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Father, I just again, I thank
you for this day. I thank you for the joy that
we can experience and lift up to you in song. And I just thank
you for the freedom that we have to sit and gather as we do. And
Father, this is not a freedom that everyone around the world
has, and we know that, and we just pray for our persecuted
brothers and sisters around the world as they are gathering as
well. We pray for your Holy Spirit.
We pray that you would be here guiding us as we open up your
book, that you would give us again the ability to see it,
to hear it, and to understand it, and to make it a permanent
part of our lives. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Well, we are back to our series
on the Sermon on the Mountain. As we've seen, it's far more
than just a recipe for how to live that so many folks think
that this sermon is. In fact, the sermon served as
a template for Jesus to systematically take apart the false and the
legalistic way of the Pharisees that had settled into the culture
as the final say of what the will of God was. Jesus had one
huge advantage in arguing with the Pharisees over that very
point, and that is Jesus happened to be God. I mean, I'm often
struck with the absurdity of the conflicts that Jesus engaged
in with the Pharisees for that very reason. And it says something
about the incredible humility and patience of God that he would
even engage these pretenders at all. I mean, these folks were
religious frauds who made a career out of claiming that they were
the middlemen who really knew who God was and how to work with
God. Jesus stated on more than one
occasion what he really thought of these charlatans. Matthew
23 says this. Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes
and to his disciples saying, the scribes and the Pharisees
sit in Moses' seat. Therefore, whatever they tell
you to observe, that observe and do. but do not do according
to their works. For they say and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens hard
to bear and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves
will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their
works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries
broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love
the best places at the feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,
greetings in the marketplace, and to be called by men rabbi. Now this blistering observation
of Jesus is where we get the phrase, do as I say, not as I
do. And it sums up basically every
bit of the hypocrisy that the Pharisees stood for. And they
of course viewed Jesus as this outlier, this threat, and so
their response to him grew from one of indifference threw scorn
at the idea that this carpenter's son would have anything to do
with God to the place where they recognized him as an existential
threat and plotted eventually successfully to have him killed. And time and again we see these
interactions between Jesus and the Pharisees and in each case
Jesus states his position and their position, their position
and his position. And six times he uses the phrase,
you have heard it said. And then he follows it up with,
but I say. Again, this was the format we
see this morning. We're in Matthew 5, 43 through 45. It says, and
again, here's the format. Jesus is saying, you have heard
that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do
good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully
use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father
in heaven. Well, we know right from the
start that God has much to say about treating our enemies, and
in this final section on the Sermon on the Mount, he is basically
going to be teaching us about the old ways of looking at enemies,
about his way of looking at them, and his command to us about how
we are to live out our ways of looking at our enemies, at our
way of understanding what justice really is. And when it comes
to treating our enemies, we see old ways, his ways, and our ways. So first let's look at the old
ways. You know, we looked last time at this idea of retributive
justice. That's the belief that God gives
everyone what is their due. Retribution sounds like something
bad, but it is not. It's really the belief that a
God who passionately loves truth and honor and justice, that same
God also must hate lies, dishonor, and injustice. A God who is truly
just must delight in rewarding what is truly good, and in punishing
that which is truly evil. And this is what God says in
Romans 2, 9 through 11. It says, there will be tribulation
and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew
first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for
everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek, for
God shows no partiality. God is saying, retribution is
the driving force in the entire universe. No, but retribution
unchecked quickly becomes vengeance. The whole idea of an eye for
an eye and a tooth for a tooth was to establish proper boundaries
where retributive justice was necessary. And we saw right in
the beginning of mankind, right there in the book of Genesis,
that men were exacting far more in retribution than the offenses
against them required. I mean, if you go all the way
back to Genesis 4, there's this discussion about Lamech, and
it says, Lamech said to his wives, Ada and Zillah, hear my voice,
you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say. I have killed a man
for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain's revenge
is sevenfold, then Lamech's is 77-fold. And as I said last time,
we don't know much about this man, Lamech, other than he was
wicked, that he had plural wives, and that he was not looking for
justice, but for vengeance. And he says, if Cain's revenge
is sevenfold, well, Lamech's is 77-fold, and we quickly see
where this is going. I mean, far better to have a
law that limits retaliation to something that matches the original
offense. which is exactly what an eye
for an eye and a tooth for a tooth was designed to do. It was a
mercy. We address the inevitable question
then of how it is that Christians are the ones who seem to escape
justice. They're the ones who have their
sins placed on Jesus who pays for them at the cross. And we
point out that that really is partially true. Christians, in
a sense, escape justice. Doesn't mean that justice isn't
served. What it means is that it's served not on the heads
of believers themselves, but on the head of Jesus Christ who
came to earth to rescue them. Jesus came to glorify his father
by taking the punishment of his sheep onto himself at the cross. Now the Lord Jesus Christ received
