Learning To Love Like God
Notes
Transcript
Intro; Being a good parent can be a difficult and challenging venture, but at the same time can be the most rewarding and fulfilling thing we ever do. The Bible has a lot to say about the way we can successfully raise our children to be men and women of God. As a good parent, the most important thing we must do is teach our kids the truth about God’s Word.
Teaching our kids the truth of God’s Word will plant seeds of salvation in their life, but also as parents we are raising the future!
The question we must ask ourselves now is, “how does the future look?”
Tonight I want to preach on the most important part of relationships that Jesus talks about, “Learning to Love Like God”
Text; Mt. 5:43-48
Matthew 5:43–48 (NKJV)
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.
1. Interpreting the Law; 43
1. Interpreting the Law; 43
The religious leaders as usual have misinterpreted the law and were teaching it to others contrary to what God had said.
18 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
The Jews took neighbors to be people of the same race and religion, Jews. Therefore no one else was a neighbor so they should be hated. Human nature actually leads a person to believe this. Even today we think of neighbors as close friends, not the world!
3 “An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever,
4 because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.
5 Nevertheless the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you.
6 You shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever.
The religious leaders took the law out of context by misinterpreting what God had said by “not seeking peace nor prosperity of a people or country”. That doesn’t mean you hate them, it means you don’t have dealings with them because of their sinful ways.
The word hate is used 182 times in scripture. And not once is it used in the form of God hating His creation/mankind. When the Bible does speak of God’s hatred, the object of His hatred is always sin and wickedness. Before a person repents and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, he is the enemy of God.
21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled
Yet he is still loved by God!
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Rightly dividing the word of truth affects how the next generation will live and love their neighbors!
2. Four Commands of Love; 44
2. Four Commands of Love; 44
Love your enemies- Love [aga pao] demonstrate mercy
Illus.- Good Samaritan, [Luke 10:25-37], Jews and Samaritans were hostile enemies. The Jew wanted to know how to inherit eternal life and Jesus responded by loving God and your neighbor. The Jew wanted to know who his neighbor was. Jesus told the story and his neighbor was the one who loved/showed mercy, and it happened to be the one the Jew hated!
Bless those who curse you- (Bless means to be happy) but it goes much deeper. To bless means to impart divine delight of Jesus into a persons life.
To bless in this context is the way one speak or respond to those who curse us/speak evil of us.
1 A soft answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.
11 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold In settings of silver.
Don't say anything at all. Sometimes silence is golden
Do good- give your enemy visible proof you care. Back your words with action. It’s hard to help those who hate you because they don’t want you around. But there comes a time in everyone’s life that a crisis will come [sickness, accident, death] and you can minister to that person and show God’s love.
5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.
15 See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.
Pray- To interceding for the enemy because only God can change the wicked heart, not man.
Pray for their salvation
Pray for peace between our enemy and ourselves
1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,
2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.
3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Loving our enemies is a love that must be willed, it doesn’t come naturally. The Christian must use his heart, mind and spiritual reasoning, deliberately choosing to love his enemy. Just as God chose to love us in Christ!
3. The Reason Why; 45-47
3. The Reason Why; 45-47
We could always say, “Because Jesus said so”, and that would be enough. But it goes much deeper than that.
"That we may be sons of our Father''- We prove our faith in Christ by the quality of our character and rising above the status quo!
3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.
29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.
If we love only those who love us in return, and respect those who respect us in return, we are only as good as the scum of the earth. (Tax collectors)
Be Perfect- be holy, spiritually mature, not childish.
13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;
15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
To be perfect as God is perfect (5:48) does not mean to be sinless; rather, it means to love others—in the power of the Holy Spirit—by seeking their best interests as a reflection of God’s character. To do this even for people you don’t like. Loving your neighbor doesn’t require having warm and fuzzy feelings for him; it means seeking his well-being.
Evans, T. (2019). The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (p. 874). Holman Bible Publishers.
Close;
I started this message with talking about being a good parent. And good parents will do their best to fit their children for life. The best we can do for our children is give them “Truth”, and His name is Jesus!
If we are going to “Learn To Love Like God”, then our life has to be saturated with Jesus! Not just a couple of hours a week on Sunday, but in all we do, wherever we are.
Now let me ask you the same question that I asked at the beginning.
What does our future look like? Are you Learning to Love Like God!