Matthew 5:43-48
~18 min read
TRANSCRIPT
Our text for tonight's message is taken from Matthew 5:43–48, which was part of Christ's teachings on the Sermon on the Mount.
An enemy is someone who is an adversary. Someone who is hostile toward you, who has a hatred for you or has harmful designs against you. I believe at some points in our lives, we do have enemies. When I say we do have enemies, I do not mean that we are to be an enemy to someone. We should never be an enemy of anyone, but rather we should be a neighbour. Nonetheless, some people may choose to be our enemies. They may choose to persecute us or fight against us. We cannot stop them from doing that. But how do we respond to them? This is what we want to learn from this passage.
The title of our message is “Love Your Enemy”.
I. The Perversion Of Divine Truth
Our first point is “The Perversion Of Divine Truth”.
Beginning with verse 43 of Matthew chapter 5, Jesus said, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.” (Matthew 5:43) Here Jesus was not against the Old Testament Scriptures, but He was against the teachings of the rabbis of old who either add or subtract from the Holy Scriptures. Basically, the rabbis of old had perverted the truth of God's Word in two different ways.
Firstly, they had omitted the phrase “as thyself.” God's Word clearly said in Leviticus 19:18, “thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”. (Leviticus 19:18)
On one occasion in the Gospel of Luke 10:25, a certain lawyer came to Jesus to tempt Him, saying, “Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25)
Jesus asked him, “What is written in the law? How readest thou?” (Luke 10:26)
“And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.” (Luke 10:27)
And Jesus said unto him, “Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.” (Luke 10:28)
The scribes and Pharisees were familiar with this teaching. They were the interpreters of the law. But they knew very well how much they loved themselves. They loved to be honoured, praised, and respected by the people. They were proud and self-righteous. It was difficult for them to love their neighbours in the same way they loved themselves. So they conveniently omitted the phrase “as thyself.”
The first problem is the sin of omission. They removed the phrase “as thyself.”
The second problem is the sin of addition. They added the phrase “and hate thine enemy.”
This phrase was never found in the Old Testament. It was added. But why would they add such a teaching? It has to do with the meaning of neighbours.
Traditionally, the rabbis of old had taught the Jews to narrow the meaning of neighbours to include only those people whom they had approved. Obviously, they would not consider the tax collectors and sinners, the criminals and prostitutes as their neighbours because those people were considered despised. They were outcast. That was one of the reasons why the Jewish leaders were disgusted when they saw Jesus sat and ate with the tax collectors and sinners. So basically they were convinced that their neighbour was confined only to a fellow Israelite, and therefore they could not see how they ought to love anyone else.
They looked at God's command to drive out the Canaanites and the other pagan people as they entered into the promised land as a confirmation of this understanding. The truth is that they failed to understand that those commands were judicial and not individual. Those ancient pagan inhabitants like the Canaanites were the most corrupted and depraved people ever known to history. They were extremely wicked, cruel, and idolatrous. Human sacrifice was common, and even their own children were sometimes burned alive as an offering to their gods. God commanded that those people be cut off. It was to protect and preserve His own people from their wicked corruption.
This is the problem with the depraved human heart. When God states a very strong positive statement, man would always add a negative statement to it. When God says, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,” (Leviticus 19:18) they will add a negative component, “and hate thine enemy.”
The Jews thought they were honouring God by despising anyone who was not Jewish. They did not realise that in doing so they had rejected all the other biblical teachings about loving their enemies and showing kindness to their enemies.
- Exodus 23:4 said, “If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.” (Exodus 23:4)
- Proverbs 25:21 said, “If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink.” (Proverbs 25:21)
- The Apostle Paul also said in Romans 12:20, “Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:20-21)
Who then is our neighbour? Remember the parable of the good Samaritan. There was someone who asked Jesus, ‘Who then is my neighbour?’ (Luke 10:29)
“And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.” (Luke 10:30-37)
Who then is our neighbour? The one who showed mercy on him. Notice the command, “Go, and do thou likewise.” In other words, it is God's requirement for us to be neighbours to anyone who needs our help.