our justice so that we could receive his mercy. Second Corinthians
says, for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so
that in him we might become the righteousness of God. So what
is unique about the cross of Christ is that God justly declared
every single one of us guilty and worthy of the death penalty,
which spiritually speaking is hell. But that his mercy reached
down with an offer of salvation to those who would put their
faith in him and it was for someone else to pay the price of that
justice. That someone else was Jesus Christ. He came to earth
to live the exact same kind of life that we all have to live,
and he lived it perfectly. And then he offered up his own
life as God in the flesh as a substitute for our sinful lives, exchanging
his righteousness for our sin, satisfying justice and mercy
at the same time. Well, in our teaching this morning,
Jesus is gonna start out looking at the old ways, saying in Matthew
5.43, you have heard that it was said, you shall love your
neighbor and hate your enemy. And what Jesus is doing, he's
addressing a teaching that had already been very well established
by the Pharisees. It's a teaching that made perfect
sense to its hearers because it mirrored their history and
it fed into their predispositions. But it's a teaching that can
be found nowhere in the Bible. In fact, when you look, you'll
find the exact opposite. It's clearly stated in the Old
Testament. If you look at Leviticus 19, it says, you shall not hate
your brother in your hearts. You shall surely rebuke your
neighbor and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance
nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but
you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. So when Jesus is saying, and
he starts out, you have heard that it was said, he could have
just as easily said, but certainly not from me. What had been established
as fact was in fact something that God never even suggested.
And as opposed to the error of the old ways, Jesus begins to
unpack his way. And Jesus' counter response goes
in the exact opposite direction. He says, but I say to you, love
your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do
good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully
use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father
in heaven. Now what Jesus is suggesting
is radically different from what the Pharisees have been teaching,
but it's absolutely part and parcel of the very nature of
God. And Jesus is suggesting here three different ways to
love your enemies. He says first, bless those who
curse you. Secondly, do good to those who
hate you. And third, pray for those who use you and persecute
you. Jesus goes on to say that acting
in that way demonstrates to the world that you're just like your
father in heaven. Now Jesus had much to say about
dealing with enemies, and I think it's safe to say that the Pharisees
were his enemies. I also know that Jesus spoke
at great length about their hypocrisy, which would often demand of others
what they themselves would never do. Again, he says in Matthew
23, the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat, therefore
whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not
do according to their works, for they say and do not do. So
let me raise this question. Here's my question. Jesus' enemy
is the Pharisees. And so the question I raise is,
did Jesus do as I say and not as I do when it came to his enemies,
the Pharisees? Did Jesus bless those who cursed
him? Well, let's examine the record.
Did Jesus bless when he was confronted and cursed out, literally? Well, if you recall, there was
a time when Jesus cast out a demon. And instead of being blessed
for that, he was literally cursed. It occurs in Matthew 12, Matthew
12, 22. It says, then one was brought
to him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute. And he healed
him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. And all
the multitudes were amazed and said, could this be the son of
David? Now when the Pharisees heard
it, they said, this fellow does not cast out demons, except by
Beelzebub, the ruler of demons. Now insulting doesn't even begin
to describe a response like this. And I want you to first picture
what kind of state this man was in. Now he's blind, he's mute,
he is demon possessed. And at the command of Jesus,
his tongue is loosened, his eyes are now seeing, and obviously
the demon has been exercised. And so the Pharisees have no
choice but to acknowledge that only a spectacular supernatural
power alone could do this. But their fear and their hatred
of Jesus couldn't possibly allow them to attribute that power
to God working within him. So they willingly chose to give
the glory of what had just taken place to Satan. rather than attribute
it to God. I mean, the arrogance that refused
to acknowledge the miraculous power of Christ chose instead
to attribute this miracle to Satan. It was one of the vilest
forms of blasphemy and cursing. And you know, it's clear the
Pharisees didn't even have the guts to confront Jesus to his
face. Now they were happy to say this
only behind his back because it says in verse 25, but Jesus
knew their thoughts and said to them, every kingdom divided
against itself is brought to desolation. And every city or
house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts
out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom
stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub,
by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore they shall be
your judges. But if I cast out demons by the
Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. I maintain
to you that Jesus' response to them cursing him is for him to
bless them. I mean, he blesses them by patiently
explaining why their understanding wouldn't even work within the
confines of Satan's own kingdom. Now, he tells them in verse 25,
every city or house divided against itself will not stand. And then
he goes on to describe the judgment that awaits this evil, unbelieving
generation. But his response is reasoned,
and it's even hopeful considering that they had just attributed
his work to Satan. Now, but Luke's account of this
incident gives us another piece of information that shows just
how far Jesus was willing to go to bless those who wanted
to curse him. You see, he spoke the truth in
love with them, and then he responded in love as well. This is from
Luke's account of the same instance. This is Luke 11, 37. It's describing
this conversation that's been taking place. And it says, and
as he spoke, a certain Pharisee asked him to dine with him. So
he went in and sat down to eat. Now you gotta understand, this
is not somebody saying, hey, Jesus, let's go grab a burger somewhere.
