Bulletins - Corvallis Community Church

Praise Him Praise Him
I Sing The Mighty Power Of God
This Is My Father's World
Matthew 5:43-48
In 1958 CS Lewis was criticized in a Christian publication, among other things for not caring about the Sermon on the Mount. He replied to the criticism with with a powerful rejoinder
Sermon on the Mount—The Message of the Kingdom Chapter 17: Superseding Love
As to “caring for” the Sermon on the Mount, if “caring for” here means “liking” or enjoying, I suppose no one “cares for” it. Who can like being knocked flat on his face by a sledge hammer? I can hardly imagine a more deadly spiritual condition than that of a man who can read that passage with tranquil pleasure.
For those of you who have joined us while studying the SM—this is exactly what you’ve felt when you hear the words of LJC. What keeps coming to my mind is the word “impossible.” Not difficult, not unlikely, but undoable—impossible. The practice, the life Jesus calls everyone who wants to enter the kingdom of heaven to is impossible to attain…this is precisely His point stated in vs 20. This standard of righteousness is not possible for you to achieve b/c you are a sinner, you are fallen, your heart is more deceitful above all else, the condition of your heart being what it is—this is what makes each of us fall woefully short of what God requires. Jesus illustrates this in 6 different ways:
Anger in your heart=murder
Lust in your heart=adultery
Divorce for reasons other than unfaithfulness=adultery
False vows=lying
Retaliation (getting even)=returning evil for evil
Now Jesus concludes His point with 1 final illustration as to why God’s standard of righteousness lies out of your reach.
1. The Instruction
Time and again, Jesus is criticizing the leadership of the scribes and the Pharisees for teaching that which is contrary to the OT Law’s meaning and intent. He keeps referring to what the people were hearing in the synagogues “You have heard.” This represents the traditional teaching about love—which had become stripped of its importance when the leaders were teaching that you should limit love and hate enemies.
Of course “love your neighbor” is thoroughly biblical—in fact could be said to be the epitome of OT ethics. Comes right out of Lev 19:18. Later, Jesus would summarize God’s commandments as they related to fellow man— “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Now that last part was being omitted b/c they were setting the standard Lev 19 to something much lower than what it meant. But they were correct in teaching that you should love your neighbor—though it had been severely limited b/c your neighbor was a fellow Jew—all others were aliens, enemies.
Now, the 2nd part of the Pharisee’s instruction about hating your enemies—there is no verse in the OT that love you neighbor and hate your enemy. Yet, the OT’s teaching about enemies is very complex.
As Israel was about to enter the Promised Land, God commanded them to eliminate the Canaanites. He told them:
Deuteronomy 20:16–17 NASB95
16 “Only in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes. 17 “But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the Lord your God has commanded you,
Of the Ammonites, Moabites (even Midianites) Israel was to treat as adversaries and destroy them b/c of the incident with having Balaam curse Israel:
Deuteronomy 23:3–6 NASB95
3 “No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the Lord; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the Lord, 4 because they did not meet you with food and water on the way 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 was not willing to 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 never seek their peace or their prosperity all your days.
In the days of King Saul, God commanded Israel to blot out the name of the Amalekites under heaven b/c they attacked Israel at Rephidim on their way out of Egypt (1 Sam 15) but Saul spared the king Agag which would lead to his removal as king and trouble for Israel later on.
We have some very emphatic statements given by the Lord regarding Israel’s enemies. And then we have what are called “Imprecatory Psalms.” These are psalms that invoke the judgment and wrath of God upon one’s enemies. These psalms (all but 2 are authored by David: include Pss. 5; 11; 17; 35; 55; 59; 69; 109; 137; 140) and are motivated by a fiery zeal for God’s glory. One of the best examples of these psalms
Psalm 69:22–28 NASB95
22 May their table before them become a snare; And when they are in peace, may it become a trap. 23 May their eyes grow dim so that they cannot see, And make their loins shake continually. 24 Pour out Your indignation on them, And may Your burning anger overtake them. 25 May their camp be desolate; May none dwell in their tents. 26 For they have persecuted him whom You Yourself have smitten, And they tell of the pain of those whom You have wounded. 27 Add iniquity to their iniquity, And may they not come into Your righteousness. 28 May they be blotted out of the book of life And may they not be recorded with the righteous.
