Jesus’ Thoughts on the Importance of God’s Word (Matthew
5:17-20)
Ø What did Jesus say he came to do?
Ø What does he mean by the law and prophets?
One of the most important things you could ever pick up in life is a copy of the Word of God. There is no writing that compares with it because it is God’s Word and not the word of a man. Many people—even unsaved people—believe Jesus was a good man, but some of them lay the Bible aside and do not believe it is very important. Quite frankly, you can’t believe Jesus was honest and good and not cherish the Bible. You see, he said, Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them (NIV).
Ø What do you think he meant by the first sentence in this passage?
I think when Jesus speaks of the law and the prophets, he has in mind the Old Testament. The word used for fulfill has to do with filling up, completing, or carrying into effect. There were two things Jesus was going to do concerning the Bible. As the Messiah, he was going to fulfill parts of the Bible. There were many prophecies in the Old Testament concerning Messiah—Jesus would complete those prophecies in bringing them to pass. He would also fulfill the Old Testament by obeying all of it. He would live a perfect life never once disobeying anything in Scripture.
Ø How long does Jesus say the Bible will last? Do you believe him?
Jesus adds the thought, I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of the pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. The jot and tittle in Hebrew writings were just portions of a single letter. His point is that every single thing the Bible says will happen—no matter how small it may be—will happen just like God said it would. Every portion will be fulfilled no matter how small it appears to be. God’s Word will outlast even the heaven and earth. There is coming a day when these will be destroyed in judgment, and when they are, as we watch the heaven and earth melt away, we will have to look to God and say, “Your Word still stands!”
When you understand what Jesus is saying, it gives us great comfort because it tells us we can always trust God’s Word. Think of it like this—no matter what you are facing in life, you always have a solid foundation when you are resting upon the Word of the Lord. No matter what comes your way, if you are a child of God, you can know for a fact—
These truths even bring us courage to take a stand and do right. You see, if God’s Word is going to last and even the earth will not, then all of men’s plans that go against God will ultimately fail. That means if your friends pressure you trying to get you to do wrong or cease doing right, you are on the winning side and don’t have to surrender to them because you know in the end you will come out on top. You will know you must obey God’s Word and break away from those things that keep us from obeying.
Ø What does Jesus say concerning greatness?
Many people today are seeking greatness, but so many are
seeking it in the wrong way. When it
comes to greatness, Jesus says, Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments,
and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven:
but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in
the kingdom of heaven. It’s as if Jesus would
tell us, “Scroll through your Bible and find the command you think is the least
important of all. Have you found
it? Well, understand this—if you
disobey this command you think is the smallest of all commands or teach others
to disobey it, then you will be looked at as small by my Father. But if you obey that command along with all
the others, my Father will call you great.”
Ø What does this say concerning the importance of obeying each command?
There is only one way I know to obey God. First, we must find out what he says, and then we must do it. It’s that simple. Of course, the way we find out what God says is by studying the Bible, God’s Holy Word. You and I must hear God’s Word, learn what it means, and then put it into practice. If we do that, we will be much better off than the scribes and Pharisees.
Ø What does he say concerning these people?
Ø Who are these people?
These were people who “knew” the Scriptures better than anyone. They were so religious no one could approach their “holiness.” That is, other people looked at them as being so much closer to God than anyone else. However, Jesus now says we can’t be a part of the kingdom unless we are better than them. How could he make that statement? Two suggestions—first, we need a righteousness that is given by Jesus and not earned from Jesus, and second, their righteousness was not real righteousness. These people were trying to earn their way to God by being good enough. If anything, the Sermon on the Mount should show us there is no way we can live up to the Law—we must trust Christ to save us or the Law will condemn us. The Law shows we are all guilty—it doesn’t give us a ticket to heaven. Therefore, we must trust Christ—the only one who ever completely obeyed the Law.
