Hope Church LV Sermons
Warnings :: Part 6 Love Your Enemies
[Music] This message is your warning. What you are about to hear is a passage of scripture from the most powerful sermon in history. The words we are about to read are from the heart and mouth of Jesus Christ himself. These teachings are radical and are to be taken seriously. This will serve as your warning that the sole purpose of this series is to examine six heart sayings of Jesus. We will examine each saying together as a church and then have a time of personal response. You are about to be challenged. Please open up your heart and mind to what is about to take place. Part six, love your enemies. Matthew chapter five if you will find your place in your bibles there in the New Testament book of Matthew and we're going to find our place in verse 43 in just a moment as we continue this series entitled warnings where we as a church family are taking some of these very difficult challenging hard sayings of Jesus and applying them to our lives and we're going to look at that text in just a moment. This time last week as you heard before I was on the continent of Africa and I had the privilege on a Sunday morning to go preach at what's called a bush church. Now you're probably saying what in the world is a bush church? Well I'll just say it doesn't look anything like this all right. It's about 20 miles from nowhere out in the middle of the bush of Zambia under a tree there's a few huts a tree and a preacher and a Bible and about 50 people and it was an incredible experience there's nothing quite like preaching and hearing goats and chickens in the background there's just nothing quite like it but it was an incredible experience there and when I first arrived with some of the team there was another young man who was speaking to the group of people that together there this was a brand new congregation that had just started there out in the middle of Zambian. This young man was taking his Bible and in broken English he was standing up reading a passage of scripture to the congregation and when I first walked up here's what I heard him reading in broken English he said you have heard that it was said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and he kept on reading and he said you have heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy and it was amazing to think that here I was on the literally the other side of the planet last week and there we were in a bush church and they were reading and studying the exact same passage that you as a church family was studying last week and they were going to study this week and I just sit back and I said man God is big in me and his word is living and active and I thought just as applicable as his word was to that bush church out in the middle of nowhere it's equally quick and powerful and applicable to hear it us hope that this church and meeting in a high school in Sin City Las Vegas why because this is the living word of God and this morning we're going to take a look at the living word of God and I want to read to you where we're going to be this morning from the mouth of Jesus this sixth tough statement that he's going to make and we're going to dive into it together this morning so I'm going to read beginning in verse 43 you can follow along on the screen or from your bibles Jesus says this he says 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 causes his son to rise on the evil and the good and sends out the rain on the righteous and the unrighteous for if you love those who love you what reward have you did not even the tax collectors do the same if you greet only your brothers what more are you doing than others do not even the Gentiles do the same therefore you are to be perfect it's easy enough right therefore you are to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect what we have here is a very difficult saying from the mouth of Jesus Christ himself and if you're visiting with us over the last five weeks we as a church family have tackled the five previous difficult sayings of Jesus and you know we dealt with difficult issues like relationships and reconciliation and what does Jesus have to say about marriage and easy topics like divorce and retaliation and personal integrity and some of these things that he deals with here hard sayings but Jesus speaks very clearly here and with each one of these tough sayings as he's introduced the different subject he's introduced it in a similar way and he does so here this morning as we look at the sixth one he's introduced each of these subjects with a similar pattern something like this he will say you have heard but I say in other words Jesus is saying here's the teaching of the day here's what you've been hearing about this scripture or about this commandment but I say to you and we need to understand Jesus in no way was questioning the authority of scripture he was not questioning these commandments here but what Jesus is challenging and we need to know this this morning is Jesus was challenging the contemporary interpretation and application of the commandments he was saying I know what you've been told I know what you've been taught I know what you've heard but I say to you and what's important in that day you need to understand it was an oral culture what does that mean well basically what that means is the typical person in this day they didn't have their own scroll of the Old Testament that they took home with right the typical Jewish family didn't have a copy of God's word so the only thing pretty much that they knew about the scriptures is what they were taught or what they had heard so it was very easy during that day for these religious leaders and these rabbis and these Pharisees to stand up and say here's the scriptures now let me tell you what they mean let me tell you how