This morning we consider the last few verses of Matthew chapter 5 in our consideration of our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, verses 43 through 48, in a sense to close out our Lord's consideration of the law. And along with that, I would like to also read Luke's portion of this. From Luke chapter 6, verses 27 through 36. Luke's record. Which really ties together, as I mentioned last week, the portion we considered last week with the portion that we consider this morning. Luke chapter 6, verses 27 through 36. as we hear now the Word of God. But I tell you who hear Me, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great and you will be sons of the Most High because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful just as your Father is merciful. The text Matthew 5, 43-48 You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His Son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that. Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. May God bless the reading and consideration of His Word. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, we hear these words of our Lord, love your enemies, and very possibly, instinctively, because of the sin that you and I still struggle with, we want to say, well, wait a minute. I mean, I understand that hate is murder and that lust is adultery in the heart. I get that part. And I understand that I am to keep my word to say what I mean and mean what I say. And I also understand, as hard as it may be, that I am not to go out and try to get even or take revenge on someone who harms me or hurts me in some way. But this love thing, you know, this is going a little bit too far. Love Him? Well, He has treated me so badly that I can't stand Him. Love her? Well, she has said so many terrible things about me, I don't even want to be near to her. I'd rather just ignore him or her. I'd rather keep my distance away from them. I would rather have nothing to do with them. But Jesus said, love them. Pray for them. And Luke is a little more intense, isn't he? Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. And in another place, our Lord said, love one another. Well, yes, but you see, he's asking too much here. And when he said, love one another, he was talking to his disciples and they were already friends, right? Well, true. But he also qualified it. He said, as I have loved you, love one another. And Paul tells us that that was while we were still sinners. While we were still enemies of God, He loved us. And love, we know, is the summary of the law. As Paul says, love is the fulfillment of the law. And love is demonstrated in not committing murder, in not committing adultery, in not lying or taking revenge or a host of other things. But that's not it, because if that's all that was it, then the Pharisees had it right. We just won't do these things. We'll follow the letter, but not the Spirit. You see, that love comes to expression most beautifully and most vividly when it is expressed positively toward our neighbor. And especially, expressed positively toward our enemy. You see, this love that Jesus is talking about is not an option for the kingdom's citizen. Instead, Christ describes the ultimate demonstration of kingdom character with the command to love, we might say, even our enemies. Seriously. First of all, to the amazement of the religious leaders. Now, you may have wondered in the order of worship what the question mark and what the exclamation point were all about. Well, this is the meaning of the question mark. You see, the religious leaders would have said, Are you serious? You have got to be kidding me. Who in their right mind would love those who hate them, who treat them so very badly? Yet Jesus is serious! And our love for our enemies is to be a serious, it is to be a real love. Now really, Jesus tells it like it is, or like it was, when it came to their teaching. you have heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. That's what they taught. But you don't find these two statements side by side, at least, in Scripture. Now, of course, we do find the first part of it, love your neighbor, from Leviticus 19, verse 18, we find love your neighbor as yourself. But the entire verse says this, Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Now that gives it a whole different flavor, doesn't it, than simply plucking out the words, love your neighbor. But taking it in its context, it gives it a whole different flavor. The thrust of that verse has to do with what we are not to do, not to seek revenge or bear a grudge, and in its place, what to do instead to love and how to do it as yourself. But the leaders of the people had completely turned away from that thrust and they had reduced it to simply, who is my neighbor? And you may recall that the parable of the Good Samaritan was prompted by the question of the expert in the law who wanted to justify himself in the sight of Jesus and said, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus says, love God above all, your neighbor as yourself. Ah, and who is my neighbor, He says. They thought they had it right. Because the answer of the Jewish leaders, very simply we might say, was, well, my neighbor is someone who is related to me, someone who lives next to me. You see, in Old Testament Israel, it would be fellow Israelites only. After all, again, as Leviticus 19.18 does say, do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people. And so obviously, in Jesus' day, the neighbors were the Jews only. Those in our own family. Those in our own faith. Those that we get along with. However, you see, even they limited it further. It didn't include all the Jews. It did not include those who didn't deserve to be Jews. It didn't include those who were considered to be of low class. It didn't include those who were lawbreakers like tax collectors. But only those who were of good reputation and high position, and especially those who are friendly, who are nice right back to me. Those who have some sort of value to me in my life. And so basically, they limited it to those that they liked. They limited their neighbor to those they got along