As we go through the remainder of this chapter please understand Jesus will be taking statements (often from the Old Testament) that had been misapplied by the religious people of his day. His goal was to show them the real meaning or the real practice God had in mind. If we are going to be great in God’s eyes, we must put these sayings into practice. Therefore, we should really desire to hear what Jesus has to say and understand what he means so we can obey him. That will be the goal of this section of the Sermon on the Mount and should be our goal for every passage of the Bible and every study we have.
Please make sure your Christianity isn’t about others but about God. By that I mean if it is about others, you will be a “Christian” when those people are around, but you will do as you please when they are not. Do you live one way in church situations or if church people are around and then live another way at school, work, or out with your friends? If you do, Jesus has some very strong words for you—your righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the religious people of his day if you are to be a part of the kingdom of heaven. We must have his righteousness, and if we do, he will be producing righteousness in us that shines through no matter who we are around.
Jesus’ Thoughts on Murder (Matthew 5:21-26)
Ø What is it Jesus says the people have heard said?
Ø Do you think this statement is wrong?
Jesus reminds them of something they have heard said by
them of old time. The statement is,
You shall not kill; and
whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. In other words, people of old—actually the Bible—say you shall
not murder but if you do, you are in danger of judgment by the Jewish
authorities. I think we all agree it is
wrong to murder someone—to take an innocent life. We probably also agree the punishment given for this in the Bible
is judgment—actually, death. Part of
the problem here is that the people of Jesus’ day had reduced this to only
those who committed the actual killing of an innocent person. They said if you were to hire someone to
kill your neighbor or if you were to tie your neighbor and leave him before a
wild animal to be killed, then you were not to be judged by the
authorities—only by God. I think they
were saying the actual act of murder was terrible and needed to be punished
here on earth, but anything less was not so bad so the courts would let you go
free and God alone would deal with you.
Ø What does Jesus say?
Jesus was a very strong teacher—he got to where the people
lived and showed them their error. He
is pointing out that when God spoke of murder he was going further than the very
act—he was looking at the heart.
Therefore, according to God, whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in
danger of the judgment, and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be
in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in
danger of hell fire. Here we see unrighteous
anger in your heart towards another human being—a creation of God—and Jesus
says it is sinful.
Please understand there were times when Jesus was angry at the actions of others, but he had anger without sin. Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:26 that we are not to sin in our anger. Therefore, all anger is not necessarily sinful.
While not all anger is sinful, I have a feeling most of it is. Here we see someone angry without a cause—without a justifiable reason. The important thing to remember here is that this justifiable reason has to be pleasing to God and not simply pleasing to us.
Jesus tells us if our anger causes us to blurt out harsh words towards them, we have sinned in our anger. He uses the words raca and fool. The word raca has the idea of being an empty-headed, worthless person. It may even carry the idea of someone who is worthy of being spit upon. The word fool has to do with someone who is a reprobate, worthy of hell. I don’t think it’s the words that are so important here—the word fool is used in the Bible even by Jesus. I think the thought here is if someone does something you don’t like and you even momentarily fly up in anger and call them some contemptuous name, you are guilty of sin before God.
Please understand Jesus says if you are guilty of these, you
are in danger of the
judgment…the council… of hell fire. It’s not a pretty
sight. We are all guilty. This teaches us we must have a Savior to
rescue us from our sin, but it also teaches us something else—we must deal with
the sin in our hearts and mouths and not just “big” actions like murder. Remember, Jesus says just blurting out
something in anger to your brother makes you worthy of hell fire! What does that say to us as Christians? It says even though we may look at our words
and attitudes and think they are not important, Jesus certainly does not
agree. He wants Christians to stop more
than wrong actions—he wants us to surrender our words and our attitudes to
him. Are you willing to do that? Well, notice how important it is to be right
with God with our attitudes and words.
Ø How important is it to give an offering to God?
Ø What does this passage say concerning our offerings?