this applies to your life and no one had the opportunity to open their Bibles and say wait a minute that's not what it says that's not what it means it was very open to a distortion and twisting of the heart of the true meaning of the scripture and Jesus as the author of scripture says I know what you've heard now let me tell you the heart behind what was said and listen if there's a disagreement between the teachers of the day and Jesus I'm on Jesus's team amen he says I know what you've heard but now let me tell you what I say and he begins that with our sixth tough statement that we're going to talk about today and basically we're going to take this statement kind of like the others and we're going to ask three questions about it first what was the commandment because each one of these statements is based on an Old Testament commandment what is the commandment and secondly we're going to ask the question how does Jesus explain the commandment what does Jesus have to say about it and then thirdly we're going to ask the question how does this apply to me today all right and that's where we're going this morning you guys ready all right let's ask the first question what is the commandment that's being dealt with here this morning Matthew chapter 5 verse 43 again Jesus says this he says you've heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor now everybody's heard that commandment right it's one of the best known commandments in the bible you probably learned it as a kid you probably teach it to your children we've heard this before love your neighbor right and this commandment comes from the book of Leviticus chapter 19 verse 18 Leviticus says this you shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people but you shall love your neighbor as yourself I am the Lord now this commandment appears throughout the new testament multiple times the new testament writers refer back to this commandment in fact on one occasion some of the scribes and the Pharisees of that day came to Jesus and they were trying to challenge Jesus they were trying to get him in a in a quandary where he would misspeak or say something wrong and they said all right Jesus there's so many commandments in the bible what is the most important commandment of all do you remember that I don't mean were you there I mean do you remember it from the bible right what was the most important commandment in Jesus says well that's easy he answers it in Matthew 22 he says or the story goes like this teacher what is the greatest commandment of the law and Jesus said to him you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul with all your mind this is the great and foremost commandment the second is like it Jesus said you shall love your neighbor as yourself listen what Jesus says on these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets he says you get these two commandments you understand the whole bible you understand the entire Old Testament because it's built on these two commandments love God love your neighbor so when we deal with this commandment we're just not dealing with one of the many commandments we're dealing with the top two it's a biggie Paul said it this way in Galatians 5 for the whole law is fulfilled in one word in one statement you shall love your neighbor as yourself Paul says you get this one you get the whole law of God you get what it means James said if however you're fulfilling the royal law James 2 8 you shall love your neighbor as yourself you are doing well so the picture that's painted is this is a very important commandment the entire bible is built on this commandment and the teachers of the day the Pharisees and the religious rabbis of the day had taken this very important very simple straightforward commandment and ever so subtly begin to twist it and distort it and miss the heart and the meaning of this commandment and they'd begin to teach this to the people of Israel and that's the idea that this commandment had began to take in this culture they'd begin to miss it now how did these teachers distort it believe it or not these teachers had taken the word of God and used the word of God but distorted the meaning of scripture they were teaching lies and using scripture to do it now aren't you glad that doesn't happen today aren't you glad that every time you turn on the television or somebody stands and holds the bible and says they're speaking from God that they speak the truth right not so you need to understand that even though somebody may have all the degrees on their wall and they may even speak as though they're speaking from God and even use the scripture it is possible to distort and miss the heart of the meaning of the word of God you may get the letter of the law and miss the spirit behind the law of God and that's what was happening with these teachers today and that's how they were teaching the people of God and they did it in three ways let me show you these real quick one way they did it was by omission hey what do you mean by that well Jesus gives you an indication of this back in verse 43 he says you have heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor is anything missing from that see the original command is it was given to Leviticus said you shall love your neighbor as yourself well the teachers of the day had conveniently left that part out does that make a difference why did they leave that part out they left that part out because it's one thing to say I love my neighbor man I am I have this warm feeling about my neighbor about my this person in my life whoever it may be it's one thing to say I love my neighbor but it is something entirely different different to say I love my neighbor as I love myself and the point was the teachers of the day because of the pride in their heart realize the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself