Matthew 5:43-48 Luke 6:27-28, 31-36

http://biblehub.com/parallelgospels/The_Sermon_on_the_Mount.htm

Love is the essence of all of the laws of God for man.  All the Law can be summarized in the two commands which are to love God and love others.  If we were to summarize the Law in one word it would simply be to love.  Those who are followers of Jesus are called to love at a very high standard.  One of our basic identities as believers is to love.  Jesus teaches His disciples about the love He expects them to demonstrate.  This standard of love is far higher than the Pharisees were teaching.  Their pride and love for self, made it impossible for them to love like God wanted them to.  The first area to be impacted by hypocrisy and pride is that of love for others.  Jesus wants to make sure His followers reject the standard set by the religious leaders of that day and love like He wants us to love.

LOVE SHOULD EXTEND TO ENEMIES: The standard that was taught in the Law was to love your neighbor as you love yourself.  Neighbor was not simply a person living in the house next door but refers to other people in general.  The Pharisees had perverted this teaching to say we should love people we are close to or people who are like us (in their case other Jews) but should hate enemies like the Gentiles.  This addition to have enemies was a clear perversion of the Law and Jesus confronts in head on.  Jesus calls His followers to love their enemies and to pray for those who persecute them.  In other words, we are not supposed to have enemies, at least not from our perspective.  If we are truly following Jesus; He has already made it clear that the world will hate us and try to persecute us just like they did to the prophets.  However, that hatred is supposed to be a one-way street.  We are not to pay back evil for evil.  Those who identify us as enemies are to be the object of our love and the subject of our prayers.  We should humbly recognize that if it were not for the grace of God, we would be acting like enemies and persecuting believers.  When we understand God’s grace for us it is only natural for us to extend grace to others.  When people attack us for being Christians, our hearts and prayers should go out to them in hopes that God’s grace will reach them like it reached us and allow them to become our brothers in Christ. 

LOVE SHOULD EXCEED UNBELIEVERS: The standard that was being taught by the leaders of that day was a very natural standard that every person would naturally follow.  Unbelievers, Gentiles and tax collectors all love those who love them.  They treat well those who treat them well.  God does not call us to love in a natural way; He wants us to love in a super-natural way.  The Pharisees were constantly comparing themselves with others in an attempt to demonstrate their superiority.  Jesus points out that their standards for love were simply the same as everyone’s standards.  There are no eternal rewards to be had for extending love to our brothers and those who treat us well.  However, there are great rewards for loving those who hate and persecute us.  There might be a certain pleasure in taking revenge out on those who are treating us poorly; but that brief moment of pleasure is tall the reward we will ever get.  It will be followed by guilt and heartache.  Eternal rewards are reserved for those who follow the standard set by Jesus when He calls us to love those who don’t love us.

LOVE SHOULD EXEMPLIFY THE FATHER: When we love in the supernatural way that Jesus taught, we imitate the love of the Father.  We demonstrate that we are sons of God when we love like He loves.  He blesses both the just and the unjust with rain and sunshine.  He extends His invitation for forgiveness to all of us when we are sinners and were considered His enemies.  Only those who have experienced His unconditional grace and His undeserved forgiveness have the ability to love in the way that He loves.  However, those who have experience His love are expected to exemplify His love to others.  God wants His character and His attributes to be contagious in our lives.  We are to be like He is so that others will be attracted to Him through the example we set and the love we demonstrate.  The expression “like Father like son” ought to be applied to every believer.  Others will know our identity and will want to be identified with Christ as we love them like God loves them.


APPLICATION: Pray for those who are critical of us or who outright persecute us.  There are terrorists all over the world who want to kill Christians.  We must pray for them and extend God’s love to them.  Our love for others should stand in stark contrast of the way that the world loves.  Others should be able to see and feel the love of the Father through us.

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