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Evaluating our commitment:Can we really love our enemies?

Matthew 5: 43-48

Message 2 in our series called Questions Jesus Asked

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Speaker: Doug Virgint

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Love your enemies!

1) The context

2) The exposition of the passage

3) The applications

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Love your enemies!

1) The context

2) The exposition of the passage

3) The applications

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1) The context

This passage is in the Gospel of Matthew, and is part of the Sermon on the Mount.

The Gospel of Matthew is the Gospel of the King.

The Sermon on the Mount presents the King’s requirements for those who wish to be part of His kingdom.

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1) The context

But the goal of these requirements is not to push us towards legalism…

… but to make us realise that it is impossible for us live up to these standards…

… to help us understand that we cannot meet these extremely high standards…

The true goal of these standards is to push us to Christ !

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1) The context

The Jews, were very discouraged by their inability to keep the law, and especially the additions that the Pharisees had made They hoped that the Messiah would lighten up on the law’s requirements.

But Jesus said: “Do not think that I have come to abolish

the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

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1) The context

I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven;

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1) The context

but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

(Matthew 5: 17 – 20)

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1) The context

• Now the Pharisees had developed the Talmud (teach or learn).

• 4,000,000 words (versus 775,000 Bible)

• 613 commandments (365 negative + 248 positive)

• Many of these laws distorted the meaning of the Old Testament

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1) The context

“They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” (Mat 23)

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1) The context

Jesus highlights 6 important areas in life where the scribes and religious leaders had distorted God’s law.

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1) The context

murder (5: 21 – 26)

sexuality (5: 27 – 31)

marriage (5: 31 – 32)

words (5: 33 – 37)

vengeance (5: 38 – 42)

love (5: 21 – 26)

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1) The contextFor each of these areas there is:

• the basic, Old Testament truth

• the distortion by the Pharisees

• the « But I tell you that »

• the new standard, even higher, that Jesus imposes as King over His kingdom

• this new standard is based on the Old Testament.

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1) The contextBut I tell you that :In English French and German, we always

use the pronoun with verb:

I am Je suis Ich bin

You are Tu es Du bist

He is Il est Er ist

We are Nous sommes Wir sind

You are Vous êtes Ihr sind

They are Ils sont Sie sind

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1) The contextBut I tell you that :In Italian and Latin and Greek:

The personal pronoun is not necessary

They are smart enough to know that

“am” means “I am”

When the personal pronoun is used with a verb, it is emphatic – very emphatic

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1) The contextBut I tell you that :In Greek:

Ego dè légo

I myself tell you – very emphatic

In contrast with “You have heard it was said”

“You have heard that the ancients were told”(NASB)

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1) The contextBut I tell you that :

No wonder the people said after this sermon:

“When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. (Matthew 7:28,29)

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Love your enemies!

1) The context

2) The exposition of the passage

3) The applications

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2) The exposition

a) The basic Old Testament truth :

“love your neighbours”

'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the LORD.’ (Leviticus 19: 18)

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2) The exposition

a) love your neighbours

But the reaction from the Jews – who is my neighbour?

See Luke 10: 25 - 37

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2) The exposition

b) The distortion by the Pharisees :

“hate your enemy”

We cannot find that in the Bible

But …

• the imprecatory Psalms

• the destruction of the Canaanites

• teaching on judgement

• eye for eye, tooth for tooth

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2) The exposition

b) hate your enemy

Old Testament judgements:

for the state, not personal

and

limits, does not prescribe

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Love your enemies!

1) The context

2) The exposition of the passage

3) The applications

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3) The applications

« Love your enemies »

The word is “love” not “like”

“agape” not “philia”

Love in action – not emotion

Love that loves the unlovable

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3) The applications

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

“Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. !”

(Rom 5: 7,8)

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3) The applications

The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste your time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbour; act as if you did. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.

If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less.

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3) The applications

The difference between a Christian and a worldly man is not that the worldly man has only affections or ‘likings’, and the Christian has only ‘charity’,

The worldly man treats certain people kindly because he ‘likes’ them; the Christian, trying to treat every one kindly, finds himself ‘liking’ more and more people as he goes on – including people he could not have imagined himself liking at the beginning.

(C.S. Lewis)

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3) The applications

« Love your enemies »

But how?

• pray for them (vs. 44)

• bless them (speak well of them) (vs. 44)

• meet their needs (vs. 45)

• greet them (vs. 47)

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3) The applications

The highest standard:

• Better than the publicans (vs. 46)

• Better than the pagans (vs. 47)

• Like our Father in Heaven! (vs. 45,48)

• Perfection ! (vs. 48)

• But we can only do this through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit !

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Matthew 5: 43 - 48

Can we really love our enemies?