A. Introduction
1. Lying at the very heart of the Christian faith is the Great Commandment, Matthew 22:37-40:
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
2. The life of the disciple is to be characterized, then, by observable, intense l __ __ __.
a. We are to love God with every fiber of our being.
ref: Deuteronomy 6:5
Psalm 31:23
Mark 12:30
1 John 5:2-3
b. We Christians are to love each other intensely. Christ declared this to be our primary witness before the world around us.
John 13:34-35 [ NKJV ]
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples; if you have love for one another.
ref: 1 John 4:7-8, 11, 20-21
Romans 12:9-10
c. God has historically called upon His people to extend the reach of our love to our n __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __.
ref: Leviticus 19:18
Luke 10:25-37
d. Christ in our text passage this morning again calls His followers to radical discipleship, this time in the exercise of love toward our e __ __ __ __ __ __ (!).
B. Text: MATTHEW 5:43-48 [ NIV ]
"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
1. "Jesus' teaching on loving our enemies is introducing a new element into ethical behaviour. A Jewish scholar, C.G. Montefiore,is to have said, 'This is the central and most famous section of the Sermon on the Mount. It is one of the most difficult as well as the most unique passages. This is not the natural course of action for man. Only the disciple who has been born of the Spirit, who knows the enabling grace of Christ, can live by this standard."Myron S. Augsberger: Matthew (Volume 1, The Communicator's Commentary )
2. Nowhere in the Mosaic law does the phrase "Love your neighbor and hate your enemy" appear. Yet such a sentiment had become part of Jewish tradition over the years.
a. It was the result of an intentionally narrow understanding of "neighbor" in Leviticus 19:18.
(1) "It was easy enough for ethical casuists (consciously or unconciously anxious to ease the burden of this command) to twist it to their own convenience. 'My neighbor,' they argued, 'is one of my own people, a fellow Jew, my own kith and kin, who belongs to my race and my religion. The law says nothing about strangers or enemies. So, since the command is to love only my neighbor, it must be taken as a permission, even an injunction, to hate my enemy. For he is not my neighbor that I should love him.'" - John R.W. Stott: The Message of the Sermon on the Mount
(2) "We may see in the case of the rabbis two abuses of the Scriptures, dangerous and disastrous abuses, against which every teacher of the Word myst most diligently guard, namely misenterpretations and the drawing of seemingly logical but false inferences." - A.W. Pink: An Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount
b. It was also the result of deliberately confusing the "enemies of God" in Psalm 139:19-22 and
Psalm 140:9-11 with one's "personal enemies" -- namely, all G __ __ __ __ __ __ __.
(1) It is quite true that the scribes and Pharisees may have adduced as biblical warrant to hate their enemies either the Israelite wars against the Canaanites or the impreccatory psalms. But if so they misunderstood both these wars and these psalms." - Stott: Ibid.
(2) The great difference between the Canaanites before Israel and a "personal" enemy before an individual is that God had declared the evil Canannites a __ __ __ __ __ __ __ -- set apart in His omniscient sovereignty for destruction. In the Age of Grace -- since our Lord's atoning sacrifice on the cross at Calvary -- God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentence ( 2 Peter 3:9 ).
(3) "The wars of Israel were the only 'holy wars' in history, for they were the wars of God against the world of idols. It is not this enmity which Jesus condemns, for then he would have condemned the who history of God's dealings with his people. On the contrary, he affirms the old covenant. But from now on there will be no more wars of faith. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Discipleship
3. The traditional hatred felt by Jews toward all Gentiles had been codified by the Essene community of Qumran, which flourished during the intertestmental period "between" Malachi and Matthew. They wrote extensively, interpreting Old Testament prophecies as pointing to a great war which would annihilate the hated Gentiles. Some of their writings were uncovered in 1947. They have come to be known as the D __ __ __ S __ __ S __ __ __ __ __, after the location of their monastic community. Scroll 1.4.10 includes an enjoinder for all Jews to "hate all the sons of darkness."
4. Christ, in the parable of the G __ __ __ S __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __, challenged every popular notion of "neighbor" ( See Luke 10:25-37 ). "Who is my neighbor?" the lawyer asked our Lord. Jesus demonstrated through His teaching that anyone in need -- friend, foe, family member or stranger -- whom God places in my path is my "neighbor."
5. In our text passage Christ challenges traditional notions of how one should deal with one's enemy: a full frontal assault of spiritual m __ __ __ __ __ __ __.
a. Jesus is not suggesting that believers should not have enemies. That someone else marks me as his or her enemy is often beyond my control. There are people who have set themselves against me and against all that I stand for; I am sometimes powerless to in any way dissuade them. There are people who despise me, who seek to hurt me or to ruin me. That is a sad fact of life in our fallen world.
b. But Jesus teaches me that I am able to control my response to my enemies. I can refuse to be their enemies. I can resist the urge to hate them right back. I am not bound to "get back" at them. Our Lord commands that I do not retaliate ( Matthew 5:38-42).
c. In v.44 Jesus offers a four-part strategy for ministry instead of retaliation:
(1) l __ __ __ your enemies;
- Not storge ( "family affection );
- Not eros ( "passionate longing" );
- Not phillia ( "warm and affectionate friendship" );
- but agape ( "unconquerable benevolence" ); It is the love which is divine in origin and available only in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is more of the mind than of the emotions, but it comes straight from the heart of God.
(2) b __ __ __ __ those who c __ __ __ __ you;
(3) p __ __ __ for those who spitefully u __ __ you and p __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ you;
(4) d __ g __ __ __ to those who hate you.
