Radical Love

This verse from the Sermon on the Mount is one of the most misunderstood in the Bible, “If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also” (Luke 6:29). In this passage Jesus is not calling us to give up our right to personal defense or to own private property. He is, however, demanding of his followers to learn to overlook insults, slights and offenses. He is asking of us that we learn to maintain forgiving attitudes that won’t allow us to become vengeful and spiteful. The slap in the face refers most likely to a public insult and where his followers have given up the idea of protecting their own dignity and refuse to retaliate the way the world does.

When Jesus asks us to “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,” he is asking us to do something that is not natural for us. (Luke 6:27). When he says “bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:28), he is demanding of us unnatural words. He even asks that our prayers be unnatural, "pray for those who mistreat you" (Luke 6:28). When Jesus gave us the Golden Rule, he gave us a guide that is completely foreign to our thinking, “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31). When someone treats us badly, we want to treat them the same way, but that is not what Jesus taught in this sermon.

We are often obsessed with the notion that I am right and I must prove it to you so much so that it prevents me from resolving differences. The absurdity of this belief can be demonstrated with the following analogy. Imagine that a husband and wife come home, and when they enter their house, they smell smoke. One of them immediately accuses the other of having started the fire. The other responds by counter-accusing the other one of the same thing. All the while the fire is getting bigger and bigger and more out of control. The couple won’t give in and demand the other acknowledge they are in the right. All the while the house burns down. This happens whenever a couple argues and fights and often in front of their kids. The family is being destroyed because neither one will give up the idea of being right.

Imagine another scene where a dad asks his teenage son a question and the teenager responds in a disrespectful way. The dad very angrily responds and begins to lecture to the adolescent that he must show respect and cannot act that way. That is all true, but the problem is the teenager is like a locked door and the dad is kicking the door down with his forceful attitude. How much better it would be in that moment to overlook the slight and invite the teenager to sit down in private and calmly find out what is troubling him. Instead of kicking the door down, you try a different key. Once the anger has subsided on both sides, the attitude of the teenager can be addressed. When a parent or spouse get over the reaction of feeling rejected, the whole scene can be turned around.

What Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount is about using self-control in such way that we actually resemble our heavenly father with our patience and words. The truth is we need God’s help to do this, and the Holy Spirit will empower us to live this way. It is called a Spirit-led life.

The Day of Pentecost

After Jesus’ ascension into heaven, the newly formed group of believers would have to carry on without him. There was nothing about them that distinguished them as competent and prepared for success. They were considered a cult and looked upon with ridicule. They didn't have their own building in which to meet. They lived on the verge of poverty and were small in number. One of their leaders had just betrayed Jesus and had been fraudulent with their money. The rest of the apostles were unproven. So what made the difference? How were they able to grow by leaps and bounds and see wonders and miracles? The remarkable turning point for the Early Church was the infilling of the Spirit that occurred on the Day of Pentecost.

While Jesus’ body still lay in the tomb, a group from the Sanhedrin made its way to a field ready to be harvested. They cut down the firstfruits of grain, standing sheaves that were pre-tied. The cut sheaves were taken back to the temple to be waved before the Lord the next day. The harvest was not to be partaken of until that offering of firstfruits was made.

It was no mere coincidence that Christ arose the very day of Firstfruits. However, on that day it was not in the temple, but in the tomb that the real firstfruits was waved before God. Until Jesus was raised from the dead as the firstfruits, none of us were able to partake of the fruits of resurrection.

Seven weeks after Firstfruits came Pentecost. The barley harvest was over, and a baked loaf of the harvest was offered to God. However, on that day, the Pentecost offering that God blessed was not in the temple but in the upper room. God poured out his Spirit and baptized 120 believers, initiating the outpouring of the Spirit as predicted by the Old Testament prophets and just as Jesus had said would happen.