with. Those who were from their own church. Each one decided for themselves who was their neighbor. And everyone else, well, they should be hated. Because again, they taught, hate your enemy. They should be hated. Have nothing to do with them because they're lost. They're unworthy. They're not one of us. Like the Gentiles, you know, God doesn't love them. God hates them. And therefore, we should hate them too, is what they taught. Yet, as we have seen throughout our consideration, the law was meant to restrain evil and here to restrain hatred. Not to justify hatred against one that you considered to not be your neighbor. To restrain evil and instead to promote good. You see, Christ's command reinforces. It doesn't change what Moses taught. It reinforces what Moses taught, yet that is what the rabbis ignored. Looking at that verse 27 in chapter 6 again as Luke records it, but I tell you who hear me, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you. Love, do good, bless, and pray for. Well, we do that for our friends. That's reserved for our neighbors, they would say. Those whom we like. You see, very clearly, Christ's command reinforces what Moses taught. A neighbor was not limited to those of the same family or the same faith or the same friendship group or those who are nice to me first or nice in return for me being nice to them. And it's also clear from that verse Leviticus 19, verse 18, which says, Do not seek revenge. Do not bear a grudge. Against whom? Obviously, against one who has harmed you. And as well, in that very same chapter in verses 33 and 34, Moses says, 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. And Moses basically repeats that in Deuteronomy 10, verse 19. But right there he says, not just from among your people. In Exodus 23, verses 4 and 5, Moses says, If you come across your enemy's ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to take it back to him. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you falling down under its load, do not leave it there. Be sure you help him with it. And in Proverbs 25, verse 21, we read, If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat. If he is thirsty, give him water to drink. Recognize those words? That's what we read earlier. Paul says that. He picks up on that in Romans 12, verse 20. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how the rabbis could take the law and come up with love your neighbor and hate your enemy. That's not at all what Moses taught. Jesus' definition of neighbor, As Moses taught, and as the parable of the Good Samaritan teaches, is that a neighbor is anyone with whom you have contact. Anyone who crosses your path. Everyone is a potential neighbor, even to the most hateful unbeliever who persecutes you, who hates you, who curses you. Even them. And Christ's command is to love them. Now, of course, He's not talking here about a romantic kind of love or even liking another such as a best friend. You see, those depend on physical attraction and on common interest and on personalities and a host of things. And there's nothing wrong with that. That's a blessing that we have from God that we have that kind of love and feeling toward others. Jesus is not commanding us to become best friends with our enemy. It's impossible. because most likely they won't return it. And that's exactly the point, isn't it? Kingdom love is completely other-directed, selfless, away from oneself, not given because it expects something in return. Not selective, you but not you, him but not her. It does not discriminate. And it is expressed in godly acts as we have seen. If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat. It's the most generous thing you can do for him. If his animal is having trouble, help it out. It's expressed in godly acts of kindness and helpfulness, in giving, friendliness, and prayer. Godly acts in the second place, following the example of God Himself. Verse 45, Your Father in heaven, He causes His Son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. You see, God's pattern teaches us whom we are to consider to be our neighbor and how we are to treat them. That doing good is intended. You see, Son and Rain, those universal gifts on the world are both necessary for this life and they're both needed to sustain this world and to sustain mankind in this life. And these are God's gifts given. His Son, Jesus says, and by implication that His rain, which are sent purposefully, Jesus says, and this is a good translation, He causes the sun to shine. He sends the rain. It doesn't just fall indiscriminately. Not only did God set the laws of nature, but He maintains and controls and directs them. And His example teaches us that He gives indiscriminately. We have what's called a chiasm here. There are two sets of related terms. And the same things are spoken in reverse order. He causes His Son to shine. Notice, on the evil and the good and His reign on the righteous and the unrighteous. You've got evil and unrighteous as the book ends and the good and the righteous in between. Very simply, what that has meant, the point is that the emphasis in God giving certain gifts is not on either. It's not focused on either on the believer or on the unbeliever, but on both. Like the sun and the rain are like a blanket that covers everything under its reach. It's not a situation of the right place at the right time as if the unbeliever benefits from the rain and the sun which is meant only for believers but happens to spill over. I don't know about you, but if you were watching the rain yesterday, it wasn't just raining in our yard. Everything that I could see was getting rained on. And God sends it for a purpose. As Paul says in Romans 2, verse 4, God's kindness leads you toward repentance. You see, these gifts of God, these daily gifts of God, Show forth God's glory so that each day of life is a call to the unbeliever to recognize God, to repent of his sins. In the same way, we can think of the earthquake that struck Chile yesterday. You see, that didn't just affect unbelievers, did it? But it affects believers also. And again, we might say a message from God reminding the people of