Sharing a meal with someone in this culture meant far more than
just eating together. It meant a serious effort to
kind of communicate and fellowship with that person that you were
eating with. Now the scribes and the Pharisees understood
that well. We read in Mark 2.16, it says, when the scribes and
the Pharisees saw him, that's Jesus, eating with the tax collectors
and sinners, they said to his disciples, how is it that he
eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners? They couldn't believe
that he would do that. And yet he's doing that with
the Pharisees. And the Pharisees see a meal, not as a chance for
fellowship, but as a chance to gather information. as a chance
to gather some kind of data that they can later use to trap him.
You see, it's stunning to me to realize that Jesus is readily
accepting invitations to sit down and eat a meal with the
very people he's castigating. The people who would use the
very circumstance of that meal to trap him. In fact, Luke 14
describes another incident this way. It says, now it happened
as he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees
to eat bread on the Sabbath that they watched him closely. And we all know eventually all
of that observation would pay off. You know, when the Pharisees
felt they had just enough information to arrest him, they bribed Judas
to provide them with an opportunity, and Judas sold Jesus for 30 pieces
of silver. So did Jesus bless those who
had cursed him? I say yes he did. When they attributed
his miraculous power to Satan, he blessed them with a response
that was helpful, hopeful, and absolutely truthful. A kingdom
divided against itself will not stand. And yet in spite of the
miserable treatment he received at their hand, he readily responded
to an invitation to dine, knowing that the invitation was filled
with wicked intent. Have you ever been cursed out
by somebody? I mean, have you ever been publicly dressed down,
humiliated and made to feel like a fool by someone? How did you respond? Now the chances are the last
thing on your mind at that time was to bless that person back. Jesus says that true sons of
the Father, those who have the very spirit of the living God
within them, will respond with a blessing for a curse. And they
do that because they're following Christ who's following his Father.
And the scripture tells us why in 1 Peter. It says, for to this
you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you,
leaving you an example that you might follow in his steps. He
committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When
he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered,
he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who
judges justly. This is the key right here. This
is the answer to how we can do this. You see, Jesus could bless
when cursed and do good when hated because he knew the God
of perfect justice had his back. He could let go of his personal
need for vengeance because he knew he could entrust himself
to him who judges justly. Love your neighbor and hate your
enemy was the standard way of doing business. And Jesus was
showing a better way. And his strength came from trusting
that his heavenly father would make all things right. And secondly,
Jesus said, do good to those who hate you. And just to stick
for a moment with the idea of sharing a meal as a means of
doing good for those who hate you, consider the last meal that
Jesus shared with the one who would betray him. I mean, no
one understood better than Jesus who, up to the very end, responded
to the hatred of Judas by sitting down one last time, warning and
pleading with him over a meal. Jesus knew perfectly well that
Judas, after sharing that meal, fully intended to betray him
for 30 pieces of silver. But it didn't dissuade Jesus
from trying. I mean, Jesus not only did good
for Judas who hated him in return, but he also did good for the
masses who showed no love whatsoever for him. And again, this example
involves a meal. You know, we've all heard the
story of the loaves and the fishes. It's the story, really, of good
done for people who have no love at all for Jesus. This is John
6, 9. It says, there's a lad here who
has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they
among so many? You know the story. Then Jesus
said, make the people sit down. Now there was much grass in the
place. So the men sat down and number about 5,000. And Jesus
took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed
them to the disciples. And the disciples to those sitting
down. And likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. You know,
understand, Jesus knew with absolute certainty that many of those
that he was feeding had no interest in him whatsoever. I mean, they
were there for the free food. That was it. In fact, the very
next day, the scripture describes Jesus going to the other side
of the lake, and the crowds looking for him, looking for this new
source of meals, and they finally find him, and he says this to
them in John 6, 26. He says, most assuredly, I say to you,
you seek me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate
of the loaves, and were filled. Do not labor for the food which
perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life,
which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has
set a seal on him. Now Jesus, of course, is speaking
about himself. He says, I'm the food that endures
forever. This other food is only temporary.
