Shownotes
Find authentic encouragement and practical steps for responding with grace when others hurt, insult, or take advantage of you.
Mario Galioni talks about Jesus’ teaching on turning the other cheek, letting go of personal rights, and loving enemies. He sees these not as hard goals, but as real chances for freedom and growth. Listen to real stories about loss, family, and being open. These stories show that you can stop wanting revenge, find kindness, and be part of a caring community, even during hard times and struggles.
No matter your background or struggles, you are invited to exchange old identities and walk a better way.
Key Insights
- Radical love rejects revenge and pursues peace, even at personal cost.
- True generosity transforms relationships—release the need to get even.
- Words carry power. Choosing grace over retaliation can reshape destinies.
- Identity is not found in status or possessions, but in following Jesus’ example.
- You are accepted and invited, no matter your starting point or past reactions.
https://springhousemidweek.captivate.fm/episode/the-sermon-of-sermons-part-4
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- Thursdays, 6:00 PM
Contact Info
Springhouse Church
14119 Old Nashville Highway
Smyrna TN 37167
CCLI License 2070006
Transcripts
We bless you, Lord. We thank you, Father, for this time to just be able
Speaker:to come into your presence to magnify you tonight to
Speaker:just stop in the middle of the week on what we know as
Speaker:Maundy Thursday and just take a moment and say,
Speaker:thank you, God. Thank you, Lord, for what
Speaker:you've done, for what you're doing and what you're about to do. We are
Speaker:so grateful and we just come under your hand. We just thank you,
Speaker:Holy Spirit, for being in this place. Thank you for
Speaker:translating everything spiritual into these hearts of ours.
Speaker:I just pray we would be attentive, Lord, to all that you're doing. Give
Speaker:you the glory, Father, in Jesus name.
Speaker:Amen. Amen.
Speaker:Welcome on this Thursday evening. God is so faithful. He's so good.
Speaker:And we are going to be continuing with the sermon of sermons,
Speaker:talking about the Sermon on the Mount. And
Speaker:I am so honored to have my Mario Galeoni coming
Speaker:to share tonight. My husband and I, we have been friends with the
Speaker:Galeonis for decades. I'm pretty sure I held
Speaker:Maria Michael and Marcella in these arms, and I'm
Speaker:pretty sure my daughter lived at their house a majority of the time.
Speaker:So we are so grateful for them, and we're grateful for the influence and
Speaker:the love that they have in this house, for the people of this house.
Speaker:And I'm so excited to hear what the Lord has given you tonight. Mario,
Speaker:would you welcome him?
Speaker:Thank you, Pastor Barbie. I appreciate that. Well,
Speaker:hello, everybody. How we doing?
Speaker:When Pastor Barbee reached out to me a while back,
Speaker:she sent me a text message, and I just
Speaker:didn't answer it for a couple of weeks.
Speaker:And I was hoping she forgot, actually. And then I was praying
Speaker:that morning and I said, lord,
Speaker:if you want me to do this, then you know, I'll do it. And of
Speaker:course, she texted right after that. I said, well, okay, yeah, the
Speaker:Lord already told me, yes, I'll do it. And so, yeah,
Speaker:there you have it.
Speaker:I like standing at the door
Speaker:and helping. This isn't
Speaker:exactly my comfort zone. I don't mind doing
Speaker:it. But anyway, it's not what I
Speaker:have, it's what the Lord has. Amen. So we're going to go ahead and we're
Speaker:going to continue as Pastor Barbee said in our series on the Sermon of
Speaker:Sermons. And we're going to pick up where we left off with Brother
Speaker:Keith in chapter 5 and verse 38. So if you will
Speaker:stand. And the title of this message is give them your
Speaker:code also. So we'll get into it. Let's read the Word
Speaker:together. Amen. You have heard that it was
Speaker:said, eye for eye and tooth for tooth.
Speaker:But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If
Speaker:anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them
Speaker:the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and
Speaker:take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If
Speaker:anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.
Speaker:Give to the one who asks you and do not turn away from the
Speaker:one who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that
Speaker:it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
Speaker:But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for
Speaker:those who persecute you, that you may be children of your
Speaker:Father in heaven. He causes the son to rise on
Speaker:the evil and the good and sends the rain on
Speaker:righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who
Speaker:love you, what reward will you get? Are not even
Speaker:the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only
Speaker:people, what are you doing more than others? Do not
Speaker:even the pagans do that. Be perfect, therefore,
Speaker:as your heavenly Father is perfect. Lord God,
Speaker:help us, Holy Spirit, to hear your
Speaker:heart in these precious red letter words
Speaker:that you have not only spoken to us, but written to us,
Speaker:as difficult as they may seem. Lord God, there is nothing that's
Speaker:impossible with you. So help us to understand, help
Speaker:us to hear your heart and we give you the praise and glory in Jesus
Speaker:name. Everybody said amen.