6. Our love for our enemies does not exist unless it is expressed. We can express it in our w __ __ __ __ and our d __ __ __ __, to be sure, but Jesus in v.44 takes discipleship to a still higher plane: our love for our enemies must also be expressed in our p __ __ __ __ __ __.
a. The early church father John Chyrsostom called interceding in prayer on behalf of one's enemies "the very highest summit of self-control."
b. He offered nine ascending steps for believers to minister as disciples:
(1) We are not to take any e __ __ __ initiative ourselves.
(2) We are not to a __ __ __ __ __ another's evil.
(3) We are to be q __ __ __ __.
(4) We are to be willing to s __ __ __ __ __ wrongfully.
(5) We are to s __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ to our enemy even more than he demands.
(6) We are not to h __ __ __ him.
(7) We are to l __ __ __ him.
(8) We are to d __ him g __ __ __.
(9) We are to "entreat God Himself on his behalf."
c. "This is the supreme command. Through the medium of prayer we go to our enemy, stand by his side, and plead for him to God." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Op. cit.
7. Our reason for such a response -- in addition to the simple fact that it has been commanded us by our Lord -- is an appreciation of the g __ __ __ __ of God, who makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust (v.45). God's grace has many facets, and one aspect of it is universal -- manifested to all people, believers and non-believers alike.
8. In v.46-48 Jesus teaches that the authentic love of their enemies will set His disciples apart from the quid pro quo that is the norm in the secular world. Nearly everyone will be fair and decent to those who are themselves fair and decent. Of course, there are disappointing exceptions even to this "law of human kindness." The love of God, when it is expressed through one person to another "undeserving" person, is radically different from the pattern of the world, and God is glorified in it. "Therefore," Jesus said, "you shall be p __ __ __ __ __ __, just as your Father in heaven in p __ __ __ __ __ __."
a. This is not, most scholars agree, a basic text for the doctrine of Christian perfection. Entire denominations have been established with this verse as a foundation text which, they teach, requires of the Christian absolute moral impeccability. More often than not, however, this kind of thinking results in reclassifying sin as something less serious than it is, or to a "righteousness by works" theology, or both.
b. The Study Note for Matthew 5:48 in The Life Application Bible offers good insight while answering the question, "How can I be perfect?"
(1) "In c __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __. In this life we cannot be flawless, but we can aspire to be as much like Christ as possible."
(2) "In h __ __ __ __ __ __ __. Like the Pharisees, we are to separate ourselves from the world's sinful values. But unlike the Pharisees, we are to be devoted to God's desires rather than our own, and carry his love and mercy into the world."
(3) "In m __ __ __ __ __ __ __. We can't achieve Christ-like character and holy living all at once, but we must grow toward maturity and wholeness. Just as we expect different behaviour from a baby, a child, a teenager, and an adult, so God expects different behaviour from us, depending on our stage of spiritual development."
(4) "In l __ __ __. We can seek to love others as completely as God loves us."
C. Application
1. Christians must not put r __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ on their love!
a. To do so will destroy your m __ __ __ __ __ __ __.
b. To do so will discourage your c __ __ __ __ __ __ __.
c. Our love must be embracing and constructive. It must be true in our families; it should be true in our church; we must make it true in all our retationships.
2. It seems hard enough to accomplish this when those whom we love don't "deserve" such devotion; to extend it to our enemies seems unreasonable, if not impossible! Yet Jesus does expect it of His disciples, and we are equipped with the mighty power of the Holy Spirit in order that we may obey Him.
3. "Looking back over all six antitheses, it has become clear what the 'greater' righteousness is to which Christians are summoned. It is a deep inward righteousness of the heart where the Holy Spirit has written God's law. It is new fruit exhibiting the newness of the tree, new life burgeoning from a new nature. So we have no liberty to try to dodge or duck the lofty demands of the law. Law-dodging is a pharisaic hobby; what is characteristic of Christians is a keen appetite for righteousness, hungering and thirsting after it continuously. And this righteousness, whether expressed in purity, honesty, or charity, will show to whom we belong. Our Christian calling is to imitate not the world, but the Father. And it is by this imitation of him that the Christian counter-culture becomes visible." - John R.W. Stott: Op. cit.
D I S C U S S I O N G U I D E
1. Read Matthew 22:37-40 and Mark 12:28-34. In your own words, describe what is meant by:
a. loving God with all your heart;
b. loving God with all your soul;
c. loving God with all your mind;
d. loving God with all your strength;
2. Read Romans 12:9-21.
a. How does a person "bless" those who persecute him/her?
b. In what way could one's taking personal revenge leave no room for God's wrath?
c. What will a person actually accomplish by each of the following:
(1) Confronting the "evil" he receives by returning to the enemy "some of his own medecine;"
(2) Confronting the "evil" he receives with no response whatsoever; ______________________
(3) Confronting the "evil" he receives with "good."
3. Read Psalm 135:3-12 and Psalm 139:17-23, then read Matthew 5:43-48. How would explain to an earnest skeptic what seems to be the completely different attitudes of God toward His "enemies" in the Old and New Testaments? Cite Scripture wherever you can.
4. Re-read v.45 in yesterday's text passage. Some scholars "separate" the grace of God into two parts: His "common" or "universal" grace and His "special" grace, available only to His people.
a. List three aspects (besides those listed in v.45) of God's "common" grace which are available to all people.
b. Read Ephesians 1:3-8 in both a translation and a contemporary paraphrase. List three aspects of God's "special" grace which differ from His "common" grace.
c. List three "means" by which believers position themselves most favourably to receive the full impact of God's "special" grace to them.
5. Describe at least one example of how you are "more perfect" as a Christian that you were 2, 5, or 10 years ago. {As an option, let your spouse write the answer to this question for you!}