Dear friend, I think we need to understand the difference between God's enemies and our personal enemies. The difference between God's name being attacked and our own names being attacked. There will always be people who may not like us when our personal interest and integrity is being attacked. When people maliciously accuse us, or say untrue things about us, or misrepresent us. It is so hard not to treat them the same way they have treated us. It is so hard not to think of ways to justify our actions against them. Sometimes we may even be tempted to take Bible verses out of context to use them against our enemies. But we must never do that.
What we need to be concerned about is not our own name's sake. For who are we? We are really nothing. We are here today, and tomorrow we could be forever gone. What we need to be concerned about is when the truth of God's Word is being undermined. When the Christian faith is being attacked, or the glory of God is being blasphemed, then we ought to have this righteous anger. We need to defend and strongly fight a good fight of faith.
But even then, we still pray that those enemies of God will repent and turn to Him and be saved. Sometimes we say we fight for righteousness’ sake. We fight for justice. But in reality, we do not love justice. We only want vengeance. We are not fighting for righteousness’ sake but for our own pride. We must be very careful because our God sees into the innermost of our hearts. He knows our thoughts, our motives, and our hidden agendas.
That was the reason why David wrote in Psalm 139:22 about God's enemies: “I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.” How do we know that David's anger is righteous anger? How do we know that it is not for his own selfish pride?
Well, he said this: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23–24) David knew that God sees into the innermost of his heart and knows his thoughts.
II. The Standard Of Divine Truth
Our second point is “The Standard Of Divine Truth”.
Look at verse 44, “But I say unto you, love your enemies.”
The Greek language has four different words that are translated as love. Fileo is brotherly love or the love of friendship. It is where we get the name of the city Philadelphia, which means the city of brotherly love. Storge is the love of family. Eros is romantic and sexual love. It is where we get the word erotic. But here the love that Jesus used is agape.
Agape is a love which is of God. It is the highest and purest form of love. It is a sacrificial love. God's very nature is love. As the Bible says, “God is love.” (1 John 4:8) Because of our sins, you and I are enemies of God. Yet Romans 5:8 says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
Even before Jesus Christ demonstrated this agape love by dying on the cross of Calvary and shedding his precious blood to save us from our sins, the night before he was betrayed, he gave an excellent example of this selfgiving agape love. He washed the feet of the 12 disciples. The disciples had done nothing to inspire Jesus' love. They had done nothing to deserve his love. They were self-centred, quarrelsome, jealous of one another. Yet Jesus loved them with an agape love.
Out of the 12 disciples, there was one Judas Iscariot who would betray him. For almost three years, he sat at the feet of Jesus Christ. He heard all the teachings. He saw all the miracles. He experienced the love of Christ, and yet he betrayed him.
However, despite all these things, Jesus took the basin of water. He stooped down and washed the feet of Judas Iscariot. Jesus did not just command us to love our enemies in words only. He lived out this truth in his life as an example for us to follow. It is like saying to us, ‘Love your enemies just as I have done to show you the way to do it’. Will you obey him?
The word “enemies” is in plural, which means many. It is a reference to our personal enemies who are presently doing us harm. We are commanded to love them regardless of what they say or do to us.
Look at the second part of verse 44. “Bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44)
There's a saying that goes something like this: To return evil for good is devilish. To return good for good is human. To return good for evil is divine. To love an enemy is divine. And to pray for an enemy, a persecutor, is supremely divine. Some people may say, ‘Well, I know God has commanded me to love my enemy. But I must admit that I cannot attain it.’ That is true. Loving our enemies is not an easy thing in and of ourselves. We cannot attain it. This agape love is possible only to those in whom the Lord Jesus Christ is working and in whose life His love dwells for the believer. It is possible.
Remember Jesus said in John 15:9, “As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” (John 15:9)
If you are a Christian and you struggle to love someone who has offended you, what you need to do is to draw near to Jesus Christ and ask Him to work out this love in you. So the question is never about who to love, because we are to love everyone, even our enemies. But the question is how do we love?
We are not to love simply in terms of feelings or emotions, but in terms of the will. It is a heart that is willing to be committed to the Almighty God for empowerment. It is not a matter of whether we like it or not. It is a matter of command. God has commanded us.
