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| > Sermon Archive > Sermons by Author > Rev. Rodney den Boer > Life in Jesus' kingdom is shaped by radical love | Previous Next Print |
| Order Of Worship (Liturgy) Read: Romans 12:9-21; Sing: Ps 33:1, 2, 6; Ps 25:3, 4; Ps 37:3, 9, 16; Hy 25:3, 5, 7; Hy 72:1-5 Questions for reflection/discussion
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Dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ,
Can a government stop people from hating each other? After the terrorist attack at Bondi in January 2026, the government introduced laws about hate speech. A news headline responded: “Australia’s hate speech law has passed parliament, but how effective will it be in counteracting hate?” It’s a good question. And I think we all realise that the external laws of a country cannot change what is inside a person’s heart. Whatever you think about the legislation, we can be sure that it doesn’t solve the real problem. It will not remove hate.
But there is one person who can remove hate. There is only one person, and that is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In our text this morning, he teaches us that life in his kingdom is shaped by radical love. In all the hatred around us, we live by faith in Jesus Christ. And as we submit to his word, his Spirit changes us so that we show a radical love, even when we are hated, cursed, or mistreated. So, let’s submit our hearts and lives to the teaching of our Lord Jesus, seeking to be shaped by him and guided by his Spirit, so that we will increasingly show the radical love which characterises life in his kingdom.
Life in Jesus’ kingdom is shaped by radical love
- What this love looks like
- Where this love comes from
1. What this love looks like
We’ve begun to study this Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6, and we see Jesus Christ here as our Teacher. We were reminded last week that preaching was central to his ministry. And his preaching was different than the scribes and Pharisees, because he taught as one who had authority. See the authority he assumes in v27, “But I say to you who hear…” Who is it who says? Jesus is the Messiah, the one who was anointed by God. You remember, he read from Isaiah 61 and said, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.” Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and now in this sermon, he says, “I say to you.” We need to understand that he is coming with the authority of God himself, as one who was anointed by God. If the prophets of the OT all had divine authority, how much more does Jesus, the great prophet, the very Son of God, how much more does he come with the authority of God himself.
Why is this important? It means that the people Jesus spoke to couldn’t just dismiss what he was saying, take bits they liked and leave bits they didn’t like, but he called them to listen to his words and put them all into action. He speaks in v27 to “you who hear.” Perhaps not all of them there were truly hearing. They just wanted to see how eloquent Jesus was. But they weren’t interested in changing their lives according to his teaching. And so, the question for us this morning, even before we consider Jesus’ teaching, is this: are we willing to hear what Jesus says? Are we willing to submit to what he says? Not choosing what bits we like and what we don’t, but coming with the humility of those who hear, coming to be changed.
Jesus says to us who hear: love your enemies. And that summarises what follows. Enemies are those who hate you. For the Jews, the Romans were their enemies, occupying their land, restricting their freedoms, and demanding taxes. The Gentiles in general, non-Jews, were considered Israel’s enemies throughout their history. In the OT, they fought battles against the Philistines, the Syrians, and the Egyptians. They had their enemies.
Of course, the people Jesus spoke to would have had their interpersonal struggles, too. There were bullies at school. There were difficult marriages. There were unkind employers. There were harsh parents. There were nasty fellow-workers. Siblings were sometimes mean to each other. We know this is the case because these are the sorts of things that Jesus addresses in his sermons: he speaks about marriage and divorce, about what to do when people sin against you, about broken relationships: all the stuff we deal with today. And here he outlines a general rule for all those interpersonal struggles: love your enemies. Love means to think and act for someone’s good. When someone hurts you, you don’t hurt them back, but you love them, you do whatever is best for them.
As Jesus explains with the next phrase, “do good to those who hate you.” Let me mention two examples from the OT to show that this is not a new command:
- Exodus 23:4 – if you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. 5. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.
- Proverbs 25:21 – if your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
Loving your enemy is shown in the actions of bringing back their donkey, rescuing their donkey; loving them = feeding them, giving them water. Love is shown in concrete actions.
Jesus continues to explain: bless those who curse you. If someone says unkind things to you, if they demean you and rub your name in the mud, if they mock or tease you, what do you do? Jesus says, bless them. Speak well of them. Don’t slander them, don’t rub their name in the mud, don’t tell everyone how bad they are and what they’ve done to you, but bless them, speak well of them, highlight their good rather their bad. Peter writes in 1 Peter 3:9, “do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.”
And next, pray for those who spitefully use you. The word means to treat someone in a despicable manner, to mistreat, to abuse. If someone treats you horribly, what do you do? Do you hit them back? Do you try and take revenge in quiet ways? Our Lord says, pray for them. Pray for them, because that is one of the most loving things you can do for someone. That ought to be our reaction when people hurt us, even when they hurt us grievously.
