Love Your Enemies

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:10

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern

00:18

Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

00:25

And now here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The holy gospel according to Saint Luke 6.

00:33

Jesus said, I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

00:45

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.

00:53

Give to everyone who begs from you and from one who takes away your goods, do not demand them back.

00:59

And as you wish that others would do to you, so do to them. If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you?

01:07

For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you?

01:14

For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you?

01:21

Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount, but love your enemies, do good and lend expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great.

01:33

And you will be sons of the most high for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

01:39

Be merciful even as your father is merciful. Judge not and you will not be judged.

01:45

Condemn not and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.

01:51

Give and it will be given to you. Good measure pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.

01:58

For with the measure that you use, it will be measured back to you. This is the gospel of the

02:05

Lord. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

02:14

At least that's the old Klingon proverb, right? Yeah, see Bruce, you're laughing at me. I just, I feel so sensitive here.

02:20

I'm a little nerding out here. Remember the Wrath of Khan, right? Yeah, the Wrath of Khan, that second

02:26

Star Trek movie. Revenge is a dish best served cold. And of course, we hear texts like, vengeance is mine, sayeth the

02:35

Lord and stuff like this. And we go, yeah, but you don't know what that fellow did to me, or that lady or whoever, right?

02:44

So yeah, this, our text today, our sermon is going to kind of key in on this concept because our

02:51

Old Testament text exemplifies, the story of Joseph exemplifies

02:58

Christ, exemplifies him in so many ways that he, in fact, unlike any other of the patriarchs in the

03:04

Old Testament, Joseph's story really is a type and shadow of Jesus writ large.

03:11

And if anybody had any reason to go Monte Cristo on his brothers, then it was

03:20

Joseph. Yeah, I mean, this, the setup is exactly like you would expect from like something from Alexander Dumas from the

03:26

Count of Monte Cristo, right? You know, Ferdinand and all the evil guys. It's just, it's all there. His brothers, jealous of him because dad thinks he's the best, gives him the multicolored coat.

03:37

And in Semitic culture back then, the kid, the guy wearing the multicolored coat, he's the boss.

03:43

He's not even the first born. And so his brothers are bearing him a grudge. And then something weird happens.

03:50

God speaks to him, speaks to him in a dream. It's a prophetic dream. And well, he goes ahead and shares this prophetic dream with his brothers.

04:01

And it might have involved something about him and his father and brothers bowing down to him and stuff like that.

04:08

And so they're thinking this kid is just utterly full of himself. They can't stand him.

04:14

And so one of them comes up with an idea, let's kill him. And then one of his brothers steps in and says, no, no, no, no, no, let's not, let's not kill him.

04:23

Let's, we'll put him in a cistern and let's cool off here and think about this. And while he's in the cistern and the brother who saved his life is away for a little bit, well, some

04:34

Midianites come by and they sell him into slavery. So he goes into slavery, into Egypt.

04:41

And well, he's in slavery in Egypt. Well, the guy who owned him, his wife ended up getting the hots for him and was constantly making passes at him.

04:51

So we can say she was engaging in workplace sexual harassment, if you would. And since he kept rebuffing her advances, she came up with this great idea.

05:02

She was going to slander him. And so he gets put in prison. He spends 13 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit.

05:14

And Psalm 105 says this verse 18, Joseph's feet were hurt with fetters.

05:21

His neck was put in a collar of iron. Now I'm going to confess here.

05:31

And that is, is that, oh man, it would be really easy for me. In fact, quite tempting for me, if this were me, all those 13 years,

05:39

I'm in prison having to wear the fetters and the collar of iron and, and help out with the slop buckets and stuff like that.

05:46

Because, you know, ancient world, Egyptian prisons were not exactly known for their humane conditions or clean sanitary conditions.

05:54

This was his life. The whole time I would be nursing a grudge and it'd be growing and festering is if I ever see my brothers again, man, are they going to get it?

06:03

I mean, it's the perfect setup, right? And it looks like it's heading in the direction of the Count of Monte Cristo because then, you know, by some amazing circumstances, he goes from being in the prison to being like head over all of Egypt.

06:18

The only guy higher up in authority is Pharaoh himself and the whole purpose of him coming out of prison is to save the world.

06:30

Kind of interesting, a little savior stuff going on there. Think of his time in prison as kind of a death and a resurrection when he comes out.

06:40

But so it turns out that there's this famine that comes upon Egypt as God had stated in this prophetic dream that he had given to Pharaoh.

06:49

And Joseph is the fellow who's organizing everything in Egypt so that there is food during the upcoming seven years of famine.

06:57

And then that famine hits and two years into it, Joseph's brothers come down from Canaan into Egypt to buy bread, to get grain, to have food, because this is impacting all of the world at that time.

07:14

And they don't recognize him at all. He's matured.

07:20

Maybe his time in prison has taken a negative toll on his body. Who knows? But he's speaking fluent

07:26

Egyptian at this point. He recognizes his brothers. His brothers don't recognize him.