Speaker:So before I actually get started,
Speaker:this week, you know, was going really, really well.
Speaker:You know, Melanie and I finally became empty nesters again after six
Speaker:months. That's a whole nother story. But
Speaker:so, you know, we kind of got back into our normal,
Speaker:kind of regular, boring routine. You know, I'm asleep at 8:30
Speaker:and, but I still get up at 4:30 even though I'm retired. But anyway,
Speaker:everything was going along well. And then we got news that we lost a
Speaker:couple of dear, dear one family member,
Speaker:actually my younger brother's mother in law,
Speaker:Shar, and then a dear friend of mine that I worked with for years
Speaker:at Journeys, her husband. And
Speaker:both of these people were just dear, dear souls. I
Speaker:mean, Grandma Char was 96 years old
Speaker:and she loved the Lord, she loved her family and
Speaker:she loved Big. Oh my gosh, did she love Big. What
Speaker:a smile. What a sweet, sweet lady she was.
Speaker:And Bryan Peterson, oh my gosh,
Speaker:you want to talk about somebody who you could connect with, that
Speaker:anybody could connect with? He and my wife hit it off, you know,
Speaker:really, really, really well, because he was Norweg. So they
Speaker:always shared all their stories about making lefse
Speaker:which is a really cool kind of potato crepe.
Speaker:It just. What a fun loving man. And, you know, the thing about
Speaker:both of them is that even though they went through a lot of
Speaker:struggles, he died of cancer. And she was 96 years old. I
Speaker:mean, she was sharp as a tack, but her body had failed her
Speaker:after all those years. Is that you can be
Speaker:sad because you lost somebody that you love,
Speaker:but at the same time you have so much joy because you know
Speaker:where they are. And I can't imagine what
Speaker:it would be like to not have that, to not know that there would
Speaker:only be sadness if you didn't know where they were.
Speaker:So anyway, it's only fitting that it's
Speaker:Holy Week and it just. It brings a level of,
Speaker:I guess, humility and sadness and joy at
Speaker:the same time. In a week that we're going to celebrate the death, burial and
Speaker:resurrection of our Lord and Savior. Amen. So, anyway,
Speaker:these scriptures that we read set
Speaker:really, really high standards for us. There's
Speaker:four main themes that I felt that the Lord
Speaker:gave me from these scriptures. First is
Speaker:that Jesus teaches us about revenge in verses
Speaker:38 through 41.
Speaker:In verse 42, he gives us a bonus. And I'll tell you why I call
Speaker:it a bonus later on. Generosity,
Speaker:about loving our enemies in verses 43 through
Speaker:47. And then the statement
Speaker:of all statements to be perfect.
Speaker:I guess to start out, how many people already
Speaker:have anxiety about these scriptures and feel like, well, this is like
Speaker:Latin and geometry in high school and it's just too hard to understand. And I
Speaker:flunked those classes and you want me to do what?
Speaker:You want me to love my enemies? Or perhaps
Speaker:there's some here that feel the opposite. I don't even have any
Speaker:enemies that I can even imagine having to do these kinds of things to or
Speaker:them doing those kinds of things to me. So I'm good to go.
Speaker:But I bet if you think real hard, someone will come to mind.
Speaker:Look at the person next to you and tell them you're not it.
Speaker:It's not you.
Speaker:I'm glad we cleared that up. Otherwise it's gonna be an interesting ride home
Speaker:anyway, especially if you drove with them. My wife and I drove separate tonight, so
Speaker:we're good to go. I get to take Smitty home and I know he loves
Speaker:me. So anyway, as we dig into some parts
Speaker:of these things Jesus said to us, we will see that some were more
Speaker:applicable to the culture of that day. However, the
Speaker:spirit of what he was teaching us and the principles
Speaker:Jesus was teaching are timeless and they work today, but we
Speaker:have to apply them. Oftentimes we have to
Speaker:have standards set very high,
Speaker:almost even unattainable, so that we'll keep striving
Speaker:towards that high water mark or towards that goal. I mean, if the
Speaker:Olympics just were on and man, I was impressed
Speaker:by that Norwegian cross country skier who won all those gold medals.