Ah, but the crowd's only interested in a miracle that's going to
be able to feed them consistently, and they make that clear to Jesus.
In John 6, 34, it says, Then they said to him, Lord, give
us this bread always. And Jesus said to them, I am
the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never
hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. But I
said to you that you have seen me, and yet do not believe. All
that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes
to me I will by no means cast out. Now Jesus, he's saying these
words to a crowd that wants to worship him. But they only wanna
worship him for all the wrong reasons. Now Jesus was determined
to do good to those who would later betray him. And so he calls
out the crowd right then and right there. In John 6, 64, Jesus
says, but there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus
knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe and
who would betray him. And he said, therefore I've said
to you that no one can come to me unless it's been granted to
him by my father. From that time, many of his disciples
went back and walked with him no more. See, Jesus knew that
there were many in that crowd who would wind up later shouting,
crucify him. And yet he did good. Yet he did
good to those who hated him. Why? Simply, he entrusted himself
to him who judges justly. And he is our example. So how
do you and I respond to those who hate us? Well, if we truly believe in
him who judges justly, that will guarantee, and that he will guarantee
that in the end justice will be served, it changes everything.
I mean, if I truly believe that, Then I really am freed up to
respond in a way that breaks the cycle of love your neighbor
and hate your enemy. Let me start out explaining with
an extreme example. This may give clarity to the
less extreme situations that all of us have to deal with to
see God's wisdom applied in circumstances that we can barely imagine. Miroslav Volf is a theologian.
who lived through the horror of the war in Kosovo in the late
1990s. This was a conflict that was
filled with all kinds of ethnic cleansings that included rape,
murder, arson, and terror. And Wolf demonstrated that the
only ones who are capable of acting in a Christ-like manner
were those who knew that him who judges justly would in the
end be the only one capable of making certain that justice would
be done. Believing in that God freed them
up to act as Christ would have them act in the most amazingly
awful circumstances. This comes from Wolf's Exclusion
and Embrace. Many of you might recognize it
from any number of Tim Keller's talks, but listen to what Wolf
says. He says, my thesis that the practice
of nonviolence requires a belief in divine vengeance will be unpopular
with many Christians, especially theologians in the West. To the
person who is inclined to dismiss it, I suggest imagining that
you are delivering a lecture in a war zone. Among your listeners
are peoples whose cities and villages have first been plundered,
then burned and leveled to the ground, whose daughters and sisters
have been raped, whose fathers and brothers have had their throats
slit. The topic of the lecture, a Christian attitude toward violence. the thesis, we should not retaliate
since God is perfect, non-coercive love. Soon you would discover
that it takes the quiet of a suburban home for the birth of the thesis
that human nonviolence corresponds to God's refusal to judge. In
a scorched land, soaked in the blood of the innocent, it will
invariably die. As one watches it die, one will
do well to reflect about many other pleasant captivities of
the liberal mind. But you hear what he is saying?
And this is experience speaking. And what he's saying is that
it's only within the confines of a safe, protected place such
as we enjoy. Could this silly idea of a God
who is unwilling to practice retributive justice ever even
be entertained? You gotta live in the suburbs
and have no problems to believe that is what he's saying. In a place where your daughter is
raped and your father and your brother have their throats slit.
