Today, we continue our journey through the teaching of Jesus in Luke 6. Remember, there’s a massive crowd gathered seeking healing, and Jesus uses this opportunity to share important lessons with his newly selected disciples and potential followers. And what he chooses to tell them about is the pattern of his love and how we are called to follow it.
First, we looked at his teaching of the Golden Rule. He took an old teaching they had likely grown up hearing that said, “What is hateful to you, don’t do to anyone else”, and he turned it into a positive with even more meaning. He said, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” This is more than just don’t do harm, but intentionally do good. The pattern of Jesus’ love shows us to do good things for others, wish them well (which includes talking well about them), and pray for them.
If you listened to that teaching yesterday, did you notice a difference in the way you talked about others? I heard this and it hit me to the core, “You cannot treat someone better than you talk about them.” Woah … let that set in.
Think about this, every bad thing you say about someone is ammunition the enemy uses against them. God is not against the person you don’t like or have been hurt by. That’s still his child. He wants to heal them and help them be better. He didn’t create them to be bad. And God is asking you to treat them the way you would want to be treated yourself, and stop giving the enemy ammunition to use against them with the negative words you speak about them.
God’s not talking bad about you and he’s not talking bad about them … you shouldn’t either.
Now, let’s see what Jesus wants to teach the crowd next, because not only was Jesus talking to the large group gathered to hear him that day, but he knew you and I would be reading about it today and he’s speaking to us just as much as he was speaking to them 2,000 years ago. What does he want to tell us?
We will read 2 verses with 3 powerful lessons.
The first lesson is James 6:37, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you.”
It’s easy to think you’re not judging or condemning, but let’s read this scripture in the Message translation to check ourselves. “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults – unless, of course, you want the same treatment. Don’t condemn those who are down, that hardness is a boomerang.”
Are you guilty of any of this? Have you been doing some picking? Sly little comments, tiny jabs, inconspicuous posts you hope they see. That’s picking.
Have you been jumping on failures? Oh, we can be especially guilty of this with family. Our husband and our children fail, and we take that as an opportunity to show they were wrong and we are right. A friend fails and we proudly retell their story of failure in an effort to make ourselves look better. Dang, we’ve got some ugly down deep in us!
Have you been criticizing faults? They aren’t perfect, but what makes you think you are? What have they been through that makes them do what they do? What broken thoughts and self-beliefs do they constantly struggle with that create the faults you see in them? It’s easy to think you would do better with their life than they are doing, but really, if you had been dealt their exact hand with their exact experiences and struggles, I bet you wouldn’t be doing better than them. In fact, most people are dong about as good as they can with what they have and what they know.
God looks at them with mercy, now why can’t we?
This scripture, “Do not judge others” is often misquoted and twisted to mean you can’t have standards or beliefs. That’s not what Jesus is saying. He’s saying don’t be a hypocrite. Don’t be harsh. Don’t be ugly. Don’t be hateful. Don’t do harm to his prized creation.
A few verses later, Jesus tells us instead of judging, we are empowered with discernment. Verse 44-45, Jesus says, “A tree is identified by its fruit. A good person produces good things from the treasury of an good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.”
I can have discernment about a person without judgment. I can look at their fruit and see their heart. And this discernment tells me if this is a person God wants me to be with, or a person that wouldn’t be good for me. That doesn’t mean I hate them. It doesn’t mean I talk bad about them. It simply means I don’t partner with them.
Matthew 7: 20, Jesus says, “Just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.”
People are constantly telling you who they are. Just believe them. Don’t judge them. Don’t condemn them. Maybe there’s something hurting inside of them. Something that has gotten twisted. But use your gift of discernment to identify their actions which tell you if this is someone you want to be with.
Write this down: I FAIL WHEN I THINK THE WORST OF OTHERS.
One of my very first mentors was Jim Rohn, and Jim taught me that you’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. People are rubbing off on you. Do you want to become like them? Do you want to talk like them? Do you want relationships like their relationships? Their fruit is showing you who they are. You can use discernment to know if that’s what you want. Condemnation is not required in that process. Thinking the worst of them is not a necessary tool for true discernment. Look at their fruit, examine their actions. It’s there for you to see.
I can love you and know you’re not good for me. I can distance myself without being ugly. I can believe something different without thinking I’m better than you. God has shown he will love us no matter what we do, no matter how wrong we are, no matter how far we wander, no matter how unfaithful and ungrateful we are. It doesn’t mean our actions are without consequences. We create messes so we have to deal with messes that don’t just magically disappear.
The next powerful lesson Jesus gives the crowd then and to us today is, “Forgive others, and you will be forgiven”
The Passion Translation puts it like this, “Forgive over and over and you will be forgiven over and over.”
I don’t know about you, but I perpetually mess things up. I fail on the regular. I need continual forgiveness by God. Jesus is reminding me to be like him and give what I need. Offer what I want. I need more than a 2nd chance, for some things I just keep messing up and I need another chance daily, and I’m so fortunate to get it. Now, I must also give it.
Does this mean we become a doormat and let people run over us? No. But, God is affirming you will never be the loser when you give love and forgiveness.
Forgiveness is not a ticket to come back in your life and wreck havoc. Forgiveness is a release from the bondage within your heart that holds both them and you in hurt. Let them out, honey, they don’t belong in there. Not forgiving them for the hurt they caused is not changing them, it’s hurting you more.
God tells us to forgive because he knows living in unforgiveness is not good for his girl. He knows it eats away at your soul and corrupts your joy. And sometimes forgiveness is not a one and done action. Sometimes it’s a daily decision to not hold anyone or anything captive in your heart. God knows forgiveness is freedom, and he sent his son to set you free!
And one more lesson for us to look at today. Luke 6: 38, “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full – pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”
The Passion Translation says when you give generously, generous gifts will be given back to you, then they will be shaken down to make room for more! It says abundant gifts will pour out upon you with such an overflowing measure that it will run over the top!
Whew, don’t you want that in your life? Don’t you want abundant gifts more than you can contain? God has that for you, but he can only give to you in the same measurement that you give others. If you’re using a 1/4 cup measurement as you give, you’ll only get a 1/4 cup measurement poured out for you. I want the whole gallon!!!!!! So I give by the gallon!
I spent a lot of time in Bali this year. The Balinese people believe in Karma. They believe whatever you do in this life absolutely comes back to you, good and bad. Jesus doesn’t call it karma, but he calls it reaping and sowing. Whatever you plant, you will grow. And you only get to harvest what you’ve been growing. You don’t get to grow it if you didn’t first plant it. If you don’t like what you’re growing in your life, you have to change what you’re planting. You don’t get to plant persimmons and expect peaches.
The Balinese people are the most kind, genuine, generous people I’ve ever met. Everything they do is with intention and purpose. Why? Because they believe it will all come back to them.
And when Jesus says, “The amount you give will determine the amount you get back”, it should change what we give and how much we give.
I need grace and mercy, I will give a ridiculous amount of grace and mercy to others today.
I want the sweetest blessings and gifts, so I will personally go out of my way to bless others today and offer great gifts.
I will measure from the gallon, not the 1/4 cup. Why? Because Jesus is teaching us how to pattern our lives around the pattern of his.
He gives, so we give.
He forgives, so we forgive.
He sees the best in us, so I see the best in me and others.
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