Therefore
if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has
ought against you; leave there your gift before the altar, and go your way;
first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Can you believe that?
Jesus is trying to stress the importance of being right with others, and
he says it is so important that if you are about to give your offering to him
and realize someone has something against you, you are to leave, go get
things right with that person, and then come back to make your offering. In other words, as important as offerings
are, it is far more important to be right with your brother.
Imagine what it would be like Sunday morning if God would burn this passage into our hearts right about the time the offering plate was being passed around. I wonder how many people would be able to make an offering verses how many people would have to get up and leave.
Please
understand it is of utmost importance that we get along with other
Christians. We can’t say, “Well, I don’t
have anything against anyone—they just have something against me.” If that’s the case, this verse is speaking
to you telling you to go try to make things right with them and that doing so
is more important than the religious duty of giving. More important than the religious work we do is being right with
God and others. Please don’t forget
that. If you are not right with God and
others then the work you do isn’t right either. Jesus even gives us an illustration that says, Settle matters
quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the
way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to
the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid
the last penny (NIV). This
illustration at least shows us when people have something against us, we are to
settle it quickly. If we don’t, the
retribution we end up having to pay could be much worse. This may actually be implying if we don’t
get things right with our brother, God will deal with us, and that could hurt a
lot worse! Remember, he does correct
his own children even if it hurts!
Ø What do you think the main point in this passage has been?
This is such
an important passage—it is very needed today.
We see churches splitting and dividing and Christian friends doing the
same thing. Christ wants them to know
if they are angry with one another and not willing to make things right, they
are guilty. They may read the
commandments and say, “I haven’t murdered so I’m doing fine,” but God looks at
the heart and says, “I see anger and bitterness in the heart. I see you will not make things right with
your brother. I see you must have it
your way and are not willing to work out the problem and reach a solution. You may think you are innocent, but you are
guilty, and if you don’t deal with this situation, I really don’t want your
religious sacrifices and work, and if you don’t eventually deal with this, I will—and
you won’t like the way I do it!”
Jesus’ Thoughts on Adultery (Matthew 5:27-30)
Ø What is it that was said of old?
Ø Do you believe this saying is correct? Why or why not?
Jesus speaks of an old saying, You shall not commit adultery. Obviously, this is one of the Ten Commandments and is a correct saying. I think even common sense teaches us that if we are married to someone, we should not go out and have sex with someone else. However, the problem was not with the saying but with how it had been taken. Please understand many of these sayings Jesus is mentioning throughout these passages are not wrong. These are statements that have been misused. We are told in Jesus’ day this saying had been reduced to only mean a married person could not have sex with someone outside of his marriage. However, Jesus is going to show us when God gave the commandments, he was looking much deeper than actual actions—he was looking at the heart.
Ø What is it that Jesus says to the people concerning lust?
Ø What does it mean to lust?
Jesus makes a very tough statement—anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart (NIV). The reason I say this is so tough is because any man reading this statement who thinks he can earn his way to heaven has to respond by saying, “I am guilty. If this is a requirement of God, I have blown it, and God knows it.” Jesus wants the people to understand they can’t be saved by their own works—God is looking at the heart and knows there is sin in each of our hearts. He also wants us as his followers to know how pure he desires us to be—so pure that even our very thought life is to be surrendered to him.
To lust after something is simply to have a desire. It could be something good or bad, but in this case it is having a longing desire for something that is off limits. It is to allow your mind to dwell on sensual or sexual thoughts with someone other than your mate. Jesus says if we allow these thoughts to dwell in our minds, as far as God is concerned, we have committed adultery in our hearts. That’s right, we are guilty before God even if we never have sex outside of marriage but just have minds that dwell on it. This teaches us that if we allow our minds to dwell on sinful thoughts but don’t have the opportunity to commit them, it doesn’t mean we are innocent before God.
Ø Does this teach if we think of sin and are guilty that we might as well go ahead and commit it?