was just too hard and it couldn't be achieved of their own human effort so here's what teachers do they wanted to start the word of God and you need to be very careful they will lower the standard of the word of God so that it can be achieved by human effort and then you can pat yourself on the back and say look what I did that's what they did they said this part about loving your neighbors yourself man that's way too hard let's lower the standard a little bit this does love our neighbors in this general kind of subjective way and they miss the spirit behind the commandment not only by omission they added something that wasn't there Jesus again he says you've heard that it was said here's the commandment as they were teaching it love your neighbor and hey your enemy they were teaching this as the commandment again driven by pride these prideful teachers of the day wanted to do anything to elevate themselves in comparison to other people so what they did is they taught some of the illustrations of the Old Testament when when God called the nation of Israel to drive out their enemies and to defeat their enemies as a nation to protect the nation they took some of those stories and said okay here's what that must mean we have biblical authority to hate anyone that opposes us we have a biblical right to hate anybody that's different from us we have the biblical authority to hate anybody that stands against us and they begin to teach it that way and the commandment began to be understood as this anybody that's different from you anybody that's not like you anybody that opposes you you have biblical authority to hate that's why during this day the Romans said of the Jewish nation the Jewish nation had a hatred of the human race because the teachers taught hey here's what the Bible says love your enemy hate your enemy or love your neighbor hate your enemy you have biblical authority to hate anybody that stands against you and they had distorted the spirit of this verse that also misapplied it they took the word neighbor and totally distorted what the word neighbor meant they took the word neighbor to mean this anyone that we favor that we approve of or is just like us that's our neighbor anybody that's different anybody doesn't agree with us anybody who doesn't quite live up to our standard then we have the biblical authority to hate and shun them listen that's why Jesus when he taught the parable or the story of the good Samaritan you remember that Jesus taught that story because somebody said to him art Jesus who is my neighbor and the rabbis of that day hated that story because the hero of that story was a Samaritan different what did you what liked them and Jesus said that's your neighbor and totally went against what they had been teaching so you put all that together and here's the way this commandment was being taught during that day the religious leaders of the day were teaching and modeling a love that was self-seeking it was self-serving it was conditional it was condemning of anyone different it was hating of anyone in opposition and they justified all of it by saying it was based on the word of God that was the climate of the day would you say they missed it slightly so that's why Jesus Christ steps on the scene and says you I know what you've been taught you have heard that it was said here's the thinking of the day but I say to you and that's our second question we're going to look at what does Jesus say about this command we know how it was taught during the day but what does he say about it Jesus steps on the scene and really what Jesus is doing here is scandalous I mean don't miss the picture the religious leaders of the day were heroes the religious leaders of the day were the ones the people looked up to and listened to and respected and Jesus as it were steps on the scene and says hold on wait a minute you guys have missed it making statements like he makes here is why they hung him on a cross got it he didn't like that I mean not exactly like it but it would be something like next week if pastor Vance is up here preaching and waxing eloquent and and making applications from the Word of God one of you stands up and comes down front and says hold on wait a minute Vance I respect you but you're missing it in fact I'll pay somebody a hundred dollars if you'll do that next week now the nine o'clock service there was about 10 hands I don't see many hands here so what Jesus was doing was radical these religious leaders of the day he said guys you have distorted the word of God here's what you've been teaching but I say to you verse 44 love your enemies pray for those who persecute you he says in verse 46 if you love those who love you what reward do you have if you greet only your brothers what's the big deal about that in other words they had distorted the kind of love that Jesus is teaching here that the Bible is teaching this whole passage is ultimately about this how do we love how do we love and really as we look at this as a church family the overarching question to be asking ourselves this morning is this how do we love do we love with a natural love that comes easy or as the people of God do we love with a supernatural love that comes from the power of the spirit of Jesus living inside of Jesus takes this and he begins to teach about this commandment and he shares three things and I want to share these three things with you here real quickly number one he said talking about the kind of love that's taught here this commandment is about love Jesus says three things number one this kind of love is not natural but supernatural see the Pharisees had reduced the kind of love that the Bible was talking about here was to something that comes easy love your neighbor as long as they're just like you as long as they act just like