2nd November 2025 - Trevor Saggers

Friends, let us pray. Father, may we experience

today in a very special way the love you have

now lavished on us through Jesus so that we can

be your children. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

When I was at Bible College, we became good friends

with a couple whose children went to the same

school as our boys. They weren't at Bible College

with us. but we did end up seeing a fair bit

of one another during those three years and still

keep in touch today. He, the dad, the father

of the family, happened to be the pastor of Newtown

Baptist Church. They had five children, four

boys and a girl. Now, one of their boys, Saul,

who would have been about 16 years old, which

is basically the main highway that goes through

the suburb Newtown, taking you to the centre

of Sydney. And whilst in that shop, a rough -looking

guy, no doubt just looking for a fight, walked

past him and said, what are you looking at, mate?

You got a problem? Now, their son hadn't encountered

this sort of thing before. They were new at Newtown,

just as we were. Come to think of it, there were

many things we hadn't encountered before. Until

we lived in Newtown. Things most of us here would

probably never encounter. Anyway, their son Saul

didn't know what to really do. So carefully and

quickly, after buying what he needed, he got

out of that shop and started the short walk home.

But so did this other character. This other character

started following him to the point where Saul

started running to try and get home before this

guy might grab him and punch into him. Now, although

this was broad daylight, and King Street is a

very busy street with both people and cars, no

one intervened. And so Saul found himself running

faster, and faster. Fortunately, he made it to

his home, the Baptist manse, and went through

the side gate into the safety of their backyard.

Wow, close one, he thought. But guess what? This

guy who just wanted to pick on him for the sake

of it climbed over the fence and into their backyard.

and started laying into him. Fortunately, because

the Baptist church hall was also formed part

of their backyard, someone in the hall heard

him screaming and came out of the church hall

to help. And so this guy bolted. But by then,

Saul had been hit quite a few times, and so it

was a bit black and blue and bleeding. Just after

that happened, I think the very next day, I was

talking to a few mates at Bible College about

it all, asking them to pray for him and his family.

And so we all stopped and prayed for them. As

you hear this story for the first time, how do

you think you'd respond to something like that?

If that happened to your son or a friend of yours?

Besides obviously reporting it to the police,

which they did, and the guy was arrested, he

was apparently well known by the police, what

else would you do? Yes, how might you pray for

such a family? That the police would catch this

guy and lock him up? That Saul would quickly

recover from his injuries? That the Lord would

help this family feel safe in a place where they

already didn't feel that safe, let alone after

this? For example, a friend of this family told

them that this was a spiritual attack on them

and the work they were doing there. And also

told them how a previous Baptist pastor's wife,

when she answered the door one day, was bashed

and killed right there on the spot, on the doorstep

of Newtown Baptist Church, where they were actually

living. And so that friend suggested they needed

to pray over the actual property. Hmm. How would

you respond to something like that if that happened

to your child in your own backyard after going

up to the local IGA store to get some milk for

you? It's worth asking yourself how you'd respond.

For what it's worth, what did Saul become? He

became a policeman. And for what it's worth,

is his dad still a Baptist pastor? No. He's still

a very committed man to the Lord, but he became

a policeman too. Interesting. Well, today's reading,

I believe, tells us how to respond to such a

circumstance if you are a disciple of Jesus Christ.

If you're not yet a disciple of Jesus Christ,

please still listen so that you understand what

God expects of those who are now his children.

Hopefully because one day you too will be. So

please reopen your Bibles now to Matthew 5, 43

to 48. If you're using one of our church -provided

Bibles, we're on page 1473. 1473. Or you could

just look at your bulletin. I'll read verses

43 to 44 now. After reading these verses, please

keep your Bibles open as we'll shortly come back

to the remaining verses. Jesus said to his disciples

in a large crowd that had followed them, You

have heard that it was said, Love your neighbour

and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your

enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Flowing on from the previous verses that spoke

about the personal abuse one might receive and

the response of a true disciple of Jesus Christ

to it, self -sacrifice, Jesus now talks about

what naturally flows on from that, the much broader

question, therefore, of hatred and love. The

people had heard that it was said, love your

neighbour and hate your enemy. But again, like

the previous examples over these past weeks that

we've now looked at, they were hearing falsely.

Yes, the Old Testament scripture says love your

neighbour, as we heard in our other Bible reading

from Leviticus 19 .18. But nowhere does God actually

say you must hate your enemy. Now, although I

could show you some verses that speak about despising

evil people, And God does too. In certain contexts,

example Psalms 5 and Psalm 15, that is not what

God commands us to do. It's amazing how we like

to twist what God says to suit our circumstances.

We find a verse somewhere, anywhere to suit our

context or we find simply something more comfortable.

And that's what God's people were obviously doing

with the Old Testament scriptures. Hence, on

these occasions, Jesus can say, you've heard

that it was said, but I tell you. And so, you

see, some Jews took the word neighbour, where

God says love your neighbour, to mean only one's

very own people. And if that is so, it's okay

to hate those who are different from you. those

who you didn't regard as your neighbours. And

so the expression used by many back then was,

love the brothers, hate the outsider. And so

this issue of understanding who in fact was one's

neighbour was very much misunderstood, falsely

taught. Hence Jesus at another point in his ministry

tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. Luke

10, to point out that one's neighbour is in fact

anyone, friend or foe. And so Jesus says here,

love not just your friends, but also your foes,

your enemies. And how? Well, I think here he

says to pray for them. And he's talking about

not just people who you don't get on with or

don't like, although they are obviously included.