By the way, I have heard people say, “If I think of sin and am guilty in my heart, I may as well commit the sin—especially since I’m already guilty.” That shows the wickedness of our hearts—that we are not striving to live close to God in purity but are simply wanting our way. No, we don’t go commit sin that we are guilty of in our hearts because then it’s just more sin—active sin on top of the sin we have in our thought lives.
Ø What does Jesus say we are to do if part of our body offends us?
Ø How serious does this statement say sin is?
Ø Will plucking out your eye or cutting off your hand keep you from sinning?
Ø What do you think Jesus means by this?
It’s hard to believe but Jesus says, If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut if off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell (NIV). This is a very serious statement, but please realize Jesus is not teaching us to get rid of parts of our body—even if you cut off your hand or plucked out your eye, you can still sin. Besides Jesus is speaking here of sins of the heart—you don’t need eyes or hands for that. However, I want you to understand Jesus is saying it is so important to be right with God that if there is a sin keeping you from getting saved, you would be better off cutting part of your body off and getting saved than to keep sinning and not get saved.
But this statement says something to the Christian as well. It tells us how serious Christ is concerning sin. It says he hates it so much he would rather us be without one of our limbs or one of our eyes—two of the most precious things we have—than to hold onto sin. That tells me no matter what sin we have in our lives—whether it is in thought, word, or deed—we should surrender it to him and be obedient to whatever he wants us to do.
By the way, ladies, this is speaking of lust in the heart of people. Lust is definitely wrong, but it is also a problem for men. Therefore, you should be careful how you present yourself. I don’t get into telling you how to dress or what things to wear and to avoid—I let God lead you in those issues. I just want to say be careful—make certain the things about you from the way you dress to the way you act to the attitudes you display are not portraying sex or a lot of sensuality. Make certain you are not dressing your body with seductive clothing and suggestive actions and sensual attitudes using it as bait to dangle in front of a guy. (There is enough sensuality in just being a woman that you don’t have to add to it to get a guy to notice you. Besides, if you do, then is he the guy you would really want because apparently he is after you for one main reason!) If you are using your body to cause the guy to wrongly crave you, if it is wrong for him to crave you that way, don’t you think it is wrong for you to try to get him to wrongly desire you?
One of the main things I want us to remember about this passage is that all sin is serious before God—even sin within our hearts that no one else sees; therefore, we must deal with all sin before God and strive to live lives of purity that honor him.
Jesus’ Thoughts on Divorce (Matthew 5:31-32)
Ø What does Jesus say has been said?
The statement in question in our passage originates from Deuteronomy 24:1-4 in which Moses gives people permission to have a writing of divorcement. Basically, it stated that if a man and woman married and the man found some uncleanness in her, he had permission to divorce her—to put her away from his house and let her marry someone else. The word used for uncleanness gives us nakedness and I think is dealing with sexual sin. In other words, if a man married a woman and he finds out she is sexually unfaithful to him, he has the right to divorce her.
Ø Does this mean if you marry someone and they are unfaithful God commands you to divorce your mate?
Ø If the person is unfaithful what should you do?
Of course Jesus wants there to be reconciliation—just like he has forgiven us of sin, his desire is that we forgive others. However, God knew how hard it would be to be with someone who has been sexually unfaithful, and he made a way of escape. First of all, in the Old Testament, if there was sex outside of the marriage, the guilty party could be put to death. Second, if there was this sexual uncleanness of which Moses speaks, there could be a divorce. However, like in our day, many in Jesus’ day had abused this escape. We have statements that show some would allow divorce even if the wife simply burned the food, put too much salt in it, or if the husband found a woman more beautiful than his own. Jesus wanted his followers to know this was not in agreement with God’s Word and says, anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery (NIV). I think Jesus is teaching sexual unfaithfulness breaks the marriage vow even to the point the innocent party can walk away from the marriage. However, if, for example, the man just says, “Goodbye” to his faithful wife and walks away from the marriage, chances are she will end up going to another man and marrying him. Since there was no sexual unfaithfulness, before God the marriage has not been broken; therefore, she would be guilty of adultery and so would the person who married her.
