In studying the Sermon on the Mount and really being burdened for marriages and relationships among believers in general, these are some thoughts, and scriptures that have come up. Most of the scripture I am using is taken from The Sermon on the mount – specifically Matthew 5:38-47 .
Jesus is taking everything that His disciples know from the "law" and making the heart of the issues come forth. He gets so far away from what is the norm in the next passages that I am certain some people decided that what He was saying was impossible, and it is impossible, apart from a relationship with Him. In Matthew 5:38-42, Jesus says, "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' 39But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
I think that the point is pretty clear here. When people do you wrong and take from you and treat you harshly, you are to treat them with love in return. Proverbs says, “a gentle answer turns away wrath…” If they want what you have – give it to them and then some. If they are mean with words, don’t return the ugliness, fight your flesh and love them in return. It is not okay for a child of God to respond to any situation like a non-believer. We are to be salt and light. This is all just an extension of the things that we have already learned from the beginning of the sermon on the mount. It is a blessing to be persecuted. It is a blessing to be meek, humble, poor in spirit. Don’t you get it? It is a blessing to be different. It is a blessing to not let “things” fill our needs. It is a privilege and a freedom to be able to give up all your stuff for Jesus. How much easier it is to spend time in the Word if you don’t even have a tv. All of our “things” distract us so much from the important things. When we are completely satisfied in Him, there is nothing of more value that someone can take away from us. Then, it is FREEDOM to be taken from. It is freedom because that thing, or that right is so pale in comparison to the fullness that you have in Christ, that it is impossible for people to really “steal” from you.
What Jesus says next is one of my favorite portions of scripture. It is really straight to the point and very clear about what is important in life. Matthew 5:43-47 says, "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
It isn’t hard to love people who love you. It is however, one of the most difficult things to love someone who is mean to you - to care for and love people who are always just nasty to you. But, the Lord is clear. I find that it is more difficult for me to love “Christian” people who are mean than lost people. I believe lost people don’t know how to love because they don’t know the love of Christ. They are supposed to be calloused and selfish. But, believers who act in the same way are much more difficult to love. John 13:35 tells us that people will know that we are Christians by our love for each other. That is scary. I don’t know too many people who exhibit the kind of love that Christ is talking about in order for people to notice. I think that I know more believers who give a great example of how NOT to love one another - pretty sad. But, if we would get this – this one thing, we would have an easier time walking out our faith. I think that is why Jesus ends this particular passage with “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Once we have figured out how to love one another perfectly, we will be perfect. Please see 1 Cor. 13 - God's most excellent way....
Why is it that the greatest command is to love God? Scripture makes it clear that we love because He first loved us. (1John 4:19) Because if we don’t receive God’s love towards us we can never love Him, which then makes it impossible to do the second greatest command (Matthew 22:34-40) and that is to love one another. But it is the most often repeated command in scripture. The whole Word of God from beginning to end is telling us to love God and love others. It is because there is no other way to show the love of Christ to someone else. (Philippians 2:3-5) Consider others better than yourself… Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit…. (Col 3:12-14)Bear with one another… forgive as you have been forgiven. It is not about YOU. It is about the glory of a Holy God. It is about the privilege of being different. This is so simple to understand when you have the perspective of the cross. But, when it is still about how situations make us feel, and how things affect us, it is impossible to love in the way that God asks us to.
He ends with be “perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” It seems to me that we should be the most thankful for the top 5 most difficult people in our lives. If you will consider with me for a moment, I believe one of the quickest routes to holiness is through pain and rejection. How can we really fear God alone and not man if we always please men in the things that we do for God? Rejection by men, and especially men that we respect and love, will cause us to determine who we live to please. If we always are taken care of and put first, how will we ever get a chance to walk out true humility? If we say we love people, and we don’t have any difficult people in our lives to love, then how do we really know? It is the people who falsely accuse us that show us that the truth about our hearts belongs to God alone. It is the selfish and hateful people who teach us how to turn to the Lord to fulfill our deepest needs – and truly find the beginnings of the depth of His love for us.
The more we are rejected by fellow man, the more we must turn to the Lord to find our worth, and how deeply we are loved by Him. And there is no love that can match His love for us. How great is the Father’s love that He has lavished on us! It is important that we are being rejected because we are choosing God and not because we are being rebellious to the authority God has placed in our lives. God puts people in our lives for a purpose. The refining that is done to our hearts by relationships with difficult people is a blessing from the Lord. Even people who aren’t traditionally “difficult” will be used when necessary to bring about holiness in your life. It is time that we realize that we are difficult people too.
Until we know how to look past our needs, our rights and our feelings, we will not love as He loves. We will only love ourselves. We cannot on our own be perfect as our Father is. He loves us perfectly. Jesus wants us to understand that the bar has been raised. It is a standard unable to be met on our own. We must have the help of the Holy Spirit and we must keep our eyes on His cross. Oh, Lord help us to be perfect as you are perfect. There is no other way to read that. He wasn’t saying try to be perfect. He wasn’t saying, try not to mess up too much. He said be perfect.
Webster defines perfect as being entirely without fault or defect – flawless. Are you striving to be flawless for God? Romans 12:11 says, “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” Let’s be zealous for the Lord – and less zealous for our own rights.