07:32

And he begins to test them, kind of see what his brothers are up to, what the mindset, see if his brother

07:39

Benjamin is safe or not. But after all of that, the thing that you would expect is that when he finally gives the big reveal,

07:48

I am Joseph, that he's going to pounce on them, throw them into prison, and make them experience all the pain, the misery, the suffering, the stench, and the awfulness that he experienced.

08:04

And if that's how this had been written, it would have been the greatest revenge story of all time.

08:13

But the greatest revenge story of all time is the Count of Monte Cristo. But see, that's nothing like the gospel.

08:22

Monte Cristo doesn't forgive. Monte Cristo exacts justice.

08:29

But Joseph does something very different. And this is where he exemplifies Christ in ways that are very, very difficult for us to hear.

08:37

Because each and every one of us, we are sinned against by our own brothers and sisters in Christ.

08:45

We are sinned against by our neighbors. We have enemies.

08:51

We have people who hate us. We have people who desire our own destruction.

08:58

And what are we to do with that? Well, let's take a look at the story of Joseph from our

09:04

Old Testament text. Genesis 45 says, Joseph said to his brothers, and here's the big reveal.

09:10

Are you ready? He says it in Hebrew. Ani Yosef. I am

09:15

Joseph. Is my father still alive? But his brothers, they could not answer him.

09:23

They were dismayed at his presence. Of course they're dismayed at his presence.

09:31

It's like, oh no. Have you ever had one of those experiences where something so awful happens that your blood runs cold?

09:38

You can almost imagine that that's what's going on with these fellows. Their blood's running cold. Oh boy.

09:45

And they think they're in trouble. This is it. They're going to get it. But Joseph says to his brothers, come near to me, please.

09:53

And so they came near. And he said, I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.

10:00

There's the charge, right? And now don't be distressed. Don't be angry with yourselves because you sold me here for God sent me before you to preserve.

10:16

Notice this is, this is not what we expect. Joseph's attitude is not that you sold me and you sent me here.

10:25

His attitude is that God sent him there. There's only kindness.

10:34

There's only forgiveness. In fact, he's even there and serving them to preserve their lives.

10:42

And this is so much like Jesus. Now let me explain in this way.

10:50

Jesus Christ, the son of God was sent into human flesh, born of the

10:55

Virgin Mary, and he suffered under Pontius Pilate for our sins and for our salvation.

11:01

And we must always recognize that when we were born, we were born dead in trespasses and sins and enemies of Christ.

11:10

We were not neutral. We absolutely hated him. And when Peter in the early parts of the book of Acts, one of his sermons early on, he says to this great multitude of people at the temple, he says to them, you crucified the

11:27

Lord of life. You crucified, you handed him over to be crucified.

11:34

It was you. And those words of the apostle Peter now echo across the ages from Judea to Oslo, Minnesota, out to radium, and even in Australia and Fisher and Grand Forks.

11:53

And Peter's indictment now comes to me. And Peter's indictment comes to you, you, me, we crucified the

12:03

Lord of life. We sold him into death.

12:10

We killed him. We murdered him. Joseph wasn't even murdered, but we murdered Jesus. But see, keep this in mind, that God, the father sent the son in order to preserve life, to preserve your life and mine, to forgive us of our rebellion.

12:30

You see, God demonstrates his great love for us in that while we were yet sinners, while we were enemies and hated

12:36

God, God loves us and sends his son to bleed and to die for our sins.

12:43

It's exemplified here in the story of Joseph in just amazing terms.

12:50

You see, and then Joseph goes on, the famine, for the famine has been in the land for these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.

13:01

So God sent me before you to save you, to preserve for you a remnant on the earth, to keep alive for you many survivors.

13:12

And in that verse seven, you can't help but wonder, man, it's not just talking about preserving them, preserving a remnant, but because by preserving

13:20

Judah and his descendants, the Messiah himself is being preserved so that there would be many survivors, those who have received eternal life.

13:32

So it was not you, Joseph says, who sent me here. It was God. And he has made me a father to Pharaoh and the

13:42

Lord of all his house and ruler over the land of Egypt. You know that passage from scripture that says

13:49

God causes all things to work together for good for those who love him. Here, what they did, what they meant for evil,

13:58

God has now worked for good. What we meant for evil and crucifying Christ, God has worked for our salvation.

14:04

It's amazing how this works. The gospel is just on full glorious display in this text.

14:11

So then he says this, hurry and go up to my father. It's like, I want you to go and preach the gospel to him.

14:17

And here's the good news I want you to proclaim to my father. Thus says your son,

14:24

Joseph, God has made me Lord of all of Egypt. Come down to me.

14:30

Do not tarry. And you shall dwell in the land of Goshen and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children and your flocks and your herds and all that you have.

