Sermon: Jesus, Weapons, & War Pt. 2

Amen. You may be seated. If you would, open your

Bibles to the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 26. Gospel according to Matthew 26, verse 47.

I know it's getting warm in here. Warmer by the minute. Sorry about the air conditioning situation.

So, a little bit of a shorter message today, dealing with the text again from last week, but also dealing with some questions that arise.

Biblical questions, good and very important questions, categories. How do we handle this text and some of the objections or questions that arise when you talk about loving your enemy, but also the principle in God's law of self -defense.

And so we're in Matthew 26, verse 47. Hear now the word of the living and the true

God. While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs from the chief priests and the elders of the people.

Now the betrayer had given them a sign saying, the one I will kiss as the man sees him. And he came up to Jesus at once and said, greetings rabbi.

And he kissed him. So, Jesus said to him, friend, do what you came to do.

When they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him, then they came up. And behold, one of those who are with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.

Then Jesus said to him, put your sword back into its place for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.

Do you think that I can unappeal to my father and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?

But how then should the scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so?

At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, have you come out against, out as against a robber with swords and clubs to capture me?

Day after day I sat in the temple teaching and you did not seize me. But all this has taken place that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.

Then all the disciples left him and fled. Thus far is the reading of God's holy and inspired word.

Let's pray together as his people. Father, we come into your presence Lord with gratitude, with fear, reverence before you.

We thank you for this gift of your revelation. We thank you for the certainty that we can have because you have spoken.

We pray God as we talk about the text before us that you've given. We pray that you would guide us, that you would challenge us, that you would open our eyes to the truth.

We pray that you by your spirit would teach that you Lord would grant to me the strength as a pastor over these people to speak your truth, guard us from error, be glorified in what is said in Jesus name.

Amen. So here we are, Matthew 26, 47, all the way to the end of the chapter, verse 56.

We've unpacked the text. We've talked about, we've talked about the betrayal of Judas. We've talked about the questions that arise when

God has planned something, sovereignly planned something, the one who declares the end from the beginning.

How does human responsibility work with that? We've unpacked the text and done an exposition through the text throughout the gospels to see what exactly took place with Judas.

Now the moment before us is a moment where Judas comes to do what God had foreordained him to do.

This was something that God planned and Judas wanted. Judas was doing what he wanted and God planned this.

And this text before us, I mentioned, has been used for ages to teach a form of Christian pacifism.

It's the kind of problem where we see a particular text in a particular category or context and then we take that principle and we begin to drive it across everything else, knocking out all the other principles that still exist and still stand in God's law.

But how should we handle a question like this where Peter draws a sword, takes somebody's ear off,

Jesus of course then gives him his ear back, but Jesus tells Peter in chastising him, all who live by the sword will die by the sword, and then challenges him with this challenge.

How then, verse 54, should the scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so? So how do you carry these things in balance?

That's the question. So today, again, a shorter message dealing with the text, of course, as we always want to do, but also answering questions that are going to arise.

And they're very good questions because you have challenging things in a fallen world. Here's a summary that I want you to get from today's message in terms of thinking about categories.

I'll give you an example. You shall not murder. Amen? Is that God's command?

Now the text actually says you shall not kill, but the word there is ratzak in Hebrew and it means the semantic domain of the word is in reference to the unjustified killing of a human being.

We're talking about murder. You shall not kill. Now there are people who have picked up on this, of course, and say, well, here's a contradiction with your

God. He tells people not to kill and then he orders people to kill others.

How do you solve that contradiction? Here's the problem. It's not a contradiction. It's called thinking in categories.

Now the challenge that's presented to us is, of course, God is love. Amen? Love does no harm to its neighbor.

The problem is we live in a fallen world. A fallen world brings complications.

It brings tensions. It brings conflicts. So on the one hand, God is love.

The command is love does no harm to its neighbor. And yet in scripture, in a fallen world, we actually have instances where God actually says that's an appropriate way to harm your neighbor.

