Loving Relationships (2)

Intro and Recap

Ok, now everybody go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Matthew 5:33-48 for our Bible passage tonight. And a quick recap:

What is this section of Scripture we’re studying called?

Who gave the sermon?

Why is the mount significant?

Jesus came not to abolish the law but to ____ it?

Jesus doesn’t just care about our external actions, but what else?

Last week we talked about God’s design for our sexuality and marriage. This week we’re going to talk about truthfulness and loving others.

Read the passage together.

Truthfulness

Matthew 5:33–37 ESV

“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

What was happening in those days is that people were making distinctions in their promises. They were swearing by different things and saying that a promise counted if it was sworn by ___ but not if it was sworn by ____. The problem was that people were finding ways to justify breaking promises and lying.

So why is this important to us? Because the same thing happens for us today. We’re tempted to break promises or to outright lie. And Jesus is saying that is not how his people are to be. God is truth, his word is truth, so we should be people of truth.

We shouldn’t break our promises, but be people of our word. In fact, we shouldn’t even need to make promises. If we say we will do something, we ought to do it. If we say we won’t do something, we shouldn’t. It should be as simple as that. Any way we try to complicate things and have multiple layers of truth or deception is evil.

Revenge

Matthew 5:38–42 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.

Jesus is telling us that we shouldn’t seek revenge. Even if it’s the same level of harm they caused us, we shouldn’t do that. Instead we should be people of peace and generous. People will try to harm us. And instead of trying to harm them in return, we should trust that God will deliver justice. We know that God is good and that he is fair. He will bring us justice, so we don’t have to get even with revenge.

Loving Enemies

Matthew 5:43–48 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 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.

Jesus is giving us a hard command here. We are to show love to our enemies and go to God on their behalf. This goes hand in hand with the revenge passage. Instead of seeking revenge, we should actually pray for those people who are doing evil things. We should pray for them to be saved from their sins.

Jesus says that it’s easy to love our friends and our family. But everyone does that, even evil people. What sets us apart as children of God if we only love our friends and family?

We must remember that God has shown us immense love even when we were rebelling against him. While we were still sinners, Jesus died for us, so that we could have a restored relationship with him.

Jesus showed us the picture of what it means to love our enemies, and we are called to show that same level of love to those we are tempted to hate.