the earth that this life is short, this life is temporary. and there's only one in whom you can find hope. See, God's pattern though here does not contradict the Old Testament. For example, it does not contradict David in Psalm 139 when he says, Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? Do I not abhor those who rise up against you? It seems to contradict this law of love. But notice, David isn't talking about personal enemies there. He's talking about the wicked and their wickedness against God. Or it doesn't contradict, for example, when Israel entered Canaan and was commanded to wipe out the heathen nations or that the Amorites and the Moabites and the Midianites were not to be treated with kindness. Those nations were a threat to God's covenant people. They had rejected God. And those who manifest hatred for and the rejection of God, He has a right to judge. And those Old Testament episodes point to the judgment that is to come upon those who reject Him. And indeed, we are not to love and accept the wickedness of the wicked. That's not what this love is all about that Jesus is teaching. Yet in general, we learn that our God is a benevolent God. He is benevolent toward the wicked. He is benevolent toward His enemies, those who hate Him, those whom He has every right to wipe off the face of the earth in a moment's notice. But He is benevolent toward mankind with His common grace, as we call it, or you might like common favor or common benevolence better. He pours it out upon the world of mankind as He continues to gather His church saved by Christ, including some to be reached by His Word through that door of His benevolence. Beloved, this is Christ's command. For us, as we face our enemies personally, our day-to-day relationships in life, as we deal with men one-on-one, we are called to imitate the pattern of God Himself, to imitate His generosity to all, just as the sun and rain touches everyone. And His generosity with good as the sun and the rain are good gifts. In the third place, showing identity with the Father that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. In Jesus Christ, our status is that we are sons of God, children of the Most High God. And that status as sons, beloved, is evidenced by love for our enemies. For all of our neighbors, huh? For our enemies. Now, I trust that we all understand that demonstrating this love does not make us children of God. We don't become children of God as we demonstrate it. But it's evidence of being a child of God. The Holy Spirit who, as the Bible says, is the witness and is the down payment and is the seal of our adoption in Christ transforms the hearts of Christ redeemed from wicked hatred to loving charity. And children of God are to be God-like, or as the saying goes, like Father, like Son. And as sons of God, sons of God, children of God then also recognize their own salvation. Jesus says in Matthew, Matthew records it, that Jesus says God is perfect, holy, sinless, righteous to be sure. But here in this context, we are to understand it this way. It points to God's perfection or completion, we might say, in the way that He demonstrates His love to His enemies. Again, Luke records that He's merciful. He is merciful. Well, what can we say about that demonstration of love? God's love on the believer and the unbeliever alike in this general way that we have talked about it, we're not talking about the saving love of God there, but that mercy that He shows. It's not determined by the loveliness and the attraction that He finds in the objects who receive it. It's not conditioned on being loved first. it's not directed only toward those whose love He can rely on in return. It is without restriction, without limits. It is toward those who hate Him and who want nothing to do with Him. All of that is true of God's common benevolence. It is all in spite of the wickedness of mankind. But you see, that also describes God's saving love for the Christian, for His people. Children of God know that they were utterly hopeless and condemned. They know that they were utterly guilty before God. They know that they were His enemies outside of His favor. That they had no claim on God's love. They know that while we were His enemies, while we were sinners lost in sin with nothing worthy about us, nothing to give Him in return, Christ died for us. And as those who have been transformed by the power of the Spirit, sons of God are to be and will be different from the world. That status is demonstrated in that difference. As Jesus says, if you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? In other words, get rid of all of those qualifications that you and I are tempted to make. Tax collectors, Jews, were hated because they worked for the Roman government. They were hated by their fellow Jews because they demanded more tax of their fellow Jews than what was due. And therefore, their fellow Jews considered them to be enemies. They hated them. And Jesus' point here very simply is that even the lowest class, even the pagan, even those who are the most unlovable, they treat with kindness and they find friends among their own kind. They do. Kind of the you scratch my back, I'll scratch your back mentality. There's something to be gained from each other. But Jesus in essence says, what good is that? That does not come with reward or credit of being a son. In other words, that is not evidence of being a son. By the grace of God, through the work of the Holy Spirit, the kingdom citizen goes beyond that more than simply the common courtesy of not murdering, not killing, those kinds of things. But the kingdom citizen in love looks for the friendless and the helpless and even those who hate them and hurt them. Seeks them out to treat them with a love and kindness. To pray for them. To pray that God would be merciful to them. Have mercy and pity on them and not punish them. To pray that the Holy Spirit would convert them to open their eyes to give them faith. To see the truth of Jesus Christ to trust before it's too late. Pray for them that God would bring them to Himself. That they might be saved. Because that's what He has done for us. Beloved, do you and I have this concern for the wicked, this kind of concern for the wicked and those who hurt us? Do we desire this for them? You see, that's the concern that brought Jesus Christ to the earth and to the cross. