Goodness - Luke 6:35

if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink, for by doing so, you will keep burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Forgiveness will require you to completely absorb the debt owed by your enemy before any justice is given. The only true portion of justice that can be served is by loving the one who has wronged you. Our desire should be that the evil of our enemy would be overcome by our own good and that this heaping of a burning shame and guilt upon our enemy would lead them to a true repentance and faith in Christ. Next, Jesus commands us to do good while expecting nothing in return. Good is done by stewarding the gifts given to us by God to serve those around us. We are created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of doing good, and our good works are prepared for us by God, and we are given unique giftings of the Holy Spirit in order that God would be glorified through us in Jesus. First Peter four commands us to use these gifts to

serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace.

So consider how God has blessed you in the spirit, whether it's the ability to gently speak truth into the lives of others, the ability to welcome others into your home, or maybe it's the patience to be present with a brother or sister who is in need. If you don't feel like you know how you have been gifted to serve the body, go to someone who knows you well and ask them how they have seen you encouraging and building up the people around you. We aren't given these gifts so that we could boast about our own abilities, but we are given them so that through our actions we would bring glory to God who provides us even the means by which we can do good. Lastly, Jesus commands us to lend to others while expecting nothing back from them. By definition, to lend is to give to someone a service or the use of resources under the understanding that it would be returned. We see here in Luke 6, though, that godly goodness is displayed in giving away those services or resources with no expectation of any sort of return payment. In most cases, when there is an expectation of return, the decision to lend to another is a quick and easy one, but that decision Lend is made with a little bit more of a hesitation when there's no guarantee of a return. To lend like this requires an intentional decision to give up your possessions. Lending should be costly. It is a sacrifice, but it is one that is pleasing to God. Lending to others doesn't just refer to physical possessions, though. Families, lend out your homes to others. Invite others into the busyness and chaos of your life so that they would see how godly homes and marriages are upheld. I personally have been extremely blessed and have learned so much from many members here who have invited me into their homes. So please continue to do so. Young people, in return for this hospitality, lend your presence and lend your involvement in the lives of these homes. Care for and love their children. Don't just interact with them to have fun, but speak and act in accordance with the same gospel that they are being taught. And possibly the most valuable resource we can lend to others is one that we cannot have returned to us, and that's time. This may look like sacrificing an evening after a hard day of work to spend time with your children who have been waiting all day long for you to get home. Or this may look like giving up sleep to be with and care for a brother and sister who is lost in doubt. But be willing to give up your precious time for someone to whom it would be more precious. Now to continually lend like this, it is not easy. You will grow weary, you will feel exhausted and drained, and like you have nothing left to give out of yourself, but persevere. Your expectation of a return is not of this earth, but it is of heaven. And for the weary, there is rest for those who are drained and exhausted and weary in that heavenly reward. And that brings us to the second ingredient of godly goodness, which is a heavenly expectation.

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great.

Now the question that immediately pops into my mind when I read this is, well, what's the reward? We see that, or we see Jesus use the same word earlier in Luke 6 when he tells those who suffer on account of the son of man,

rejoice in that day and leap for joy for behold, your reward is great in heaven.

We give and we suffer and we endure on this earth because our longings are not of this earth. And we can try to imagine how we will be rewarded in heaven or how exactly we earn these rewards, but as we heard from Jude in verse 21 this past Sunday, the reward Jesus is speaking of here is none other than himself. Understand that we are promised to stand face to face with the fully revealed glory of God, with the beginning and the end of all things, and with the one to whom every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess his name as Lord. So love your enemies, do good, and lend because you have set your expectations on Christ, who took on the form of a servant, humbled himself to death upon a cross, and rose so that you could even do such things. Believer, are you setting your affections on earthly rewards or on Christ alone? Are you serving others to receive the praises of man or to bring glory to him who saved you from death? See also that our actions here on earth will have consequences in heaven. Second Corinthians five tells us

we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

So store up your treasures in heaven. Live and do good on this earth knowing that you will give a full account of your works to the holy judge. to the non-Christian, see that there is nothing on this earth that can even begin to compare with the person of Jesus Christ. He is the creator of the entire universe, the exact imprint of the nature and the glory of God, and he is holy and set apart from us because of our sin. Yet he emptied himself upon the cross to take away the fullness of that sin so that we could receive him in his fullness. So please don't place your expectations in a world that cannot satisfy, but look to Christ and receive him in faith. The last attribute of godly goodness that we see here in Luke six is a perfect example.

And you will be sons of the most high for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

If we were left on our own to pursue this heavenly reward by doing good, we would surely fail. And even in Christ, we fail to do these things time and time again. But we have been given the spirit so that we would progressively grow in goodness, that we would constantly be made more like Christ. Jesus Christ is the ultimate example of godly goodness for us. He,

for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of God.

He knew we could never repay the work that was completed on the cross, but he went there willingly because of the eternal expectation set before him. So it is not by these works of goodness that we are saved, but it is by these works of goodness that we see the goodness of the one who has saved us. This assertion that we will be made sons of the Most High is not placing a condition on our sonship. Rather, it declares the ability of our own good works to reflect the even greater work of God. Just as human children grow up to look like their parents, we also as children of God grow up in the spirit to look like our heavenly father. So look to the perfect example of goodness set by God. At the end of The Good Dinosaur, Arlo finds himself trapped and injured after Spot is taken away by predators. As he lays unconscious, he sees a vision of his father who had given up his life to save him, and it is in this vision that Arlo has newfound strength to go and risk his life to save Spot. We, though, have an even greater motivator than the example of Arlo's father. We don't just have a heavenly father who would give up his own life for the son whom he loved, but we have a heavenly father that would give up the life of the son whom he loved for us who hated and rebelled against him. So don't look to your own ability and goodness as you follow the commands of Christ. Love your enemies and do good and lend, looking first to the God who loved you as his enemy by reconciling you to himself, who has given you every good thing in Christ Jesus and who lent his only son to save you as a sinner who has nothing to return but filthy rags. Would you pray with me? Dear Heavenly Father, you are kind and merciful, and you reign in perfect power and authority over all things. Lord, we thank you that even while we have failed to love one another and have set our minds on what we have here on this earth, you have not withheld your mercy from us, but you have freely offered up your Son for us. Lord, let us hold fast to the love you displayed on the cross, and let us look towards Christ's perfect example of goodness as we walk in obedience to your commands. May your name continue to be glorified, and I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.