THE PERSON AND TEACHINGS OF JESUS
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT The Superior Righteousness of the Kingdom of Heaven
As we've been looking at the different elements to the Sermon on the Mount, we've seen Jesus taking the world's values and turning them upside down. For example, whereas the world exalts the proud, Jesus exalts the humble. Whereas the world stands in awe of the exuberant and the life-of-the-party, Jesus blesses those who mourn.
The reversal of the world's values is seen most dramatically though in this passage. By definition an "enemy" is someone you are to defeat. On the talk shows today you hear the radio hosts saying that we need to beat the Iraqi opposition into total submission or else destroy them completely. I thought it was always humorous to see a picture of Rush Limbaugh dressed up like Maximus from the movie Gladiator with the tag line beneath it, "Defeat them!" Whereas Jesus is not addressing the issue of war, He is speaking about a situation in which a citizen of the kingdom of heaven is being harassed by his enemy. His advice is 180 degrees different from the advice the world would give.
LOVE OF ENEMIES (5:43-47)
Jesus' Instructions (5:43-44)
What should be the response of Jesus' followers to their enemies? Whereas the Jews of Jesus' day believed that the OT taught us to love our neighbors and hate our enemies, Jesus commands His followers: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Love for one's enemies is the only appropriate response for Jesus' followers to take towards their enemies. (Note that this is taking the passage on retribution one step farther. You can give somebody your outer coat and still hate them; you can turn the other cheek and still hate that person who slapped you; you can go the extra mile and still hate the person who forced you to go the first mile. Whereas the passage on retribution told us to go the extra mile, this passage actually commands us to love those we are being sued by, we are being slapped by, we are being taken advantage of by.)
Reasons We are to Love Our Enemies (5:45-47)
Because We Are Sons and Daughters of God (5:45)
Why should we respond this way? First we should respond this way so that we
"may be sons of your Father in heaven who causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (5:45).
Each of us knows that children are like their parents physically and temperamentally. The other day somebody told me how much Nathan looks like Nancy and how much Molly looks like me. (I was really flattered because earlier somebody else told me that Molly was so pretty!) Moreover, at times Nathan acts like me and at other times like Nancy, whereas most of the time Molly acts like me and sometimes like Nancy. Their acting and looking like Nancy and me don't make them our children; they just simply reveal to others that they ARE our children. Their looks and behavior simply flow from the fact of who they are, Nancy's and my children.
What is true about us on the natural plane is also true on the spiritual plane: spiritual children are like their spiritual fathers. The biblical teaching is that you can tell who a person's father is by the way that person acts. Jesus puts it this way: if you act like the devil, then your father IS the devil; if you act like the heavenly Father, then your father IS the heavenly Father (John 8:38-44). (Your actions don't make your God's son or daughter; they do reveal though whether or not you ARE God's son or daughter.) If we claim that God is our Father, then we are to treat people the same way God treats them.
What is God's attitude towards all people? He loves them unconditionally. God may get upset with people; however, He loves them unconditionally. THEREFORE, since the heavenly Father loves ALL people, regardless of their nature, we too should love ALL people, including our enemies.
Jesus points to 2 examples from nature to prove His point that His heavenly Father loves all people unconditionally. Now when Jesus points to nature, He is assuming that we understand that nature to a certain degree accurately portrays His Father who created all things. For example, a painting reveals something about the painter, while a poem reveals something about the artist.
A few years back Gary Brown showed me some cartoons Morganna Harwood had drawn of a pig called "Grace." The cartoons were witty, well-drawn, and religious. (One of the cartoons showed us a rather corpulent pig; she entitled that picture "Grace Abounding.") What do the cartoons tell me about Morganna? She is witty, competent, and religious. In the same way God's painting (creation) reveals something about Him the artist. (Rom. 1:18-20). His creation shows us that God loves us unconditionally.
What 2 examples from nature show us that God loves all people unconditionally? First, whenever the sun He created rises, it does not rise just on the good people who go to church; it also rises on the hooker returning from a night of turning tricks. Why is this important? Because the sun is essential for life. It not only gives us light to see our way, it also provides certain nutrients (vitamin D) and properties essential for life (the light needed for photosynthesis). This light from God which is so necessary for life falls not only upon the good but also upon the evil.
Second, rains are critical for life. Ask the farmers and ranchers of Texas who are experiencing one of the worst droughts (2006) they've ever been through how critical rains are. Well, when the rains which God created come, they don't fall just upon the Brent Durens of this world; they also fall upon the mass murderer who has ruined the lives of so many people. God's goodness falls not simply upon those who hate Him; it also falls upon the people who hate us too. If God loves these people, then we can love them too by means of Jesus' Spirit who lives within us. IN FACT IF I HATE THOSE WHOM GOD LOVES, MY PROBLEM IS ULTIMATELY WITH GOD, not with the person who hates me..
There is another way in which we are God's sons whenever we love people unconditionally, especially whenever we love our enemies. Whenever we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, we are being like God's ultimate Son, Jesus. On the cross Jesus does not rant and rave against those killing Him. He doesn't curse them and promise to destroy them one day. Rather He prays for them. He doesn't pray for them the way we would pray for them: "God, please wipe them off the face of the earth." Rather He prays: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." He prays that God forgive them for the things they did against Him.
Now we all believe that Jesus experienced the life of blessing. If we are going to experience that same life, then we are going to have to forgive our enemies in the same way that He forgave His enemies. "But that's impossible! I can't forgive them because it is too hard!" Jesus understands that it is difficult, nearly impossible. That's the reason Jesus has come to live within us so that He might give us the power within to do the impossible, to be able to forgive our enemies the same way He forgave His enemies."
