As soon as you hear the word relationships, right away you say, “Ah, relationships,” and you think of friendship or romance. But the main purpose of the Sermon on the Mount is to talk about our relationships to other people, to those outside of our close relationships.

Right away, Jesus talks about three groups of people. And when we see how Jesus calls us to be toward them, we’re immediately shocked and upset. Many of us will say, “First of all, I can’t do it. And if I did, it sounds terrible.” And almost as if Jesus knows we’ll say that, he tells us three things.

Let’s look at 1) the three groups of people: people who oppose us, people who are less fortunate than us, and people who are different from us, and then 2) the three things Jesus tells us: the difficulty we have, the inner dynamic we need, and the directions we’re given.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 11, 1999. Series: The Mount; Life in the Kingdom. Scripture: Luke 6:27-38.

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