David gives an example of this in Psalm 35. In that psalm he calls on God to help him against his enemies. And he says that he had loved his enemies, in v13-14, “when they were sick – I wore sackloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest. I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother; as one who laments his mother, I bowed down in mourning.” David prayed for his enemies when they were sick, he did good to them. That’s the attitude Jesus commands here. Love your enemies.
When people abuse you, pray for them. Pray that God would lead that person to himself and to his Son, Jesus. Pray that God would give that person true joy and peace in him. Pray that God would do this good to them. Pray that God would also take away your feelings of anger towards them, pray that God would replace those feelings with a true desire for their good.
And then Jesus gives some examples of what this looks like in action. In v29, if someone hits you, be radical and allow more injury to yourself. Naturally, if someone hits you, the reflex is to hit them back, and harder. But, says Jesus, be ready, if necessary, to be injured again. If you get stopped by bandits or thieves while you’re travelling – it happened regularly, Paul, for example, was often laid up by thieves and robbers – if they take your jacket or coat, then don’t hold back your shirt. When you meet people begging and they ask you for money, give freely. Proverbs 21:26 says, “the righteous gives and does not hold back.”
And if someone takes your stuff, let them have it. Don’t demand it back. You see, in Jesus’ kingdom, we don’t live to get even with others. We don’t take vengeance into your own hands. We don’t sue someone when they’ve done something against us. We don’t give the silent treatment in return to our spouse when they’ve given it to us. We don’t withdraw our love and affection when they withdraw theirs. But we show a radical love when we are mistreated. Love in Jesus’ kingdom is radical: love your enemies, do what is best for them, treat them well.
And if you’re not sure how to love someone? Jesus gives the golden rule in v31: “Just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.” There are many situations in life where we actually don’t know the best thing to do. In that case, consider how you’d want to be treated. Do you want people to speak well of you? Do that for them. It’s a good test before you say anything about someone. Think before you speak: would you want someone to speak about you in this manner? No? Then don’t say it. Or, do you want people to be kind and gracious to you? Do that to them, no matter how they treat you. Or, do you want people to hold you to account and correct you when you sin? Do that to them, because that is love in action.
This question is a good test for us. It’s good to ask this regularly in your marriage. How would I want my spouse to treat me? That’s how I want to treat them. Or with your children. How would I want them to treat me? That’s how I want to treat them. Or with your parents or siblings or brothers and sisters in the church. Ask this question regularly throughout your day.
Christ continues in v32-34 by showing that his followers ought to show a marked difference in how they love. He says, even sinners show some sort of love, a reciprocal love. Sinners are grouped together with tax collectors in Luke’s gospel: Jesus was called him a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Sinners were despised and looked down upon, the lowest class of people. These were the people Jesus associated with, homeless people, drug addicts, prostitutes. Jesus said, even sinners love people who love them. You be nice to me; I be nice back to you. You get me a nice birthday gift; I get you one on your birthday. You say nice things to me; I say nice things back to you. Anyone does that. Christ says, if you treat people well only when they treat you well, if your love is only reciprocal, what good is that?
You see, dear brothers and sisters, the sort of love that Jesus calls us to here goes much deeper. He calls us to radical love. It’s not a stupid love, because we are also called to be wise in how we help people. For example, Paul encourages the Thessalonians not to encourage idle or lazy people but to separate from them. It is not a love where we obey man rather than God, and if someone tells us to sin, we must then obey God, and there are times when we need to confront people because we love them. It’s not stupid, it’s not dishonouring to God, but it is a radical love. It is a love that aims for the good of another person, always, no matter what they do to us. And this is the love that Jesus calls us to.
Dear brothers and sisters, how is it with you? Does this radical love characterise your life? When people hurt you, do you respond in kind, or do you respond with the love that Jesus commands? Are there any people in your life whom you are unwilling to love? Perhaps you say, this all sounds nice, but it doesn’t apply to me. After what that person has done to me, I simply cannot love them. God would understand because he knows what they did to me. But, dear brothers and sisters, God does understand, and, knowing our nature, the Son of God gives this command for us to show radical love.
I read one comment this week which stood out to me: “A man ought to tremble with fear, if beside the external part of his religion, he finds nothing in his life but what may be found in a Turk [Muslim] or a heathen.”[1] In other words, if you take away the external parts of your religion, the fact that you come to church on Sundays and you read the Bible and pray at mealtimes; take that away, and if you only love people when they love you, then your life is no different than an unbeliever. That reveals the state of your heart, and you ought to be terrified. Are you truly a follower of Jesus Christ?