There were several reasons these psalms are written:
To demonstrated God’s holy hatred of sin and His righteous judgment toward the wicked:
Psalm 58:11 NASB95
11 And men will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; Surely there is a God who judges on earth!”
To show the unconditional sovereignty of God over the wicked
Psalm 59:13 NASB95
13 Destroy them in wrath, destroy them that they may be no more; That men may know that God rules in Jacob To the ends of the earth. Selah.
To lead the wicked to the point that they seek the Lord
Psalm 83:16 NASB95
16 Fill their faces with dishonor, That they may seek Your name, O Lord.
To cause the righteous to praise the name of the Lord
Psalm 7:17 NASB95
17 I will give thanks to the Lord according to His righteousness And will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.
People have asked my if it is right to pray these imprecatory psalms against those who oppose us? The only response I can give is to remind you that David (as the author) is King of Israel, he’s the protector of the nation, the Commander-in-Chief of Israel’s armies and he is praying for victory in just wars—but he never sought or took personal vengeance (even as he could have when Saul was seeking his life).
Yet by no means is this the end of the teaching of the OT regarding your enemies.
Exodus 23:4–5 NASB95
4 “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him. 5 “If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall refrain from leaving it to him, you shall surely release it with him.
Proverbs 25:21–22 NASB95
21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; 22 For you will heap burning coals on his head, And the Lord will reward you.
But the scribes and Pharisees had so perverted the teaching and intent of the OT and thru their instruction, they were leading the masses into disobedience by giving permission to hate your enemies. We get it…the flesh wants above all else to promote self and anyone who gets in the way is my enemy. That’s what my fallen heart tells me. So to hear the teachers of Israel say that this is what God tells you to do (and you don’t have the Scriptures to read and study for yourself), then that’s how you look upon those that you don’t really care much about. But this is not God’s way—leading to:
2. The Correction
vs 44—this is the shocking crescendo of Jesus’ illustrations. Understand that your enemy is the one who is opposing you, lit “hostile, hating you”, and persecuting you. This is the one Jesus references and He says you have 2 responsibilities to them.
Love
Our eng word “love” is very nuanced and has many shades of meaning. The Gk language is much more precise in defining love—using 4 dif terms (3 are used in the Bible).
storge—family love (love of parent for child)
eros—described as the love b/t the sexes where there is the passion of human love
philia—this is the warmest of the Gk terms for love—real affection that a person has to their closest and truest friends
agape—selfless love: Barclay “If we regard people with agapē, it means that no matter what they do to us, no matter how they treat us, no matter if they insult us or injure us or grieve us, we will never allow any bitterness against them to invade our hearts, but will regard them with that unconquerable benevolence and goodwill which will seek nothing but their highest good.”
Jesus calls us to love (agape) our enemies. It never depends on what they are or what they do to us b/c agape love is selfless. This is the same principle that enables a person to follow the Lord’s commands in vv 39-43.
You must die to self, die to self-interest, die to self-concern…this is the problem with our flesh (self-centered). To love our enemy (present tense, imperative—calling for continuous action—not a periodic love or once-in-a-while love) this requires complete and utter selflessness. So much of our behavior, what we think and how we act is actually governed by other people. And b/c of this our lives happen upon a great deal of misery. If you see someone that you don’t particularly care for—all the sudden you’re upset. Your heart beats faster, blood pressure rises, your stomach can be tied in knots—and you wouldn’t have felt upset if you didn’t see them. Jesus says we need to get out of this condition and embrace a love that is no longer controlled or governed by other people. You love not b/c the person is lovable—b/c our enemies our foul, unjust, unkind, evil—love b/c this is the most God-like thing we can do.
Pray
