Have you ever been in a situation where a comment you have made was misinterpreted and caused problems that you never intended? I really don’t care for texting for that reason. People cannot hear the tone in your voice so a soft “No” maybe interpreted as a harsh “No” causing animosity that was not intended.
Misinterpretations can create problems. For example…
The name Coca-Cola in China was first rendered as Ke-kou-ke-la. Unfortunately, the Coke company did not discover until after thousands of signs had been printed that the phrase means, “bite the wax tadpole” or “female horse stuffed with wax” depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 Chinese characters and found a close phonetic equivalent, “ko-kou-ko-le,” which can be loosely translated as “happiness in the mouth.”
In Taiwan, the translation of the Pepsi slogan “Come alive with the Pepsi Generation” came out as “Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead.”
Also in Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan “finger- lickin’ good” came out as “eat your fingers off.”
The American slogan for Salem cigarettes, “Salem - Feeling Free,” was translated in the Japanese market into “When smoking Salem, you feel so refreshed that your mind seems to be free and empty.”
When General Motors introduced the Chevy Nova in South America, it was apparently unaware that “no va” means “it won’t go.”
When Parker Pen marketed a ballpoint pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to say, “It won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you.” However, the company mistakenly thought the Spanish word “embarazar” meant embarrass. Instead the ads said, “It won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant.”
An American t-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market that promoted the Pope’s visit. Instead of the desired “I Saw the Pope” in Spanish, the shirts proclaimed “I Saw the Potato.”
In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into Schweppes Toilet Water.
We have been guilty of misquoting the Bible at times. It is usually things we have heard all of our lives. “Spare the rod, spoil the child” is not in the Bible. What the Bible does say is “To discipline a child produces wisdom, but a mother is disgraced by an undisciplined child.” (Proverbs 29:15)
How about “God help those who help themselves.” This saying actually comes from one of Aesop’s fables. The Bible actually teaches of our weakness and total dependence on God.
“Money is the root of all evil.” What the Bible actually states is "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils" (1 Timothy 6:10). There is a big difference between the two statements. Money is neutral and can be used either for the good or for the bad. Money of itself is not evil, yet the love of it is the root of all kinds of evil.
“This to shall pass” is not found in scripture. If anything, Jesus and Paul taught that we could expect trials and sufferings while we were on this earth.
One I have often misquoted is “Pride goes before the fall.” What the scripture actually states is “Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18) So actually, pride leads to destruction and conceit leads to a fall.
We love to list the seven deadly sins of gluttony, greed, sloth, lust, vanity, envy, and wrath. But the reality is these are not listed in the Bible. The seven sins originated in the writings of medieval theologians. There are, however, seven things that God detests. “There are six things the Lord hates—no, seven things he detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family.” (Proverbs 6:16-19)
And a popular one this time of year is the “Three Wise Men.” The Bible never states how many there were. The assumption of three came from the fact that they gave the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Plus they probably were not at the manger when Jesus was born. They were more likely there about two years later. The Gospel of Matthew states they went into a house to see him. And Herod sent his soldiers to kill all the male children two years or younger based on the time he ascertained from the wise men.
So as you can see it’s easy to misinterpret statements and scripture. And in our last message in this series, we see Jesus upsetting one more applecart. Let’s read Matthew 5:43. “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy.”
What we read is Jesus actually misinterpreting scripture. He was purposely doing so because, like the statements I read, they had misquoted the law for so long they had come to believe that is what it said. But the Law of Moses Jesus was referring to read
(Leviticus 19:18) “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” Notice what is missing? Hate you enemy. Nowhere was that God’s command. Their argument was we are commanded to love our neighbor so we are free to hate those who are not our neighbors.
Over goes the applecart. Matthew 5:44-45 “But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.”
The apostle Peter tells us “that God shows no favoritism.” (Acts 10:34) When his light shines, it shines on everyone. When He sends rain, He sends it on everyone. Being a Christian does not mean everyday will is a day filled with sunshine. There will be cloudy days filled with rain. However, being apart from God does not mean day will be gloomy, rainy days. Those apart from God will also see bright, sunny days. He treats all of us equally. Why? Because we are either his enemy or once was his enemy. If we do not have a relationship with his Son, we are his enemy. We become his friend through Jesus.
So who are our enemies? Simply, those who are hostile toward us. It is like the story of a mother who heard her seven-year-old son screaming. She runs into the next room to see what is wrong, and discovers her two-year-old daughter is pulling the hair of her brother. The mother gets the hand of the baby unclenched and says, "You will have to overlook this. Your sister doesn't know what it feels like to have her hair pulled."
The mother goes back into the kitchen when she hears the daughter screaming this time. She runs back into the room and says, "What happened?"