I think Jesus is teaching as long as sexual unfaithfulness is not involved, even though the courts of his day and ours may grant a divorce, God does not, and if sexual unfaithfulness has not been involved, the two are still bound together before God. By the way, this teaches us that just because the law of the land says something is okay, it doesn’t mean God agrees, and as Christians, we should always be seeking God’s way. Besides, as we have already said, God is a God of forgiveness and his first choice is that we try to mend the marriage even if our mate has been unfaithful.
For obvious reasons we hear all the stories concerning one mate leaving another mate and never getting back together. I would say that’s probably normal when it comes to one mate leaving the other. However, there are cases when even after adultery, by the grace of God, the offended party has been able to forgive and the two have stayed together and really had a great marriage. Of course, it takes a long time for the marriage to heal, but I’m thankful if both parties are willing, God can help them overcome even something as horrible as an affair.
Even though it isn’t mentioned here, there does seem to be another reason that permits remarriage added in 1Corinthians 7. It speaks of an unsaved mate who leaves a saved mate because they don’t want anything to do with Christianity. Paul says if the unsaved mate leaves, the saved mate is now free, no longer bound. This is a verse of great controversy, but some take it to be saying this person is free to remarry.
Ø What do you think this passage has to say to someone who is single?
Of course, most teens are not married, so does this verse have any value for you? You better believe it does because it is teaching the single person to be very serious when you say the words, “I do.” It is telling you if you are going to be faithful to God, you will have to be faithful to your mate. It is even saying if you get married and find out your mate lives like a pig (or is a neat freak), stays grumpy all the time, never has anything good to say, lets their physical looks go, doesn’t like your mother, spends money foolishly (or is a tightwad), or doesn’t spend much time with you and gives you little attention, before God, you are still bound to that mate. Before God, you still have the responsibility of trying to make the marriage work. Before God, you are not to divorce your mate unless there has been sexual unfaithfulness. So what does that mean? It means when you “fall in love” you better look beneath the surface. Don’t “fall in love” with “rose-colored glasses” and think you have found the perfect person because you have not. And lest you think that person is perfect, may I remind you if they were perfect they wouldn’t want to be married to someone who is as non-perfect as us. Take the marriage vow extremely serious because I assure you God does.
Jesus’ Thoughts on Keeping Our Word (Matthew 5:33-37)
Ø What is it that has been said of old?
Ø What do you think that means?
It’s strange how people often think. There are people who believe—
Those people would have fit in quite well with the people of Jesus’ day. They had a rule that said, Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord (NIV). The rule is good and is probably from Leviticus 19:12 which says you shall not swear falsely by God’s name. The problem is we are told the people had taken this to mean, “If I swear that I will do something and say something like, ‘I swear before God’ then it was binding. However, if I just say I will do it, promise I will do it, or swear by something of less value—like heaven or earth—then it’s okay to change my mind and not keep my word.”
Ø What did Jesus say?
Ø What did he mean?
Jesus puts it plainly—Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. Now from other passages in the Bible I don’t think Jesus is saying it’s wrong to swear, make a promise, or take an oath. I think he is simply saying when you speak, make certain you speak the truth and keep your word. Simply let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,”; anything beyond this comes from the evil one (NIV). In other words, if you don’t keep your word—even a simple, “Yes” or “No,” if you are trying to make certain words more binding than others so you can find ways of going back on your word, then that is from the devil and not from God. No matter how simple the statement, Jesus expects us to keep our word.
