LOVE / HATE RELATIONSHIPS
READ TEXT ROMANS 12: 9-21
PREACHED TEXT MATTHEW 5: 43 –48
INTRODUCTION: The pilot was Jewish, and the co-pilot was Taiwanese. It was the first time
they had flown together, and it was obvious by the silence that they didn’t
get along.
After 30 minutes, the Captain finally spoke. He said, "I don’t like Chinese."
The co-pilot replied, "Ooooh, no like Chinese? Why is that?"
The pilot said, "You guys bombed Pearl Harbor. That’s why I don’t like
Chinese."
The co-pilot said, "Nooooo, Noooo... Chinese not bomb Pearl Harboh. That
JAPANESE, not Chinese."
The pilot answered, "Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese... it doesn’t matter.
They’re all alike."
Another 30 minutes of silence. Finally the co-pilot said, No like Jew."
The pilot replied, "Why not? Why don’t you like Jews?"
"Jews sink Titanic."
The pilot tried to correct him. "No, no. The Jews didn’t sink the Titanic. It
was an iceberg."
"Iceberg, Goldberg, Rosenberg. No mattah..all same!"
When we hate our enemies we give them power over us - power over our sleep, our appetites, and our happiness. They would dance with joy if they knew how much they were worrying us. Our hate is not hurting them at all, but it is turning our days & our nights into hellish turmoil.
Dale Carnegie
TRANSITION THOUGHT: Our text for this day comes from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5 verses 43-48. These are the very words Jesus spoke concerning this very issue of prejudice and hate. His desire was to lead us away from past misunderstanding to the reality of present perfection, living the very nature of God. But how do we transition from what we think is right to what Jesus teaches is right? How do we learn to love those that we have been taught to hate? How do we overcome our own insecurities with others and learn to respect them for the sake of the Gospel? HOW: We must take on the very Nature of God!
THESIS SENTENCE: REAL LOVE IS SHARING IN THE NATURE OF GOD!
I. GOD’S NATURE IS NOT WHAT YOU HAVE HEARD (VV. 43)!
A. Past teachings are not always past realities!
1. Just because it was taught in the past, does not mean that the teaching is true.
ILLUSTRATION: Paul Harvey tells the story of a young woman who was married and starting a family. As she stated buying her household wares, she bought a 2lbs roasting pan just like her mother and grandmother used. After years of trying to cook for a large family with this 2lbs roasting pot, she asked her mother, why they had never bought a larger pot. “Would it ruin the flavor of the roast?” “I don’t know,” replied her mother, “Your Grandmother always used a 2lbs pot roasting pan, so I have as well. Why don’t you call your Grandmother and ask her.” So the young mother called her Grandmother and asked if it would ruin the flavor of the roast if a larger pot were bought. The Grandmother laughed and laughed, “I always used a 2lbs roasting pot because it was all I could afford, so I made due with what I had. It will not ruin the flavor of a roast to us a pot that it will fit in.”
PAST EXPERIENCES DO NOT NECESSARILY RELATE TO PRESENT REALITIES.
2. Jesus quotes not what is written, but what people are saying.
3. Leviticus 19: 18 reads, “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against on of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”
4. The Rabbinical teaching on this verse was that it was strictly focused on one’s won people and therefore it could be concluded that one was to hate one’s enemies. We carry that same thought today. We must love those like us, but hate those different from us. “If this is not true, I am a monkey’s uncle.”
B. Past teachings are not always Present Realities
1. Jesus teaches that this command was really about dealing justly with other, not about hate and racism!
2. If you look at Leviticus 19: 33—34, it will clarify the whole matter: “When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”
