Love and Do Good

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 23rd of February, 2025.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

You know, family, it’s usually pretty easy to love someone that loves us, that takes care of us, that sees to our needs and helps fulfill our wants.  But that’s generally a fairly small group that may or may not include family members.  Oh, and there may even be an animal or two in that gathering, for it’s also easy to love a pet.

But what about all the other people we associate with?  Do we love them, or even like all of them, or do we just abide their presence in our lives?  And if we expand outside our normal contacts area, we have the rest of the world’s population to contend with.  How many of them do we love?  How many do we hate?  And how do we feel about all the ones out there who wish us harm, who would cause us great pain if they could get their hands on us, who would kill us without blinking an eye?

Jesus said that we are to love one another.  Now it can be taken that this is a command for Christians to love other Christians, for He followed it up by adding that in this way, people will know that we are indeed Christians, if we love one another.  Even this seems to be difficult to obey for many otherwise good believers.

But Jesus also commanded us to love our neighbor as we love ourself.  Well, our neighbor may or may not be a believer.  And by “neighbor”, He didn’t mean just the folks living beside us, or across the street, or across the back fence – He meant any and all other folks we come in contact with anywhere at any time.

Our Lord clarified and added to this in His “Sermon on the Mount” as recorded by the Apostle Matthew, and in the Apostle Luke’s reporting of the corresponding “Sermon on the Plain” (which may or may not be the same actual sermon).  This message followed the Beatitudes and the “woe unto you” declarations.  Please listen and follow along to what Jesus tells us, as reported in verses 27 through 38 of the 6th chapter of the Apostle Luke’s Gospel account, and I’ll be reading  from the New American Standard Bible this morning…

27 “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who are abusive to you. 29 Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic from him either. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. 31 Treat people the same way you want them to treat you. 32 If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. 35 But love your enemies and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure — pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” 

--Luke 6:27-38 (NASB)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we thank You for all our many blessings, but Father, there are just some things we have an extremely difficult time doing, even though we have been commanded to do them, even though we know it would be pleasing in Your eyes if we did.  It is just so hard for us to love… to truly, unconditionally, sacrificially love someone who wishes us harm and would harm us and our loved ones if they could.  It’s hard to love as Jesus loved, without any expectation of something in return, some reward, even if only being loved in return.  We even have trouble loving other Christians at times.  Please forgive us these struggles, Father.  Forgive us when we don’t love as we should.  Please help us to not only love as Jesus showed us, but to show our love in tangible ways to others, even those who hate us.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, our worship, and our service.  And please keep us healthy and safe through these trying time.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   

And now may the words of my mouth and the meditations of each of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord our strength and our redeemer.  Amen.

Have you ever heard the expression, "No good deed goes unpunished"?  Alexander de Seversky, a U.S. aviator and engineer, was once visiting a fellow flyer in the hospital.  The young man had just lost his leg.  De Seversky, who had had an artificial leg for some time, tried to cheer him up.  "The loss of a leg is not so great a calamity," he said.  "If you get hit on a wooden leg, it doesn't hurt a bit!  Try it!"  The patient raised his walking stick and brought it down hard on de Seversky's leg.  "You see," he said cheerfully.  "If you hit an ordinary man like that, he'd be in bed for five days!"  With that he left his friend and limped into the corridor, where he collapsed in excruciating pain.  The young man had struck de Seversky on his good leg!

It seems that old expression too often rings true.  But notice that de Seversky gave no indication of the young man's punishing blow until he was out of sight.  He showed love by leaving a good impression with the young man, by encouraging him, even though there was a personal cost to himself.  This is love – sacrificial love – for a fellow human.

Love is arguably the first and oldest human emotion, whether from a biblical or secular perspective.  And it all starts in the nuclear family, born of dependence on each other, nurtured by close and near constant association, grown by sharing with each other.  And that may also be the beginning of why it is so difficult for we humans to love other people that are different from us, whether different in heritage, different in race, different in thoughts and beliefs.

Too much of our failure to love all others comes from how we judge all others.  Jesus clearly tells us not to judge, not to condemn anyone else, but we do it anyway.  We judge unconsciously, without meaning to or thinking about it, and we judge knowingly, rationally, and often with malice.  And we judge even though we’ve been warned that some day we ourselves will be judged, and in the same way that we judged others.

