Introduction
– Jesus continues His correction of the Pharisees’
instructions on how we are to treat others.
In vv 38-42 He taught what we must not do, and now He will
address what we must do. It is
important to note what Jesus already taught in Matt 5:10-12 as well. He assumes we will have enemies. Paul said, “all who desire to live godly in
Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”
This is the nature of the antithesis (John 3:20-21) and we are simply
walking in our Savior’s footsteps (John 15:18-25).
The Pharisees Teaching (v 43) - They taught that Gentiles and
all others who offended them were dogs or worse, which is why when Jesus says
‘to love your neighbor’ they are quick to ask ‘who is my neighbor?’
(Luke10:29). Once again they stood in
stark defiance of teachings from their own law. God commands the stranger to be loved (Lev 19:33-34, and your
enemy to be treated lawfully (Ex 23:4-5).
Proverbs instructs us not to rejoice when our enemy falls (24:17-18) and
to feed him when he is hungry (25:21).
But these teachers of Israel hated the Gentiles, and later hated the
gospel going out to them (1 Thess 2:15-16).
Some might ask, ‘what about the
imprecatory psalms and God’s commands to Israel to completely wipe out entire
nations in Canaan?’ This is the
difference between my enemies and God’s enemies (Psalm 139:19-22).
Enemies Are Neighbors (v 44) – Jesus sets the record straight,
and this leaves us with a difficult teaching, especially when we try to impose
a warm, fuzzy, sentimental meaning on this word ‘love’. But the love Jesus is referring to is
obedience to the law from the heart (John 14:15, 1 John 5:3). Jesus gives three illustrious applications.
“bless
those who curse you” –
You must speak graciously of and to them.
Their sin is no justification for yours.
“do
good to those who hate you”
– If he lost his ox (or his wallet) and you pick it up, what
must you do?
“pray
for those…” –
Their names are to be brought before the Lord, but not for cursing.
Imitation of
Common Grace – We
are to imitate our Father in all things.
We are to be His sons. There is
a love which he bestows upon all, the just and unjust alike. Luke 7:35 says, “For He is kind to the
unthankful and evil.” Romans 2:4-11
describes the purposes of God’s kindness.
It will either lead one to repentance or heap guilt and condemnation
upon the hardened God-hater, both to the glory of God.
Imitation of
Redemptive Love – However,
we must keep in mind that there is a love which God is very discriminatory
about which we must imitate as well.
And so, we must love our wives as Christ loved the church. He only loves this woman in this way, and it
is obvious. So should it be with us.
What Do You Do More Than Others? (vv46-47) – Religious
faith without works is a dead faith.
God is not impressed. “It is not
by personal holiness that a man shall enter heaven, but yet without holiness
shall no man see the Lord” - Charles Spurgeon.
Are we lights in darkness, are we salt in the earth, are we
different? If there is no fruit, there
is no reason to suspect that the root is different no matter what the tag
says. Which leads us to Christ’s final
words in this section:
Gospel Perfection
(v48) – Before the Fall, the requirement was absolute
perfection. And after the Fall, the
requirement did not change. Christ is
simply restating Deut 18:43 “You shall be blameless before the Lord Your God”. In fact, this is just a positive summary of
the Ten Commandments.
Poverty of
Spirit, Hunger for Righteousness – If you respond ‘but
that is impossible!’ then you are beginning to understand the gospel. The gospel is only good news to those who
are in a hopeless, desperate state. You
need perfect righteousness. You need
Christ’s righteousness. And this
righteousness, when imputed by the Holy Spirit drives a man to hunger for its
manifestation. Hear the words of a
justified man –
“Oh, that my
ways were directed to keep Your statutes!” – Psalm 119:5
“Let my heart
be blameless regarding Your statutes, that I may not be ashamed.” – Psalm
119:80
We will only be
salt and light, we will only be holy and different, when, by faith, God works
in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Phil 2:13). And so “Not that I have already attained, or
am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which
Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”
(Phil 3:12)
Dave
Hatcher – December 12, 1999