Fix Your Love
Matthew 5:43-48
Intro. Did you ever wonder why we like super heroes so much? I mean what is it about us that wants to fly, leap tall buildings, bend steel and stop bullets? Why do we have such a fascination with being able to read peoples thoughts or turn invisible? I think it’s because we hate to be ordinary. We want to be extraordinary. We want to rise above the mediocre. Who wants to be plain old average, after all. We want to believe that there is something about us that is truly rare and great. Jesus says we can be extra ordinary. We can be different from all the other people. And he tells us how.
“You have heard that it was said, ’You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 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, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Matt 5:43-48
Be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect. What madman wrote that? What an impossible goal! How in the world can I expect to be perfect like God is perfect? Where do I start? What can I do to even try and be perfect like God?
The place to start, Jesus says, is with your love. You need to love like God loves. Have you noticed this past week that the rain fell on everybody? And did you notice on Friday that it was sunny of everyone? Maybe you remember seeing some old cartoons or comic strips where one character would have his own personal rain cloud that followed him around where ever he went. That’s the way we love. We mark people. This one deserves bad treatment and this one deserves special treatment.
And what standard do we use to determine the treatment people deserve? Why whether they are good or bad people. Specifically whether they have been good or bad to us. Some people just don’t like us. Sometimes we are not too likable, but sometimes people just get a bee in their bonnet about us and won’t let it go. If we’re for it, they’re against it. If we think it’s a bad idea, they want to do it now. If we’d prefer to eat pizza, they want hamburgers. Sometimes it’s more serious than that. Sometimes these people work with us and try to make our job a miserable place for us. Maybe we can make them quit, they say. Perhaps these are people you know in the community and they are determined to ruin your reputation. Maybe they’re other students at school who decide to get you in as much trouble as possible. Whatever the case, sometimes people set out to hurt us. What should we do?
Jesus says that when you have an enemy who hates you, who spitefully uses you and even persecutes you, you should love them. Do what? Love them. And that’s the Godly love, too. It’s agape there.
But that’s not how we operate. You love your neighbor, the people you have to love. Now we might not use the word hate, and hate is a pretty strong word in the text, too. Strong’s says you can define that word as “to love less.” So let me get this straight. Jesus says, “you’ve heard that you have to love your neighbor, but you don’t have to love your enemy.” Wow. That’s getting a little closer to home now isn’t it? Jesus says, that’s not the way my people are going to be. If you want to follow Jesus, you’ve got to love everyone. Just like God does. He blesses the just and the unjust. The Godly and the sinful. The nice and the nasty. They all receive His blessings.
And that’s what Jesus tells us to do for our enemies. Bless them. What does that mean? It means you wish the best for them. Good things. Blessings. Maybe the reason they are so nasty is because something is missing in their life. I hope things get better. I know why they are so mean to me at school. His parents are going through a divorce right now. I hope that doesn’t happen and his home life gets back to normal. She failed a test and I did really well on it. I hope she can make it okay in class. Maybe she can pull her grade up on the next test. I know why he’s so mean to me at work. He’s having some real financial difficulties right now and he’s just edgy about getting this project finished. She found out just last week that her mother has cancer and it doesn’t look good.
Jesus says that you hope the best for these people. Bless them when they curse at you.
And that’s not all. It’s not enough to just wish the best for them. Read on. Jesus says you have to do good. Oh great. Now, not only do I have to hope her grade improves in class, I need to offer to study with her or at least let her see my notes. Wonderful. Now I’m not just supposed to understand that he’s having money problems, I’m supposed to work late so that we can finish this project early and get the bonus. Jesus, don’t you ever let up? Nope.
Do good to those who hate you. Jesus says that Godly love is active love. It’s not enough to say, okay, okay, I’ll love my enemies like God does. I love you even though you hurt me. Jesus says you have to act on it. Do something about it! Do something GOOD about it! There is nothing passive about God’s love toward us and that is our example.
Jesus says you should pray for those people. “Lord, if you just happen to have a spare lightning bolt laying around without a name on it, could I suggest one? If not, maybe you’ve got a tornado that just needs to pick somebody up and spin ‘em around a bunch. I know just the person.”
That’s not the kind of prayers Jesus is talking about. When you pray for God to bless these people and pray for God to give opportunities to actively show love to these people, you won’t be able to hate them. In fact, you can’t help but love them a little bit. Maybe you can notice their good qualities and give God thanks for that. When you begin to love them like God loves them, you are worthy to wear God’s name. You are acting like a child of God. What does that mean? That means that people will notice something different and distinctive about you. They will be able to tell that you belong to God. And that is when you will be marked as His child. People know that God is supposed to love everybody, and when they see that you love like that, they will know whose you are.
What Jesus says here in the end of Matthew 5 just gets better and better. He’s preached a pretty good sermon already. But he’s still got two BIG zingers left. First, he says, “If you do things your way, so what?” What reward do you get if you love only those who love you? Why, even the tax collectors do that! And if you are friendly only with your friends, are you doing anything out of the ordinary? Everybody does that!
Jesus calls us to live above the ordinary. Anybody can respond in a spiteful, vengeful way, but only a child of God can respond in love to an enemy. Are you impressed with yourself for doing something ordinary? Sure, here at church you launch out in love. But that’s about as risk free an environment as you can get. Remember I told you Jesus tells us how to be something besides ordinary? Look in verse 47. If you just greet your brethren, how are you different from anybody else? That’s ordinary. You are to be extra ordinary.
But Jesus isn’t done yet. Now we get that crazy call. Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect. Who are you measuring yourself against? Other people? Hey, compared to brother so and so, I’m doing alright. But brother so and so isn’t your measuring tape. God is. Now how do you stack up? Well, there might be a little more room for improvement than we first thought, right? The fact of the matter is that we want to be like Jesus. And if we want to be like Jesus, we have to learn to love like Jesus loved. Stop and think about what it cost Jesus to love us. We were no bargain! He had to die for us in the first place. The price was as high as it could be. And then, he doesn’t even get a guarantee or a warranty with us. We may never follow and if we do follow him, we may turn back. Sounds like a pretty bum deal. But Jesus loves us anyway. And that’s our example. It’s that love that we share with other people. That love that is always hoping. Maybe today they will turn back to me. Maybe today they will realize all the wonderful blessings that are in store for them if we could just be friends. We are all adopted children of God. We tend to forget that sometimes, but all of us have been on the outside of the family of God. We weren’t born into this Christian family. We were brought in by the blood of Jesus.
So, how are you loving? Are you as perfect as God? What do you need to do get that way? Why aren’t you doing it? Jesus came and died on the cross because he loves us and wants to be with us for all eternity. Look at your life. Are you ready to spend eternity with Him? Are you loving like He loves? What do you need to do to get ready for eternity? If you’re lost, you can repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and salvation. If you’ve left Him, He loves you so much He’s never given up on you. In fact, if you look in your life, He’s continued to bless you even as you left Him. But He longs to bless you more. Jesus has called us to an extra ordinary love. A superhuman love. And he called us to it by showing it to us first. Won’t you come to Him? Come now as we stand and sing.
