Jesus' Sermon: The Law of Love

The overall message you and I should be understanding in this passage is that there is no way we can, on our own, do what Jesus is saying here.

Even if we could muster up the kind of faultless and unflagging outward obedience that the scribes and Pharisees prided themselves in, we would still never make it in. We’d have to exceed that kind of righteousness.

"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)

Remember that in the Kingdom of heaven you are perfectly loved, inside and out, all the time. Unless you and I are perfect the way God is perfect, we have no hope of entering the Kingdom of Heaven.

God understands our failure and has provided His own true righteousness, His perfect righteousness, in place of the righteousness you and I do not have.

Nobody can have true righteousness without repentance and receiving God's nature, being born again of the Spirit. It is given to us freely, without any contribution on our part, as we have faith in Jesus Christ. This is called justification, which means that we are now "made right" or "just" before God on the basis of Jesus' achievements.

God's kind of love, the love He has poured into your hearts and mine, through His Holy Spirit, is sacrificial. The king of kings set aside His glory and His throne so He could associate with the lowly, and finally He gave up His life so that you and I could live in harmony with Him.

He repaid our evil with His good.

This is the kind of love that Jesus said people would immediately recognize as God's kind of agape love, and it is every bit as sacrificial for you and me to display, as it was for the Lord Jesus.

If this post got you to thinking, please leave a comment by clicking on the word "comments" below, and join the conversation

Jesus' Sermon: Perfection in the Law

(6) Jesus sixth and final illustration in today’s text has to do particularly with love.

Each time Jesus says the word “love” in this passage, He is using the word “agape,” meaning God's kind of love: pure, unselfish, sacrificial.

* You think about the other person and what would be the very best for them, even if there is a personal cost to you.

* The kind of love that flows out from the center of your heart, you really feel it, it isn't pretend.

* Genuine love has a cheerful heart which shows in your smile, in your voice, in your gentle words and warm affection.

Hopeful, joyful patience that leaves no room for complaining, or blaming, or shaming people.

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' (Matthew 5:43)

God’s law actually says to love your neighbor as yourself, that’s back in Leviticus 19:18. But the Talmud, the rabbinical traditions, added the second part about being allowed to hate your enemies.

"But I say to you, Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44)

Being kind and considerate, love does not want to hate an enemy, love seeks to change an enemy into a friend. This is what God did with you and me, He kept loving us, and provided everything we needed to become His friend.

Jesus added even more

"...and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5:44)

The most revealing test of love comes when love is rejected.
* What do you do when someone twists your motives, doubts your sincerity, or repays your goodness with meanness?

* What happens when you are offended?

* When you work at getting along with people who are not friendly to you, who are on the opposite side of you, who persecute you in some way?

Jesus says love them and pray for them.

Sometimes you and I make up our minds to show love to somebody, no matter how hard it’s going to be, and then find out that we can't keep it up on our own.

That's because this isn't about gritting your teeth on the inside and putting on a command performance of being nice on the outside.

Love is not just an action word. Agape love is about being filled up, heart, soul and spirit, with God's love through the Holy Spirit, which overflows to other people in the way you talk to interact with them.

If this post got you to thinking, please leave a comment by clicking on the word "comments" below, and join the conversation

Jesus' Sermon: Intention of the Law is Love

Jesus was saying that love is generous.

You and I can recognize that we have received everything in abundance from God, so you we can give liberally, gladly, and freely. We can freely give
* love,
* help,
* money,
* care
* ... and whatever else God gives us to give.

Give what you have, give it generously, give in love and wisdom, just as God gives you what He has, freely and generously, in love and wisdom.

It will be costly, there will be sacrifices, but God's supply is inexhaustible, so don't worry about running out -- God Who supplied you with everything in the first place will supply more; you and I don't have to hoard what God gives.

This is a matter of the heart, a matter of love and wisdom.

Let’s say you have someone in your life who is an alcoholic and they’re begging you for a drink. Jesus is not telling you to give them a drink. That would not be the loving or wise thing to do for them.

What you can say, like Peter said to a beggar who put his hand out to the apostle, “I’m not going to give you what you’re asking of me. I am going to help you, though. I have something much better than what you’re asking for that can transform your life if you’re willing to receive it.”

God requires our hearts to be right, not just our actions

--> It’s not enough not to hurt somebody. Can you say you’ve never even wanted to hurt somebody, ever?

--> It’s not enough to have never had sex with anyone except your spouse. Can you say you have never even imagined sexy thoughts with anyone but your spouse?

--> Can you say that your “yes” is always yes, and your “no” is always no, that you never have to say “I swear,” or “I mean it,” because sometimes you don’t mean it, and sometimes you don’t tell the truth?

--> Have you never wanted to get back at someone? And it’s not even enough to run away from a mean person!

--> Can you say that you always stick it out, turn the other cheek, give your cloak too, go the extra mile, give generously, even to people who don’t deserve it, who have done evil to you?

Where do you recognize yourself in these examples?

This is the kind of righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees.

Jesus says that anything besides what comes from God's perfection comes from evil. You might be feeling a little overwhelmed at this point. By the time I got to the part about turning the other cheek I thought, “this is ridiculous! Who does this?!”

Hang in there, this part is the bad news, but there is good news.....

If this post got you to thinking, please leave a comment by clicking on the word "comments" below, and join the conversation