You had better believe there's a God who's gonna make things
right, or you're gonna spend all of your time looking for
other daughters to rape and other brothers and fathers' throats
to slit. The reason why Jesus could break
the cycle of love your neighbor and hate your enemies is because
he knew his father could be trusted to judge all things justly. knowing that freed him up from
ever having to seek a vengeance that he knew his father would
always deliver. That's why Peter says Christ
is our example. Again, he committed no sin, neither
was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not
revile in return. When he suffered, he did not
threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. We are nowhere near living in
the horror of Kosovo. And our enemy's attacks are mainly
on our reputations and egos instead of our families and possessions,
but the principles remain the same. God expects us to fight
our enemies exactly the way Jesus fought his. You know, we're not
used to being hated and attacked for believing that marriage should
be between a man and a woman, and that babies should be safe
in the womb, but attacking that has become the new cultural norm.
edge of that Christ teaching as to how we are to respond to
personal attacks and we recognize that we still have much to learn
about loving our enemies. I remember a few years back,
remember the height of the controversy with Chick-fil-A and all of that
brouhaha over the fact that the owner of Chick-fil-A, I think
his name is Dan Cathy, he came out in favor of traditional marriage
and people just went nuts. And there was all kinds of protests.
And one of the restaurant parking lots filled up with people who
were protesting the owner's stand on traditional marriage. And
it was a hot August day. And the response of the restaurant
was to send their waiter staff out to the parking lot with cold
water for the protesters. The protesters were absolutely
flabbergasted. I mean, they believe like everyone else that they
should only love their neighbors in the gay community and hate
their enemies in the Chick-fil-A community. That's SOP, standard
operating procedure. That's the way you do it. I mean,
all of us have been taught from day one almost the exact opposite
of what Jesus is teaching. If someone hits you, hit them
back. I mean, we grow up, we put away the hitting, but the
principle remains the same. If somebody hurts you, make sure
you figure out a way to hurt them back. Now all of us are far more comfortable
with flight or fight than love your enemies. I mean, I tell
folks all the time that God's way to approaching conflict is
radically different from what all of us are used to. And I
know we all hate conflict and we hate fighting, but it's what
we're used to and it's what we're actually quite comfortable with.
That's cowboys and Indians, cops and robbers, good guys and bad
guys. You know, when we get into conflict, we figuratively put
up our dukes or we take off running. It's usually one or the other.
And what Jesus is telling us to do is absolutely counterintuitive. Jesus invites us to come into
the ring with our hands down, trusting that him who judges
justly will see to it that justice eventually will be done. I'm not suggesting that Christians
are to be so naive and pacifistic as to invite conflict. I'm simply
saying that Jesus is instructing us on a new and different way
to view conflict. And when you attempt to do things
God's way, I can tell you, people don't know how to react. I mean,
they come in with their dukes up and they expect you to have
your dukes up, and when you don't, they're absolutely mystified.
I mean, the folks at the Chick-fil-A parking lot, they didn't know
what to do when their enemies treated them with love and respect
instead of hate. That's God's secret weapon. And
when we deploy it, God's power is unleashed. Listen to what
God says in Romans 12, 18. He says, if possible, so far
as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge
yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written,
vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. To the contrary,
if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him
something to drink. For by doing so, you will heap
burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but
overcome evil with good. Trust me, I've seen what those
burning coals look like. And sometimes folks react to those
coals by being even more aggressive and even more difficult, and
sometimes they're completely unnerved, and sometimes it's
somewhere in the middle. God says the key to all of this
is to trust in a sovereign Lord. Again, leave it to the wrath
of God, for it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the
Lord. You don't do vengeance well,
God tells us. I do it perfectly. God also says in Romans 12, 18,
if possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. And what God is saying there
is, you know, you're only responsible for your side of the street.
You know, you can't control what goes on on the other side, but
you can control what's on yours. And all that God asks of us is
that we trust Him enough to let Him decide the outcome. And Jesus
was able to do good to those who hated Him because He trusted
His Father implicitly and He is our example. And third and
finally, Jesus says, pray for those who use you and persecute
you. Well now, we know that Jesus blessed those who cursed Him
because we saw how He responded when He was blasphemed. And we
also know that Jesus routinely did good for those who hated
him because we saw him constantly feeding, healing, and ministering
to those who would eventually betray and execute him. And the
answer to the third question, did Jesus really pray for those
who persecuted him? Well, the answer to that is yet
another statement from Jesus that has become a cliche. And
again, what we can see in the most extreme of circumstances
is what we need to translate into our everyday life as Christians. And there's no more extreme circumstance
than the one that Jesus found himself in in Luke 23, 33, which
says this. 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 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. Who knows what would have happened
if Jesus had not uttered that prayer? Who knows if that wasn't
the prayer that stopped his father's wrath from just exploding? I
mean, God the Father was beholding his son stripped, beaten, bloodied,
and mocked, now splayed out on the ground, about to have his
hands and his feet nailed to a cross. I mean, the soldiers
thought this was simply a routine execution of a criminal. And
as they positioned the nail and the hammer, they were about to
spike the living God to a tree. I mean, the very God who would
give them life and breath, the creator of the very planet that
they were standing on, they were humiliating. There will never be a more extreme
example of Jesus doing not just what he said, but what he did
when he prayed for them. Jesus did it because he knew
he could place his absolute and complete trust in his father.