What does that tell us? First it tells us we are to do what we say we will do and not do what we say we will not do. That also tells us we should think before we speak being careful to say that which is right and that which we will actually do. Do you realize if you are a person who goes back on his word you are following the devil in that practice? He is the father of lies. God is the God of truth. The way we keep our word or break our word tells others which one we are following in our practice. This means everything that comes out of our mouths should be important to us—even the simplest “yes” and “no.”
Ø How can we better put this into practice?
Please
notice this section of the Sermon on the Mount began by speaking of Jesus’
thoughts on the importance of God’s Word.
He is now speaking of the importance of our word. He pointed out that God’s Word is true—none
of it will fail to come to pass. He is
now saying we are to be like God with our words making certain we speak only
the truth. Some words are not more
important than others. The world
believes if you swear on a Bible in a court of law or sign your name to a
document it is more important than simply saying, “Yes” to a stranger who asks
you to do something for him. According
to God, it is no more important because the simple “yes” is as binding to God
as all the other stuff. Everything that
comes out of our mouths is of utmost importance to him; therefore, it should be
of utmost importance to us, and we should make certain we are speaking the
truth always because as Christians we represent Christ, and we definitely don’t
want others to think Christ fails to keep his word because of the way we use
ours.
Jesus’ Thoughts on Revenge (Matthew 5:38-42)
Ø What did Jesus say had been said?
Ø What do you think that meant?
Ø Do you believe that is correct?
The next statement Jesus decides to expound is from a passage in Exodus 21:22-25. This passage (and the ones around it) is basically telling what punishment is required for certain crimes against others, and it was establishing that a person should not be forced to “overpay” for their crime. For example, if a person took someone’s life, they were to lose their life, but if they took an eye or tooth (maybe in a fight) they were to pay for it by possibly losing one of their own or paying the price demanded for them. However, they were not to lose their life. The problem is that many people in Jesus’ day (as well as our own) had taken this writing and used it for personal revenge. That is, they said, “Whatever you do to me, I am going to do to you. I am going to treat you the same way you treat me, so if you harm me, I am going to seek revenge.” That was never the purpose of the law. It was telling the courts how to handle the situation—not the individual. When it comes to the individual, Jesus has a completely different law for us.
Ø What is it Jesus says we are to do?
Jesus says, do not resist an evil person (NIV). Please don’t misinterpret this statement. Jesus is not saying we are not to try to stop sin (like trying to talk a friend out of an abortion). He did not say we couldn’t defend ourselves (like when being attacked by a thief, rapist, murderer, etc.). What I believe he is saying is we are not to seek revenge upon others who have harmed us.
Notice the four statements Jesus makes. First, you have someone who strikes you on the right cheek. A slap on the cheek harms our pride much more than it does our bodies. A slap is not a life-threatening attack. I’ve never heard of anyone being slapped to death. I think what Jesus is saying is when a person insults you (be it a physical slap or just a verbal one) with intent to harm your dignity, simply leave it alone. Don’t repay the slap. Don’t insult them back. Don’t seek revenge. In a sense you are to turn to him the other also. I don’t think that means you are to say, “Keep slapping if you would like” as much as it means you simply ignore the insult and treat the person as if they never insulted you.
Second, if any man will sue you at the law, and take away your coat, let him have your cloke also. When one person takes another person to court and sues them, I have a feeling if they were friends before, they will not be friends afterward. That’s because the party suing feels he has been violated, and then the party being sued ends up feeling violated as well. In Bible times, if you sued someone who had very little, the court could award you part of their clothing—the inner garment (KJV – coat, NIV – tunic). However, you could not be awarded the outer garment (KJV – cloke, NIV – cloak). The outer garment not only served as a coat but also as a bed covering for the poor. Jesus says if a person sues you for your inner garment, give them the outer garment as well.
There is a lot of debate as to whether this has in mind only legitimate lawsuits or if this applies to some of the absurd lawsuits of our day (like a man who broke into another man’s home, got hurt, sued the home owner, and was awarded the house). There is also other debates surrounding it, but I think the main thought here is that we are to show the person who sued us—whether legitimately or not—that we are not holding a grudge over them taking us to court and we are not going to be seeking revenge.