This passage gives us much to reflect upon in our own lives. And when we’re honest, it reveals to us our spiritual poverty, because we know the times we’ve reacted in anger or lashed out against those who have hurt us or taken revenge or given the silent treatment or wanted others to be hurt because of what they’ve done to us. And we realised how far we fall short in this gracious, kind, loving response that Jesus teaches. We realise that there is far too much hate in us, and not enough love. So, how do we love radically like Jesus commands? Where does this sort of love come from?
2. Where this radical love comes from
As I mentioned at the beginning of the sermon, this type of love comes from God, it is shown to us in Jesus Christ, and it is given to us by his Spirit. By his Spirit, he changes us to reflect his family likeness. You see in v35 that if you love your enemies as Jesus teaches, “you will be sons of the Most High. For he is kind to the unthankful and evil.”
If you show this love, you will be like God, the Most High, the one who rules heaven and earth. And how does he show his rule? He is kind to all people. He sustains them, every person is dependent on the Most High God for every breath. He gives them food and drink, he gives them rain from heaven, he blesses their harvests, he gives them joy in their hearts. Paul said that when he was preaching to unbelieving Gentiles at Lystra in Acts 14:17, “God did not leave himself without witness, in that he did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, fill our hearts with food and gladness.”
How do most people respond? They don’t even say thank you to God. They live in his world, eating his food, receiving joy from him, but they ignore him. They are unthankful, they do not acknowledge him.
But how does God treat them? He continues to show his goodness, he keeps blessing them with food and drink and harvests, he is kind to the unthankful and evil. This is the character of God, he is kind, he is generous, he is good.
And further, Christ says in v36, “be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.” God the Father is the fountain of mercy. When he passed before Moses and proclaimed his name to Moses in Exodus 34, he said I am, “the LORD, the LORD, merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” He is merciful, he does not give us the punishment we deserve. Rather, he has shown his mercy by sending his Son to take that punishment for us.
And we see, in these verses, a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, as he came to bear our punishment. He was treated as an enemy, hated, cursed, spitefully used or abused, struck on the cheek and beaten in other ways, he had his cloak taken from him and his tunic too, for his garments they cast lots, he always had people who asked from him, they always wanted his time and the power to heal that was in him. He was rejected and reviled by men, he was hated by his own people.
And how did he respond? He responded in love, he was kind to the unthankful and evil, he showed the love of his Father. And he showed this love to us. Romans 5:8 says, “God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And v10 clarifies that we were enemies of God. How did he treat us? He did the greatest good for us and died in our place, he took the condemnation we deserve, so that God could show us mercy. He was hated and cursed and abused in our place, especially on the cross.
See his love on the cross. When he was crucified on the cross, they hung him there, and Jesus said, in Luke 23:34, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” While they crucified him, he prayed for their forgiveness. As Peter summarises in 1 Peter 2:23-24, “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously; who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed.” He committed himself fully to God, trusting that God would be a righteous Judge. That was his attitude in the face of hatred, he took it upon himself and entrusted himself to God.
Do you know that Jesus did that for us? He himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree. That is, we deserved to die because of our lack of love, our hatred. But Jesus took all our hate upon himself and took the punishment we deserved for it. Do you believe that? And why did he do this? He did it because he loves us, because the Father loves us, because he is kind and good.
Are you unable to love someone? Look to Jesus and receive his love. You were someone who hated God and were unthankful to him. But how did he treat you? He loved you and died for you. Look to the cross and believe that. It’s only when you know this reality that you are able to love others. Only when you know that you are loved by God can you show that same love yourself. And to know the love of God, you need to know how you first hated him and were unthankful to him. And yet, he loved you. The gospel is that we are far more sinful and unworthy than we can ever know, but God’s love is greater than we even dare to believe.
And when you believe that, it will change you. The Spirit of Jesus Christ will live in you and make you more into the family likeness of God. You will become more like your heavenly Father, who is kind to the ungrateful and evil person, you will become more like your Lord and Saviour, who loved us when we were enemies, and you will begin to discover a new desire to love everyone, including your enemies.
So, the question is not whether God understands me and what others have done to me, but the question is whether I understand how much God has loved me, despite my hatred towards him.
I wonder, if we all truly understood the love of God and lived out of that, how different we would look as a church family? I wonder what it would do to our city? How would Perth be changed when this radical love of Jesus was shown in gospel centred churches, in whole families, in healthy marriages, in peaceful relations at work?
Dear brothers and sisters, life in Jesus’ kingdom is shaped by radical love. It’s a love that Jesus Christ has first shown to us. We love because he loved us. So, will you obey the teaching of Christ, led by his Spirit, knowing the love he has first shown you? Amen
[1] Quesnel, quoted in Ryle.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Rev. Rodney den Boer, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
(c) Copyright 2026, Rev. Rodney den Boer
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