Speaker:I know my wife and her family back in Norway were really happy. But anyway,
Speaker:think of the painstaking things
Speaker:that he went through, not only to win all those gold medals, but to set
Speaker:records, world records for distance and reaching new
Speaker:heights and times and obtaining
Speaker:more than anybody in his field. Just think of
Speaker:the training and the practice and the setbacks and the pain and the
Speaker:faithfulness that it takes to achieve stuff like that.
Speaker:A little side note, if we want to improve or be better at
Speaker:just about anything, the standard or the goal should be set
Speaker:higher and not dumbed down or lowered.
Speaker:The byproduct of setting the higher standard is that you may not obtain
Speaker:the goal or standard or get it right all the time even, but you should
Speaker:be able to look back and see that you improved from where you
Speaker:used to be.
Speaker:A fairly new apostle on the scene, the Apostle Ben Johnson says
Speaker:this. Good, better, best. Never let it rest
Speaker:until your good gets better and your better gets best.
Speaker:He's not an apostle, he's a football coach.
Speaker:And I think he needs the Lord because he's got a potty mouth. But anyway,
Speaker:he got this from his high school coach, who got it from his high
Speaker:school coach and et cetera and et cetera. And perhaps we can learn
Speaker:from this. A real apostle Paul says it this
Speaker:way in Philippians. Let me read you these verses
Speaker:in Philippians 3:10.
Speaker:Now, not that I have already obtained all this or have already
Speaker:been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that
Speaker:which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not
Speaker:consider myself yet have taken hold of it. But one thing I
Speaker:do forgetting what is behind me and straining toward
Speaker:what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to
Speaker:win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in
Speaker:Christ Jesus. Amen. If the standard
Speaker:Jesus is setting here is based off how we're to respond and
Speaker:treat our enemies, how much more so should we follow the standard for
Speaker:those we love or say we love,
Speaker:I would argue we have a hard time, a harder time following
Speaker:the Lord's word with the people that we consider family
Speaker:and friends, or those that we consider brothers and sisters
Speaker:in the Lord, especially when we know we wrong Them
Speaker:or even when we feel that we've been wronged.
Speaker:I don't know where I heard this. I think maybe Pastor Ronnie, you used
Speaker:this a time or two. You know, after, you know, 30 some years,
Speaker:it all kind of blends together. But I tend to use this
Speaker:in situations when I'm trying to counsel others.
Speaker:Do you want to be right or do you want to be reconciled?
Speaker:This is not us trying to win the argument. I was having
Speaker:this discussion with my son the other day. Or be better than the other
Speaker:person. It's about us wanting to live out the will of the Father
Speaker:and how we're supposed to treat each other. But that's what we do.
Speaker:We usually try to win the argument oftentimes, don't we?
Speaker:Another question that I would ask us is, why is it harder to do when
Speaker:it's ourselves that we're trying to give the counsel to?
Speaker:It's so much easier to tell others what they should do.
Speaker:As we heard last week from Brother Keith's teaching, we start
Speaker:again with these key words from Jesus in verse
Speaker:38. You have heard it said.
Speaker:You have heard it said. He, of course, was referring to the Old
Speaker:Testament writings. Now, if you didn't grow up in church
Speaker:or you were a priest or Catholic like I was,
Speaker:that's. You go to church on Christmas and Easter, the holy days of obligation, and
Speaker:just kind of combine it together and you're good. Or, you
Speaker:know, not. Not a good strategy, by the way. Perhaps.
Speaker:Perhaps it was your parents or your grandparents or
Speaker:teacher or a coach that at least tried to give you some basic
Speaker:rules or concepts on how to relate to people in general.
Speaker:I had a really, really good first boss
Speaker:named Kurt Moore, and I learned how to treat
Speaker:people in retail, selling shoes, of all things.
Speaker:I learned the customer was king and they were always right,
Speaker:even when they were jerks. It's amazing how you
Speaker:could defuse a negative situation and make a loyal customer.
Speaker:You could really kind of reach them at a soul level.
Speaker:Will heal. I'll be here all week. You'll get it.
Speaker:You'll get it. That's what he meant. Shoes, sole. Get it?
Speaker:I used to fit shoes. So at the soul level, you get it?
Speaker:Okay. Yeah. Okay.
Speaker:I got dad jokes. So that's how I roll.
Speaker:Jesus was trying to get the listener's attention. He was
Speaker:hearkening back to the words of Moses. He was really saying, hey,
Speaker:I gave Moses the words to chisel. I know what they meant.
