Greater Righteousness: Love your enemy, too.

Greater righteousness...

 Lesson 6: Love your enemy, too.

In the light of verse 19, Jesus continues to explain to his disciples that his teaching does not do away with the law, rather his teaching supersedes the law. In effect Jesus is raising the standard of what it means to be a “righteous” individual. Then He illustrates this point with specific examples related to the Law. In fact, he places anger, lust, divorce, oaths, and retaliation on the same moral plane as murder, adultery, and perjury. Over the next few weeks we will go over these particulars that Jesus has given us.

Note: While Jesus raises the standard of righteous conduct in this passage, he does not reveal the mechanism by which we arrive at this level of righteousness. On its face, Jesus is placing the Kingdom of Heaven out of reach for everyone. Later passages in the New Testament reveal that the Christian’s righteousness is given to him or her by Jesus Christ and acted out in the Christian as he or she walks in the Holy Spirit. This does not mean that Christians are immune to sin, because believers can and do still sin; however, the spirit of the believer longs to not sin, that is, be righteous. A repentant heart can always find restoration to righteousness in Jesus Christ.

The Superiority of Love.

The practical application of living in love.

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father 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 have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." [Mat 5:43-48 NKJV ]

Establishing the first premise: Hatred is bad.

By definition, hate is an “intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or sense of injury.” (Merriam-Webster).

Hate is a destructive force. Let’s go all of the way back to Genesis once again, 4:3-12.

• With whom was Cain really angry?
• On whom did he display his anger/hatred?
• What was the result of his unbridled hatred?
• How do you suppose Cain might have justified his outburst?

Defining "love". 
The English language does not differenciate between different types of love as do some other languages. We say that we "love" God, our spouse, our children, friends, things, and activities. We use the same word for all of these. "Love" can even mean a score of zero in tennis! In contrast, the New Testament uses at least five different words that are translated into English as "love". These are:

• agape' - affectionate, benevolent, self-sacrificing, based in a concious decision (functions as a noun).
• agapao' - social or moral love (functions as a verb form of agape)* [used here in this passage].
• phileo - friendship, personal affection, based in an emotional connection.
• thelo - preferencial love.
• philoteknos - maternal love.

The Biblical definition of "love" [agape'].

 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;  it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends...[1Co 13:4-8a ESV] 

The Purpose of Intentional Love - Imitate the Father

1. God is love in his very essence. 1 John 4:8,16
2. Love exceeds the Law because it carries it's own sense of obligation.
3. First commandment, Love God. Mark 12:29-30
4. Second commandment, Love Neighbor. Mark 12:31
5. New Commandment, John 13:34

• Does "agape" love require that I have a personal affection for the one to whom I am to show love?
• Can I love someone I do not like?
• Why did Jesus choose to include a call to perfection in this passage? [see James 3:2]
• What is the mark of a true disciple? [see John 13:35]

*http://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/innerresources/vol1iss1/winston_agapao.pdf

Hauling Hay ...and Grace

My wife's grandfather, Jess, is in very poor health these days, and I find myself thinking about him quite a lot. He has told me many stories of his life. Here is one I would like to share with you.

Not long after Jess had return from the European theater of World War II, he and his brother, Earl, decided to try their hand at farming. I don't think they ever made much money in this venture, but it did provide them with many stories to share with their kids and grandkids. 

Jess tells of one summer day when he and Earl were putting up hay. It had been cut, raked and baled. All that was left was to put it in the barn. Unfortunately, it was about to start raining later that day. Jess had tried to find someone to help with the hauling but had been unsuccessful. So, he and his brother were struggling to put it up by themselves. 

Now, if you have ever hauled square baled hay, you know it is not a two man job. You need at least one man driving, one man on the ground loading, and one man on the truck or trailer to do the stacking. If only two men are doing the hauling it is a very slow process, to be sure.

Jess and Earl were in the field exhausted and struggling to do a three (or four) man job as the clouds began to darken the horizon. If the bales got soaked they would be ruined and worthless. Not only the hay, but also  all of the time and expense of the baling would be lost.

Just then, one of their neighbors drove past the field and saw these two young men struggling to save their hay crop. Sitting behind the wheel was an older gentleman many years their senior. He could have justifiably been called an "old man". If he had simply driven on by no one would have thought the worse of him. But this old man still had considerable strength and he knew it.  He pulled his truck to the side of the road and crossed through the fence, sliding his broad shoulders between the strands of barbed wire.

As dark clouds continued to boil higher into the sky, he strode across the field toward Jess and Earl's truck. He grabbed a bale of hay in each hand and tossed them onto the truck. Wordlessly he continued to toss bales of hay onto their truck two at a time until the field was clean. Jess, Earl, and this kind old neighbor drove the last load of hay in to the barn just as the rain began to fall. 


With the hay crop saved, Jess and Earl turned to the old neighbor and thanked him for coming to their aid, then Jess tried to pay him for his help. "Son," the old man replied, "you can't pay me enough to haul hay!"

"Son, you can't pay me enough to haul hay!" 

Of course I am going to draw a moral from this story...

Grace is illustrated here. The hay crop is like your eternal soul. It is valuable but it is under a cloud of judgment. You can't work hard enough to save it, and you can't buy your way out of a fix. You are about to lose the crop.

God sees your plight. Motivated by love for your everlasting soul, he crosses the "fence" that separates man from God and becomes "God with us" in the person of Jesus Christ. He offers you the gift of salvation. He provides an escape for your from the storms of sin and judgment.

Should you be grateful? Absolutely.
Can you pay him back? Never.

I'm sure that the old man who help Jess and Earl has been gone a long time now, but the story of his kind deed as been told for many years and still lives on. 

So here is the question: 
If you had been in Jess and Earl's situation would you have accepted the old man's help? I'm guessing you would have. 

Jesus is offering far greater salvation than that of a hay crop. He offers salvation for you soul. Will you accept his help today?