Sunday, April 14th, 2024 Ian Crooks Free Grace Presbyterian Church, Vernon, BC Matthew 5:38-43 38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. ‘You have heard that it was said’ - ‘But I say to you’   The Law of Retaliation ……The Royal Law    1. The Law of Retaliation  ‘You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ v38 2. The Royal Law ‘But I say to you, ‘Do not resist the one who is evil.’ v39a   Dignity - Security - Liberty - Property  Dignity ‘But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.’ v39b A gesture of contempt ……an insult to the one who’s slapped  Are we ready to endure a loss of dignity …..rather than retaliate?  We leave vengeance to the Lord ……we trust in His perfect vindication even as we follow the way of His Son, Jesus Christ ‘Father forgive them for they know not what they do' Luke 23:34 Security ‘And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.’ v40  We don’t have to always demand our own rights when we’ve been wronged ……or always press for our own interests 1 Corinthians 6:7 ‘Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?’  Liberty   ‘And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.’ v41 When we're called to, ‘Go the extra mile’  Property   ‘Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.’ v42 Jesus calls us to be wise in our giving …..to those who are unable to help themselves  James 2:15-16, ‘If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?’    Don Carson, ‘Personal self-sacrifice displaces personal retribution; for this is the way the saviour himself went, the way of the Cross’  Possible only as we place our trust in the One who, ‘Did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross’ - Philippians 2:7-8