Speaker:Isn't it kind of funny? You're gonna find that I go on A lot of
Speaker:bunny trails. I'm sorry, but that's just the way I just. That is the way
Speaker:I roll. We have all of our own little different sayings when we're trying to
Speaker:get people's attention. I tend to try to do this
Speaker:at the end of the conversation as if I was gonna bring, like,
Speaker:finality and you were gonna know that I'm right.
Speaker:I would say at the end of the day. At the end of the day,
Speaker:Eli, the Cubs are probably not
Speaker:gonna win the World Series again, but, hey,
Speaker:it happened in 2016. But you get what I'm saying. One of
Speaker:our neighbors says, you know what I mean? After every statement,
Speaker:they say, you know what I mean? Like, am I dumb
Speaker:that I don't know what you mean? You gotta say, you know what I mean
Speaker:after everything that you say. I know a
Speaker:few guys here that say, let me ask you a question.
Speaker:Usually it's something profound or thought
Speaker:provoking or comical or kind of all the above.
Speaker:Melanie's mom, Lord rest her soul, used to say, I'll tell you one thing right
Speaker:now. And it was usually followed by pretty sound advice.
Speaker:I remember when Maria was born, she said, put that baby down while down to
Speaker:sleep while they're still awake. Feed em, bathe them new
Speaker:diaper, wrap her up like a papoose in the blanket.
Speaker:Now they have sleep sacks so they don't have to do all that stuff. But
Speaker:anyway, you know, we taught her to put herself to
Speaker:sleep. The first few nights were bad, but, you know, she
Speaker:got the hang of it and she never cried or whined about anything
Speaker:else the rest of her life.
Speaker:Michael and Marcel have made up for it. So anyway,
Speaker:maybe Jesus was saying, listen up, I am
Speaker:about to give you insight to the Father's heart.
Speaker:I'm going to amplify what these instructions mean.
Speaker:I'm going to give you deeper understanding. I'm going to raise the bar on how
Speaker:my followers should act with a higher standard than those who
Speaker:are not my followers. Or in my case, let me see if the Father,
Speaker:Son and Holy Spirit can chisel something on that heart of stone of yours.
Speaker:Eric and Keith both shared the last couple weeks
Speaker:from Matthew 5:17 that Jesus came to fulfill the law and not
Speaker:abolish it. The new living translation says, no,
Speaker:I came to accomplish their purpose, for the message says, I
Speaker:came to complete them. Jesus is setting a standard,
Speaker:that is his followers. We should be the ones to go
Speaker:above and beyond. As always, it's about
Speaker:the condition of our hearts and living a Holy Spirit led life
Speaker:okay, so that's kind of the induction, the
Speaker:introduction. So let's look at
Speaker:revenge.
Speaker:There are three examples that Jesus gave here to drive this
Speaker:point home to us. Okay? A slap in the face.
Speaker:Give them your coat also and go two
Speaker:miles. So I'm going to ask for a show of
Speaker:hands. We tend to react to situations like this,
Speaker:either with fight or flight.
Speaker:How many fighters do we have? Come on, raise your hand high
Speaker:if you're a fighter. How many fighters? How many runners
Speaker:do we have? Or you just don't say anything. Okay, we like
Speaker:to fight. I figured as much.
Speaker:I know we like to fight in my family. So anyway,
Speaker:remember, we don't argue, we passionately debate.
Speaker:Okay. This is
Speaker:really about agape, unconditional love and living out his true love,
Speaker:his nature, his purpose, and his desire and will for our lives.
Speaker:This is also about continued growth and maturity
Speaker:as ephesians 4. Whoops, I
Speaker:hate these. I need to get a bigger Bible with bigger. I mean, bigger words
Speaker:so I don't have to use these anymore. Ephesians 4,
:16 says this.
:Then we will no longer be tossed back and forth by the waves and
:blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning
:craftiness of men and their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking
:the truth in love, we will in all things grow
:into him who is the head, that is Christ.
:From him, the whole body, joined and held together by
:every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love
:as each part does its work.
:Doing these things can literally change
:someone else's life as well as changing our own.
:You know, these are. These are uncomfortable things in these words, sometimes
:for us to do. But doing what he wants us to do in obedience is
:what we must strive for. It's going against
:or what is contrary to our natural response, that is
:either fight or flight, and stepping into his nature, extending
:his grace and his mercy. After all, what's one of the
:most famous desires that the Lord has? 2nd Peter
:3, 9 says that none would perish but come to
:everlasting life with Him.
