A reporter was interviewing an old man on his 100th birthday. "What are you most proud of?" he asked. "Well," said the man, "I don’t have an enemy in the world." "What a beautiful thought! How inspirational!" said the reported. "Yep," added the old man, "I outlived every last one of them."
Sermon Text: Matthew 5:43-48
"Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of you Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
What Jesus states in verse 43 is not Old Testament teaching but rather traditional rabbinic teaching.
Leviticus 19:18 says, "THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS THYSELF."
Rabbinic tradition had perverted that Old Testament command by omission and addition:
• The phrase "AS THYSELF" was omitted.
• The phrase "HATE THINE ENEMY" was added.
Nowhere does the Old Testament teach that God’s people are to hate their enemies.
"The stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt" (Leviticus 19:34).
"If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his [donkey] going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. If thou see the [donkey] of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him" (Exodus 23:4-5).
"Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: lest the Lord see it, and it displease him. . . ." (Proverbs 24:17-18).
"If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink" (Proverbs 25:21).
There are some Old Testament passages that seem to say that hatred of one’s enemy is acceptable. "Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies" (Psalm 139:21-22).
I. LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR EVEN IF HE IS YOUR ENEMY (vv. 43-44).
A. The Objects of the Command (vv. 43-44a)
"Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies. . . ."
Two questions that need to be answered are (1) Who is my neighbor? and (2) Who is my enemy?
1. Who is my neighbor?
Jesus was asked this same question: "Who is my neighbour?"
Luke 10:29-37
2. Who is your enemy?
In that parable the man who loved was a Samaritan and the man who was wounded was a Jew. The Jews and Samaritans were anything but friends.
a. Those who curse you.
b. Those who hate you.
c. Those who spitefully use you.
d. Those who persecute you.
So Jesus doesn’t just say, "I have two commands: one that you love your neighbor and one that you love your enemy." He says, "I have one command: love your neighbor even if he is an enemy."
B. The Obedience of the Command (v. 44b)
". . . bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."
1. Bless them.
2. Do good to them.
True love is need-oriented. The Good Samaritan demonstrated great love because he sacrificed his own convenience, safety, and resources to meet another’s desperate need.
3. Pray for them.
Prayer for your enemies is one of the deepest forms of love, because it means that you have to really want something good to happen to them.
We are to pray like the apostle Paul in Romans 10:1 for the Jewish people, many of whom made life very hard for him. "My heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the pastor who suffered and eventually was killed in Nazi Germany, wrote of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:44, "This is the supreme demand. Through the medium of prayer we go to our enemy, stand by his side, and plead for him to God."
Our example is the Lord Jesus Christ. As He suffered on the cross, He was cursed; He was hated; He was spitefully used; He was persecuted. But how did He respond? Remember what he prayed as He endured this awful treatment at the hands of His enemies? "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34).
In 1567 King Philip II of Spain appointed the Duke of Alba as governor of the lower part of that nation. The Duke was a bitter enemy of the newly-emerging Protestant Reformation. His rule was called the reign of terror, and his council was called the Bloody Council, because it had ordered the slaughter of so many Protestants. It is reported that one man who was sentenced to die for his biblical faith managed to escape during the dead of winter. As he was being pursued by a lone solider, the man came to a lake whose ice was thin and cracking. Somehow he managed to get safely across the ice, but as soon as he reached the other side he heard his pursuer screaming. The soldier had fallen through the ice and was about to drown. At the risk of being captured, tortured, and eventually killed—or of being drowned himself—the man went back across the lake and rescued his enemy, because the love of Christ constrained him to do it. He knew he had no other choice if he was to be faithful to His Lord (quoted in John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Matthew 1-7, p. 346).
* * * * *
The Scottish Reformer George Wishart . . . was sentenced to die as a heretic. Because the executioner knew of Wishart’s selfless ministering to hundreds of people who were dying of the plague, he hesitated carrying out the sentence. When Wishart saw the expression of remorse on the executioner’s face, he went over and kissed him on the cheek, saying, "Sir, may that be a token that I forgive you" (ibid.).
Our "enemies," of course, do not always come in such life-threatening forms. Often they are ordinary people who are mean, impatient, judgmental, self-righteous, and spiteful. In whatever personal relationships we have, God wants us to love.
II. LOVE YOUR ENEMIES SO THAT YOU MAY PROVE YOURSELF TO BE A CHILD OF GOD (vv. 45-48).
A better question than "Who is my neighbor?" is "Who is my Father?"
Just as children resemble their parents, Christians are to resemble their Heavenly Father.
Illustration: Danielle—"You must be Ron’s daughter."
"Be ye therefore followers [imitators] of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us. . . ." (Ephesians 5:1-2).
One of the commonest and most damaging criticisms of Christianity is the charge that Christians do not live up to their faith.
"That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. . . ."
This does not mean that we can earn our way into God’s family by loving our enemies. Rather it means that when we love our enemies we prove ourselves to be in God’s family.
"If you love your enemies the way God loves His enemies, then you show that you ARE a child of God."
Loving your enemy doesn’t PAY for your birth into God’s family; it PROVES you’ve been born into God’s family.
It is not sufficient to profess ourselves to be the children of God: our works must declare it.
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have love you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (John 13:34-35 NIV).
When Jesus gave this command to the disciples, He had just finished washing their feet as an example of humble, self-giving love.
A. God Loves His Enemies (v. 45).
". . . for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."
Romans 5:10 describes every sinner as the enemy of God. But listen to what we read in verse 8: "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
"Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. . . . If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us (1 John 4:11-12).
B. God Expects His Children to Go Beyond the Ordinary (vv. 46-48).
"For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
"WHAT DO YE MORE THAN OTHERS?"
Saddam Huissen loves his children. Is it anything special that you love yours? That’s ORDINARY love.
Luke 7:36-47
The one who has been forgiven much loves much.
"Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against your falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven. . . ." (Matthew 5:11-12).
Jesus says that not only can you endure the mistreatment of the enemy, but you can also rejoice in it. Why? Because your reward in heaven is great.
This means that the command to love your enemy is a command to set your mind of things that are above, not on things that are on the earth. The command to love your enemy is a command to find your satisfaction in God and His great reward—not in the way people treat you.
CONCLUSION
Christians should be noticed on the job because they are more honest and more considerate. Christians should be noticed in their communities because they are more helpful and caring. Christians should be noticed anywhere in society they happen to be because the love they exhibit is a divine love.
Example: Carl & Gertie Spencer
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).
As J. Oswald Sanders comments, "The Master expects from His disciples such conduct as can be explained only in terms of the supernatural."
Challenge: Sometime this week will you do something loving for a person you don’t expect to love you back?
