The Teachings of Jesus Christ. Pt. 14 The Sermon on the Mount
Good morning everyone,
We pray that you are off to a good week!! We rode along with our son this morning to drop our grandchildren off at their various schools, encouraging them to study hard!
Chapter 5 is drawing to a close but our Lord's teaching continues on through Matthew 7. Jesus showed us that we need to follow the letter of the law but to also discover the spirit of the law and seek His help in living it out in our lives.
The last paragraph speaks more broadly about our enemies and having a right attitude of the heart. Having a right heart toward them is what we need in dealing with enemies. Enemies can be encountered in our families, our vocations, in our schools, our churches or even when we are doing the everyday things of life. It is an unpleasant reality of living in a sin cursed world.
Let us read the text of this section and see what we can glean from what Christ is teaching us.
Matthew 5:43-48 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Love your neighbor and your enemies
The beginning of the paragraph, Jesus refers to the law of Moses in Leviticus. The text is cited below. The Jewish rabbis in addition to teaching that personal vengeance or retaliation against wrongdoers was okay, they were also teaching that a person could hate their enemies.
I am sure you notice as I do that the law did not say to hate your enemies. This means that the Jews were adding to the word of God.
Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
The spirit of the law is love not hate
Jesus tells us what the right attitude must be toward our enemies if we are going to honor God. Jesus gives us 4 responses each born again Christian must have toward our enemies.
Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Love our enemies
Loving our enemies means that we have that same "agape" love toward our enemies that God has toward us. This is the unconditional love that God has for man which is fully expressed in John 3:16.
It is not natural for any of us to love our enemies. How can we do this? First, when we are born again, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. If we say we love God but we hate our enemies then we are not living out the gospel of Christ.
How did God love us before we were born again? He loved us as lost sinners who were His enemies right up until we were born again. The Christian has experienced the love of God and we must allow His love to impact us or we will not be able to love our enemies.
Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Bless our enemies
Blessing our enemies is the next response. Enemies will speak evil of us and spread lies about us. They will slander our character and seek to hurt us. However, if you and I stop to think about this we realize that we did the same things to God before we were saved. We profaned His name and spoke evil of Him. We spread lies and slandered His perfect character. Yet, His love remained steadfast and He blessed us through Jesus Christ.
The word "bless" means to speak well of someone even when they speak evil of us. It is a radical change in our thinking and the indwelling Spirit of Christ that can help us have victory in this area of blessing our enemies.
Paul helps us see this in the text below. Our natural man will want to lash out at our enemies and curse them. The apostle tells us to bless them instead.
Romans 12:14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
Do good to our enemies
Do good to our enemies is another attitude that does not come to us naturally. We need the power of God to transform us from the inside out so that we can live out this truth.
To do good to our enemies takes us back to the earlier section of this teaching where we are instructed to turn the other cheek, go the extra mile and give to him that asks of us.
Paul instructs us once again on how to live this out. We feed the hungry enemy. We provide drink to a thirsty enemy. We are to overcome evil with good. This is God's way.
Romans 12:20-21 Therefore gif thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Pray for our enemies
Praying for our enemies is also difficult to do. No one really wants to pray for their enemy, yet this is what our loving Father wants us to do. How do we pray for our enemies? We pray for their salvation, that they will come to Christ before they pass into eternity. We pray that we show the love of God toward them that God has shown toward us.
Loving, blessing, doing good and praying for our enemies are impossible things to even think about if we are not born again. Even when we are saved, it will take persistent prayer and seeking the Spirit of God to work in our hearts so that He changes us in a way that we will want to do these things for our enemies.
Jesus tells us why this is important. It is because we become the children of our Father in heaven when we obey Christ's command and live out these truths.
Jesus makes it clear that it is no big deal if we love those who love us. The important question is Do we love the ungodly person? We need to really ask ourselves this hard question. God loved us while we were yet sinners, enemies and rebels, so do we have that same love God wants us to have toward unbelievers that He had toward us?
He sacrificed His Son so that we could be reconciled to Him. The state of enmity has been put away by Jesus Christ. The word "perfect" means finished, complete, mature, full of integrity and virtue.
Matthew 5: 45-47 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Points to Ponder...
We pray that you are off to a good week!! We rode along with our son this morning to drop our grandchildren off at their various schools, encouraging them to study hard!
Chapter 5 is drawing to a close but our Lord's teaching continues on through Matthew 7. Jesus showed us that we need to follow the letter of the law but to also discover the spirit of the law and seek His help in living it out in our lives.