:On the surface. Again, these things can be very hard to accomplish on our own.
:And that's the problem. We try to do them on their own. So
:come, Holy Spirit. Or perhaps we need to
:quote Philippians 4:13 over these areas of our lives, and not just
:when it's convenient for what we want. I can do all
:this through Christ who gives me strength.
:Amen. Okay, so
:slap in the face.
:I went through painstaking research to find this
:video.
:Look at my grandkids.
:Michael.
:Wait for it.
:Watch him.
:Clearly we let our kids watch too much tv.
:Okay, well, perhaps with the first one, you've never been
:struck in the face by an enemy or a friend
:and then stood there and said, go ahead and hit me on
:the other side too. In
:the culture back then, this is an example where that was slapping
:in the face was really less about a physical assault,
:like my son just got clocked.
:It was more of an insult.
:It would have actually had to be a backhanded
:slap. Okay, so, Eli, stand up.
:Okay. We should probably see how we should face
:so the camera can see it. Okay. Is that where the camera is?
:Okay. Okay. So
:slap me on the right cheek gently.
:That's my left cheek. No.
:Okay. You're right handed, aren't you? Yeah. Would you slap me with your left cheek
:or left hand? No. Okay. It was
:really this, it was a backhanded slap
:because this would be how I would say
:hello or I'm with you or
:that deal. Yes, I agree. You know, it's done. This, this,
:the open hand is fellowship.
:So it was a backhanded slap to the right cheek.
:The Bible says that if your enemy slaps you on the
:right cheek, turn to them. And also
:the other cheek. Now, it wouldn't
:have been like what you saw in the video where
:go ahead, hit me there too. Well. Or go ahead, hit me there. That's my
:left one. Right. It wasn't that I wouldn't be egging them on.
:It was really more of this.
:I'm doing.
:Okay, sit down. I told you.
:I told you. Yeah, okay.
:It was really more, you turn the other cheek
:to show humility.
:The Bible says that, you know, if your
:enemy slaps you on the right cheek, it would have been, again,
:it would have been a right handed person who does a backhanded slap.
:It was about dominance over the person. It was also
:kind of willing your social status on them to
:humiliate them if you did that. So that
:posture of deference and turning to the
:other side was to defuse the
:conflict. It promoted, believe it or not, dignity and self respect.
:And it responds in grace rather than aggression.
:Amen. Okay, so here's the thought.
:Don't we just verbally slap others with words?
:We don't need to hit anybody. We rarely hit anybody.
:It's about our attitudes and our reactions and our responses.
:That's what says it all. We can use words to
:retaliate just as easy and be even more hurtful to the other person.
:The pain of that slap was temporary.
:But the pain of words can last a lifetime.
:21. Well, I got to show
:you another slide first. I think
:it'll take you a second, but maybe my kids did
:that little video thing with the tortillas because these
:are my old license plates from Illinois hanging up in the garage.
:Can you read the middle one? Smack you one.
:And clearly my kids are watching too much
:tv. That's Vinnie and Paulie.
:Anyway,
:but where I really want to go is Proverbs 18:21. The tongue has the
:power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its
:fruit. James 3. 9. With the tongue we
:praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human
:beings who have been made in God's likeness.
:Like I said, words hurt a lot more
:than a physical assault.
:Next. Give them your cloak.
:Being sued. If I go back to
:the scripture that we started with, we already talked
:about, about striking
:on the other cheek. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic,
:let him have your cloak as well.
:I'm not sure that this is the premise for he gave him the
:shirt off his back, but I think we could kind
:of see some significance behind that when we're asked to give
:our coat. Also, as we heard Pastor
:Barbee speak last Sunday for Palm Sunday. Culturally,
:back then, a tunic and a cloak, a shirt
:and a coat in modern day terms
:carried a lot of identity and social status
:and your role in the community in those
:tunics and cloaks. There was everyday tunics, there
:was priestly garments with more ornate
:details and they. That they. So they could be set apart.
:There's royal tunics that were made from fine fabrics.
:Think of Joseph's colorful garment that set him apart.
:A young man may received a new tunic with different details and markings when
:he became an adult as a rite of passage. The
:message says it this way. If someone drags you into court and sues
:you. If someone drags you into court and sues you and sues you
:for the shirt off your back, gift wrap your best coat and
:make a present of it. So wait, you don't want.
:We're not supposed to call Morgan and Morgan. They're for the
:people, right? Okay, so I have.