The boy answered, "She knows what it feels like now."
You see, our enemy at times can even be those we love. But Jesus says our enemy should always be those we love because we are to love all of those who are hostile toward us. We are to deal with our enemies the way God dealt with his.
(Romans 5:10) “For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.” God loved his enemies, us, enough to sacrifice his Son. We are to sacrifice for our enemies. We are to bless those who curse us (Luke 6:28), just as God did for us. We are to conquer evil by doing good (Romans 12:21), just as God did for us. We are to feed those who are hostile toward us and give them drink. (Proverbs 25:21) In other words, provide for them, just as God did for us. We must be compassionate, just as God is compassionate. (Luke 6:36)
Jesus continues. Matthew 5:46-47 “If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.”
Here He gives us a measuring rod. Who do you show love to? To those who love you back? Who are you kind to? Just your friends? How about those who take you advantage of you? How about those who treat you unfairly? Have you ever shown love and kindness to someone who is incapable of paying you back?
I agree to volunteer to serve at the Free Store in Charlotte for one reason. It certainly is not to grow our church. It is not to impress anyone. It is to give myself an opportunity to experience service in a completely new level. The type of service that guarantees me no payback except for a change of heart. Ask those who have gone in the past and they will tell you it touched their heart and soul in a deep way also. It changed their perspective on caring for the unloved in a non-judgmental way. The experience will transform these hostile people into your neighbor.
Haddon Robinson, President at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary said, "One cannot define one’s neighbor; one can only be a neighbor, your neighbor is anyone who’s need you see, whose need you are able to meet. A neighbor is someone who says, ‘What is mine is God’s and what is God’s belongs to my neighbor because my neighbor belongs to Him.’”
This past week I was at the Free Store leading a Bible study. One of the ladies who co-ordinates meals for the homeless asked how our church was doing. I explained how our finances were dropping each month but we are meeting our expenses. She stated that we probably would not want to provide meals any longer. I almost agreed but God spoke within me. This was my answer to her.
“When I allow the worries of our finances to prohibit us from ministry, then we will really be in trouble. Our course we will continue to serve.” She went to her car and came back with a check. The check was made out except for “pay to the order of.” It was her tithe check. She explained that she did not feel a compulsion to give it to her church that week and was waiting to see what God wanted her to do with it. She made it out to “whitestone ministry” and handed it to me. It was a lot more than enough to cover our next fellowship meal at the Free Store. When we make our enemy our neighbor, when we sacrifice for our neighbor, we open opportunities for God to bless us. I would like to see all of you at the next fellowship meal at the Free Store. Not only would you be blessed but also this entire body of believers would be blessed.
1 John 3:18 states “Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.” If we truly have love for our neighbors, our actions will show it. If we truly have love for our enemies, our actions will show it. We are to offer our help, if we have the resources, to anyone who is in need, based on their need and not on our feelings. If we are to become known as a church who loves their community, it starts with each of us individually.
Then Jesus concluded with this commandment. “But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)
Wow, now that is a tough one. Be perfect. I am not like Noah, a righteous man. Wait a minute. He was a drunk. Okay like Abraham. He was a liar. How about Moses, short temper. David had an affair. Elijah was burned out and suicidal. Jeremiah was depressed. Jonah ran from God. John the Baptist ate bugs. Peter denied knowing Jesus. Thomas had doubts. Zaccheus was a wee little man. Paul was too religious. No one in the entire Bible is perfect except for one.
So what is this commandment about? In the Greek, the word for perfect meant “perfect, mature, finished.” But here again, none of these words describe me. Am I mature? Ask my family. They will attest to the fact that I have never grownup. Of course this is talking about being mature in our faith. I am more mature than I was but I have not reached full maturity by any means.
Am I a finished product? I hope not. I hope that I can achieve more to advance God’s Kingdom. It would be sad to think that God is finished with me.
But I am perfect when measured by God’s standard.
Hebrews 10:12-14 “But our High Priest (Jesus) offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.”
He achieves perfection through the acceptance of that single sacrifice. We are made perfect by Jesus. It is the holiness of God that we continually strive to attain.
It is our perfection through Jesus that prompts us to love our enemies. It is our perfection through Jesus that prompts us to pray for others rather than seek vengeance. It is our perfection through Jesus to treat our enemies as we would our neighbors. It is our perfection through Jesus that leads to service in the kingdom.
The world says people are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered. Love them anyway.
The world says if you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
The world says if you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
The world says the good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
The world says honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
The world says the biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest people with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
The world says people favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for the underdog anyway.
The world says what you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
The world says people really need help, but may attack you if you help them. Help people anyway.
The world says give the world the best you’ve got and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
The world says leave well enough alone. Jesus says upset some applecarts.
