Sacrifice For Others
The Greatest Sermon Ever • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Today we continue our series from Matthew, the Greatest Sermon Ever, where we are studying the word of Jesus as he gave the greatest sermon ever. This passage is known as the sermon on the mount and is 3 entire chapters from Matthew 5-7.
We’ll finish Chapter 5 today, and then we’ll take a break for a sermon series that will lead us up through Easter. After Easter, the plan is to continue in chapter 6. Just a quick recap of what Jesus has said so far...
He starts with the Beatitudes, a series of Blessed are those statements that challenges us in our thinking about who is called blessed…This one in particular...
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
***Title Slide***
Then Jesus challenged us in our role in the world to be salt and light. We are often tempted to remove ourselves from the world and Jesus tell us to be two things to the world that will glorify God and what He has done for us.
Then Jesus says that he has come to fulfill the law and not to abolish it. I that passage, we see that Jesus challenges us to be more righteous than the Pharisees who made knowing the law and following it their source of pride and honor.
This led us to a series of statements that flow right from that thought…that the Pharisees were righteous because of keeping the law. Jesus gives us 6 statements that start with “You have heard it said...” followed by a deeper explanation from Jesus what those saying and the law really meant.
The first was “You have heard it said that you shall not murder.” Jesus goes on to clarify that anger and hate are the same as murder.
Next…”You have have heard it said you shall not commit adultery.” Jesus clarified for us that looking at someone lustfully is the same as committing adultery in our heart.
Last week we talked about promises, the first being marriage and that while the law permitted divorce on certain grounds, God never intended for us to break that promise. Then generally speaking, Jesus challenged us to keep all of our promises as a if it were a promise made to God.
If you’ve missed any of those sermons, you can catch up with them on our website or youtube channel.
Today we are going to talk about sacrifice, but not in the way you might think.
We are going to be reading from Matthew 5 starting in verse 38...Before we read today’s passage I want to make a couple of disclaimers.
What we are about to read is challenging and hard.
You will want to disagree with something I’ve said, and I know this because I want to disagree with it as well.
You will be tempted to come up with exceptions to what I am saying. Please press in and think about what would happen if you didn’t make exceptions.
Alright with that said, let’s read verse 38.
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’
Several times in Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy we see this phrase…here is an example:
17 “ ‘Anyone who takes the life of a human being is to be put to death. 18 Anyone who takes the life of someone’s animal must make restitution—life for life. 19 Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the same manner: 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury.
This is actually a law that was meant to limit what was happening. Before this, two men would get into a fight. One would be injured, so the brother of the injured man would go and hurt the other guy worse, because that’s what we do…and then that guy’s brother would go and kill the dad and before you knew it, two neighboring cities were are war.
This law limited the punishment to the crime. If an injury occurs, the same injury would be inflicted. Sounds fair, right?
This idea of fairness, as it pertains to us getting what we deserve, is something Jesus is going to challenge with a series of statements that would have meant more in the culture and time then, than it does now…hopefully I can help translate for us.
39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.
First, there is this general statement to not resist an evil person. This is meant as a summary of the next four statements. The first is about someone who would disrespect you with a backhanded slap to the right cheek. This kind of slap carried not only the weight of a physical blow, but was a sign of deep disrespect and dishonor.
While that is not a common way for disrespect to happen today, Jesus would have the same challenge to us…turn the other cheek. Don’t respond retaliate or lash out in return. Then he says this:
40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.
In Jewish culture, it was illegal to take someone’s coat. Jesus says, that even though the law says you don’t have to give it, you should give it. Go beyond the letter of the law and give more.
41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.
In Roman times, a soldier could ask anyone to carry their pack and supplies for a mile. It was against Roman law to say no. Jesus says the law says to do 1 mile, but I say do 2 miles and do it willingly. Lastly,
42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
Give is not the same as loan. Giving implies not getting it back. Isn’t that the measure in which Jesus has encountered us?
Let’s keep reading...
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
This might just be the single hardest thing you’ll ever be asked to do.
44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
We this idea that love is something we feel, something that happens inside us, with our thoughts before it can become an action. That is not the right way in which to view love. Love is something we demonstrate...
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
It is something we feel from others because of their actions. Renee felt loved when I unloaded the dishwasher. The doing was an expression of my love for her.
What then does it look like to
44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
Watch what happens when we take the passage of 1 Corinthians 13 and overlay it with this one.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Be patient with my enemies, be kind with my enemies, do not envy my enemies, do not boast over my enemies, do not be proud before my enemies. Do not dishonor my enemies, do not seek self over enemies, do not be easily angered by enemies, keep no records of wrongs...
I know from experience, this is a hard thing to ask. The good thing is that I am not asking this of you, Jesus is. These are his words, his commands, his ask of us.
And it’s not like he has asked something of us he hasn’t already done. We were once enemies of God and then Jesus. We were once no different than the men who hung him on the cross and Jesus cried out on our behalf - Father Forgive them.
Here is a quote from CS Lewis in a book called Mere Christianity.
Do not waste time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less. There is, indeed, one exception. If you do him a good turn, not to please God and obey the law of charity, but to show him what a fine forgiving chap you are, and to put him in your debt, and then sit down to wait for his 'gratitude', you will probably be disappointed. (People are not fools: they have a very quick eye for anything like showing off, or patronage.) But whenever we do good to another self, just because it is a self, made (like us) by God, and desiring its own happiness as we desire ours, we shall have learned to love it a little more or, at least, to dislike it less.
48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Perfect - Mature, Complete, Fully developed, lacking nothing