Because We Are To Be Different From the Gentiles (5:46-47)
The first reason we should respond in love is that this is the way God's sons and daughters should behave if they are truly going to be like their heavenly Father. The second reason we should respond in love is that we are and should be different from non-Christians (in this passage Jesus labels them as Gentiles and tax-collectors):
"If you only love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?" (5:46-47).
The bottom line is this: if you love only those who love you and hate your enemies or even just barely tolerate them, then you are no different from the Gentiles, from non-Christians who also love those who love them. If you greet only those who love you, you are no different from the radical Muslim who wants to kill all Christians.
There then comes the question: if you act like a non-Christian, if you talk like a non-Christian, if you quack like a non-Christian, could it possibly be true that you are a non-Christian? (If it applies to ducks, it more especially applies to us.)
Moreover, suppose though we are Christians and yet we act like non-Christians. We will lose our flavor, just like the salt (Matt. 5:13). We will make no difference in the lives of others for the cause of Jesus Christ. The non-Christian world will see no difference between us and them, and will refuse to take seriously our message about Christ. As Rick Warren states, we are basically telling the non-Christian world to go to hell.
"Yeah, but I am in the right; they're in the wrong!" Well, what's your point? The bottom line is this: a day of righting all wrongs is coming; it's just not now. If you are waiting to be vindicated, you may just have a long time to wait because God promises vindication solely on the Day of Judgment. We may receive vindication here and now. Jesus just doesn't guarantee it; He guarantees vindication only on the day of judgment.
Moreover, you may not want to be so hasty in seeking vindication. The truth is that there have probably been some times in your life when YOU were in the wrong and somebody else was in the right. You want that wrong corrected too? We just want vindication only when we've been wronged; we don't want vindication whenever we're the ones who've been doing wrong. Well, you can't have it both ways. Just remember that God loves EVERYBODY unconditionally as the 2 examples showed. He loves the one you wronged and the one who wronged you as much as He loves you. Jesus' message is clear: love no matter whether you're in the right or the wrong and leave the vindication to Him.
Just a side note here. If somebody persecutes you because you are in the wrong, then ask for forgiveness from that person and THEN REPENT! The type of persecution going on here should be due to our living for Jesus and not due to some wrong we have committed against somebody else.
SUMMARY AND CLIMAX OF THE SIX EXAMPLES (5:48)
This passage on love is not simply the last of the series of examples Jesus gives us about how to be righteous. It is the CLIMAX of the examples. This is seen in 5:48 where Jesus summarizes 5:21-47: "Therefore, you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (5:48). Here Jesus is saying that the way to be perfect, to have a righteousness far superior to that of the Pharisees, to have a righteousness necessary to enter the kingdom of heaven (5:20) is to love others in the same way that God Himself loves others, especially our enemies.
Why is love for others the same as being perfect? The only way to be perfect is to keep the law perfectly. According to Jesus (Matt. 22:40) and also Paul (Rom. 13:8-10) love fulfills the Law of God. If I love God perfectly I will put Him first in my life (1st commandment). If I love God perfectly, I will worship Him as He truly is and not create an idol (2nd commandment). If I love God perfectly, I will honor Him and not take His name in vain (3rd commandment). If I love God perfectly, I will honor Him by worshiping at the time and place He makes Himself present (4th commandment). If I love my parents, I will honor them (5th commandment). If I love my neighbor, I will not be angry at him, steal from him, lust after her, lie to him/her, or even covet after his possessions (6th-10th commandments). Love not only fulfills the law; it takes our relationships with God and other people to the highest level possible.
We now see what Jesus meant in 5:17-19 when He said that we were to keep the whole law and prophets. He was getting us ready for the law of love. Just as the prophets focused on the heart, so Jesus focuses on the heart. Jesus is not interested us in keeping the Law of Moses; He is interested in us keeping the law of love which fulfills the Law of Moses but in a far better way than the Jews had ever anticipated.
Love is not only the way to fulfill the Law, it is the way to experience the power to fulfill the Law. Milton Cunningham stated something so very profound: "The way to get rid of a negative emotion is to replace it with a positive emotion." A woman will not enter a building on fire because she is afraid of the fire; however, if she finds out that her child is in the building, her love for the child will overcome her fear and force her to rush into the building to save the child.
So how do I stop being angry at someone? By loving them. How do I stop lusting after someone? By loving them. Lying, etc.? By loving them. By loving people with the power of Jesus' Spirit, I can replace the negative spirit and heart which produce death with a loving heart which produces life.
How do I replace anger with love? By doing what Jesus says: "Pray for your enemies" (5:44). Praying good things for those who hate you will actually change your heart to where you will love them.
Once I was having a problem with another person. The whole situation was really bothering me. I saw my older sister Kathy at a Christian event and shared with her what I was going through. She told me: "Carey, whenever I have a problem with someone, I pray Col. 1:9-12 for that person 30 days straight. God then changes my heart towards that person." I thought: "I don't want to pray 30 days for a person!" Then I thought: "I can either pray 30 days for them or else stay mad at them for 30 days and longer. Take your pick." I chose to pray for them; moreover, I chose to pray GOOD things for that person, specifically the good things of Col. 1:9-12. Guess what? God changed my heart. It was a relief not to feel angry at that person any more. Jesus knows what He is talking about when He commands us to pray for our enemies.
Why does prayer change the way you feel about others? Actually it's not prayer that changes you; it's the One you're praying to who changes you. It's easy to imagine praying to God to zap somebody because they've wronged you. Now pray that same prayer to Jesus. It just doesn't cut it, does it? How can you ask the One who forgave His enemies while suffering on the cross to obliterate somebody who has harmed you, especially since your suffering is relatively minor compared to Jesus' sufferings? Thinking about Jesus’ sufferings and His attitudes can really change your heart towards those harming you.