In 1567, King Philip II of Spain appointed a governor to manage one part of his nation. This governor was a bitter enemy of the Protestant Reformation, and he ordered the slaughter of many Protestants. It was reported that one man who was sentenced to die as he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ managed to escape during one cold winter. As he was being pursued by a lone soldier, the Christian man came to a lake where the ice was thin and crackling. Somehow he managed to get across safely over the ice. But as soon as he reached the other side, he heard his pursuing enemy screaming. The enemy had fallen through the ice and was about to drown.
At the risk of being captured, tortured, and eventually killed, or being drowned himself, the Christian turned back, went across the lake to rescue the enemy because the love of Jesus Christ constrained him to do it. He knew he had no choice simply because he was a Christian. He had no choice if he wanted to be faithful to his Lord.
Dear friend, our enemies do not always come to us in such a life-threatening situation. Oftentimes they are ordinary people who are mean to us, judgmental, impatient, hurtful, and spiteful, or they just do not like us. In a marital relationship, you can see your spouse as an enemy. In a parental relationship, you can see your parent or your child as an enemy. In a family relationship, you can see your brother or your sister as an enemy. In a church relationship, you can see a fellow member as an enemy. Your enemy can also be your business opponent or a spiteful neighbour.
But if you are a Christian, you must love your enemy if you want to be faithful to the Lord. If you are a Christian, you have no choice because the love of Christ will constrain you to do it (2 Corinthians 5:14). Jesus gave us two reasons why we should love with such an agape love. The first reason was found in verse 45: “That ye may be the children of your 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.” (Matthew 5:45)
To love our enemies and to pray for our persecutors show that we are the children of our Father who is in heaven. God Himself is love, and the greatest evidence that we are His children is our love. Remember Jesus said in John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:35)
It does not mean that when you love your enemies, it will make you a child of God. You are already a child of God if you believe in Jesus Christ for salvation. But if you impartially love your enemies as well as your friends, you prove yourself. You show evidence of yourself that you are truly a child of God because you are following the example of God, who shows His impartiality by sending the sun and the rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous.
The second reason is found in verse 46: “For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?” (Matthew 5:46) The publicans, or tax collectors, had a very bad reputation during Jesus' time. The Roman Empire used a tax system in which the government would decide how much money to be collected from a specific area, and then they would hire the publican to collect the tax. Most publicans would collect more than they were supposed to and keep the money for themselves. They were crooks and were despised by everyone.
But even those much-hated publicans or tax collectors had their own friends, and they loved their own friends. If a Christian loves only his friends, he is no better than a cheating tax collector. So if you think you love your friend, who will return your love anyway? Well, what is the big deal? Even the tax collectors would do that.
Jesus went on to say in verse 47: “And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?” (Matthew 5:47) So, in other words, when you welcome or greet your brothers only, do you think you are better than others? Even the publicans do that. Christians should do more than what is common amongst the unbelievers in the way they show their love.
Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones gave this very interesting explanation. Allow me to quote what he said: “The Christian is the man who is above and goes beyond the natural man at his very best and highest. There are many people in the world who are not Christians but who are very moral and highly ethical men, whose word is their bond, and who are honest, just, and upright.”
Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones gave this very interesting explanation. Allow me to quote what he said: “The Christian is the man who is above and goes beyond the natural man at his very best and highest. There are many people in the world who are not Christians but who are very moral and highly ethical men, whose word is their bond, and who are honest, just, and upright.
You never find them doing a shady thing to anyone. But they are not Christians, and they say so. They do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and may have rejected the whole of the New Testament teaching with scorn, but they are absolutely straightforward, honest, and true.
Now the Christian by definition here is a man who is capable of doing something that even the best natural man cannot do. He goes beyond that and does more than that. He exceeds. He is separated from all others, and not only from the worst amongst them but from the very best and highest amongst them.”
How true. When people look at our lives, is there something special about our lives? Is there something unique about our love that cannot be explained in natural terms that is not present in the life of the unbeliever? If you and I only love those whom we have something in common with, or who have treated us well, if there is nothing more than that, then we are no better than the unbelievers.
Christians should have a much higher standard of love, a much higher standard of righteousness than the rest of the world. Christians should be noticed in their workplaces because they are loving and forgiving. Christians should be noticed anywhere in society because of the divine love manifested in their lives. It is from the way we live our lives, the way we respond to our enemies, that the gospel of Jesus Christ is communicated to the unbelieving world.
