Matthew 5:43 ( ESV ) 43“You have heard that it was
said, £‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
·
·
They assumed that the Gentile leaders
over them were their enemies and therefore they hated them. But here’s the rub.
It’s just not in the Bible.
·
Look at these O.T. passages that seem to be
saying the exact opposite. Proverbs
25:21 “If your enemy is hungry give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty,
give him water to drink. In Ex. 23:4-5 They were asked to do good to an enemy
if his livestock had fallen, help him out.
·
It stands out to me that Jesus would make this
His last argument in these passages that deal with You have heard that it was
said. This was the last straw. Jesus now shows just how far the Pharisees had
gone with making their own traditions to be put on the same level as the Word
of God. No teacher or other teachings are to be put on the same level as His
Word.
·
Once again Jesus speaks with the same authority
over them as the Word of God and over their vain traditions and false teachings.
·
Love your enemies? The Greek word here is Agape
which is the sacrificial type of love that we are to demonstrate t/w one
another.
·
Those who persecute you would esp. be referring
to the Romans who were now over them. The very same Romans who would slap or
insult them. The same Romans who would take away their property. The same
Romans who would demand of them to do certain things like force them to be a
servant for a mile.
·
We are to pray for these men who persecute us
but the question is HOW? Maybe a scene from the cross will help us to
understand this way to pray.
Luke 23:34 ( ESV ) 34And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”£ And they cast lots to divide his garments.
1.
At the height of His humiliation after being
beaten, put upon the cross He is still willing to pray for their
forgiveness. All men are in need of
forgiveness even our enemies. We should pray for our enemies in this way.
2.
They know not-Jesus knows that men are truly
depraved and lost. They do not even think sometimes about the impact of their
choices or their actions because they have been blinded by the God of this
world. We must realize that sometimes our enemies truly believe that they are
right even though they are not. Why do they do this to us? You and I must get
it into our heads that it is because of the blindness of their sin that there
heart is enslaved in such a way. We are not to repay evil for evil in I Peter
3:9
Matthew 5:45 ( ESV ) 45so that you may be sons of your Father who is 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.
·
What does He mean that you maybe sons of the
Father by doing this? The verse has the
idea of we act like the Father when we show love to our enemies. How?
·
This is how God acts to people whether they are
just or unjust. The Father still showers kindness even upon those that curse
Him daily.
·
We use this passage quite often to prove a
theological truth that God shows common grace to all men. He is kind to all of
mankind even to those who are His enemies. (While we were still enemies with
God He showed us love. Rom. 5:10) He shows common grace to all because He is a
merciful God and because He wants to draw all men to Him.
·
This does not mean that we are to have this deep
sense of love towards our enemies with feelings. Rather we are to show them
acts of kindness that they don’t deserve. We are to go out of our way.
·
God does show common grace to all men. Yet, God
does not show His everlasting love toward those who refuse to receive Him.
Point of the passage we are to go out of our way and show kindness to all.
Matthew 5:46 ( ESV ) 46For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
·
All men show acts of kindness towards one
another. We do not deserve a special award for something that all men do.
·
Note in verse 46-47 the Lord uses two groups
of men who were the Jews most dreaded enemies. The tax collectors who often
would steal from them and rob them blind. Then to hear about the Gentiles sent
shivers down their spines. This had to stand out to Jesus hearers as they saw
how their own religious leaders dealt with these men in hatred.
·
Many of these tax collectors were Jewish men
hired by Romans to gather taxes. They were looked down upon as traitors to
their people. This would have been esp.
true to Matthew as he had been a tax collector earlier in his life.
·
As believers we are all called to do much more
then what the unsaved world is willing to do.
Matthew 5:47 ( ESV ) 47And if you greet only your brothers,£ what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
·
What does He mean to greet only your brothers?
Probably you are willing to say Hello or visit with just the ones you have as
friends.
·
Have you ever gotten to the point where the
tension between you and someone has grown so much that you even refuse to say
Hi to them? You know what I mean. You try to avoid certain people for fear that
you will have to acknowledge to them that they even deserve to live.
·
The Gentiles here for you and me represent the
unsaved world or our most dreaded enemies. Listen even our enemies will say
hello to their friends. We as believers are to act in an entirely different
way. We are to go out of our way to reach them. (Ex: How I will go out of my
way to be friendly to even those who do not want to speak to me.)
·
If we are truly sons of the living God we need
to act like our Father. Our Father wants us to strive for perfection, or in
this case to act as a mature son. An immature Christian will not act with love
towards his enemies. When we love our enemies we then are showing our maturity
and becoming more like Jesus.
·
If we cannot show acts of kindness or go out of
our way to say hello to our enemies then we act like and are no better than the
children of this world. We are acting like infants or spoiled children. We are
to be marked by love.
No comments:
Post a Comment