The last paragraph speaks more broadly about our enemies and having a right attitude of the heart. Having a right heart toward them is what we need in dealing with enemies. Enemies can be encountered in our families, our vocations, in our schools, our churches or even when we are doing the everyday things of life. It is an unpleasant reality of living in a sin cursed world.
Let us read the text of this section and see what we can glean from what Christ is teaching us.
Matthew 5:43-48 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Love your neighbor and your enemies
The beginning of the paragraph, Jesus refers to the law of Moses in Leviticus. The text is cited below. The Jewish rabbis in addition to teaching that personal vengeance or retaliation against wrongdoers was okay, they were also teaching that a person could hate their enemies.
I am sure you notice as I do that the law did not say to hate your enemies. This means that the Jews were adding to the word of God.
Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
The spirit of the law is love not hate
Jesus tells us what the right attitude must be toward our enemies if we are going to honor God. Jesus gives us 4 responses each born again Christian must have toward our enemies.
- Love our enemies
- Bless our enemies
- Do good to our enemies
- Pray for our enemies
Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Love our enemies
Loving our enemies means that we have that same "agape" love toward our enemies that God has toward us. This is the unconditional love that God has for man which is fully expressed in John 3:16.
It is not natural for any of us to love our enemies. How can we do this? First, when we are born again, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. If we say we love God but we hate our enemies then we are not living out the gospel of Christ.
How did God love us before we were born again? He loved us as lost sinners who were His enemies right up until we were born again. The Christian has experienced the love of God and we must allow His love to impact us or we will not be able to love our enemies.
Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Bless our enemies
Blessing our enemies is the next response. Enemies will speak evil of us and spread lies about us. They will slander our character and seek to hurt us. However, if you and I stop to think about this we realize that we did the same things to God before we were saved. We profaned His name and spoke evil of Him. We spread lies and slandered His perfect character. Yet, His love remained steadfast and He blessed us through Jesus Christ.
The word "bless" means to speak well of someone even when they speak evil of us. It is a radical change in our thinking and the indwelling Spirit of Christ that can help us have victory in this area of blessing our enemies.
Paul helps us see this in the text below. Our natural man will want to lash out at our enemies and curse them. The apostle tells us to bless them instead.
Romans 12:14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
Do good to our enemies
Do good to our enemies is another attitude that does not come to us naturally. We need the power of God to transform us from the inside out so that we can live out this truth.
To do good to our enemies takes us back to the earlier section of this teaching where we are instructed to turn the other cheek, go the extra mile and give to him that asks of us.
Paul instructs us once again on how to live this out. We feed the hungry enemy. We provide drink to a thirsty enemy. We are to overcome evil with good. This is God's way.
Romans 12:20-21 Therefore gif thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Pray for our enemies
Praying for our enemies is also difficult to do. No one really wants to pray for their enemy, yet this is what our loving Father wants us to do. How do we pray for our enemies? We pray for their salvation, that they will come to Christ before they pass into eternity. We pray that we show the love of God toward them that God has shown toward us.
Loving, blessing, doing good and praying for our enemies are impossible things to even think about if we are not born again. Even when we are saved, it will take persistent prayer and seeking the Spirit of God to work in our hearts so that He changes us in a way that we will want to do these things for our enemies.
Jesus tells us why this is important. It is because we become the children of our Father in heaven when we obey Christ's command and live out these truths.
Jesus makes it clear that it is no big deal if we love those who love us. The important question is Do we love the ungodly person? We need to really ask ourselves this hard question. God loved us while we were yet sinners, enemies and rebels, so do we have that same love God wants us to have toward unbelievers that He had toward us?
He sacrificed His Son so that we could be reconciled to Him. The state of enmity has been put away by Jesus Christ. The word "perfect" means finished, complete, mature, full of integrity and virtue.
Matthew 5: 45-47 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Points to Ponder...
- Loving our enemies is a mark of the child of God.
- Blessing our enemies is a mark of the child of God.
- Doing good to our enemies is a mark of the child of God.
- Praying for our enemies is a mark of the child of God.
How are we doing in these areas of Christian character? Are we responding to our enemies as Jesus wants us to or are we nurturing grudges, cursing them instead of blessing them, hating them instead of loving them?
The world says that we should hate, curse and withhold good from our enemies. The Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us a radically different way to respond to our enemies.
Mentally, we know that God's way is always best, yet practically I think we are all convicted and struggling with what we have learned today.
Spiritual growth includes yielding to our Master, Jesus Christ and following His instructions. He knows what will be best for us and we can be confident that Jesus will help us as we try to live it out.
Bob
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