in Luke Chapter 6. "Love your enemies." "As you would that men should do to you, do you also to them likewise."

Jesus also said in Luke 6:36, "Be you therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful." One of the wonderful things about Christianity is the fact that it’s based upon God’s mercy towards you. Your relationship with God is not determined by how good you are. It’s all based upon God’s mercy through Christ. You are a sinner. You deserve to be punished by God for your sins, but instead of being punished you are received and welcomed and blessed by Him. Mercy is when God does not give you what you deserve. He gives you much better than you deserve. To err is human, to forgive divine. Your goal should always be to treat the human race the way that you have been treated by Him.

It all has to do with your attitude towards other human beings. Therefore, Jesus says in Luke 6:37, "Judge not, and you shall not be judged: condemn not, and you shall not be condemned: forgive, and you shall be forgiven." If you have a judgmental and condemning attitude towards your enemies, then something is wrong. You should pray for them and you should remember that you also are a sinner. You do not want others to see your faults and condemn you for them. Are you condemning and critical towards others or do you have a forgiving spirit towards them? No one is attracted to the gospel when believers are harsh or critical.

You should not treat your enemies the way that they treat you. But there is also another reason for you to treat them with mercy and love. In reality it’s in your own best interest to treat people according to the teachings of Jesus in Luke Chapter 6. You will gain many good things if you are merciful and kind to your enemies. You will lose if you are vengeful and hateful to them. You will be happier and there will be better results if you love your enemies and if you are merciful towards those who have wronged you.

It’s the principle of the law of reciprocity. God has established this law and He warns Christians to be aware of it for the sake of their own happiness and prosperity. For every action there is a reaction. For every effect there is a cause. If you bounce a ball against a wall, it comes back at you. The way that you treat others is ultimately the way that you will be treated. He that has friends must first of all be friendly himself. Jesus put it this way in Luke 6:38, "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you mete, it shall be measured to you again."

After giving these vitally important principles on how to live in this world in regards to our relationships with other human beings, the Bible says in Luke 6:39, "And he spoke a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? Shall they not both fall into the ditch?" There is nothing more important than being saved from your sins through faith in Christ and having an eternal destiny in heaven. But once you are saved, there is nothing more important than having the right philosophy of life and the right teachings to use as a guide for your life. The right teachings center around what Jesus taught. Many people have suffered great sorrows simply because they had the wrong actions and behavior which caused them to reap undesirable consequences that could have been avoided if they only had a better philosophy on which to base their actions.

Of course, as you go through life you hear many different things being taught as the course of action for you to follow. Your friends and the people that you hang around with teach you things by what they say and by their example. When you listen to a song on the radio you may be listening to a teaching about some recommended action for some circumstance of life. This is often also the case when you watch a movie or a television show or when you read a book. All around you in the world wherever you go and for as long as you live people will be trying to influence you and teach you how to behave, how to act in this world. The problem is that many of these teachings and ideas are wrong. They are dead wrong. The errors that they have are compared by Jesus to blindness. They tell you to do such and such, and you will be happy. But Jesus said that they are blind, and instead of being happy, you will end up in the ditch. Jesus said, "Can the blind lead the blind? Shall they not both fall into the ditch?"

If someone is spiritually blind, then they are not going to be able to give you a philosophy of life that ends well. Look closely at the lives of people who have not followed the teachings of Jesus. Often you will see bitter and lonely people who have no hope beyond the grave. You will see those who have money, but who have lost everything else. Often their families have been destroyed largely by their own selfishness. At the end they will be found in the ditch. They will have missed the greatness of what they could have become, if only they had listened to Jesus. There is no greater life on earth than to be saved by Christ and to begin a life-long journey of listening to His teachings and making it a goal to live by them.

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