3. Jesus teaches a new Reality! He clarifies past misunderstandings!
II. GOD’S NATURE GOES AGAINST THE NORM (VV. 44)!
A. Normal reactions are not always right reactions
1. Jesus changes our mind set about what is normal and what is abnormal.
2. Jesus says, “It should be normal to love your enemies.”
3. Is this what Jesus was really teaching?
4. Context is always the key.
B. Retaliation is not the right reaction
1. Verses 38 – 42 reveals Jesus’ understanding of what is normal
2. It is normal to not resist an evil person (vv. 39).
3. It is normal to offer the other cheek when one has already been slapped (vv. 39)!
4. It is normal to allow someone to take from you what does not belong to them (vv. 40)!
5. It is normal to go the extra mile when one has already been forced to walk one-mile (vv. 41)!
6. It is normal to be generous to those who alk to borrow from you (vv. 42)!
C. Love is always the right reaction
1. The prior context teaches that one’s enemies can be both national and personal.
2. The Romans would have been the ones to ask a Jew to carry their packs TWO miles.
3. The slap on the cheek would have been someone making a personal insult. This is not a punch to the face, but the slap of an insult, as a rebuke.
4. Regardless of who the enemy was, Jesus calls His followers to “LOVE their enemies and to PRAY for those who persecute you (vv. 44).”
III. GOD’S NATURE IS OUR PERFECTION (VV. 45—48)!
A. Our Love reveals our nature
1. Jesus says that our love shows to whom we belong.
2. To love one’s enemies is to reveal that we are Sons (and Daughters) of our Heavenly Father.
B. Our Love causes us to bear our Family Resemblance
1. When we love our enemies, we reveal who God is.
2. God is totally impartial: He causes the Sun and Rain to fall on all alike!
3. God cares for all people (Jn. 3:16)!
4. His desire is that None Should Perish but all come to repentance (II Peter 3: 9)!
C. Our love differentiates us from the godless
1. The godless only love those who love them.
2. The godless only greet those who are like them. The show prejudice.
D. God’s love compels us to take on His Nature!
1. Jesus sums up this entire discussion with this thought, “If you LOVE your Enemies, You will be like God in HIS LOVE!”
2. THIS LOVE REACTION IS PERFECTION!
3. Jesus is not calling us to be God, but to react within the Character of God.
4. In verse 48 the word “YOU” does not appear and yet is within the text. Not only is the word within the text, but it is emphatic, a command, and stands in contrast to those who are godless!!
5. One other important note, the Greek word for Perfect is Teleios. The meaning of the word is not the same as the English for perfect. The GK word is often translated: MATURE, COMPLETE AND FULL GROWN, AND SIMPLY MEANS TO REACH A STAGE IN COMPLETION!
6. Jesus is not calling us to be “Entirely without fault of defect, as the English defines it, but to be TRANSFORMED WITH THE VERY NATURE OF GOD RULING YOUR ACTIONS!!
7. When we display love to our enemies, We are complete and full-grown in demonstrating love and are just like our Father when He shows kindness to evil and unthankful persons JUST like us!
ILLUSTRATION: It was the day after Christmas and Mr. Greene parked his car to pick up the morning paper. He noticed a dirty, poorly dressed boy looking at his car. Seeing the boy eyeing the car, he reminded himself to be quick or he might be missing a hubcap when he returned. He came out of the store with his paper under his arm and just as he opened the door to the car, the boy asked, “Mister, how much would a new car like that cost?” Mr. Greene responded, “I really don’t know; my brother gave me this car as a gift.” The ragged little boy looked unbelievingly at the car with a look of wonder in his eyes, and said something unexpected. He didn’t say what you might think, “Gee, I wish I had a brother like that.” He said, “Gee, I wish I could be a brother like that.”
Jesus is our Elder Brother. What He calls us to do, we can. He intercedes to the Father for us and has sent us His Holy Spirit.
CONCLUSION: To Be God’s people is to Reflect God’s Nature! God must so fill us that we LOVE as HE LOVED!! It must start with the Body of Christ and it must go until all know of the LOVE OF GOD made manifest in our LIVES!!
As the Praise Team comes to Sing, I want you to search your hearts. Who do you LOVE? IS IT ONLY THOSE WHO LOVE YOU? Have you found the power of God so filling you that you are able to LOVE as GOD LOVES? Do you hunger to be perfect as GOD is PERFECT? The infilling of the Holy Spirit is what you need! Will you pray today to be filled with PERFECTING LOVE OF GOD? The Altar is OPEN!!
BENEDICTION: JUDE 24