I think we are quickest to judge those we feel are bad people, doing bad things, not following the Golden Rule.  Well, King David tells us not to worry about what other people might do.  Instead, we should just trust in the Lord and do good to others.  Hear what David tells us in his 37th Psalm, from verse 1 through the first part of verse 3…

1 Do not get upset because of evildoers,

Do not be envious of wrongdoers.

2 For they will wither quickly like the grass,

And decay like the green plants.

3 Trust in the Lord and do good.

--Psalm 37:1-3a (NASB)

We shouldn’t let what other people are doing - or are not doing - bother us.  It’s not our job to judge them or their actions.  That task is above our pay grade.  They will be judged, and there will be a price they will pay for any wrong they have done.  And so will we, for that matter.

Our job is to love, to trust in the Lord and to do good while we walk this earth.  Wise King Solomon, David's son, follows up on this in the 27th verse of his 3rd Proverb when he writes…

27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.

--Proverbs 3:27 (NASB)

Sometimes the opportunity to do good presents itself in a straightforward manner, making it easy for us to help another, such as when we pitch in to feed the homeless or join in on a fundraising event.  But there are also opportunities that come along quite unexpectedly, right out of the blue, and maybe at an inopportune time.  What then?

Do we turn around and stop to help the motorist that is very obviously having trouble?  Do we fill up the car of the person at the gas pump who is digging through their purse and under all the seats looking for some change to put in a few dollars worth to get them to work?  Do we show unconditional, sacrificial love when it isn’t convenient to do so, when common sense and social norms would tell us not to?

Family, Jesus made it very clear, in His words and especially in His actions while He walked among us.  He showed us what love really looks like.  He put what He preached into practice.  And He emphasized the importance of all this by commanding us to love.

I referred to this a bit earlier.  It was recorded by the Apostle John in the 13th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 34 and 35, when Jesus said…

34 “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another.”

--John 13:34-35 (NASB)

We call Jesus our Lord.  If we truly accepted Him as our Lord, our Master, we would follow His commands to the letter and without hesitation.

Now I personally don’t believe Jesus was directing this command to Christians just to love other Christians, because in our reading He also said that there is no credit in us loving only those who love us.  Assuming that Christians are only to love other Christians, we’d all be loving each other, so what good would that do?  Would that show the world anything?  Non-believers love other non-believers, right?

So no, we should love all others, and in that way - loving even those who hate us, loving even those who wish us harm – we are showing the world what real love looks like.  And if we follow Jesus' command and truly love others, we will do good out of our love.

Love others, even our enemies.  Give, expecting nothing in return.  Be merciful, just as our heavenly Father is merciful, for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people.  And don’t sit in the judgment seat – that’s not our job.

Love others and do good.  That’s our mission, given to us by the One who showed us how to do it, in His words and in His life.  In the glorious name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, our Master and our Savior.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for loving us even when we were Your enemies.  You showed mercy to us in our rebellion.  You saw to our needs when we turned our backs to You.  You love us enough to send Your own Son to redeem us of our sin, to lead us out of the darkness.  Thank You for loving us this much.  Father, we admit that we struggle when it comes to loving others, especially when love isn’t returned in kind.  And too often we judge others based on little things like skin color or the language they speak.  Our judgments and condemnations are almost always irrational.  We just have a hard time unconditionally loving all others.  Please forgive us these times, dear Father.  Please help us be more like Jesus in how we love, in living our love and giving our love.

Strengthen us, Father, to reach out to others and show them Your love by giving of ourselves in their service, in Your service, just as Jesus did.  And please help us share our Lord Jesus with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  Help us pave the way for Your Spirit to do His work on them.

Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith, trying to make us his own.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what comes our way.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You showed us what true love looks like.  You set the standard for us.  But Jesus, it’s just not that easy for us.  We don’t always love like we should.  We let our prejudices and hatreds get in the way of loving all others as You commanded us.  We need your help in carrying out this command.  Remind us that our job is not to judge or condemn others, but to love them and show them Your love.  Help us to live our love and to do good every chance we get.

Holy Spirit, please help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message, showing God’s love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us the deeds to bring more followers to Jesus.

And Jesus, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this world might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.