To pray for, to entreat God’s favor upon those who are persecuting us (and there’s always going to be persecution b/c the world is set against God and b/c we are for God—the world is set against us as well), this is the epitome of selflessness.
John Chrysostom (4th C Bishop of Constantinople) says:
New Testament Ia: Matthew 1–13 5:44 Loving and Praying for Enemies
For neither did Christ simply command to love but to pray. Do you see how many steps he has ascended and how he has set us on the very summit of virtue? Mark it, numbering from the beginning. A first step is not to begin with injustice. A second, after one has begun, is not to vindicate oneself by retaliating in kind. A third, to refuse to respond in kind to the one who is injuring us but to remain tranquil. A fourth, even to offer up one’s self to suffer wrongfully. A fifth, to give up even more than the wrongdoer wishes to take. A sixth, to refuse to hate one who has wronged us. A seventh, even to love such a one. An eighth, even to do good to that one. A ninth, to entreat God himself on our enemy’s behalf. Do you perceive how elevated is a Christian disposition? Hence its reward is also glorious.
Pleading for your enemy that they receive grace, mercy and forgiveness from God—that’s a new way to view your enemy.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (The Cost of Discipleship) who suffered and killed in Nazi Germany wrote about what Jesus is teaching here “This is the supreme demand. Through the medium of prayer we go to our enemy, stand by his side, and plead for him to God.”
Jesus tells us why we are to love and pray for… vs 45
He is not saying that sonship, heaven, eternal life is a reward for doing good…but doing good (loving praying) is the evidence that you belong to God and that He is your heavenly Father. “may be” is in the aorist tense revealing something that has happened once for all time—it is established truth…you have become sons (and daughters) of your Father and the greatest evidence of sonship is being like your Father who loves. Jesus told His disciples the same truth:
John 13:35 NASB95
35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
How is it that we reflect the very character of God when we love our enemies? Jesus uses 2 examples to show how—something we often speak of as “common grace.”
“causes His sun…” notice a couple of points here:
God is the sustainer of His creation—He does not leave anything to chance…or even as the deist claims “God wound up creation and it runs itself.” God is involved in every aspect of life, of creation, of living—He causes the sun to rise. He sends the rain.
The sun is also God’s possession (Dt 10:14). It belongs to Him and He dispenses the blessing of it upon those He chooses. In this case His blessing is indiscriminate.
evil/good, righteous and unrighteous—in some form, the divine love and providence of God is a benefit to all mankind. They are not earned or deserved but God’s benevolence (common grace) is given even to those who rebel against Him and deny His existence. It happens all the time—yet every day there is God’s grace and a constant reminder of His goodness even toward His enemies. If this common grace, John Stott
The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 2. Active Love (43–48)
It is not ‘saving grace’, enabling sinners to repent, believe and be saved; but grace shown to all mankind, the penitent and the impenitent, believers and unbelievers alike. This common grace of God is expressed, then, not in the gift of salvation but in the gifts of creation, and not least in the blessings of rain and sunshine, without which we could not eat and life on the planet could not continue. This, then, is to be the standard of Christian love. We are to love like God, not men.
The Lord follows up this example of God’s love by asserting that we are not to be like the rest of the world. Jesus exposes the hypocrisy of self-centeredness. Everyone to some degree (even the tax-collectors and Gentiles—the dregs of society, the unclean, the outcasts—even they love those who love them. This is a love that is quite common to all mankind. There is no reward/praise for reciprocating love. Same with greeting—welcoming, showing friendship, fondness to your friends. What are you doing that is more? The kingdom of heaven demands something far greater, something much more glorious than anything that man is capable of achieving.
Love your enemies and pray…how?
you have to detach from self
stop reacting to what others do to you
Don’t be governed by other people
be concerned for the spiritual condition of others:
2 Timothy 2:26 NASB95
26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.
3. The Application
vs 48: all-inclusive of these 6 illustrations.
This has been called the principle that condemns all men. You are to be perfect as…How many here fail to be perfect as God is perfect? By that principle—we are all condemned. This is an impossible standard.
