2. Sharing the Love – the flavour never runs out
Genesis 12:1-3; Luke 6:37-38; Romans 12:9-21; Numbers 6:22-27

It’s a fact! We are blessed! Not because we, or anyone else, says we are, but because that’s how God relates to us – with generosity and startling kindness. Last week we looked at the many ways in which God has already blessed us and promises to bless us in the future.

However it’s already apparent that blessing not only for us, but to be shared – which we see from the aching example of Christ’s death and rising.
- Christ’s is a love is to be shared. (You’ve heard the saying “share the love…” usually in trivial things, this is what the wonder of God’s love is about – sharing the love.)
- This is a love to be shared liberally, willingly, gladly with whatever means we have to hand [Luke 6:38].
- This is a love to be shared precisely because of what Jesus has done for us (so that means there are no real limits to its scope).

This blessing is for friends and enemies alike. [Romans 12:14-21]
- Bless is an imperative, a command that means you MUST do this. It comes from a word that means “good speech” and “celebrating with praise.” This positive, God-sourced speech is for those who oppose you, who annoy you, who demean you, who have hurt you and questioned your decency. To such unfair and abusive treatment, in Christ, there is only one response possible – blessing from your mouth as from the mouth of God
- It’s the perfect antidote to revenge because it arises out of a love-fuelled outflow of maintaining, even restoring, relationship. Revenge kills trust and hope in relating to others and eventually makes relating artificial at best.
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In God, and because of His love we seek to care for people where they are in their lives.
- We seek to acknowledge their mood, by bringing Christ to where they are right now, rather than deflecting them to a place where we feel more comfortable. [Romans 12:15]
- You don’t have to be in the same place, or in a contrary place, but in a complementary place, a harmonious place
- Treat others as having great worth (after all God died for them too.) [Romans 12:10]

Always give better than you get (but not as your mother told you!) [Romans 12:20-21]
- Luke 6:22, 27-31 gives us direction as to how we should behave in the face of interpersonal cruelty. (These are the words of the One we so readily call Lord and Saviour.)
- Reject any kind of revenge or payback as an option in response . If we take it up we are saying that God is not acting justly and we need to do it for Him - in effect we are judging God.
- In this trust God and surprise your enemy. This is an ancient expression from Proverbs [25:21-22] that reveals that God is and always has been a God of compassion. Again these are imperatives, meaning they are not optional forms of behaviour for particularly holy or weird, they are for all people who want to be known as members of God’s household.
If you’re meant to treat your enemies this way how much more is this true of the people who are following Christ with you wherever you are– in some community formed out of the love of Christ.