Or how about when God says to love your enemies? And yet also in God's law, he says that it's perfectly acceptable and righteous and just for a father to kill an intruder who comes into their home and presents a mortal threat.

I thought we were to love our neighbors. But also God says this is a justifiable way of loving these neighbors and killing this one.

Justifiable. That it's righteous. The problem is thinking in categories. I'll give you another tension that arises in a fallen world.

And it's another example of how as Christians we have to be able to think in categories.

Different categories. God says, another commandment, you shall not lie. Do you believe that?

Do you want to obey that? Yes, please. The next part of the text here, Caiaphas, we're going to do a message that I had fully prepared and I'm very excited about, by the way, one of the most messages

I'm most passionate about is next week. The next one is filled with lies.

It's a sin. And Caiaphas is in on it. Where false witnesses are being brought forward to bring false testimony against Jesus.

He should have known better as the high priest what God's standards are for justice. But here's a perfect example in the text of a violation of God's law.

You shall not lie. So here's the question, brothers and sisters, should we tell our children you shall not lie?

You can respond here. It'll keep you alive with this heat. Okay. You shall not lie is a standard that we teach all of our children and we command one another.

When there's gossip or there's slander going on, we ought to say with love to your brother or sister in Christ, you shall not lie.

That's a sin. And so does God lie? No. That child answered first.

I like that. No, does God lie? God cannot lie. God cannot engage in logical contradiction.

God cannot lie. And yet, fallen world, tensions are brought in the context of a fallen world.

The standard is what's in accordance with God's character is you shall not lie.

Why? Because you're made in God's image and God is not like that.

God not only negatively does not lie, God always tells the truth.

Amen? So negatively and positively, that's the standard because God's character is like that.

It's not just a like, a subjective feeling. I would like it if you didn't lie. No, it's the standard.

That's what God's character is like. He cannot lie. But a fallen world brings tensions, doesn't it?

Can I give you an example? How about the start of Exodus and the Hebrew midwives? What's God say about the

Hebrew midwives? They were told to do this wicked thing with the sons born from Israel.

They were told to do a very wicked thing. And what did the Hebrew midwives do? They lied.

It's a lie. They engaged, not quite a lie, in righteous deception.

How? By not telling the truth about what was going on with the women of Israel.

And what else? They engaged in righteous deception that was for what?

The preservation of human life. The standard is you should not lie. But this wicked man in a fallen world is trying to end the lives of babies.

And so the Hebrew midwives realize the tension and they say we are to preserve human life these are made in God's image.

And so what do I have to do here? I have to weigh the balance here and say I need to engage in some righteous deception for the sake of the preservation of human life.

That's the tension a fallen world brings. Categories come together and we need to wade through it in terms of biblical principles and wisdom.

This happens in a fallen world. It's the consequence of a fallen world. And so a lot of times people are not able to think in categories.

Christians need to do better. We have to be able to think in separate categories. For example, love your enemy.

Is that a command? Yes. But is it also righteous to go to war with your enemy?

Yes. It can be a just cause that glorifies God to both love your enemy and also engage in a righteous act of justified war against your enemies.

Why? Same reason that we look at when we look at Exodus and see the Hebrew midwives. We're in a fallen world and sometimes that brings tensions and conflicts and I have to weigh the righteous principles in balance recognizing that if I have an enemy that I'm called to love who actually invades the shores and begins raping and murdering and pillaging then

I have to weigh all of these principles in the balance and say I'm called to love my neighbor as I love myself which might mean to love my family and my friends and my community

I have to actually kill the enemy who's seeking this injustice. Principles and balance.

So when we look at a text like this before us let's ask questions. Okay, let's answer them as well.

So first thing is you have this example here of Peter. Peter there is the one with the sword.

He draws the sword and he goes to strike. Now apparently he misses. He was swinging the sword because the sword's a deadly weapon and he intended to actually kill this person.