You are to be perfect: The word picture of this term in both OT & NT is very rich. Heb tam, tamim means to be entirely without defect or without blemish. It was used of the perfection of sacrificial animals which couldn’t have spots or blemishes.
Exodus 12:5 NASB95
5 ‘Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
Exodus 29:1 NASB95
1 “Now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them to minister as priests to Me: take one young bull and two rams without blemish,
A 2nd Heb word is shalem referring to what is whole, complete and related to the common greeting shalom which suggests the idea of security, soundness, and well-being.
The NT word is telios. This word has the basic idea of reaching an intended goal or completion in the sense of being mature. It was used of a ship that was fitted out perfectly for sea travel or the soldier who is equipped in every way for battle. When Jesus uses this of the requirement God puts on us—and that which describes His own nature it means perfection in the sense of lacking nothing, complete moral rectitude, everything that He should be—having no blemishes/spotless. This is God’s absolute standard. And its not like a target where you get points if you’re close to the bullseye. If you don’t hit the pinpoint—standing a billion miles away, you fail.
David—Psalm 18 (vv 30-32—the word is tamim).
What do you do with an impossible standard? Fall on the mercy and grace of God and realize that it is God who makes the sinner to be perfect/complete, whole, lacking in nothing. This He does as James Boice says: by perfecting the record, the perfecting us in this life and then finally, perfecting us fully when we die.
If you’re here today and have come to realize that you stand before the Mount Everest of problems—your sin and God’s absolute standard of perfection that you must attain—all you can do is fall on the mercy of God and depend on His work to wipe the slate clean. God perfects the record of those who trust in the LJC for salvation—this is justification.
Hebrews 10:14 NASB95
14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
God has done that. Then, once the record is clear—He begins the work of sanctifying you, conforming you in the perfect image of His beloved Son.
Philippians 3:12 NASB95
12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
At this point, you have responsibility to live in obedience by faith and that will affect your sanctification working in harmony with the HS:
Philippians 2:12–13 NASB95
12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
He Himself promises:
Philippians 1:6 NASB95
6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
That’s when you are brought to total, unrestricted, absolute perfection—brought about the very moment of your death in this life. This is why Paul calls death:
Philippians 1:21 NASB95
21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
If you are a believer in JC this means several things. If God has begun this work in you—it means that He has called you, saved you, He is perfecting you b/c He doesn’t start something that if He doesn’t intend to finish it. There is remarkable security in the very purpose of God. He does not change, His purposes do not change.
And if this has started—it will end with you being just like Jesus. This is the “good work” Paul speaks of in Phil 1:6. And if God is so delighted in LJC that He would set the whole course of creation and human history in motion so that He would call out a race of sinful humans beings, put His life into them, and transform them into His beloved Son.
God will not give up His purpose—so where there is an impossible standard set before all men…know 1st that this is what condemns every sinner, but when you see your failure and miserable estate, this is where you fall on mercy and cry out “save me O God” and He will. He will for His glory, for the praise of His Son, and for your good.
- - Deuteronomy 20:16–17NASB95
- - Deuteronomy 23:3–6NASB95
- - Psalm 69:22–28NASB95
- - Psalm 58:11NASB95
- - Psalm 59:13NASB95
- - Psalm 83:16NASB95
- - Psalm 7:17NASB95
- - Exodus 23:4–5NASB95
- - Proverbs 25:21–22NASB95
- - John 13:35NASB95
- - 2 Timothy 2:26NASB95
- - Exodus 12:5NASB95
- - Exodus 29:1NASB95
- - Hebrews 10:14NASB95
- - Philippians 3:12NASB95
- - Philippians 2:12–13NASB95
- - Philippians 1:6NASB95
- - Philippians 1:21NASB95
Doxology

Matthew 5:43-48

1. The Instruction

2. The Correction

Love

Pray

3. The Application

Deuteronomy 20:16–17NASB95

Deuteronomy 23:3–6NASB95

Psalm 69:22–28NASB95

Psalm 58:11NASB95

Psalm 59:13NASB95

Psalm 83:16NASB95

Psalm 7:17NASB95

Exodus 23:4–5NASB95

Proverbs 25:21–22NASB95

John 13:35NASB95

2 Timothy 2:26NASB95

Exodus 12:5NASB95

Exodus 29:1NASB95

Hebrews 10:14NASB95

Philippians 3:12NASB95

Philippians 2:12–13NASB95

Philippians 1:6NASB95

Philippians 1:21NASB95