:Now, Eli, since you've been such a good sport and you don't have to
:stand because this is a medium and on you it'll be like a
:schmedium. So I don't need you to wear it. Right? But
:this would be. You've already sued me for my shirt, right? So I'm
:giving You part of my identity. Right. And so for everybody to see, you know,
:I'm kind of wrapped up in my identity. Right. Okay.
:Well, what does the word tell us to do? To
:not just give the shirt,
:but to give the coat also.
:Now, this is my really nice. Talk
:about Joseph's coat. You think his coat was this nice,
:strutting around with this bad boy?
:I was this cool one day back in the day,
:thinking, I don't want you to zip it up. You gotta. I was really.
:Where's that chain? Yeah, I flip the collar
:up. That's a cool jacket. Right.
:Forget about it. Right. The Bible says
:I'm to give you this coat also. Now, like
:the slap in the face. I'm not gonna.
:Here. No. I do need you to stand up now.
:Face the camera. This would have been the
:example you can put. Pretend you got the shirt on. This would have
:been. Come on, put it on. This one's gonna fit
:you. Maybe it might be a medium on you.
:Doesn't that look nice? You've got the chains,
:too. Are you sure you're not Italian?
:Okay. All right. Give him your coat also. That
:would have been the way it was. You're not just throwing it at him. You're
:not doing it begrudgingly. This is.
:I'm giving you my identity. I'm wrapped up in this. This is
:my heritage. This is my lineage. This is
:whatever status, whatever level I'm at, this is it.
:And. And the word is telling us to do that.
:You know, we can go ahead. You could. You could sit down.
:You can keep it on for a while. It'll let it wear off on you.
:Now. Now, you know, like, if you think about, you
:know, Joseph, like, okay, I guess you don't want it, but
:it's all right. I take it, if you think about Joseph, I mean, and his
:brothers. I mean, I had four brothers,
:and if I walked around like that, they would have locked me in the bathroom.
:That actually happened. Amongst other things.
:But. And then. So speaking of
:heritage, I'm pretty sure my parents
:thought Jesus was Italian. I always heard
:Geu Christo growing up. Jesus Christ.
:In their broken Itanglish, all the words and names
:began or ended with a V sound. Even if they didn't.
:This. This was. This was gacha in
:Italian. But in my mother's Spanglish, this was U. Jack.
:Eat. You know. How do you say spaghetti in
:Italian? Spaghetti, Mom. How do you say flashlight in
:Italian?
:Oh, again, taking that
:posture the way I showed you. That was taking a
:sacrificial posture. Foregoing my rights
:and for the sake of peace and trusting that God would provide the
:justice. Okay. And Then first
:15 says, make sure that nobody pays back wrong
:for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other
:and for everyone else.
:Going the, going two miles.
:And then going back to verse 41, it says, if someone forces you to
:go one mile, go with him two miles
:back in that time again, culturally this was, you know,
:mostly a Roman about Roman rule over the Jewish people
:and the oppression and control that they inflicted. And people walked
:everywhere and you know, landscape was, was very
:difficult and Roman soldiers would literally make
:folks carry their gear and
:could do this legally, right? And
:it was just another, just another point of saying
:what we're to do, how we're to respond.
:Going the extra mile transforms duty into ministry. It
:changes the attitude of obligation to one of willing
:sacrifice, service and love. It's a reflection of the
:Savior who came not to be served, but to
:serve. And that's from Matthew 20:28.
:Just think of the sayings that
:we've come up with or man has come up with from these scriptures. Pretty
:simple, right? Turn the other cheek, give him the shirt off
:his back. Go the extra mile, take the high
:road, go above and beyond the call of duty.
:And two wrongs don't make a right. Psalm
:5 says, you prepare a table before me in the presence of
:my enemies. You anoint my head with oil and my cup overflows.
:It's very poignant on Holy Thursday
:at the Last supper meal. So
:generosity. So I called it a bonus
:because it seems to me like it's just kind of wedged there in between these
:very tough scriptures to be able to
:handle. When it comes to money, we can
:be like playing that game with our young
:child or grandchild where you're hiding something in your
:tight fisted hand like candy and you know they want it
:and they pry your fingers open
:to get it right and you give them a little resistance for a while
:until he finally let him open it. Isn't that what we
:do with our money
:when it comes to others?
:And we're not smiling when we, when, when we play that game that way with
:others. News flash. If it weren't for the
:Lord opening his hands and pouring out such a blessing that we can't contain,
:we wouldn't have anything anyway, right?