And he knew that because he committed no sin, neither was deceit found
in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not
revile in return. When he suffered, he did not
threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. Just imagine what would have
happened if Jesus had ascribed to the Pharisees' teaching of
love your neighbor and hate your enemies. I can guarantee you
one thing, we wouldn't be standing here, sitting here. We'd be obliterated
to some part of the universe. And Jesus knew full well that
the world that he came into hated him. He said this in John 15,
he said, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before
it hated you. If you were of the world, the
world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the
world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world
hates you. It was Jesus freely admitted that the world hated
him and hated his disciples. I mean, that was a given. Nothing's changed in the last
2,000 years. Now the world still hates God
because this is the judgment. The light has come into the world
and people love the darkness rather than the light because
their works were evil. That's the given. But Jesus'
response to this hatred is Luke 6, 22. Blessed are you when people
hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn
your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in
that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great
in heaven. For so their fathers did to the
prophets. You see, our brothers and sisters in the Middle East
have seen that hate translated into brutality and rape and murder. I mean, we only see it as social
resistance and pushback. But the way we should respond
should be exactly the same. I mean, God's way is radically
different, and oftentimes it works radically. Jesus challenged
the old ways of treating our enemies. He not only spoke of
his ways, he exemplified them. And he challenges us to make
them his ways, our ways. And we do that first by blessing
those who curse us, secondly by doing good to those who hate
us, and third, by praying for those who use and persecute us.
And you know what? That's an impossible task. Unless and until we have our
eyes fixed on the kingdom of God. And until we truly believe
that him who judges justly has our back, we will forever be
desperately trying somehow to even the score on our own power.
That is old. That is desperate, and that does
not work. Of course, what's probably on
the minds of many people today is, all right, so how do we respond
to the events that took place in Paris, France? Well, you've got to know that
killing these folks is not the answer. I mean, for everyone we kill,
five more is gonna take their place. And they want nothing more than
for us to attack them so that thousands more will be attracted
and become radicalized. No, we may be able to beat them
back temporarily, but it is only a change of heart that will change
their intent, and only God can do that. Jesus says, pray for
those who curse you. Well, they certainly qualify
as cursing us. He says, do good for them that
hates you, and they certainly hate us, and prayer qualifies
as that good. And finally he says, pray for
them who persecute you. So I think our orders are clear.
We need to pray for these people. I mean, the only way to completely
eliminate a Muslim terrorist is to kill him or convert him.
God has converted many, and they are on fire for the gospel. I mean, I could tell you stories.
There's all kinds of stories that are out there now. Maybe
next week, we don't have the time this week. But my personal answer
to Paris French is to pray for the victims and their perpetrators. Because God's way is the only
way that's gonna work. By God's grace, we reject the
old ways of the Pharisees. By that same grace, we learn
from Jesus and imitate his way. By faith and by practice, we
make his ways our ways. He said in Matthew 5.43, you
have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor
and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless
those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray
for those who spitefully use you and persecute you that you
may be sons of your Father in heaven. Let's pray. Father God, we are just astounded
at what we see, and those of us who saw the horror of what
took place in Paris, France, my first reaction is kill them
all. My first reaction is just annihilate that. And Lord, that's
exactly what the Pharisees taught. Love your neighbors, hate your
enemies. Lord, that's exactly the opposite of what you teach.
Father, give us the ability, the wisdom, the power by your
Holy Spirit to translate what is an extreme circumstance into
our circumstance, into our everyday life. Give us the ability to
see and to understand, not the old ways, not the new way, but
your way. Lord, give us the ability to
do your will, your way. We pray in Jesus' name. you
Loving the Hard to Love
Series Sermon on the Mount
| Sermon ID | 111515143811 |
| Duration | 41:01 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Matthew 5:43-45 |
| Language | English |
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