Luke 6:27-36 TPT

27“But I say to you who hear, love your enemies and do something wonderful for them in return for their hatred. 28When someone curses you, bless that person in return. When others mistreat and harass you, accept it as your mission to pray for them. 29To those who despise you, continue to serve them and minister to them. If someone takes away your coat, give him as a gift your shirt as well. 30When someone comes to beg from you, give to that person what you have. When things are wrongly taken from you, do not demand they be given back. 31The way you want others to treat you is how you should treat everyone else.

32“Are you really showing true love by loving only those who love you? Even those who don’t know God will do that. 33Are you really showing compassion when you do good deeds only to those who do good deeds to you? Even those who don’t know God will do that.

34“If you lend money only to those you know will repay you, what credit is that to your character? Even those who don’t know God do that. 35Rather love your enemies and continue to treat them well. When you lend money, don’t despair if you are never paid back, for it is not lost. You will receive a rich reward and you will be known as true children of the Most High God, having his same nature. Be like your Father who is famous for his kindness to heal even the thankless and cruel. 36Overflow with mercy and compassion for others, just as your heavenly Father overflows with mercy and compassion for all.”

Luke 6:27 TPT

27“But I say to you who hear, love your enemies and do something wonderful for them in return for their hatred. 

Luke 6:35 TPT

35Rather love your enemies and continue to treat them well. When you lend money, don’t despair if you are never paid back, for it is not lost. You will receive a rich reward and you will be known as true children of the Most High God, having his same nature. Be like your Father who is famous for his kindness to heal even the thankless and cruel. 

John 13:34 NLT

34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.

Not only are we to LOVE each other, but we are to LOVE as Jesus loved.

John 13:35 NLT

35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

Is my love for others so radical and countercultural that it unmistakably reflects Jesus?

Our love for each other WITNESSES to the world that Jesus is our one true Lord.

Hear = Hear with a desire to OBEY.

James 1:22-25 NLT

22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

You as the listener have a responsibility to faithfully LISTEN to the Word of God and OBEY it.

Storge – Natural Affection

Eros – Erotic or romantic love

Phileo – Brotherly love

Agape - Supernatural, divine love involving faithfulness, commitment and an act of the will

Characteristics of Agape

• Selflessness

• Unconditional

• Sacrificial

• Patient

• Empathetic

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NLT

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 

Romans 12:20 NLT

20 Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them.

  If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.”[a]

Luke 6:28 TPT

28When someone curses you, bless that person in return. When others mistreat and harass you, accept it as your mission to pray for them.

To love (agape) our enemies is going to require a totally different kind of motivation for us.

Psalms 58:6-9 MSG

6-9 God, smash their teeth to bits,

    leave them toothless tigers.

Let their lives be buckets of water spilled,

    all that’s left, a damp stain in the sand.

Let them be trampled grass

    worn smooth by the traffic.

Let them dissolve into snail slime,

    be a miscarried fetus that never sees sunlight.

Before what they cook up is half-done, God,

    throw it out with the garbage!

Luke 6:31 TPT

31The way you want others to treat you is how you should treat everyone else.

If love is the defining mark of a disciple…

Would someone know you follow Jesus by the way you love (agape) and treat others? Or would they be surprised to find out you’re a Christian?

Luke 6:32-33 TPT

32“Are you really showing true love by loving only those who love you? Even those who don’t know God will do that. 33Are you really showing compassion when you do good deeds only to those who do good deeds to you? Even those who don’t know God will do that.