Message from the Mount (20)
Message from the Mount • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Love Like Your Father
Love Like Your Father
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Welcome Home Mr President
Welcome Home Mr President
Hubert Humphrey was a former vice-president of the United States. When he died hundreds of people from across the world attended his funeral. All were welcome, but one – former President Richard Nixon, who had not long previously dragged himself and his country through the humiliation and shame of Watergate. As eyes turned away and conversations ran dry around him Nixon could feel the ostracism being ladled out to him.
Then Jimmy Carter, the serving US President, walked into the room. Carter was from a different political party to Nixon and well known for his honesty and integrity. As he moved to his seat President Carter noticed Richard Nixon standing all alone. Carter immediately changed course, walked over to Richard Nixon, held out his hand, and smiling genuinely and broadly embraced Nixon and said “Welcome home, Mr President! Welcome home!”
The incident was reported by Newsweek magazine, which wrote: “If there was a turning point in Nixon’s long ordeal in the wilderness, it was that moment and that gesture of love and compassion.”
Source: Reported in Maxie Dunnam, The Workbook on Living as a Christian, pp.112-113
Martin Luther King on Love
Martin Luther King on Love
The great American civil rights leader Martin Luther King preached one of his most moving sermons on the title “Loving your enemies”. He was in gaol at the time, imprisoned for daring to suggest that American Negroes should have the same civil rights as other Americans. During his lifetime he had received death threat after death threat, he’d been maliciously accused of being a communist, his house had been bombed, and he was jailed over 20 times. Yet in this sermon he said “hate multiplies hate…in a descending spiral of violence” and is “just as injurious to the person who hates” as to his victim. But “love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend” for it has “creative” and “redemptive” power.
Source: reported in David Garrow, Bearing the Cross. Martin Luther King Jr and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
We live in a time and in a culture where we are encouraged, if not expected to have enemies. And not only to have enemies, but live with a sense of enmity towards other people. It’s not enough to have disagreements, we are expected to hate those with whom we disagree – and unfortunately, this attitude comes far more naturally than most of us would care to admit.
But as we come to Matthew 5:43-48 we hear Jesus calling the people of God to a different standard. While the world says hate your enemy, Jesus says we are to love our enemies.
The Context – A Righteousness of the Heart
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is teaching what it looks like to live as the people of God. What becomes abundantly clear is that God’s standard is much different than the standard of the scribes and Pharisees.
In Matthew 5:21-48 Jesus offers six examples contrasting the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees and the true law of God. What’s clear is that the righteousness of God is a righteousness of the heart and it goes far beyond the lines and parameters of the religious leaders. Further, we can never perfectly live up to God’s standard – but instead He gives those who are His new hearts – hearts that hunger and thirst for true righteousness.
In 5:43-48 Jesus gives the final of His six examples – this time contrasting the scribes and Pharisees’ teaching on love with God’s perfect standard, particularly in regards to our enemies.
The Teaching of the Scribes and Pharisees (5:43)
Love your neighbor – Quoting the Old Testament law the scribes and the Pharisees rightly called the people of God to love their neighbors (Leviticus 19:18), but they fell short of God’s standard when they identified who counted as a neighbor. While they identified their neighbors as those who shared their race and religion, Jesus teaches in the Gospels that his definition is far too narrow.
And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”
And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.
Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.
So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.
He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’
Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”
He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
Hate your enemy – While the Old Testament never calls us to hate our enemies, it’s not hard to see how the religious leaders developed this teaching. The nation of Israel had many enemies, enemies who God pronounced judgment against and whom He told His people not to associate with. So, the thinking went like this: We honor God by loving His people and hating His enemies.
The Teaching of Jesus (5:44-48)
Love your enemies (v. 44a) – This teaching of Jesus is both counter-cultural and unnatural. Both the world and the flesh tell us that we should hate those who oppose us and live with enmity toward those who hate us. But the standard of Jesus is love: as the people of God, we are called to love our enemies.
An active love – Pray for your persecutors (v. 48) – The love that Jesus commands is not passive. We are not simply to avoid hate; we are to desire good for our enemies. Jesus calls to pray for those who persecute us and for their good.
“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
The example of Jesus
And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.
And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.
The example of Stephen
And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Application: Are you willing to pray for those who make your life difficult? Do you ask God to do good for them and to forgive them, or to punish them? Do you ask God to save them and sanctify them or do you ask Him to simply get rid of them?
A love like the Father’s love – Living as reflections of the Father (v. 45) – As the children of God we should emulate the Father. Jesus is not teaching that we become His children by loving our enemies, but rather as we love our enemies, we show that we are in fact the children of God.
Recognizing the example of the Father – The world is full of people who hate God and live in opposition to Him, yet each day they see the sun rise and they benefit from the rain God sends (common grace). Still more, God showed His love for sinners and enemies by sending His Son to die as a sacrifice for sin.
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
A counter-cultural love – A love unlike the world’s (v. 46-47) – We may be quick to justify ourselves by rehearsing how well we love our family and friends. But Jesus uses two examples to show that even those we count as the worst sinners love those who love them. The standard of God goes further – we are called to love even those who hate us.
Bringing it all together - The standard of men and the standard of God (v. 48)
Verse 48 serves not only as a conclusion for this paragraph, but as a conclusion of this section of six illustrations. The scribes and Pharisees had a standard of righteousness, but it fell short. The call for the people of God is to be perfect as He is perfect. While we cannot attain perfection in this life, we should strive to live for Him in every way and guard ourselves from the kinds of justifications and narrow standards like those used by scribes and Pharisees. We must love, not only our neighbors, but all people.