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. That's the kind of concern that drove our Savior to die for you and me, to not think about Himself, but us. See, boys and girls and young people, godly love does not show favoritism. It is not selective. Again, Jesus is not telling us that we have to go out and become best friends with all the enemies and all the wicked. That's absolutely not His point here. But godly love does not show favoritism. It is not selective, but it treats all with love and kindness. It will not deny kindness to anyone. But will show generosity and charity and friendliness and helpfulness and all those things to all. And beloved, if this is to be true toward the unbeliever, how much more ought this to be true in the body of Christ? Where there ought to be no enemies. Sadly, sometimes believers treat each other as worse enemies than unbelievers treat each other. And we need to be reminded, you see, that sometimes it's not always true that our enemies are also God's enemies. And therefore, indeed, we are called to love one another with that Christ-like love. And our identity with the Father has a goal as sons. Verse 48 says, Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Now again, you know that this is not talking about being perfectly sinless, although that ought to be our desire. But Jesus isn't talking about that. We know that because in the Beatitudes, He said the kingdom citizens still hunger and thirst for righteousness because we don't have it in and of ourselves yet. We are not perfectly righteous in our own being. But indeed, we ought not be satisfied with anything short of perfect obedience. We will never reach that in this life. But we ought not be content with the excuse for ourselves, well, nobody's perfect. Instead, striving for it like Paul in Philippians 3, verse 12. Not that I have already obtained all this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. And Paul's confidence was indeed that the Holy Spirit would complete that powerful work of cleansing that He had already begun in Paul and He would present him one day perfect, spotless in the glory of heaven. But still pressing on and here pressing on to practice to imitate the Father's benevolent love and mercy and generosity to mankind in this world. John Calvin explains simply that this is not talking about equality with God, but resemblance with the Father. So that sons, children of God, practice love that is selfless and free, that is not given because that expects something in return. Practicing a love that is unlimited, not conditioned by who one is or what they may have done to or for you. Practicing a love that is patient and tender and earnest and constant, a serious and a well-meant love, the love that our Lord expressed for us. Practicing a love that does not give up. Someone has said, your enemies may go on persecuting us, but we are to go on praying for them. Practicing love for others, as Moses had already said, as yourself. We do love ourselves, and we love ourselves not with a pretend love, With a real, actual love that is fervent and active and permanent that would never harm ourselves but always seek our own good. That is the love that is to be expressed toward our neighbor. With the ultimate goal, we pray that the love that we demonstrate would point others to Jesus Christ who demonstrated that love even on the cross before He died. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. The love that our God expressed on the cross for us who were totally undeserving, who didn't even want it. The kingdom citizen, beloved, is a transformed citizen. Transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. And as a transformed citizen, the believer looks at the world differently and recognizes that I was one of them. That I was lost, but now by God's grace I am found. And desires then that if it is God's will that others would see Jesus Christ living in me and if it would be His will that they might be drawn to Him through me. Dear people of God, love is to be expressed to all we meet and practiced in here with our brothers and sisters in Christ. The communion of saints in the kingdom of God is to be a safe place, a place of love where God's people dwell together without fear, in safety. Indeed, we are to take Christ's command seriously. He gave His life for us seriously. Without it, there's no hope. But with it, we have secure, eternal hope. And in response, we are to be serious in loving Him in return by demonstrating His love to a lost world. You see, our Lord is not asking for too much from us. He is simply asking for everything. All of our love. Because that's what He gave for you and me. All of Himself. All of His love. Amen. Let's pray together. O Lord God, our Heavenly Father, we praise Your name. We praise Your name for Your love demonstrated for us in Christ Jesus. The love alone which has saved us from all of our sins that we might be Your children both now and forever. And Father, we thank You for the example, the pattern You set for us with regard to this world which you have made, which you continue to uphold and sustain throughout this life to all of mankind. Teaching us thereby that all of mankind is to be considered our neighbor and those whom we are to demonstrate love. Oh, Father, sometimes it's so hard. Sometimes we simply want to say they don't deserve it. And when we are tempted to say that and to act that way, Father, may we be quickly reminded that we have not deserved Your saving love for us. Yet even as You have been generous to us, inasmuch as we are able, empowered, equipped by Your Holy Spirit, help us to be generous to the people of this world with a hope that if it is Your will You would bring through that many to Yourself by true faith. Father, we thank You for Your love to us. And may it be that by your Spirit we would respond with more love to you. In Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.