He was motivated. I have argued by the fact that Jesus gives he actually says that he is

Yahweh. This crowd of hundreds and hundreds of people fall down before Jesus when he says that he is

God. He takes the name of God for himself. Apparently that emboldens Peter. He pulls out this deadly weapon goes for a death strike and misses hits the ear.

Jesus heals it and says this is what I've come for. What are you doing?

This is what I've come for. Questions arise though. Where do you get the sword? We answered this last week.

I'm going to take you back to it because I want to answer some objections that come. The parallel text to this is

Luke 22. Go to Luke 22. In Luke 22 verse 35 the text says and he said to them when

I sent you out with no money bag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything? They said nothing. He said to them but now let the one who has a money bag take it and likewise a knapsack and let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one.

For I tell you that the scripture must be fulfilled in me and he was numbered with the transgressors for what is written about me has its fulfillment and they said look

Lord here are two swords and he said to them it is enough. Important thing to consider with this text we talked about it last week is in the text in Luke this conversation takes place when?

After the Lord's Supper. After the promise of Peter's denial and shortly before Jesus is betrayed into the hands of these sinners.

So here's a moment in the story of Jesus before the betrayal and after the

Lord's Supper. Brothers and sisters get this in Luke's account it's the same night. Jesus says now this is how

I sent you out during my ministry. I wanted you to go like this. No money bag, no knapsack, sandals, this this is how you're going to go and it was supposed to be somewhat of a testimony and a sign maybe a bit of testing from Jesus on the disciples to trust in God's providence as they went out on gospel mission during Jesus' ministry, but before Jesus is betrayed he changes their methodology.

He said now before I actually go to be numbered with the transgressors before I go to be killed to take the sin of God's people it's different now.

Now go with a money bag, make preparations and I'm sending you out now in a new way.

Make sure you have something to defend yourselves with. Listen, you didn't cut butter with a sword.

Can I say that? When he tells them to get a sword, what's a sword for in the first century?

It's for self -defense and killing. A sword isn't used to cut butter.

A sword is used for a different purpose and Jesus says before it was this way, now I'm about to depart and be killed to be numbered with the transgressors.

I'm sending you out in a new way. Go with preparations and go with something to defend yourselves.

Now notice something, I want to highlight this, Jesus says this and the apostles look for what?

Some sort of spiritual interpretation of Jesus' words. That's what people say oftentimes with this text, they say well

Jesus had a really spiritual meaning behind these words and I would argue yes, but let's talk about what that spiritual meaning was, but how did the apostles interpret

Jesus' words? That they were supposed to bring a spiritual sword? What do they do immediately when he says it?

They go saying where's the swords? Hey, we found two and Jesus doesn't correct them.

Proof? It's not in the text, but Jesus knows Peter is carrying the sword.

He used it to lop off an ear and Jesus didn't say to him, Peter, you don't understand.

It's not what I meant. I meant a spiritual sword. He's carrying it and Jesus knows he's carrying it.

The apostles interpreted Jesus' words as a deadly weapon. There's no way around it.

Peter has the sword because Jesus told them, now get a sword.

So if it was a spiritual lesson, the question again has to be asked, what does a spiritual lesson intend to teach?

What was he actually saying? But note that the apostles got real swords and Jesus didn't challenge them for it.

Peter is carrying it. Now what about this? If we're to go to this text and say, no, the real issue here is

Jesus is giving them a spiritual lesson only. Just a spiritual lesson. I would say, okay, you believe that, that it wasn't supposed to literally be a weapon for self -defense?

Well, let me ask you now, when you go out on a mission as a Christian, maybe as a Christian pacifist, do you bring money?

Do you bring preparations? Because what I want to say is this, if you want to hyper -spiritualize this passage and make it say something that it is in fact not saying, then brother and sister go all the way with it.

Go do your gospel missions with no shoes on, no knapsack, no, you know what

I'm saying? Go all the way if it's just spiritual. But you note that even the

Christian pacifists do not do that. When they go on their gospel missions, what do they bring? Preparations.

