Sermon Tone Analysis

Matthew 5:38-48

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Introduction

Ed Kroeker converted a 1956 Ford truck into a modern Buick with an antique Ford body.

It still looks like a 1956 Ford, but the suspension, steering, transmission and engine are a Buick.

That is quite a change for both the Ford and the Buick.

That is what conversion means – a significant change from one thing into something else.

In the case of Ed’s truck there was still a resemblance to what the truck had been, but there were also a lot of changes.

We use the language of conversion to speak of what happens to us when we become Christians.

Where do we see the resemblance to what we used to be?

Where do we see the radical change that has taken place?

How radical is the change that has taken place?

In Matthew 5, Jesus said, “You have heard…But I tell you…” 6 times indicating something of the radical change that must happen to those who follow Him.

This morning, I would like to examine two of these indicators of radical change found in verses 38 to 48.

Both contain describe the conversion that has taken place in those who are followers of Jesus.

The issue which Jesus addresses in these verses has to do with relationships, particularly with those who are enemies, those who are evil and those who wrong us.

The response which is required of us is quite different than that which is normal.

It is a response that can come only when a conversion of our hearts has taken place.

Let us read the text and think about this radical change.

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I.                   Transformed Love

!! A.                 Be Sons of Your Father

Many years ago a few friends and I were taking target practice with our .22’s.

We had set up a bunch of cans in the distance and were seeing how successful we could be at hitting them.

A friend came late and we gave him a chance to shoot as well and told him we were shooting at the cans.

He took a couple of shots and hit the can easily, the only problem was, the can he hit was one we had dropped on the way to where we had placed the others and was much closer than the ones we had set up.

Because he was aiming at something much closer, he was much more successful at hitting it.

What is the target we are aiming at when we consider the way in which we are to live it?

Are we aiming to be like a composite of all the do’s and don’ts in the Bible?

Are we aiming to be like our parents?

Is it our goal to be like our SS teacher or the pastor who baptized us?

What does the text say?

In Matthew 5:45 we read, “…that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.”

In Matthew 5:48, we read, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

As Christians the target for lifestyle is very high.

It is nothing less than being like our Father in heaven.

If we aim any lower, we will probably have an easy time hitting the target, but we will not be what God wants us to be.

As followers of Jesus, we have been called to Christ likeness.

We have been called to model our behavior after the one to whom we belong.

In all our relationships and, in this passage, specifically in our relationships with “enemies” we are called to respond like God would respond.

There is a way of relating to others that makes sense to us humanly speaking.

Jesus invites us to think about that human way of relating when he says in Matthew 5:46-47, "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?

And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others?

Do not even pagans do that?"

Loving those who love you is a good thing, but it is nothing unusual.

Loving those who love us is normal human behavior.

We expect that people will do that.

In fact, even tax collectors, who were looked down upon as people who were not obedient to God, do that.

Greeting people who are close to us is a good thing, but even pagans who do not believe in God do that.

God has called us to something beyond this human way of relating

Plummer puts it this way, “To return evil for good is devilish; to return good for good is human; to return good for evil is divine.”

Barclay says, “There are few passages of the New Testament which have more of the essence of the Christian ethic in them than this passage has.”

!! B.                 God’s Grace

So if we are to relate to others, particularly those who are not nice to us, like God relates to them, what does that look like?

Farmer Henry has one particular quarter section on which he plants his crops year after years which is right beside another quarter section owned by one of his neighbors.

Henry loves Jesus.

His life is one that is evidenced by that love in so many ways.

He is gracious, generous and faithful.

He is involved in his church and has gone on mission trips.

Everyone who knows him agrees that he is a model of one who serves God.

His neighbor is the exact opposite.

He has cultivated into Henry’s crop to enlarge his own field.

He has grown marijuana on a portion of it.

He goes out of his way to mock Christians and uses God’s name in vain because it means absolutely nothing to him.

In fact, if you discussed the topic of faith you might even get the impression that he hates God.

Yet every year these two fields produce similar crops.

The weather systems come across both fields.

Some years the rain comes at just the right time and both fields produce great crops.

One year a hail storm came by and wiped out both crops.

Jesus puts it this way in Matthew 5:45, "...He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."

Barclay comments on this verse and puts it this way, “Jesus pointed to the action of God in the world, and that action is the action of unconquerable benevolence.”

Psalm 145:15 also says, "The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time."

The point we are to take from this is to understand what God is like.

How does God treat those who reject Him?

He does not withhold good, even from those who are evil.

That God is like this should be abundantly evident to us as Christians because the whole story of salvation is a story of how God treats his enemies.

The Bible is very clear that we are God’s enemies.

Romans 5:8 tells us the gospel story using these terms when it says that "…God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

God didn’t begin the process of salvation when he realized that with a little luck we might become really nice people.

He began when we were hopelessly lost and solidly arrayed against Him.

God has reached out to those who were evil in order to extend His grace to them.

That is what God is like.

That is how He relates to those who are evil and those who hate Him.

That is how He treats those who are His enemies.

Therefore, if we are to be like Him, we need to act in the same way.

!! C.                 The Source of Love

How can we possibly be like that?

As we have already noted, living like that is not normal human behavior.

It is God-like behavior.

The only way it is possible for us to love like that is through conversion.

It is only possible if the heart of the Father is our heart.

It is only possible if the way of the Father becomes our way.

The ability to obey this command comes from a transformed heart.

William Barclay writes, “We can only have agape when Jesus Christ enables us to conquer our natural tendency to anger and to bitterness, and to achieve this invincible goodwill to all men.”

Augsburger quotes Hans Kung who said, “Jesus did not set in motion a social~/political revolution; what He set going was a non-violent revolution, emerging from man’s heart, from a radical change in man’s thinking, from a conversion.”

Augsburger himself says, “Only the disciple who has been born of the Spirit, who knows the enabling grace of Christ, can live by this standard.”

The promise is that when we are in Christ, that transformation has taken place.

II Corinthians 5:17 assures us, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

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II.

Practically Lived

What does such living mean practically?

!! A.                 Do Not Resist an Evil Person