The Sermon on the Mount: Loving the Unlovable

Introduction

Read Matthew 5:38-48

Matthew 5:38–48 (ESV)

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is 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. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Last week, we saw Christ’s teaching on the law and that He did not come to abolish the law, but rather to fulfill it. He fulfilled it through His perfect obedience to the law, His death which paid the penalty for everyone who has broken the law, and now He is fulfilling it in the lives of His people as He is giving them a new heart to love Him and obey Him.

These next several topics Jesus is going to address is going to show how a new heart of love will not only lead us to an external obedience to the law, but show us how the law is meant to get to our hearts. Sin begins with how we fail to see, love, and respect others for who they are. He begins with looking at the two biggest commands most of us feel like we do pretty good on, murder and adultery. We are going to leave these passages for now as Rikke will actually be preaching on those passages next week. Then Jesus will address how we honor others through our promises, starting with our spouses and then moving out to our relationships with others. We will look at those passages the week after Rikke preaches.

This morning we are looking at how we are called to view and treat our enemies and those who mistreat us.

Jim & Elisabeth Elliot

On January 8, 1956, Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, and three of their friends went to meet with several Waodani men. In the weeks and months prior to this meeting, the men had been working to find a way to bring the gospel to this unreached tribe in the jungles of Ecuador.

The Auca tribe that lived in this jungle were a violent tribe. Any outsiders they met were instantly attacked and killed. Jim Elliot knew they needed to hear the gospel, so he and his friends began to work towards this goal.

They would take their plane and fly over the area and would even drop down gifts to the Auca people in an effort to establish friendly relations with them. They were very cautious as they knew how violent this people were. However, as a result of all the hard work, they were able to meet one man from the tribe who they ended up calling George because they couldn’t pronounce his name. They began to communicate with George and even took him up in their plane.

Eventually, they made plans with George to meet with him and several others from his tribe on January 8th. They knew this was a dangerous mission. In fact, Jim Elliot and his friends were asked if they would take guns with them in case things went bad.

Elliot’s response was even if something went bad, his future was secure in Christ. But he knew the Auca men were not secure in Christ. So he chose not to take a gun to protect himself because his fate would be to meet Christ in heaven, whereas the Auca men would go to hell if they died.

So they went to meet with George and other men from his tribe. Unfortunately, in spite of all the work they had done, George still did not trust the men and he and his fellow tribesmen ended up spearing Jim Elliot’s team to death.

Jim Elliot and his friends each had wives that instantly became widows that day and their children became fatherless.

I want us to place ourselves in the shoes of Elisabeth Elliot, Jim’s young wife and mother of their 10 month old daughter.

How would you feel being in Elisabeth’s shoes? What are the feelings that would be going through us at this moment?

If we are honest, most of us would naturally want to either strike back at those men and their families who killed our husbands, or at the very least leave and let them suffer their own fate.

Deny Yourself

Seeking True Justice - Eye for Eye and Tooth for Tooth

As we consider the question of what we would do if we were in Elisabeth Elliot’s place, we want to look at what Jesus says here at the beginning of this passage.

Eye for an Eye and tooth for tooth -

Seems barbaric and ancient

We wonder how God could condone such a violent law

This law wasn’t meant for the individual

This was meant for the judges of Israel

It was meant to protect the poor and weak from the strong and powerful

If someone had hurt another person, the victim could go to the judges and seek justice

But that justice was not meant to exceed the extent of the crime

Many times, those with power and money would seek to take more from the violator than what they actually lost and they could pay off the judges to make sure it happened.

This law was meant to prevent an overreach of justice and to keep things equitable.

The Scribes and Pharisees -

Began to apply this law to themselves instead of the judges of the land

They interpreted this to mean that they could exact their own personal vengeance against those who hurt them

The law that was meant to protect was being used to harm others in the name of justice

They were using the law to advance their own well-being and in essence were breaking the law instead

Resist Fighting for Your Rights

Jesus tells us that instead of trying to avenge ourselves, he tells us not to resist those who are evil.

“If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”

We often think of this as letting someone abuse and harm us and let others walk over us.

Jesus is not talking about those who physically attack us.

The idea here is that most people would use their right hand to slap someone and to slap someone on their right cheek would be to slap with the back side of your hand which would be more degrading than just slapping someone.

So Jesus is talking about people who choose to insult and dishonor us.

Our natural instinct would be to strike back and defend our honor. However, Jesus tells us to let it go. We do not have to fight for our own honor.

In fact, that goes for all the other ways people might belittle us.

Don’t repay evil for those who

Insult you

Mistreat you

Impose upon you

Take advantage of you

How do we not give into our natural tendencies to strike back and to fight for our own honor?

Seek to Follow Jesus - Deny Yourself and Take Up Your Cross

Matthew 16:24 (ESV)

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

In order to follow Christ and His teaching here, we have to die to ourself and our desires and submit ourselves to Christ. Jesus tells us we have to take up our cross, which is a sign of choosing to die. I’ve got to quit being Lord over myself and submit to the Lordship of King Jesus and acknowledge that my worth and honor are found in Him alone, not in what I can do.

We will receive more in Christ than anything we are sacrificing in this life

In essence, Christ is calling us to humility and meekness.

We might ask, if I do not seek to fight for my rights, then I could lose everything. But will we really?

Jesus is asking us to give up rights to ourselves in this life, because He has something even better for us in the life to come.