Third, Jesus says, whosoever shall compel you to go a mile, go with him two. The Romans ruled in Jesus’ day.
They even ruled the land of the Jews.
The Jews considered them to be the enemy—their oppressors—and they were
looking someone to come along and cast off the hold Rome had on them. They were so much against Rome that if a Jew
became a collector of taxes for Rome, he would basically be ostracized from his
people. We are told one of the practices
of Rome was that a soldier could make someone under Rome’s rule carry his
soldier’s gear for him up to a mile.
This was not a practice the Jews liked—they were being forced to carry
the enemy’s gear. Jesus now says if
they force you to carry it one mile, take it two miles. Trust me, that would have been a very
radical statement for the people to hear.
Fourth, give
to him that asks you, and from him that would borrow of you turn not away. This one seems a little different. The other statements have to do with people
doing something against us—insulting, suing, or forcing us to do work on their
behalf. This one is simply a person
asking us to give them something or allow them to borrow something from us. Jesus says to give it. This seems so much different from the other
three, but I don’t think it is. Let’s
face it, we don’t want the first three to happen to us, but the last one isn’t
something we like either. We don’t want
people asking for our stuff. We
don’t want them borrowing what belongs to us. Do you agree? In helping
them out we are showing that while many people are against a person coming to
them in need, we are not and we are willing to help meet their need. We need to be known as the type that doesn’t
turn away the poor.
I think there are two main thoughts in these verses. One is obvious—Jesus is saying when others harm us or do things to us we don’t like, we are to show them by our actions that we are not holding a grudge, not seeking revenge, and are willing to help them (the next section will even tell us we have to show them love). The second thought may not be quite as obvious but it is showing our trust in God. That is, when someone insults us and we don’t retaliate, we show we trust God with our dignity. When someone sues and we give them more, we show we trust God with our security. When someone forces us to do something we don’t like to do and we do more, we show we are trusting God with our liberty, and when someone in need asks to borrow and we give it, we show we are trusting God with our property.
Understand what I am saying is not easy to put into practice. When we have harmed someone and they demand payment, it’s certainly not easy to give them more. When someone insults your dignity, it’s not easy to keep quiet and let them continue. When someone (even a parent) tells us we must do something we don’t like doing (like cleaning our room), it’s not always easy to do it and even be willing to do more. When we have something we like that another person needs, it’s not always easy to let them use it. However, these are statements made by Jesus—not me—and if we are going to live the life he wants us to live, we will have to obey him even when it is tough to do.
These verses give us some of the harder things I know to do, but if you do them, guess what you are doing—you are displaying the Beatitudes, and you are showing your righteousness runs deeper than the righteousness of the Pharisees who were only concerned about the outside. You are showing you trust God even in tough times and that he is working in you to make you more like Christ. And if you think these statements are hard to live—to simply not retaliate—wait until you read the next section. Jesus takes it even further.
Jesus’ Thoughts on Loving Our Enemies (Matthew 5:43-48)
Ø What has been said?
Ø Do you agree with this statement?
The Bible tells us you are to love your neighbor as yourself. Some people had wrongly interpreted this to basically mean you were to love those who were neighborly towards you but were to hate those who were not. This was a total misrepresentation of what God had in mind. However, it did appeal to man’s flesh, so I’m sure it caught on quite well.
Ø What does Jesus say we are to do?
Ø What does Jesus have in mind when he uses the word love?
Ø How hard is this to obey?
Jesus had some pretty tough statements to follow, and this is one of the toughest. He now lets us know it isn’t enough to not seek revenge on others but we must actually love your enemies. Please understand Jesus isn’t speaking of love as a noun but as a verb—an action verb. The word Jesus used for love is agapao. This is the highest form of love there is. This is the type love that caused God the Father to send his Son Jesus to this earth on our behalf. This is the type love that caused Jesus to die in our place. This is a love that will strive to do what is best for the other person even at great cost to one’s self. This is not a love that just sits in our hearts—this is a love that reaches out through our actions.