you look just like you believe what you do love your neighbor but your enemy somebody that opposes you somebody that may not be out for your good you can hate them love those who love you says in verse 45 the Pharisees taught men love those who love you but if they don't love you you can hate them greet only your brothers in other words love only those who are just like you and Jesus says wait a minute you missed the spirit behind this commandment this commandment is all about not a natural kind of love that comes easy but a supernatural kind of love that comes from the very heart of God see so what Jesus does is he can pears and contrasts two kinds of love here natural love that comes easy and supernatural love that comes only from the power of Christ say what does natural love look like let me give you a few examples this kind that they taught the kind that was taught by the Pharisees of this day the kind that comes easy Jesus said even tax collectors love this way that was a jab to the Pharisees by the way said the Gentiles love this way anybody can love this way there's nothing supernatural about it what does it look like number one natural love values those who love us first 46 says if you love those who love you the kind of love they were teaching was the kind that loves only those who love you listen it's kind of easy to love somebody that loves you right but what if they don't Jesus said this kind of love also seeks the good of those who benefit us only listen it's easy to love somebody who's out for our benefit it's easy to love somebody that we know we're going to get a return on our investment so to speak what's easy to love somebody that we know is on our team and on our side it's kind of this I'll scratch your back you scratch my mentality it's kind of this mentality man this person has been so good to me of course I'm going to be good to them but what if they're not what if they're not for you Jesus say about that this kind of love also natural love embraces those who are just like us verse 47 he said if you greet your brothers in other words the teaching that they had was you know you love your brothers those who are just like you those who think like you and dress like you and act like you and look like you it's easy to love those right what if they're different very different he said this natural love it it expects love and return it's kind of easy to love somebody when you know you're going to get love and return but what if what if God calls you to love somebody who's not even capable of loving there's not even capable of showing you love and return what if God calls you to love somebody who doesn't even appreciate your love and doesn't even want it to begin with Jesus says that's the natural kind of love that's what was being taught during that day he says there's another way he says the spirit of this commandment is this the human tendency is to love that which benefits us we love based on the desirability of the object of our love that's natural love that comes to us naturally but Jesus says I'm talking about a supernatural love here doesn't come naturally comes by knowing the love of the Lord Jesus Christ the word he used here was agape and you've heard this word before in the Greek language it was the highest form of love there's several words in the original language to mean love this is the highest form of love which means the love that seeks and works for the welfare and success of another whether I'm benefited or not this kind of love is the kind of love that acts for the good of another person whether it benefits me or not this person's welfare is just as important as mine whether they love me or not it's a godlike love it doesn't come naturally it's not selfish it's self-less because it's not about us Jesus said this is the kind of love that I'm talking about in this commandment and this kind of love is radical and you don't see it anywhere in the world but this is what the Word of God is calling us to as the people of God not natural supernatural what does it look like Jesus shows you here what does supernatural love look like let me give you a few things number one supernatural love values those who may want to harm us Jesus said love your enemies Jesus said love that person who may be out not for your good Jesus said love that co-worker who may even lie to get ahead of you Jesus said love that boss at work who may not be out for your good but out to really destroy you Jesus said love that classmate love that teacher who's always on your case and really has no concern for you Jesus said it's easy to love a person when they love you but what if they don't he said this kind of love loves those who may want to harm us he goes on too he says seeks the good of those who oppose us he says pray for those who persecute you that's radical pray for the good pray for the welfare pray for the success of someone who may be out for your demise that doesn't come natural doesn't I remember when we were in Thailand not too long ago and the Thailand pastors were there and many of them had been locked up because of their faith and I remember them telling stories of their captors we said these guys who they're telling us about these guys who hurt them and hated them and locked them up and said what you guys do they said we prayed for our captors we prayed for their success we prayed for God to love them and that they would know the love of God and God uses because they'd never seen love like that before do you pray for those who are opposed to you that friend that classmate that boss what about the person on the interstate that cuts you off you say what do you do Mike well I pray for his welfare and his well big no usually I don't I pray that he would get off the road guys this is a kind of love that's supernatural pray for those who oppose you thirdly