:Give it to them. Don't make them borrow from you. It says
:in verse 42, give to the one who asks you and
:do not turn away from the One who wants to
:borrow from you. My. My experience
:over the years is that when you're having Sunday dinner with someone that still owes
:you money, the food tastes different
:when there's an outstanding debt. Luke 6:35 says
:to love your enemies and do good to them and expect nothing in return.
:If you lend rather than give, you're going to expect somebody to pay
:you back what you lent them. And if you don't get it back,
:you will remember that the next time.
:Now, I taught my kids, we taught our
:kids to pay back if there was going to, you know, like, if they. You
:were teaching them responsibility. That's a different, different story. So you
:might want them to learn what it's like to have to pay back something if
:they want to borrow it. Right? But that's a. That's an object
:lesson. Deuteronomy 15:10 says, Give
:generously to them. Who's them?
:People in need. And do not with or. And do so
:without a grudging heart. Then, because of the Lord, because of this,
:the Lord will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your
:hand to. So I really don't think that it's an
:accident that this was put right here in between these Scriptures,
:because we say it all the time. The Lord is after our
:heart, and a generous heart is a gracious one.
:Amen. Okay. Loving our enemies.
:Back to Matthew 43:45. You have
:heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
:But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that
:you may be sons of your Father in heaven. And he causes the sun
:to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the
:righteous and the unrighteous.
:We also see that he repeated himself with,
:you have heard it said.
:Now, I kind of pictured this because he said it
:several times. Brother Keith, I think he said it two or three times
:in brother Keith's verses last week.
:You've heard it said, Eli, I think
:he probably got fairly close or he had that
:posture. You've heard it said. It's
:in red letters, and maybe it's even capitalized.
:And he goes on and he tells them, love
:them and pray for your enemies. This is how
:sons and daughters are to live.
:23 34. Jesus tells the Father to forgive
:them. He acknowledged their sin, but forgive them,
:Lord, for they know not what they do. Stephen
:did a very similar thing in Acts 7:60.
:Father, forgive them. Do not hold their sin against them.
:He acknowledged that there was sin. He acknowledged that it was difficult,
:but he said, forgive them. And
:you know, that's a note. It's okay to acknowledge that
:someone's in sin. Just don't use it as a weapon to beat them down
:with. What about the own sin that you have?
:You can insert that there. Would you want them to beat you down the same
:way that you might try to beat them down? You don't want to be called
:out that way. Let me read you
:Romans. Whoops. I got to get some new glasses. Those
:are terrible. Romans
:14 to 21. Bless those who
:persecute you. Bless and do not curse.
:Rejoice with those. Rejoice with those who mourn.
:And more. Let me say it again. Rejoice with those who
:rejoice. Mourn with those who mourn. Live
:in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to
:associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
:Do not repay evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in
:the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far
:as it depends on you. Live at peace with everyone. Do
:not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath. For it is
:written, it is mine to avenge, I will repay,
:says the Lord. On the contrary, if your enemy
:is hungry, feed him. If your enemy is thirsty, give him
:something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on
:his head. Do not be overcome by evil,
:but overcome evil with good. He's talking.
:He quotes Proverbs 25, 21 and 22 there,
:and then one other one in first Peter 3, 8,
:Eight, ten. Finally, all of you live in
:harmony with one another. Be sympathetic as brothers. Be
:compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil,
:or insult with insult, but with blessing. Because of this
:you were called, so that you may inherit a blessing.
:For whoever would love life and see good
:days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from
:deceitful speech.
:And he goes on in 46, verse 46 and 47 back in
:Matthew and talks about if. If we only
:love those who we get
:love back from, then you're no different than anyone that
:you call out. Like a tax collector or a pagan or any other sinner.
:The message I love the way it says, says it. It says,
:in all you do. If all you do is love the
:lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody
:can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet
:you, do you expect the middle, a medal? Any run of the mill
:sinner does that. There's no participation. Trophies
:for the lukewarm I'm sorry to say.
:And then we get to the statement of
:all statements being perfect.
:Verse 48, Be perfect. Therefore, as your heavenly Father
:is perfect. I don't know about you, but every
:time I read this one, it's like, how can I do this or even
:be this? How can I live up to
:this standard? We talked about standards in the beginning,
:remember? I'm. I'm human and nobody's perfect. And I'll sin and fall
:short of the glory of God. Right? Who, who
:here, I would just be curious who here sees them themselves at
:say, even 90%? I mean,
:if I'm honest, I'm, you know, like 75, 25. That's pretty good. Is
:it okay if I'm really honest? It's 50.