They plan for it. They make sure they have enough money to accomplish the mission. Because the point is, is this is in fact literal.

Jesus doesn't challenge them, and they understood it as literal because they went to look for swords, and they found them.

So that's a really important thing. Now, here's the question, because the question comes up. Well, gee, listen, think about it honestly.

Be honest with the text. Jesus says, get a deadly weapon. They find deadly weapons, they're carrying them, and then they go,

Peter's got the deadly weapon, and then he tries to use it, and Jesus says, no. So where's the problem?

Jesus, you told me to bring it. The problem is, is that it's only supposed to be used in a proper context.

And in this context, Jesus was sent for this very thing. He's doing what he came to do, and Peter, in this moment, is actually attempting to subvert it.

Peter had that problem. Jesus says, I'm going to do this, and then Peter says, no, you're not. And Jesus says to him, get behind me,

Satan. The problem here was not having the weapon. The problem was the timing and the use of the weapon.

And that's what Jesus chastised him for. So questions come up. When you look at this text, and you think about all these principles in balance, the principles

I highlighted last week, when we talk about all the instances, some of the instances in scripture, where God's people are told to use weapons, have weapons, and of course, even in the stories that Jesus tells about the strong man who is armed and his goods are in peace.

Jesus is teaching a real lesson about that, but he's doing it on the back of a story of when a person is armed in their house, their goods are in peace.

So Jesus highlights that principle. That's okay, and that's a good thing. Think about that, fathers.

But what about martyrdom? Right? Because this is challenging, right? Think about it. I, we have to recognize that tension.

What about the Christian martyrs? The whole history of the Christian church, and even today, where people are killed for their faith.

They're martyred for their faith in Jesus. How do you balance that? Christian martyrdom, suffering for the cause of the gospel, and this principle over here of self -defense, protecting your home, protecting your loved ones, and even killing someone who comes into your home and presents a mortal threat.

How do you balance these things? Again, the problem is it's a failure to think in categories. It's a failure to think in categories.

Here's a category. Gospel work is never violent.

The Christian gospel, our message of peace, does not go out into the world with the sword.

There are religions, by the way, that do believe that, that it's okay to do that, to advance their religion, their story, their faith, by the sword.

The Christian gospel is never advanced via violence. It is a proclamation.

It is a message. That's a category. However, the righteous principle of ordinary self -defense, example, in the law of God, the case law example of a thief breaking in, and of course, even ending that person's life to protect your loved ones, or even the principle that Jesus appeals to with a strong man fully armed with his goods and peace, is another category.

There's a principle of gospel work in the world, which is always, always, always non -violent, not physical.

And then there, of course, is the category over here of the principle of righteous self -defense or even just warfare.

There are different categories. And I mentioned, of course, the tension that exists in the fallen world, like with lying.

You're commanded not to lie, but then God actually upholds the glory of the

Hebrew midwives by saying they actually feared God. Why? Because they engaged in righteous deception.

For what? The preservation of human life. Question. Here's a thing to challenge yourself with.

God commands you not to lie. But I'm confident, fairly confident, that all of us in this room would have loved our

Jewish neighbors enough if we lived in Germany to hide them from the

SS. Wouldn't we? And if the SS came knocking at your door saying, are you hiding

Jews under your floorboard? My response would be no. Why?

Because I'm working for the preservation of human life. That is a tension brought because of the context of a fallen world.

We have to hold together different principles, like the preservation of human life, loving my neighbors. Which neighbors?

The ones I'm hiding under my floorboards. Do you see? It's a tension brought because of a fallen world.

Here's an example, however, in scripture where believers, and of course the righteous, are not just throwing themselves into persecution and death and martyrdom.

That, I think, needs to be, we need to be very cautious with brothers and sisters. Just because there is persecution, just because somebody is out for your life, doesn't mean you need to hand yourself over to them.

