“A New Perspective”
Luke 6:12-36
“But I say to you who hear: ‘Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.’” – Luke 6:27-28
A new perspective! I remember back in grade school when I was introduced to perspective. My fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Gibbons, taught us how to draw a building with 3-dimentional perspective. I thought that was so cool, to be able to draw objects on paper that showed depth. It heightened my awareness of things around me, particularly lines that showed perspective.
I think of the phenomena of perspective when Jesus entered this world. It was a new perspective. I like to look at it like God’s tangible dimension. “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” [Jn 1:14]
Two thousand years ago, God became tangible in a radical way. He became physically seen, heard, and touched in the Person of Jesus Christ. It was an entirely new perspective of God for humankind to see, and it was unique to Jesus.
But then Jesus went on to teach of another dimension: The indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Toward the end of His earthly ministry, He told His disciples that He would return to the Father and send them the Holy Spirit Who would draw them into all truth [ref. Jn 14:26; 16:5-16].
That has become the foundation of the New Testament church. The Bible declares that when we confess our sins, repent of our sins, and then ask Jesus to forgive us our sins and be our personal Lord, the Holy Spirit then indwells us. And when that happens, a new perspective has come.
It is a view that sees life from heaven. Our position [our home base] becomes the Kingdom of God rather than the kingdom of this world. It is the in this world but no longer of this world principle, and that makes all the difference.
Our text this morning starts with the Beatitudes, literally “declarations of blessings.” They pose a Kingdom perspective, a new perspective, one the probes the depths of God’s unconditional love.
