Central Community Church | Sermon Audio
Sep 20, 2026 · 46 min · 9 segments
Luke 6:37-42 In a fallen world, hostile to believers, Jesus calls his followers to adopt a love that is entirely unlike the world. A love marked by mercy, even as our Father in heaven is merciful…
You can turn to Luke chapter six.
We don't have a natural break there.
And he's telling them what life is like in the kingdom, the kingdom ethic, the Jesus ethic, the reversal of values that exist in the kingdom of God, right? Blessed are the poor, blessed are the hungry, these beatitudes and then these radical teachings about how we ought to posture ourselves in relation to others.
Directly preceding our text this morning, the last sermon we had in Luke, it was about loving your enemies.
What a radical call that was and is.
That we ought to have a love that is selfless, others focused, that seeks the good of others, even at great cost to ourselves.
And if we're being honest, well, that is something that's even difficult to do to the people that we hold dearest, right? Let alone our enemies.
We can be incredibly self-centered creatures.
And yet the Lord tells us, he sums up the call here at the end of, of that section, verse 36, he says, be merciful because your father is merciful.
He, he, he, he grants and dispenses mercy to his people.
And that's the whole key and basis for everything that now follows into our passage this morning.
what is mercy, but doing good for those who need it.
Dispensing good to the needy.
Another part of it is withholding what other might rightfully deserve.
Having compassion.
It's compassion with action.
And like father, like son, or like daughter, our character, our conduct, how we ought to respond in a world that is hostile and ungodly is to assume the same mercy that God has shown us.
We must bear the family resemblance, if you will.
If not, how can we claim to be his children? If he has adopted us, if he has said his love upon us, if he has brought us into the fold and we don't act like our father, then are we really of the same stock? See, you can look at me and my family and my three little blonde girls as we're singing in the front row and you can go, yeah, those kids are his, right? All right, especially evident if you saw a picture of me when I was their age, just like a toe head, blinding white light of my hair.
But can people look at you and can they look at me and say, I know who that person's father is? This is the context then as we get into our text.
It follows from this passage on loving your enemies and being merciful as your father is merciful.
You can turn to Luke chapter six.
We don't have a natural break there.
And he's telling them what life is like in the kingdom, the kingdom ethic, the Jesus ethic, the reversal of values that exist in the kingdom of God, right? Blessed are the poor, blessed are the hungry, these beatitudes and then these radical teachings about how we ought to posture ourselves in relation to others.
Directly preceding our text this morning, the last sermon we had in Luke, it was about loving your enemies.
What a radical call that was and is.
That we ought to have a love that is selfless, others focused, that seeks the good of others, even at great cost to ourselves.
And if we're being honest, well, that is something that's even difficult to do to the people that we hold dearest, right? Let alone our enemies.
We can be incredibly self-centered creatures.
And yet the Lord tells us, he sums up the call here at the end of, of that section, verse 36, he says, be merciful because your father is merciful.
He, he, he, he grants and dispenses mercy to his people.
And that's the whole key and basis for everything that now follows into our passage this morning.
what is mercy, but doing good for those who need it.
Dispensing good to the needy.
Another part of it is withholding what other might rightfully deserve.
Having compassion.
It's compassion with action.
And like father, like son, or like daughter, our character, our conduct, how we ought to respond in a world that is hostile and ungodly is to assume the same mercy that God has shown us.
We must bear the family resemblance, if you will.
If not, how can we claim to be his children? If he has adopted us, if he has said his love upon us, if he has brought us into the fold and we don't act like our father, then are we really of the same stock? See, you can look at me and my family and my three little blonde girls as we're singing in the front row and you can go, yeah, those kids are his, right? All right, especially evident if you saw a picture of me when I was their age, just like a toe head, blinding white light of my hair.
But can people look at you and can they look at me and say, I know who that person's father is? This is the context then as we get into our text.
It follows from this passage on loving your enemies and being merciful as your father is merciful.
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