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"43 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." ~ Matthew 5:43-48
Today, we conclude our study of Matthew 5 where the Lord Jesus has shown us how we are justified in the eyes of God through His cross only. In addition, He has taught us about how we are sanctified in our relationship with Him. Whereas justification gets us into heaven, sanctification gets heaven into us.
In v.43-45 of today's text we read, "43 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."
This is the last of the six "You have heard it was said" statements the Lord Jesus utilized that day in order to show the difference between religion and having a personal relationship with God. This "You have heard it was said" statement reveals what the Law of Moses said regarding love and hate. Whereas the Bible doesn't say,"hate your enemy," the religious leaders of Israel taught this concept. This is why the Lord Jesus quoted them to show that God never said it. It is true that the LORD does say, "love your neighbor." The problem comes in with finding the correct definition of our neighbor. Then the Lord Jesus said, "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." That is hard. Of course when we do this, it reveals that we are sons and daughters of our Father in heaven. And, if we are to do this, we must be given to prayer often. Our connectedness to God will determine whether we do it and show that we are children of God or not.
I've discovered it's awfully hard to hate someone when I am praying for them. The best remedy in the context of someone who is a thorn in my flesh is prayer. There is a reason that John Bunyan once said, "Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan." Corrie Ten Boom said it like this, "When a Christian shuns fellowship with other Christians, the devil smiles. When he stops studying the Bible, the devil laughs. When he stops praying, the devil shouts for joy."
Prayer is essential if we are to somehow be like God. When we get to heaven we will discover the most effective thing we ever did while on this earth was to pray. When we pray, it is not so that we can get what we want from God. Rather, prayer is a way of connecting with Him and realigning our hearts to Him and His will. The more we talk and spend time with someone the more we get to know them. The same thing happens when we spend time in prayer connecting with God. The more time we spend talking with Him, the closer we will become to Him! And, when this happens we will reflect Him to others.
In v.46-47 of today's passage we read, "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?"
The religion of Judaism had flattened God’s commands to one external dimension in order to justify such sins as hate, lust, divorce, lies, vengeance, and anger. But God's culture is much deeper than that. That day the Lord Jesus gave a classic look at superficial religion. There were certain things the religious leaders did not do, but below the surface they were full of dead men’s bones. It is the heart issue that always concerns the Lord, and that’s the issue that He addressed on that mountain that day. Everybody can love people who love them but when we love those whom we do not mix well with, then we will know that we are getting somewhere. The Lord Jesus doesn’t conquer by killing. His kingdom is different than any other. His kingdom is only realized in the broken and yielded souls of those who have come to faith in Him. We cannot accomplish His kingdom in and through our lives, He must. He is the source of our ability to love even our enemies.
In v.48 of today's passage we read, "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."
At a very early time in my walk with the Lord, I realized I could not be perfect. That prompted me to ask God, "Why do you call me to do something that I cannot do?" First of all, we shouldn't be surprised when God calls us to perfection because that is all He knows. It would not make any sense if He called us to anything less. Second, we need Him even in our attempts to reach toward perfection because He is the strength of our lives. Even the breath we breathe came from Him.
The Lord Jesus won us by dying on the cross. It was He who said, "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for his friends." As a door, the perfection the Lord Jesus demands drives us to our need for a righteousness that is not our own. It drives us to look to the Lord Jesus for our justification and sanctification. The role we play in both our justification and sanctification is placing our faith in Him. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