14:42

I mean, it's so wonderful. The themes here and even just the emphasis reminds you of how

14:47

Christ has sent us out to go and proclaim the good news that God was reconciling the world to himself and Christ not counting their sins against them and that he has bled and died for our sins and he's saying, go and let everybody know that I have died and risen from the grave and that I want you to come to where I am.

15:06

Do not tarry and I will take care of you in the new earth and you will be near me, you and your children and your children's children, your flocks, your herds, all that you have, everything.

15:17

I will provide for you, Joseph says. And Christ says the same to us.

15:24

I will provide for you everything. Just receive, believe, come, repent.

15:34

You are forgiven. And then he says, there are yet five years of famine to come that you and your household and all that you have so that you do not come to poverty.

15:47

And now your eyes see in the eyes of my brother, Benjamin, see that it is my mouth that speaks to you.

15:53

So you must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt of an, of all that you have seen, hurry, bring my father down here.

16:00

And then rather than throwing them into prison, rather than exacting justice in his great mercy and forgiveness.

16:06

Now he is reconciled to those who sin so grievously against him. And he is reunited with his younger brother, whom he was separated from.

16:15

And he weeps on his neck and he gives even the brothers who wanted his murder, the kiss of peace.

16:25

And they all wept together and they talked with him. And you can almost say, and they live happily ever after.

16:33

They did. It's just an amazing story. And it exemplifies everything that Christ has done for us.

16:43

And so now this then gets to the rub of it. In the

16:49

Lord's prayer, we pray, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

17:01

And see sinners don't hypothetically sin against you. They for real sin against you.

17:08

And so the therefores of the gospel kind of run in this direction. You who were my enemy,

17:14

Christ says, I have forgiven you. Now you forgive. You who hated me and, and spoke and voted for my murder, called out with the crowd, crucify him.

17:27

I forgive you. I have bled and died for you and reconciled to my, you to myself.

17:33

So you forgive others. You think of the first martyr of the

17:38

Christian faith, Stephen. Stephen, even as he's being stoned to death, his parting words were,

17:47

Lord, forgive them. Forgive them, Lord. Or Christ, when he's nailed to the cross and suspended between heaven and earth, he says, father, forgive them.

17:56

They know not what they're doing. That's the awfulness of sin. Isn't Joseph's story way better than the count of Monte Cristo?

18:06

Isn't Joseph's story, isn't Jesus' story even better than that by a magnitude of thousands because it's for you.

18:12

And so now Jesus says in our gospel text, I say to you, love your enemies.

18:20

Do good to those who hate you. But you don't know what that person did to me,

18:28

Lord. Oh, actually he does. He really does. But the people who hate me, they really hate me,

18:34

Lord. Yeah, I know the people who hated me really hated me and they killed me. Bless those who curse you.

18:41

Pray for those who abuse you to the one who strikes you on the cheek.

18:49

Offer the other also. And from the one who takes away your cloak, don't withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you.

18:56

And from the one who takes away your goods, don't demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, so do to them.

19:13

If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.

19:20

That's kind of easy, isn't it? And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? Even sinners do that.

19:26

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.

19:37

Love your enemies. Do good. Lend, expecting nothing in return. And your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the

19:46

Most High, for he is kind and ungrateful. He's kind to the ungrateful and to the evil.

19:55

Yeah, Jesus is kind to the ungrateful and evil, because you and I fit into that category.

20:02

So be merciful, as your Father is merciful, as your Lord Jesus has had mercy.

20:11

Now I'm going to be blunt. This ain't easy, especially when those who hate you will not stop.

20:22

When those who slander you, and your enemies keep coming at you, and coming at you, and coming at you, how do you love them?

20:32

How do you forgive them? And so, I don't have an answer for you on that.

20:39

I can just tell you that this is what Jesus says. This is the therefore of our Gospel text, of the

20:45

Gospel, in fact, for all of us, that we forgive as we are forgiven. And this is not easy, it's hard.

20:52

And so we must confess our weakness, our desire to get revenge, our unwillingness to love.

21:02

We must confess that every fiber of our old Adam does not want to love, but wants to strike back, and to harm, and to get justice.

21:20

Oh Lord Jesus Christ, your love is unfathomable.

21:28

And apart from you, we're not capable of this love. You didn't just demonstrate it, you've given us this love,

21:35

Lord. And so forgive us of all the ways in which we have been merciless to those who hate us, of hating back those who hate us, of reciprocating animosity towards our enemies, and cursing those who curse us.

21:54

Forgive us, Lord Jesus, and teach us to love as you have loved, to forgive as you have forgiven.

22:04

Teach us how to be sons of the Most High, because you have made us that.

22:10

And at the same time, we recognize our own sinful faults. Forgive us, renew us, lead us,

22:16

Lord, so that we may delight in your will, your will to love, and to be kind and forgiven, even to the ungrateful and the evil.

22:27

We ask all of this in the name of Jesus. We thank you for your support.

23:09

All of our teaching messages may be freely distributed as long as you do not edit or change the content of the message.