REVIEW
FLIP CHART: SOM’S KEY VERSE, GOAL, MOTTO
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness ….” (Mt. 6:33a).
The law sends us to Christ for justification; Christ sends us back to the law for sanctification.
FLIP CHART: Show new “Perfect Righteousness” chart explaining steps to coming to Christ (As a worm, mourning, meek, spiritual hunger/thirst with the result of legal righteousness). Explain moral righteousness, immediate moral change at conversion, gradual change through life’s challenges and speeding up moral change via CCRC (Concentration, Choice, Reflection and Confession/Thanksgiving). Repeat the verse, “By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” (Heb. 10:14)
FLIP CHART: John Stott’s outline of SOM.
TABLE ACTIVITY: In caring for myself what should be my three greatest concerns in order of priority?
List the concerns on the Flip Chart. Then have the table discuss them again. Give each table three votes as to the three most important, the most important being given a 3, the second most important a 2 and the least important a 1. Record the scores and choose what should be the most important concerns of an individual.
INTRODUCTION
“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 (Matthew 5:43-48).
Mt. 5:43-48 is closely linked in meaning and intention to Mt. 5:38-42
C.G. Montefiore, the Jewish scholar, calls this (Mt. 5:38-48) “the central and most famous section” of the Sermon on the Mount. It is certainly true that there is no other passage of the NT which contains such a concentrated expression of the Christian Ethic of personal relations.” (Barclay, 172)
“The two final antitheses bring us to the highest point of the Sermon on the Mount, for which it is both most admired and most resented, namely the attitude of total love which Christ calls us to show towards one who is evil (39) and our enemies (44). Nowhere is the challenge of the Sermon greater. Nowhere is the distinctness of the Christian counter-culture more obvious. Nowhere is our need of the power of the Holy Spirit (whose first fruit is love) more compelling.” (Stott, 103)
“It is the most concentrated expression of the Christian love ethic in personal relations found anywhere in the New Testament.”
(Hughes, 140).
The Sermon on the Mount and especially Mt.5:38-48 was seen as the source of the “slave morality” that Nietzsche hated. “When Nietzsche’s teaching bore its terrible fruit during the ascendancy of National Socialism in Germany the Sermon on the Mount was vigorously attacked by men like Alfred Rosenberg, and a modified version was produced for those who wanted to remain within the Christian tradition and accommodate themselves to Hitler’s philosophy” (Hughes, 15).
OUTLINE FOR TODAY AND NEXT WEEK:
1. Cleaning up the Second Commandment
2. Loving Our Enemies
3. Moving Towards Perfection in Relationships
LOVING YOUR ENEMY – YOUR NEIGHBOR
I. CLEANING UP THE SECOND COMMANDMENT
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
The command is to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The teachers of the Law added “hate your enemy” which is not in the OT, and they also failed to add “as yourself,” which is in the OT.
Throughout the six anti-theses Jesus is corrected additions, deletions and misinterpretations of Jewish scholars on the Law. Here he tackled the Second Commandment.
The First and Second Commandments have been called “The Organizing Principles” of Christianity.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Mt. 22:39-40).
The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:31)
The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:9-10).
The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:14).
Jesus’ goal in these final verses of chapter 5 is to purge the Second Commandment from all corrupt interpretations and restore it to its proper meaning.
WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?
In the first century the Jewish scholar interpreted “neighbor” as a fellow Jew, not just the guy next door.
To them a “brother” was an Israelite by nation and blood; a “neighbor” was an Israelite by religion and worship.
“The author of Aruch (compendium of Jewish law), in A son of the covenant, writes, “The sons of the covenant, these are Israel. And when the Scripture saith, ‘If any one’s ox gore the ox of his neighbor,’ it excludes all the heathen, in that it saith, ‘of his neighbor.’
The Jewish scholars used Lev. 19:18, arguing from the context, “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.”
ILL – Luke 10:25-37: The Good Samaritan. The expert in the law asked, “Who is my neighbor?” …. “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Note, the expert in the law could not bring himself to say “Samaritan.”
In this parable Jesus plainly states that “neighbor” has a wider meaning and includes all people.
HATING OUR ENEMIES
The Jews made hating your enemies into a command of God, not dissimilar from the Muslims command about not being friends with Christians – “Believers, take neither the Jews nor the Christians for your friends. They are friends with one another” (Al-Quran, 5:51).
The Jews were not only permitted to hate their enemies, it was their duty to do so. (Mt. 5:38-48, pg. 13 from the Web).
This attitude explains why the Jews regarded all others as dogs and why many Gentiles despised the Jews. This attitude helps to explain the hatred and the bitterness which divided the ancient world – – a hatred and a bitterness which exists today (Mt. 5:43-48, pg. 35, web research).
“If a Jew sees that a Gentile has fallen into the sea, let him by no means lift him out. Of course it is written, ‘Do not rise up against your neighbor’s life.’, but this man is not your neighbor.” (Paraphrase of Tristram, Eastern Customs in Bible Lands, quoted in Sanders, For Believers Only, p. 84., from Sermon by Chip Bell.)