:50. Perfection
:is when we apply the balance of the cross to our lives and others.
:He was crucified on it and he was raised to life from
:reaches. Let's see, east, west,
:whichever way you see it, right or left, east, west, north and
:south, and every direction in between. When I
:grew up, and I don't know why, maybe this is
:part of the reason why I was a priest or Catholic. I always saw him
:on the cross, dead. I always saw the crucifixion.
:And when I gave my life to the Lord, I only see the cross empty.
:But one without the other is death without hope of eternity
:or life without any sacrifice. He asks
:us to carry our own cross and die to ourself and
:follow Him. And if we're striving with our whole heart to
:do that, that is perfection.
:If we love one another, God abides in us
:and his love is perfected in you.
:This is a two way street. He
:wants to abide in us, but he wants us to abide in Him.
:So we've said a bunch of things here tonight about how we're supposed to treat
:our enemies and our loved ones and our friends and
:people in general. Perhaps you've wronged us or
:we've wronged, as Pastor
:Barbee said, both Sunday and again tonight. This is Maundy Thursday.
:This was the last supper for Jesus
:and the disciples. He was with
:his closest friends, his disciples,
:and he did something that had to have
:astound them at the most sacred meal that they
:have together, the Passover. And he begins to show them
:what it's truly like to be his
:follower. We can see in this
:act that he not only wrote the red
:letters or had had them written or he lives them
:out. He is the Word and he's
:a doer of the word. So
:we'll go back to this. After taking
:off his outer garment, he
:exchanged his identity. His
:identity was wrapped up in this outer garment, right?
:And he took the posture of being a servant.
:So he takes this off, he sets it aside and he
:gets down on his knees. He proceeds to
:wash all the disciples feet.
:Now who was there?
:All of them were there. See, our true
:identity is not
:in something like this. You have your favorite coat,
:you have your favorite team, whatever, but your
:identity's not in this. The prophet Joel says it this way. We're
:to rend our hearts, not our garments.
:We can, we can walk around in our, in our Jesus T
:shirts and our other stuff,
:but if we don't have a heart posture to go with it,
:you know, we're just wearing stuff. Our identity is
:not in what we wear. It's
:also not in what we do for a living
:or how popular we are.
:Our jobs are not sacred or secular. They're all the same.
:When it's all said and done, the only identity that really matters is the
:identity that we have in Christ. Amen. He went above
:and beyond and he
:went the extra mile and he knelt down and he
:washed Judas feet anyway, didn't he?
:Can you imagine what it was like? What
:Judas was thinking at that point was he still, he
:had already decided he was going to hand him over.
:I would have thought anyway that for a second I would have, maybe there would
:have been a doubt. I don't, I don't, I don't know. Maybe
:the Bible doesn't say, I
:gotta believe that. There might have been some very sorrowful and
:intentful response from Jesus when he washed
:Judas feet. But he still took that posture and
:turned the other cheek and washed him anyway, didn't he?
:He knew what was going to happen, happened to him. He knew he was going
:to be betrayed. He also knew that Peter was going to deny him.
:But that didn't matter to Jesus. He washed his feet too. He knew all
:the others were going to cut tail and scatter. He
:washed their feet too. He shared the most sacred of meals
:with them. He shared his heart on truly what it is to
:unconditionally love what it looks like and what it sounds like.
:Now as believers we can insert ourselves
:anywhere in that spectrum. And if we're
:honest, we probably all acted like any or all of the
:disciples did that night. So let's close with
:this.
:If we love one another. No, we're called. That's. That
:was the last slide. Let's close with this. In John's account
:in chapter 1315, 17, Jesus says to us, for I
:have given you an example that you also
:should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I
:say to you. A servant is not greater than his master, nor
:is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you
:know these things, blessed are you if you do
:them. Blessed are you if you do them.
:Let's pray. Holy
:Spirit, have your way with us tonight.
:Show us now, even as we sit here, people
:in our lives that may be
:our enemies, they may not.
:But we know what your word tells us to
:do. Open the eyes of our
:heart. Rend our hearts, Lord,
:that we would hear your voice and that we would not
:try to unsee things that we've done
:or things that we've said that aren't covered under your blood.
:Show us, Lord, this Holy Thursday, this
:Holy week, Lord, that you not only
:died for our sin and not only shed your
:blood that we could be forgiven, Lord,
:but that you did rise again to give us eternal life.
:And we thank you and praise you, Lord, for the way you love us.
:In Jesus name, amen. Bless you,
:Springhouse.