And I have two examples quickly. Again, I'm trying to go fast here because of the heat in this room. Two examples.

Number one, Jesus, they picked up stones to kill him at times. They were out for his life during his earthly ministry.

And of course, Jesus escapes from them. He slips out of the crowd. He essentially hides from their view.

He gets away. He doesn't allow them just to take his life. He's not throwing himself headlong into that kind of persecution and even assault on his body.

Another example is the Apostle Paul. When he's being persecuted and people are even taking oaths not to eat until he's dead, he's being lowered out of windows.

He's trying to escape, non -violently, the persecution that comes from his proclamation of the gospel.

That is the category. He's preaching the gospel. He's preaching the message of peace and faith in Jesus.

And when people are out for his life, his first instinct is to what? Escape.

Get out of their clutches. Get out of their hands. He's not throwing himself right into it.

However, it's not always possible. Sometimes you're caught, put in chains, put into a dungeon, and your head's gonna get taken.

Sometimes you're caught by the authorities. They bind you up. They break your bones and drag you down the street, and they hang you in front of the public.

There's no way out. And you're martyred for your faith. But that is a different category than we're thinking about when we think about, for example, the home invasion, where the person kicks your door in with three or four of his friends, and they're heavily armed.

That's not gospel persecution. Those are thugs looking to murder. That's not considering the category of the active shooter in Las Vegas.

That's not considering the category of the active shooter at your local mall or at the movie theater.

It's a different category. And so we need to consider these things in terms of categories and biblical principles.

But I want to say something here, and this is, I think, one of the big strong points that we need to consider when we ask questions regarding the right, the biblical right, to defend yourself, the issues that come up with martyrdom.

When someone says, yes, but in the New Testament, we're called to love our enemies,

I would say that's from the Old Testament. That's not a new law.

You know, when it's quoted in the New Testament, to love your neighbor as you love yourself, that's not invented in the

New Testament. That's from the law of God. That's from the Torah. So when someone says, yeah, but the New Testament rule is to love your neighbor, brothers and sisters, that's

Old Testament law. Love God and love your neighbor. Jesus says that the two greatest commandments in the law of God, Old Testament, is to love

God with heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as you love yourself. That all the law and the prophets are built upon these two commands.

Loving enemy and neighbor is not a New Testament thing. It's a highlight continuation of the purpose of the law to begin with.

But what's the hidden assumption? Find it. When someone says, yes, but in the New Testament, we're called to love,

I'd say, well, that's Old Testament. But the assumption there, the hidden assumption there, is actually devastating.

It's that Jesus' message is in contradiction to God's stated standards in the

Old Testament. It's not. What did Jesus say in Matthew 5, 17 through 19?

Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets.

I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. And he actually challenges his hearers with this thought.

If anyone teaches to disobey even the least of these commandments, which ones?

From the law of God, you'll be called least in the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. But those who do them and teach them will be called great.

Do you see? That's Jesus' perspective on the law of God. So Jesus wasn't coming to subvert God's law and to do away with all of the principles of righteous warfare and, get this,

God's law regarding self -defense. They're different categories.

Important questions. But we get through them by thinking with principles, wisdom, and biblical categories.

Now, this is just a side note to go investigate further. My friend Douglas Wilson has done some excellent work on this.

Just war theory. Questions come up on this. I encourage you to study that.

When I put this out online, I'll put a link to actually one good talk that summarizes a lot from Doug.

I'll do that tonight sometime. I'll try. But in the history of the church, actually this goes all the way back throughout the history of the church, particularly with Augustine, and then throughout the history of the church,

Christians have had to work through issues regarding, as we're preaching the gospel, the nations are being converted.

They're coming to love God's law. They still have to deal with the consequences of a fallen world.

They have to deal with people coming to invade their villages. They have to deal with people coming to invade their nation. They have to deal with the

Hitlers, and the Stalins, and the Pol Pots, and the Mao's of human history. So how do we as Christians, and even working for Christian nations, go win the nations, disciple them, teach them to obey?