Someone once said that God has given us five gospels: the Gospel according to Matthew, the Gospel according to Mark, the Gospel according to Luke, the Gospel according to John, and the Gospel according to you. How do men come to know God? They come to know God through Jesus Christ. How do they come to know Jesus Christ? They come to know Jesus Christ through the Bible and through the way you live out this gospel truth in your life.
You are the closest some men and women would ever get to Jesus Christ. Take a moment and think about this. Some of our unbelieving grandparents, parents, and children may have never walked into a church or opened a Bible to read, but they see us living out this gospel truth every day of our lives. If they do not see the love of Jesus Christ in us, they will never see it.
The late Dr. Harry Ironside, the American preacher, once told the story of a poor American Indian woman who was brought to the Presbyterian Mission Hospital in Arizona. She had been cast out by her own people who thought she was going to die. And after surviving three or four days in the walls, she was rescued. Through the loving care of a Christian doctor and the nurses, after nine weeks in the hospital, she recovered.
When she was well enough, she began to wonder about the unexpected care she had received. She said to one of the nurses, "I cannot understand it. I never heard of anything like this before. Why did the doctor do that to me? I am an Indian and he is a white man. I have never heard anything like this before." The nurse, a Christian, said to her, "It is the love of Jesus Christ that made him do it."
The woman asked, "Who is this Jesus? I want to know Him. Tell me more about Him." The nurse called a missionary pastor to explain the gospel. Several weeks passed. Then one day the nurse asked the Indian woman, "Will you trust Jesus as your Saviour and turn from the idols you have worshiped and trust Him as the Son of the living God?"
The Indian woman pondered her answer. The door opened and the doctor stepped in. The face of the old woman lit up. She said, "If Jesus is anything like the doctor, I can trust Him forever." Later on, it was reported that the woman embraced the Lord Jesus Christ after the gospel was reiterated to her and accepted Him as her Lord and Saviour. Of course, the doctor can never be compared to the Lord Jesus Christ, but he was truly the salt and the light that pointed the woman to the greater light that is in Christ.
What was the thing that the woman saw? It was love. But it was not the doctor's love. It was God's love manifested in a man. It was divine love. That is what you and I should show forth in this dark and sinful world.
Finally, verse 48, Jesus said: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) It is impossible for us to be perfect, just as it is impossible for us to be righteous. With men, it is impossible, but with God all things are made possible. God provides us with Jesus Christ, the One who clothes us with His righteousness. And God provides us with the Holy Spirit, the One who empowers us that we may live a righteous life in His sight.
So the question is not whether we can or cannot, but whether we are willing or not. One of the most damaging things to Christianity is that many Christians do not live up to their faith. Even though the world has a limited knowledge about what the gospel means, they know enough about the teachings of Christ and the life of Christ to realise that many profess and bear the name of Jesus Christ, yet do not do what He has commanded and do not live as He lived.
Tonight our Lord Jesus says to us, "But I say to you, love your enemies." Is there anyone in your life that you are unwilling to love? Is there anyone in your life that you are unwilling to forgive? Jesus said, "Love your enemies." It is possible if you draw near to Him and ask Him to work out this love and this forgiving spirit in your heart. You will be able to love your enemies by the grace of God and to the glory of His precious name.
Let us pray.
Our Father in heaven, Thou hast taught us through Thy precious Word that we ought to love our enemies as Christians, who has the Spirit of Christ working in us and whose lives His love dwells in. It is possible for us to love our enemies. And we pray that we will obey Thy command, that we will have a heart that is willing to be committed to Thee for empowerment.
There may be people who are against us or persecute us or say all kinds of malicious things about us. But we are willing to love them, to bless those that curse us and also do good to those who hate us, and to pray for those who despitefully use us and persecute us. Thou hast commanded us and it is possible for us to obey this command, and we want to do so. We want to be faithful today. We bear the name of Jesus Christ and we want to follow His perfect example.
So may Thou help us, remind us always, because as humans we always forget, to love our enemies as our Lord Jesus has taught us.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
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