Jesus says love those who are hard to love supernatural love loves those who are hard to love does anybody know anybody that's hard to love in fact if you know somebody that's hard to love would you just stand up and point at him right now how about that how many of you are married to that person now I'm just we talked about that a few weeks ago okay will Jesus bring people into your life that are hard to love yeah why two reasons I think number one because he wants to teach you what real supernatural love is he wants to place you in a situation where naturally you would hate that person did you know if God wants to teach you a certain attribute he will place you in a situation where the other attribute would be your natural response in other words he wants to teach you about love he'll put you in a situation where naturally it would be hate why because he wants to teach you supernatural love the other reason he brings people like that in your life people who are hard to love because nobody else is going to love them except the people of God God may bring somebody in your life and nobody else in the world is going to give them the time of day or show them any love and Jesus has brought them in your life trusting that the love you have received in Christ you are going to be able to show that person why because it's supernatural love it's not natural Jesus says love those who are hard to love also supernatural love embraces those who are different from us that's not always easy is it I mean it's easy to love people we agree with who like us who dress like us who act like us who are always like us but Jesus says there's a supernatural love to love those who are different from you I mean supernatural love is unconditional it's unconditional I mean to you and your mind sit sometimes think somebody has to almost earn the right to be loved or they have to meet a certain criteria or they have to meet a certain expectation to be worthy of your love that's conditional love and that's not God like love that's natural love supernatural love says I will show love to that person because I have been shown love thank God that he doesn't deal with us in conditional love thank God he didn't look on me and say well when Mike gets to the place where he's worthy of my love then I'll think about loving him right I didn't earn the love of God neither did you supernatural love it's unconditional also supernatural love expects nothing in return it's easy to love somebody when you know you're gonna get something back or hey listen some of you in this church family have demonstrated this of the last few months we've seen some of you who are caretakers and you've been caretakers of family members who don't even because of their condition have the capacity to love back but you know what you've done you've loved them super naturally why because of the love of Jesus they can't give any love back listen sometimes we feel like that is parents don't we I mean you feel like you're giving it give it a give it as a parent especially if you have children and sometimes you go madam I ever go get anything back but you love anyway why supernatural it's easy to love when you expect something in return what about that person in your life who's not even capable of showing love or may never appreciate your love what you do about that Jesus says love your enemies pray for those who persecute Jesus says this kind of love is supernatural not natural secondly just a couple more we're done Jesus says this kind of love that he's talking about here it's being taught from this commandment demonstrates our true identity what does that mean look at verse 45 again Jesus says or verse 44 and 45 he says I say to you love your enemies pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven is Jesus saying that if you love then you'll become a child of God no that's not the meaning of this verse the meaning of this verse is the way you love demonstrates who you truly are in other words the watching world I promise is not overly impressed with our religious activity right your lost neighbor who doesn't know Jesus doesn't really care how many times you go to church but they are going to be impacted when they see and experience a supernatural love that they don't see anywhere else something's different about you what is it I have received a supernatural love and now I get to give it see that agape love may involve emotion but it must involve action 1 John 3 17 and 18 says but whoever has the world's goods then sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him how does the love of God abide in him little children let us not love in word or with tongue but indeed and in truth the way you love demonstrates who you truly are in Christ when I was in Africa a few weeks ago you said I'm really getting tired of hearing about your trip to Africa well I've got some slides would you like to see I was there last week we heard this story of this fellow who was in Sudan I don't know if you know anything about the Sudan but it's a hotbed between Christians and Muslims right now there was a story of this church that was in a town a church building a church family had a church building and they were in the same town where there was a mosque and this mosque was so opposed to the church being there a group of radicals came up out of that mosque and went and burned that church building to the ground a group of Christians didn't know what to do so they just began to pray and word of that kind of began to reach around the world and money started to come in and enough funds were generated and raised for that church family to finally rebuild their building you know what that church family did with that money because they knew what the scripture teaches about loving your enemies they believed God had so impressed on their heart they took