Sound The Trumpet : Love Your Enemies and be Different

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“Love Your Enemies and be Different - MATTHEW 5;43-48 Part #1”
by Art Sadlier
November 25th, 2012

Perhaps no other passage in all of the New Testament sums up the heart and attitude of the Christian as this does. It expresses the single most powerful testimony that a Christian can have. It is summed up in the simple statement of Jesus, “Love your enemies.”

I think that if there is one statement that sums up in the eyes of the world what a Christian ought to be like, it is probably, “Love your enemies.”

This is the supreme essence of the Christian life. If love is the greatest thing, then love your enemies is the greatest thing that love can do.

So the highlight of all kingdom living should be found in this concept of loving our enemies.

In all of the Sermon on the Mount there are two statements that more than any others sum-up the ethics, the standard, the requirements of the one who claims to be a member of the kingdom of heaven.

They are simple statements

1 – “What do ye more than others” Matthew 5:47

That is a summary statement of what Christ is asking in the whole Sermon on the Mount. What does your system, religion, theology have more than any other system? Christian what makes you different from all those around you? What is the authenticating mark of your life as a believer?

2 – “Be not therefore like unto them” Matthew 6:8

This is the second statement that along with the first sums up the whole Sermon on the Mount. What Jesus is saying in both of these simple statements is this....My standards are not like standards of others. What I require is not what other people do my standard is a much higher standard. In fact, Jesus is indicating the whole pharisaical, Judaistic system as being sub-standard.

When the best is said of your system, what makes it better than any other? What do you do different than anybody else?

That’s our challenge in this lesson. What sets you apart? Is there any difference between you and the unbeliever?

Jesus was saying to the Pharisees, people in my kingdom have a higher standard than you do. Understand that the standard of the Pharisees was the highest standard of the day. But it wasn’t high enough.

God requires for His kingdom a different standard, a unique, separate and holy standard. Jesus spells that out in Matthew 5:20, “For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” My standard is high; my standard is higher than the highest human standard.

The scribes and Pharisees struggled with all kinds of religious laws and ceremonies. They had a myriad of religious rituals. They were the most religious people the world has ever known. And yet Jesus said to them, “you are no different than anybody else.” My people in my kingdom have a higher standard than even yours.

The highest human ethic falls woefully short of God’s standards. This is nothing new in scripture, God has always called His people to a higher standard. It was a hard standard in Old Testament times, it was hard in Jesus day and it is hard for us today. Trying to live contrary to the culture around us is very hard. Yet that is what God requires of us.

Listen to the Lord exhorting His people Israel soon after He delivered them from Egypt and made them His covenant people. “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the LORD your God. After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances. Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 18:2-4).

The Lord was saying to Israel, My standard is not the one you came from. It is not the standard of the land to which you are going. You shall not walk in their ways, you shall walk in My ways.

Notice, He begins with the statement, “I am the Lord your God.” Because I am the Lord your God, don’t act the way others act. Don’t live according to the standards of others. This command was given to them because they were His covenant people and He was their covenant God. That made them different than everybody else. They were to be different than all those around them, now that is hard.

Sadly, throughout the centuries that followed, Israel kept forgetting their uniqueness. They kept forgetting that theirs was another standard and they kept falling into sin as a consequence.

The prophet said of Israel, “The people shall dwell alone, and they shall not be reckoned among the nations.” They were to dwell in isolation, not mingling with the heathen. But the truth was in practice they did become assimilated into everything around them. The scripture says, they mingled with the nations and learned to do as they did.

This is a sad commentary on Israel. And it is also a sad commentary on the church of the present hour. Psalm 106:35, “But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.” God has always called His people to be unique; He always calls them to a higher standard and for some reason His people are too often pulled down.

Consequently the Lord kept sending prophets to Israel to remind them of their uniqueness. God wants His people to be different; God wants us to be unique.

The standard that Jesus presents here regarding loving your enemies is a unique standard. He is calling us to do what no one else in the world is doing. “Love your enemies” it sounds like lunacy to the average person around you. It doesn’t mak sense to them. It is not an earthly standard, it is unique.

In fact it is a far greater ethic than even we as Christians can keep on our own. It is way beyond us! Love your enemies, yet that is what we are called to do.

The key is that you can’t live that way unless you are infused with divine power. If you do not believe that look at Matthew 5:48, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” How perfect? As perfect as God Himself, that is beyond human possibility.

However, what God calls us to do, He divinely empowers us to do.

So Jesus is saying to the Pharisees, your system is substandard and until you come to me for power, you will never be able to live by my standard. The whole Sermon on the Mount draws a contrast between the best men can do and God’s standard. The best men, the most religious men, the Pharisees did not qualify.

Examples

They thought it was enough not to kill. Jesus said, No! No! You shouldn’t even be angry.

They thought it was enough not to commit adultery. Jesus said, No! No! You shouldn’t even have lustful thoughts.

They thought it was alright if they got a divorce and did the paper work. Jesus said, No! No! You shouldn’t even get a divorce.

They thought it was enough to keep the vows they made. Jesus said, Your word should be so trustworthy, you shouldn’t even have to make vows.

All the way through the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is making a contrast. Now in Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus is contrasting the love of the Pharisees with the love that should characterize the subjects of Christ’s kingdom.

Your law says, “Love your neighbours and hate your enemies.” I say, \"Love your enemies.”

God is calling us out of the world’s system to be a separated people with convictions, commitments and standards far beyond anything that the world comprehends. Nowhere is the distinction between the life man and the kingdom of God made clearer than in the life of the believer.

Jesus is confronting Israel here, because as religious as Israel was, Israel was living after the flesh. Jesus attacks their humanistic religious traditions by saying that they fall woefully short of God’s standards.

Now let’s look at what Jesus says about love in verse 43-44, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” You can do all the right things, but if you do not have and express love it is all in vain.

Jesus is repeating the previous lesson. Your law says this and mine says this. Your law says, “Love your neighbours and hate your enemies.” I say, “Love your enemies.” You are substandard; your ethics are too low. He attacks them for whittling down God’s requirements. Jesus says, your commitment to love your neighbour is inadequate.

Jesus is making the supreme statement here, because it is a statement on love and love is the greatest thing. Loving your enemies is the greatest thing love can do.

In Matthew 22 a lawyer came to Jesus and asked Him what is the greatest commandment? Jesus answers him in verses 37-40, “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” In other words you are keep all the law and the prophet, and yes, it cam be done.

“Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart...soul...mind.... love thy neighbour as thyself...” That will cover the whole law, “Love is the fulfilling of the law.” When Jesus begins to speak about loving he is touching on that which sums up the whole law.

This is a devastating death blow to the Pharisees. In verse 47 He tells them they are just like the heathen, “And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?” Your love is no better than anybody else. You are no better than the publicans and sinners and tax collectors and pagans. This is intended to show them their need of a Saviour.

The point is that the people in my kingdom have a love beyond the best the world can ever know.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, what does this say to us as we search our hearts and lives? Do we really love our enemies? We need to do some soul searching because this is the mark of a genuine believer.

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13