Radical Grace

I remember once having a problem with a couple of people I went to church with. We had a disagreement about something and I felt the way they had conducted themselves required me to give them some feedback. Well in the process of trying to sort it out with them things got extremely messy. I made some dumb mistakes in how i initially dealt with our disagreement. In the end I spent almost 3hrs meeting with these people trying to sort out our issues and apologising for my part in the whole mess. But then something really weird happened...

They seemed glad they’d made me apologise. They seemed happy that my apology had proven them to be the righteous ones. They did absolutely no self-reflection on how they had contributed to the mess we were in and I walked out of what I thought was going to be a meeting where we sorted stuff out together instead confused about how everything was apparently all my fault and probably with our relationship in a worse position as now they believed everything was my fault and they had done nothing wrong.

I tell you this story, not to make me sound like a good guy, but as an example of how as Christians we need to take seriously the words Jesus says in this sermon on the plain. We need to be slow in judgment and long in self-reflection and seek to live lives that produce the fruit of a heart full of the love and grace of God.

Living life following Jesus

This is a sermon placed at this moment in Luke’s gospel where Jesus is showing us what it looks like to live as one of God’s people. It is a sermon that is placing the Kingdom of God and its values in stark contrast to the values and rules of the Pharisees, who thought they had it all together.

Jesus has told us that in his kingdom we are blessed not when we feel like we have it all together, but when we come to God in humility and poverty of spirit. The starting place for Jesus with his blessings and woes in vv 17-26 is knowing we need God and trusting that one day he will make everything right.

Jesus also reminds us that following him will lead to persecution and in the face of that we are to be joyful. Not only that but we are to love those who persecute us, we are to love our enemies. Jesus calls us to this radical life of love in vv27-36 and he finishes that section with these words:

Luke 6:36 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

It is these words that launch us into our reading today and in vv37-38 Jesus says:

Luke 6:37–38 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 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.’

Forgivness and Judgment

Remember Jesus is telling us that living life following him will bring persecution, and in the face of that we need to be loving. As one scholar reflects on this call to a lack of judgment and the need for forgiveness he says this:

The IVP New Testament Commentary Series: Luke On Judgment, Righteousness and Jesus’ Teaching (6:37–49)

It is no accident that Jesus’ words against judgmentalism come right after the call to be merciful as God is. An unwillingness to be judgmental is almost a requirement for those who face persecution. Without it, lines of battle would become hardened and the ability to love the enemy would be destroyed. God is interested not in polemics but in offering the hope of restored relationship to the lost.

If we’re going to be people of joy in the face of persecution. If we’re going to be people who really do love our enemies then we’re going to need to be people who do not judge or condemn, especially those who hate us. For judgement and condemnation will come easily to our hearts towards those who are making our life tough and when they do it will make it hard for us to be merciful lovers like God has been to us.

What should we be like instead? (A good measure…)

Luke 6:38 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

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.’

This is a metaphor from measuring out grain in Jesus day in such a way as to ensure the full volume is given.

Be like Chinese take-away not a chip packet.

Open a nice big plump packet of chips and only to realise you’ve mostly bought a packet of air with some chips thrown in for good measure? It sucks.

Then there are times, mostly when you order Chinese take-away where you get the exactly opposite feeling. You open up your container of fried rice and you find that they have seemingly crammed two tubs worth of rice into one container. How good is this you think!?

Jesus says in our application of grace and mercy, in our withholding of judgment and condemnation we are to be generous. And we ought to be generous because then people will be generous to us.

But can I actually deal with sin, isn’t that judging someone?

Yes.

First this sermon I think is given in the context of the Christian living a life of mercy towards the outsider, the enemy, the persecutor. So we have to keep that in mind. However that doesn’t mean be nice to outsiders but go crazy judging other Christians. Not at all. In fact Jesus has words to say about relating to our brothers even here in this passage.

Luke 6:41–42 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

‘Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, “Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,” when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

What does Jesus mean when he says these words?

Jesus is saying that , it’s important to clean up one’s own act before offering advice to others. That we have to do a heart check before we rush in to fixing up someone else's sins/problems. We have to ask ourselves, Are we more interested in correcting others rather than correcting our own attitudes and actions?

We can examine the lives of others. But we must do it graciously. I think that Paul puts these words of Jesus about planks and specks into more clear and concrete language in Galatians:

Galatians 6:1 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.

We are called to give moral encouragement with great humility. Remembering all of us on the journey together.

What does this look like?

I remember being a young youth minister and one of my leaders who was even younger was causing me a few problems. Facebook was still relatively new and one day I’m scrolling through Facebook and I see this leader of mine tagged in photo from a local bar in a fairly intimate kiss with a stranger. Awkward.

As I’m thinking about how I’m going to deal with this, I’m only too keenly aware that had Facebook existed when I was 18-19 I too may have ended up in some awkward conversations with my pastor at the time too. That is as I sort to encourage her to godly living and hold her to higher standards I did so in a way that was gentle and gracious but still firm.

Another way I’ve heard it put is that we need to be people of both grace and truth. The truth is that God calls us to certain standards. The grace is that we all fall short of those standards. We need both. If we are all grace and no truth, then we remain caught in sin. If we’re all truth and no grace then we become arrogant and ungracious. Jesus is calling us to find the balance.

How can we live this kind of life of compassion and mercy without judgment?

Follow Jesus and bear fruit

Luke 6:39 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

He also told them this parable: ‘Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit?

Luke 6:40 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.

If we want to live the way Jesus is calling us to we need to be trained by him.

We need to get to know him. To spend time with him.

How?

Word

Prayer

Community

And when we are doing that our hearts will produce good fruit:

Luke 6:43–45 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

‘No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognised by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn-bushes, or grapes from briers. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

I could spend time today giving you 10 tips for being less judgmental and that would be of some use. However better me to encourage you to examine your hearts today. Because if your hearts are full of the grace of God, if they are full of the love of Christ, then you will be people of grace and love.

So let me finish today be encouraging you to be captivated by Jesus. Allow him to transform your heart and then watch your life conform to his teaching.