Matthew 5:5 (ESV)

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

If we have humbled ourselves in Christ, then we know that Christ has given us all that is His as co-heirs with Him.

There is nothing we can give up in this life that Christ will not give to us a hundred fold in the life to come.

Or as Paul would say,

Romans 8:18 (ESV)

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

We do not have to fight for our rights, because we have all we could ever want in Christ Himself. We have to change our perspective on what is really valuable and when we begin to see Jesus as infinitely worthy and that He is all we could ever want, then we do not have to keep fighting for our own rights.

Love Your Enemies

Matthew 5:43–44 (ESV)

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

So the negative side of this command is to not strike back and do not fight for yourself.

But as we will see, God does not just command us what not to do. He wants a heart that doesn’t just avoid sin, but a heart that longs for true loving obedience.

What is the positive side to this teaching? To LOVE your enemies.

Leviticus 19:18 (ESV)

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Love Your Neighbor

The command in the Old Testament was simply to Love your neighbor.

But again, with the Scribes and Pharisees, they began to interpret it based on a limited view of who my neighbor is and they added in the phrase to hate your enemy.

This is how, once again, our righteousness is to exceed the scribes and the pharisees. We must see everyone, whether our friend and loved one or our enemy as a neighbor God has called us to love.

This is the point of Jesus’ parable.

The story of the Good Samaritan

A teacher of the law wanted to know who is our neighbor that we are called to love. So Jesus tells the story about a Samaritan who saw a Jewish man left for dead and sacrificially went to take care of the man. The Samaritans and the Jews were bitter enemies and hated each other desperately.

The point of this story is that our neighbor is anyone and everyone we come into contact with, not just the people who are lovable to us.

We are called to love all, including our enemies and we are even called to pray for them.

Pray for Your Enemies

We do not naturally seek to love our enemies. We can love our friends and family.

Even Gentiles and tax collectors love people who love them. There is no righteousness in simply loving people who we like.

So how do we love people who are so difficult?

We pray for them. We pray for a change of heart and attitude. Perhaps, if they are unsaved, which hopefully we would not consider a fellow brother or sister in Christ an enemy, we would pray for their salvation.

But most of all, we pray that God would change our heart for them. Prayer changes the one who is praying more than it changes the one being prayed for. What I mean is that when we come to God in prayer, He is working in our hearts to change us and our attitudes. And when we begin to pray for others, God works to use us to meet the needs of others we are praying for.

Often the way God changes the hearts of others is by changing how we see them and react to them.

Proverbs 25:21–22 (ESV)

If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat,

and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,

for you will heap burning coals on his head,

and the Lord will reward you.

Those burning coals will either be God’s judgment upon them for their evil done against you, or it will be the Spirit’s conviction and purification in their lives to change them and their relationship with you.

Either way, even the old testament commands us to treat our enemies with love, to treat them with respect and to seek their good.

Be a Blessing to Everyone, Including your enemies

Last, Jesus tells us to bless our enemies the way God blesses us and them.

Sun & Rain

Sun is not just the good things and rain is not just the bad things that come in life.

Both are God’s blessings and they come upon all people, whether they are His people or not.

Common Grace

God’s common grace vs. God’s saving grace

God’s saving grace can only be received by His people through faith and trust in Christ.

God’s common grace is offered to all people regardless of their relationship with Him.

The fact we wake up in the morning is God’s grace to us.

The enjoyment of food and drink is God’s common grace

The love of family and friends is God’s common grace

Good relationships, good jobs, good days, pleasures and joys, all of it can be experienced whether we are believers in Christ or not.

Yes, the joys are greater and more fulfilling when we are in Christ, but they are all God’s common grace to all people.

Bless our enemies

Jesus is commanding us to Seek the best for everyone, whether loved one or enemy or somewhere in between.

Again, to bless is to do good and to seek the flourishing of others. We want to see others flourish and experience the best life has to offer.

Jesus loved us this way

Romans 5:8 (ESV)

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Look at what Paul says here. Even while we were still enemies of God, He sent His Son to die for us. He gave us the greatest blessing even while we were still far from Him.

As His sons and daughters, we are called to demonstrate the love of God to our enemies because of the cross of Christ.

1 John 4:19 (ESV)

We love because he first loved us.

We demonstrate that we really have received the love of Christ by how we love others.

And the best way to love others is to lead others to experience the love of God in Christ. In order for them to listen to us, we have to show that love even before they come to Christ. Even in their rebellion, we must be willing to sacrificially love them wherever they are at.

Conclusion

Elisabeth Elliot had a choice to make when she learned of her husband and his friends’ deaths. She could become bitter and angry, as none of us would have blamed her for.

However, because of the Gospel, she and the wife of Nate Saint, chose to remain in Ecuador to continue to find ways to serve and minister to the Auca people.

The two women were able to make contact with George again and continued to form a relationship with him. And as they demonstrated their love and forgiveness for what the men had done to their husbands, the tribe opened themselves up to the women and their children.

Through the sharing of the Gospel, most of the people of this tribe came to a saving faith in Jesus Christ.

Because of what God had done through Elisabeth’s willingness to love her enemies, to sacrificially love and forgive the men who had killed her husband, this group of people gained the hope of eternal life in Jesus.

God is not calling us to simply tolerate the people we come into contact with. He is calling us to love them and lead them to Jesus. He is calling us to a righteousness greater than the Scribes and Pharisees. What kind of impact could God accomplish through you if you trusted in Christ by taking up your cross to follow Him to love the unlovable people in your life?