How do we deal with the fallen world and the consequence of warfare? And Christians have answered this according to biblical principles and law.

Now, here's why it's important. Listen, we don't today, in the New Testament church, have living prophets speaking for God, giving new revelation from God.

They had that in the Old Testament, and if they got a word from God to wipe out the

Canaanites completely, Doug says that's an act of God, not an act of the

Israelites. God could have done it with a tornado or an earthquake, but he chose the Israelites, and that's a specific word from God that was unusual, but that's revelation from God.

This is my judgment. This is right. We don't have that in the New Testament. We don't have a prophet speaking today from God telling us new revelation.

What do we have? We have this. We have God's word, his revelation, written down.

We have the holy scriptures. This is the revelation of God. And so we need to think about these questions as Christians, biblically, using

God's principles and his standards. So Doug makes a point that in the history of Christianity, Christians have worked out just war theory based on scripture, and Doug gives five good points.

Again, I'm going to put the link to one of the good talks under this video later so you can watch it in full. But Doug makes five good points about how has this been developed in Christian history.

And number one, from a Christian perspective, in terms of warfare, it must be decided by a competent authority.

It must be decided by a competent authority. If Chip comes running in here tonight saying, hey, we're going to war with Iraq tomorrow, everybody, we'd be like,

Chip, something's up. You know, you don't have the authority to do that, right?

We'd say you can't make those kind of decisions. That's not how, like, the magistrate works. Like, God has a certain order for that kind of a command and that kind of a move, and it's not coming from me.

It's not coming from any of us. It's coming from a different category or a different sphere. So number one, it must be declared by a competent authority.

Number two, and this is biblical principles, it must be a just cause.

It must be a just cause. So we have to think through, is this right for our nation to be involved in?

Is this pleasing to God? Is this something that God would agree to and say, yes, that's righteous.

That, in fact, is just. So we have to use the word of God and biblical principles when engaging in warfare.

It must be a just cause. Number three, it must be a proportional response. Christians, again, have just brought this out in history.

It has to be a proportional response. Leaders will answer for how they engage in warfare, even in a fallen world.

This is a really important point. You could be fighting in a just war from a biblical perspective, but you can engage in that just warfare in a disproportionate, responsive way.

You could do it in a way that is not pleasing to God, that is, in fact, evil. And so Christians have, of course, said, if you're going to do this in a way that's pleasing to God, in the context of a fallen world, it must be a proportional response.

And I love what Doug says. He says, you don't go killing ants with baseball bats. Right? Very important.

Number four, peaceful means must always be exhausted. From a

Christian perspective, even with just war theory, engaging in warfare, just warfare, in a fallen world, in this context, peaceful means must be exhausted.

In this American experiment, Christianity and the Christian worldview was in the atmosphere, and you can see that the ministers preaching during that time before what was called the

Presbyterian Revolt, they were preaching that this has to be a defensive posture only.

They were pleading and pleading and pleading with England to do what was right before God, to obey

God's law and their own laws. And they were saying, you're not doing it now, and the law is king.

It is not the king is law. This is the standard. You're not the standard. You have to obey

God. They were trying to exhaust all the peaceful means possible, and they were commanded, before that first shot heard around the world, they were commanded, you are not to fire a shot until you are fired upon.

It is a defensive posture only. This, of course, is the Christian history of just war theory.

You have to deal with these questions in a fallen world. And number five, the nation going to war must have right intentions.

In other words, if we're going to war, it can't be so we can get more oil or any other reasons that are ultimately not the right intentions.

So, final thoughts here. Loving neighbors, loving enemies, and justifiable killing.

Those are separate categories. And as Christians, we have to be able to think with wisdom biblical categories as we engage in this world, which is fallen.

Jesus is making all things new, and the gospel is going into the world. But how do you answer these questions?