that money and they went to the local mosque and they presented it to their enemies and said we want to give you this because we've experienced a love that's supernatural and we want to demonstrate that love to you guess what that's not natural supernatural Rick Warren said it this way he said you cannot win your enemies to Christ you can only win your friends this kind of love is supernatural this kind of love demonstrates our true identity and thirdly this kind of love is a godlike love it's a godlike love verse 48 in the scriptures a challenging verse man it says therefore you are to be perfect what as your heavenly father is perfect said me when the context here he's talking about the nature of our love the word perfect here in the original languages it means to reach or come to completion mature lacking nothing a perfect complete love that lacks nothing or leaves no one out it is a complete perfect love in other words that is the love of the father it is complete it lacks nothing it leaves no one out it is a perfect love and Jesus says that is the kind of love i'm talking about here it's not generated from the human heart it is generated from the heart of God the word agape literally means here also it also means the love that God is the love that God demonstrates the love that God gives it is a godlike love 1 John 4 says we love because he first loved us Romans chapter 5 verse 10 says for if we were for if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son is it possible to love your enemies sure is you know why because God did he loved you and he loved me and the Bible says I was an enemy of God is it possible to love somebody that lies about you sure is Jesus Christ did is it possible to love somebody that smears your reputation it sure is Jesus Christ did is it possible to love somebody who publicly shames you sure is Jesus Christ did is it possible to love somebody that offers you nothing in return sure is Jesus Christ did and does today kind of love that's demonstrated here it's not natural super natural you see mike i hear all that but wow how's this apply to us today final question the first question i have for you under that is then is this how do you love how do you love means your love a natural kind of love or is it supernatural is yours the kind of love to those who are easy to love those who are hard to love Jesus says there's a natural way and there's a supernatural way he said but i say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you when we hear something like this we can have several responses one of our responses can be this rejoice rejoice in the love of God i mean i'm the enemy i'm undeserving i didn't earn it but God the bible says his shed abroad the love of God in our hearts first john says oh the depth of the love of God how great is the love of God who can know the depth and the breadth and the height of the love of God in christ jesus see how great a love the father has given to us rejoice you also recognize i can't love this way you're right only by knowing the love of God and daily abiding in his love are we ever able to love this way the third response may be repentance God i want to love this way but i happen to God there's people in my life and i realize now you've brought there and i've shown them anything but love God forgive me change my heart this morning so i want to end our service just a little different you don't have to close your eyes or bow your heads right now but what i want to do is i'm going to read to you a few questions and i want you to just to set before the lord and ask the holy spirit God show me how this applies in my life today i want you to answer these questions before the lord honestly before him he knows where your heart is just you and him right there here we go how do you love naturally supernatural is your life characterized by natural love or supernatural love do you love only those who benefit you is there anyone in your life right now who is hard to love do you love only those who appreciate or return your love are you trying to love from your own strength or from history hard saying of jesus and jesus said love your enemies pray for those who persecute and that's the last hard saying of jesus let's pray together this morning let me ask you to bow your heads where you are as our team comes to lead us this morning just a second we're going to stand and sing about the love of god this morning you may be there right now and you hear all this about the love of god and you say i've never really experienced that love are you telling me that god loves me just the way i am are you telling me that god loves me unconditionally i don't have to earn it or i don't have to clean myself up or get myself to the place where i'm worthy no god demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we were still sinners christ died for us this morning when we stand and sing in just a moment you may want to know that love of god he loves you this morning he died on a cross to save you from your sins to redeem you to give you the life that he intends for you we stand and sing in just a moment we're going to have some folks along the side pastors and prayer volunteers we'll have some people out in the courtyard when we're done go out there and talk to somebody but if during this service you want to get up for you see to go take one of them by the hand they're there to answer any questions to introduce you to a love relationship with jesus christ for the rest of us this morning we've heard a hard saying as we see i pray you continue to do business with god obey what he's calling you today jesus thank you for this time thank you for your word thank you that your word cuts deep into our hearts it's not always easy it's good thank you for this time we love you and praise you Jesus, my great brother, amen.