This is Luke’s account of what happened that infamous day:

Acts 2:1-13 “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

The day Jesus had promised them finally arrived in phenomenal form. Suddenly, they heard a sound like the blowing of a violent wind that filled the whole house. Perhaps this sounded like a hurricane. Certainly they were more than a little shocked by the sound of the wind, but there was more. They saw what seemed to be flames of fire that came to rest on each of them. There appeared be an actual fire in the air above their heads. There was one more visible and audible sign that would leave people perplexed and in awe.

There were things that were completely unique to the Day of Pentecost, such as:

·         The sound of the wind

·         The appearance of fire over them

·         Speaking in other tongues that were clearly understood by the listeners occurred only here (with exception of a few extraordinary contemporary accounts).

There were other things that were not unique to the Day of Pentecost, such as:

·         Speaking with other tongues as a result of being filled with the Spirit occurred elsewhere in Acts, even though the tongues are not recognized as a definite language by those listening.

·         In Acts, speaking with other tongues is never described as occurring before a person is filled with the Spirit.

·         Speaking in other tongues is not the only evidence of the Spirit-filled life, but there are five incidents that show us the baptism of the Holy Spirit, three of which the people are said to speak in other tongues.

Day of Pentecost         Filled with the Spirit and spoke in tongues             Acts 2

Samaria                       Filled with the Spirit                                             Acts 8

Damascus                    Filled with the Spirit                                             Acts 9

Caesarea                     Filled with the Spirit and spoke in tongues            Acts 10

Ephesus                      Filled with the Spirit and spoke in tongues             Acts 19

The Pentecostal Church around the world still moves forward because of the infilling of the Spirit. The Day of Pentecost was the beginning. As Peter said in his sermon, that day is for all of us, “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off — for all whom the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:39).

Burning the Plow

Have you ever heard the phrase “burning the plow”? It comes from the story of Elisha’s call to ministry. The prophet Elijah sought out Elisha while he was busy plowing a field. The text says, “He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him” (1 Kings 19:19).

This story has always been very rich to me. I was a teenager when I first experienced something similar to what Elisha experienced that day on the farm. I have always identified with Elisha because I was raised on the farm and know something of the hard work that goes with that farm life. This was a prosperous farm because Elisha was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen. In other words there were eleven other men plowing, and he was using the twelfth pair. This is the equivalent of twelve large tractors plowing in the same field today. 

Elisha responded by running after Elijah and letting him know that he accepted the call. He then went back and killed the two oxen and burned the plow as fuel to roast the meat for all the people. He bid his mother and father and all the people goodbye and left to follow Elijah in a prophetic ministry. The burning of the plow was symbolic of saying “I am never coming back to this life again.”

Later on, Elisha was with Elijah as they traveled to various places in preparation for Elijah’s unusual departure to heaven without facing death. That day finally arrived as the two men arrived in Jericho and then stood on the bank of the Jordan River. Elijah struck the water with his mantle, and the waters parted for them. Elijah asked Elisha, “What do you want me to give you before I leave?” Elisha responded "Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit." "You have asked a difficult thing," Elijah said, "yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours — otherwise not" (2 Kings 2:9-10). As they stood there, suddenly, a chariot of fire and heavenly horses flew between the two men, and then Elijah was caught up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha walked over and picked up Elijah’s mantle that had fallen to the ground. As he struck the water he cried out, “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:14), and the water divided.

We refer to this incident as the moment that the anointing rested on Elisha or at least a double portion of it. I like to define the anointing as the endorsement of the Holy Spirit upon a person or movement. Elisha is the kind of person the Spirit anoints—a person who is willing to be obedient and burn the plow, thus leaving the old life behind and becoming a servant.

Ministry with the anointing is a wonderful experience, and ministry without the anointing is a dreadful experience. I was sixteen when God called me into the ministry. I was so young, but the call was nonetheless very real. I was so overwhelmed with the call of God on my life that I sold my guns and a boat and gave the money to the church. God never asked me to do that, but it was my way of burning the plow. It was my response to having experienced that anointing for the first time in my life. Now 46 years later, I still value the anointing of God’s Spirit on my ministry.