Murder is the unjustified killing of a human being. That's the definition of murder.

It's the unjustified killing of a human being. That's in the law of God. In the Ten Commandments, read it.

God says you shall not kill, and in the very next chapter, one chapter later,

Moses says that if somebody does murder, the state is supposed to kill them. Different categories.

One is the basic principle of how we interact with one another, and the other is the consequence of a fallen world where people are actually violating that law.

That is the standard. And what is the state supposed to do in terms of justice for the victim?

And the answer from scripture is if they are truly guilty, they've forfeited their life. Now, think about this.

These are questions to start thinking through, and these are the final thoughts. What if you were engaging in work in the area of sex trafficking?

Important work that needs to be done today. I hope people in this room have a passion for it.

We've wanted our church to have some involvement in this area for years now, but I want you to consider this.

That's a very violent world. It's a dangerous ministry to begin, which of course is why it's hard to actually start these ministries, because you could lose your life doing it, and it's very painful.

But think about the context of this world if you engage in work in the area of sex trafficking.

Now, let's imagine for a moment that you have women and children being kidnapped and enslaved and abused by a group of people in your area.

You go to try to rescue these people, and these violent thugs come in to try to kill the women and children and yourself.

Is the principle to be highlighted in that moment just lay down your life and to be a martyr?

It's an important category to think about. That's not a moment of just gospel evangelism and mission.

These are other human beings who are involved in being kidnapped and enslaved and abused by this organization.

So, is it right in that circumstance to defend the lives of these women and children against these thugs and murderers?

Is it right? I would say God's law demands that I do everything in my power to preserve these human lives.

Someone might say, yes, but love your enemies. I would say I am loving them, and I'm also loving them, thinking in categories.

Or how about this, brothers and sisters? Here's a category. What if after service today we all went out to a restaurant, it had to be a big one, we all went out to a restaurant together, and we're there eating together, and we're fellowshiping, we're opening the word together, encouraging one another, spurring one another on to love and good deeds, and then in comes, and this fallen world is an awful thought, it truly is, in comes an active shooter.

Now, we're all in there doing Christian stuff. We're fellowshipping, we're in the word, we're encouraging one another, and someone comes in with the intent to destroy the lives of everyone in the restaurant.

What's the right response in that moment? I would argue it's not martyrdom to just start receiving bullets and laying down your lives.

In a moment like that what's required of us is to love our neighbors enough to protect their lives from someone who means to do them harm.

That is a different category than going out to preach the gospel at the

Muslim mosque in Tempe. And while you're out there giving the message of the gospel and the message of peace, you get attacked, maybe by atheists on the street or LGBT fans or whatever the case may be, or people there at the mosque, and you take a beating for Jesus.

That makes sense. I think we need to be willing to take a beating for Jesus. The apostles showed us that and it didn't stop them.

These are different categories of thought, different missions. And so brothers and sisters, my encouragement is for you to think about God's principles of the preservation of human life and loving your neighbors.

And in a fallen world, sometimes you have to balance those things. I have one neighbor over here who means harm to 50 of my neighbors.

How do I love the most neighbors? Preserve their lives, engage in righteous, just self -defense.

But I want to highlight one last point and then I'm all done and that's this. The Christian mission is not, again, to spread the gospel and the

Christian message via violence. The Christian message, the gospel of the kingdom, goes into the world with a proclamation of love and peace and the call to repent and be reconciled to God.

Our mission is to go into the world peacefully because we represent the prince of peace.

And as people are one to Christ, we teach them God's law and to obey everything Jesus taught them.

And one of the things Jesus taught people was the right to self -defense. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you'd bless the message that went out today, your word for your glory.

Help us, Lord, because we are just mere creatures. Help us, Lord, to use wisdom, godly wisdom, as we wade through questions of loving our enemies, but also preserving human life.

Loving our enemies, but also loving our neighbors whose lives are threatened by enemies.

Help us to hold these things together in a way that is glorifying to you and consistent.