The Romans charged the Jews with the hatred of the human race. Tacitus, the Roman historian wrote of the Jews, “They readily show compassion to their own countrymen, but they bear to all other the hatred of an enemy.”
Paul writes of the Jews, “They displease God and are hostile to all men in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved.” (I Thes. 2:15-16).
The Zealots said, “whoever spills the blood of one of the godless is like one who offers a sacrifice,” and the Qumran community taught, “love all the sons of light and … hate the sons of darkness.”
There hatred was so strong for non-Jews that they could be called “hatriots.”
Could the centuries old hatred of the Jews be a result of the Jews intense hatred of all mankind?
It is difficult to understand the NT, the teaching of Jesus and the miracle of the Gospel message for all nations without grasping the isolationist sentiments of the Jews and their hatred for all mankind.
LOVING OUR NEIGHBOR
It is important to note that Mt. 5:38-42 deals with how to avoid conflict with your evil neighbor whereas 5:43-48 deals with how to reach out positively to your evil neighbor who may be your enemy.
The Jewish people were to love non-Jews, “The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt, I am the Lord your God” . . . The same law applies to the native-born and to the alien living among you.” (Lev. 19:34; Ex. 12:49).
“Love” (agape) is referred to 140 times in the NT. Barclay translates it as continued benevolence. Tertullian, an early church leader, prolific author and notable apologist, and most ancient philosophers used it in a sense of a universal, all encompassing love, like philanthropy.
QUESTION: What it our understanding of agape?
Storge – The love for children for their parents and parents for their children. The word describes family affection.
Eros – The passion of human love. It is the word from which we get ‘erotic.’ The word never occurs in the NT.
Philia – The warmest and best Greek word for love describing real, warm, tender affection.
Agape – Unconquerable benevolence, invincible good will. No matter how a person treats us, no matter if he insults us or injures us or grieves us, we will never allow any bitterness against him to invade our hearts but will wish and work for his highest good.
It may involve emotion but it must involve action. In I Cor. 13 all 15 descriptors of agape are in the verb form. Of course attitude is involved but it is best described by what it does. When Jesus gave His disciples the new commandment, that they must love one another, he had just finished washing their feet.
If love depended on our feelings, it would be foolish for God to command us to love our neighbor or anyone. When does anyone feel like loving an evil person or an enemy?
ILL: For example, when your little child comes into your room at 3 AM and says, “Mommy, I threw up.” What do you do? You get out of bed, comfort him, clean him up, change his sheets and soothe him back to sleep. Is that what you FEEL like doing? No. But you do it because you love him. We understand that because it’s natural to love your own child. It’s not natural to love our enemy, but “love” is the same thing. It means having enough concern for another’s well being that you overcome your personal desires in order to meet their needs and help them feel loved.
In the case of loving our enemies, agape is more than something of the heart. It is something of the will.
LOVING YOUR NEIGHBOR “AS YOURSELF”:
The Jewish teachers broadened the command by inputting “hate your enemy” and narrowed the command by omitting “as yourself.”
They felt it inconceivable that you should care for another person in the same way that you cared for yourself. The Jewish scholars knew that “as yourself” was a key part of the command (See Mark 12:32-33) and Luke 10:26-27).
QUESTION / FLIP CHART: What words could we use to describe our love for ourselves?
READING: What is it to love our neighbor as ourselves? Our love to ourselves is unfeigned, fervent, active, habitual and permanent: so ought to be our love to our neighbor. A regular self-love respects all our interests, but especially our spiritual and eternal interests: so ought our love to our neighbor. A regular self-love prompts us to be concerned about our welfare tenderly, to seek it diligently and prudently, to rejoice in it heartily, and to be grieved for any calamities sincerely: so ought our love to our neighbor prompt us to feel and conduct ourselves with regard to his welfare. Self-love makes us take unfeigned pleasure in promoting our welfare: we do not think it hard to do so much for ourselves: we ought to have just the same genuine love to our neighbor, and thereby prove “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Mt. 5:43-48, Web Notes, page 15)
“The insertion ‘As yourself’ ruled out any kind of superficial and casual application of the word love. To love someone else as you love yourself is to take great care in loving them.” (Web notes, Mt. 5:43-48, pg 27).
QUESTION: How do we love ourselves? Are there any other ways, priorities we focus on in loving ourselves?
We are to have the same concern for others as we have for ourselves.
SO WHAT???
1. We need to focus on the Second Commandment understanding that we will never be the people God wants us to be if this commandment is not central in our character and life goals.
2. Loving my “neighbor” means loving everyone in the world including my enemies.
3. Agape love may include feelings but does not act based on feelings. It is an act of the will.
4. Do we have as deep and real a concern for others as we have for ourselves? God desires for us to love them as we do ourselves.