Ø How far does Jesus take this idea of love we are to have for others (what did he say do for these people who are harming us)?
Jesus said, Bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray
for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. We understand what it means when people curse us and hate
us, but in case we don’t understand the other words, to despitefully use
is when someone abuses us, and persecute is the word used for causing
someone to run away.
Christ’s words are hard—almost impossible and even all the way impossible for us to obey Christ in our own strength. We must have help from above. Our flesh desires to retaliate, and even if we don’t retaliate, how can we love these people who are hating us? How can we speak words of blessing to those who curse us? How can we do good to the people who hate us? How can we pray for blessings upon those who abuse us and treat us so bad we have to run away? It is only by the grace of God that any of us can do this. But it is something we must do.
Ø Why does Jesus say we must do this?
Why must we do this?
That ye may be
the children of your Father which is in heaven. Now don’t misunderstand.
He isn’t saying if you find an enemy and treat him nicely you will
become a Christian. That would go
against other passages of Scripture. I
think he is simply saying if you treat your enemy with this much love you are
being like your Father and will be recognized as his child.
If you watch a little child who has a great relationship with his dad, it is very interesting to watch. That child will try to be like his dad. He may put on his dad’s shoes or try to walk in his footsteps in the sand or like the same things his dad likes. A little boy’s greatest hero is his dad, and he wants to be like his dad. Our “hero” should be God, and our greatest desire should be to be more like him.
Ø What do I mean by being more like God?
Ø How does Jesus say loving our enemies is being like God?
If we are saved, the Father is our Heavenly
Daddy. We should have a burning desire
to be like him. We should want others
to know we are his children. And they
can as we live more like Christ. As we
do what is right no matter what, avoid sin, display the right attitudes, care
for others, and yes, even love our enemies and treat them well, others will be
able to recognize there is a difference in us.
They will see the salt and light that shows them we belong to God. Jesus even uses an illustration to say for he makes his sun to rise on
the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. The sun and rain are blessings.
We need each of them, and without either, you have great problems. But who gets the blessings of the sun and
rain? Only those who love the Lord and
treat him correctly, right? Wrong! While there are certainly some blessings he
only pours upon those who are his own, there are other blessings such as in
nature that he pours out upon all—even the people who hate him, curse him,
abuse and persecute his people. Even
though they are so evil, they experience his love in the blessings he
gives. Jesus says that’s the way our
Heavenly Daddy is, and we should be like our Daddy. He even adds, For if you love them which love you, what reward
have you? do not even the publicans the same?
And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others?
do not even the publicans so?
Ø What does Jesus mean by saying if you love only those who love you or salute only your brothers, don’t the publicans do the same?
The publicans were the tax collectors. If a Jew agreed to work for Rome and collect taxes, he was hated and despised by his fellow Jews. He may be despised by his own family and excluded from religious services. Imagine if Iraq were to overthrow America and some Americans decided to make money by coming around to the rest of us and collecting a tax to give to Iraq. They wouldn’t be loved by many! Well, Jesus is basically saying, “If you only treat people nice who treat you nice, don’t even the people you despise act like that? Are you any better than the people you don’t like if you act like them?”
Ø What is Jesus’ final command in this section, and what do you think he means by it?
What a command Jesus has here at the end of this chapter—be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect. We represent God. He truly is perfect in all things. As his children, we are to be seeking to be more like him rather than being like the world around us. We are to have a higher standard for living than those around us, and in this context, one of the main standards Jesus has in mind is the way we treat our enemies. Jesus is saying we are to have perfect love—a love that loves and reaches out to others no matter how they feel about us and no matter how they treat us. If we do that, we are faithfully representing our Father in heaven.