He's talking about enemies with a capital E,

the ones who persecute you. You are to love them

by at least praying for them. Remembering the

Jews were under the Romans back then. Wow. And

in this context here, remembering the Beatitudes

at the beginning of this chapter where Jesus

mentions those who persecute you, those who seriously

give you a very hard time. He means those who

persecute you. And why do that? Because of righteousness.

That is because of living for Jesus. Matthew

5, 10 to 12. We are to love such people, such

enemies, by praying for them. Sue and I have

some enemies, and so much so that I've had to

stay off Facebook, something the police some

years ago told me to do. We've also had to block

certain people from communicating very awful

messages to us on our mobile phones. And why?

Simply because of righteousness. Simply because

we try to remain faithful to God's word and therefore

faithful to Jesus and the righteous life that

he desires. And so when I read these two verses,

I'm reminded what I should be doing in response

to those who seek to personally hurt us and threaten

us. I am, we are to love them by at least praying

for them. Well, before we look at the main point

in these verses as to why God wants us to love

our enemies, I want us to consider something

that is so obvious that maybe we've missed it

so far. In this sermon series. We see it here

and we also see it in the previous examples.

It is this. We see here the divine authority

of Jesus. Yes, we see here the divine authority

of Jesus. Or in other words, the very authority

of God himself. In Jesus. Shown by what he actually

says. Yes, Jesus' authority is one of the most

dominant features in this chapter. Not only does

he tell us that he himself is the fulfilment

of everything the law required and everything

the prophets had spoken about, and not only does

he tell us who will be the least and who will

be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven to come,

but he also tells us at least probably eight

times in this chapter, what God's word really

and truly says. Think about it. Where do the

Old Testament scriptures actually get their authority

from? Their authority comes from God. And because

their authority comes from God, only one with

the same authority could ever interpret the scriptures

and define implicitly what the scriptures really

mean. and truly mean and that's what jesus repeatedly

does he therefore is revealing his divine authority

yes simply put only someone with the authority

of god himself can truly say but i tell you when

referring to the holy scriptures a prophet might

speak the words of god and therefore say thus

says the lord but only someone with the f very

authority of God himself, can repeatedly say,

I tell you. I tell you the truth. But I tell

you. It's no wonder that the great Hindu leader,

Mahatma Gandhi, believed Jesus' teachings on

the Sermon on the Mount to be the greatest teaching

ever given on planet Earth. But sadly, I don't

believe Gandhi saw what Jesus was really saying.

and therefore claiming when he repeatedly says,

but I tell you. So Jesus has just said, you've

heard that it was said, love your neighbour and

hate your enemy, but I tell you, love your enemies

and pray for those who persecute you. Now Jesus

didn't actually finish his sentence there. He

says a few more words to explain why we are to

love one's enemy. Now please have a look at why.

Have a look at verse 45. Why? The NLV, New International

Version, 2011 says that you may be children of

your Father in heaven. That's why. I've summed

it up like this and the next three verses spell

it out in more detail. Not only do we see here

and... all through this chapter, the divine authority

of Jesus, we also see here what is expected of

those who belong to the Father. So basically

we are to love our enemies because that's how

a child of God, how someone who belongs to our

Father in heaven, should love. Love your enemies

and pray for those who persecute you. And why?

Because that's how sons and daughters of our

heavenly Father are to live. Anything less than

that is simply not worthy of a place in the kingdom

of heaven where our Father is. Anything less

than that is simply not worthy of being a child

of God. So we therefore mustn't limit our love

to certain people. Yet that is what Jesus is

saying here. If you're a child of God, a son

or daughter of your Father in heaven, and you

limit your love to only those you get along with,

you can't expect your Father in Heaven to say,

good on you. No. Anyone can do that. Anyone can

love those who love them. Even tax collectors

do that. Verse 46. I want you to love like me.

I want you to even love your enemies. Friends,

when you look at the life of Jesus, did Jesus

show us this kind of love or was he all talk?

Did Jesus just show and claim divine authority

in what he said? Or did he also back it up in

what he did? Well, I suppose the greatest test

to practice what one preaches is when one faces

the greatest test. And when did Jesus face one

of his greatest tests? Well, surely it would

have been on the cross. Yep, on the cross, on

that very first good for us, but ghastly for

him, Friday. How did he respond to his enemies

who had their way and whipped him to an inch

of death, stripped him of his clothing, then

nailed him to a cross? to further publicly humiliate

him, spat on him and hurled insults at him? Like,

how did he respond to his enemies with a capital

E? Well, he certainly did practise what he preached.

And much more than that, he exemplified it. He

said just before he took his last breath whilst

hanging on that rugged cross... Father, forgive

them for they do not know what they are doing.

Wow. Yes, what a magnificent author and perfecter

of our faith. Perhaps he was divine. As a follower,

as his follower, as a son or daughter of the

Father, we must not limit our love to those who

love us. The second example is found in verse

47. Please look at it with me, please. Verse

47, and if you greet only your own people, what

are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans,

in our context here today, unbelievers, do that.

Friends, a warm greeting or welcome can say a

lot, just as the absence of a warm greeting or

welcome can say a lot too. Who you greet, who

you welcome speaks a lot. If certain people are

carefully ignored and those only close to us

receive our sincere good wishes, Jesus is saying

here that you are no different to the rest of

society because that's how they act. In other

words, a son or daughter of the Heavenly Father

or child of God must not... any longer stoop

to the low standard of society. He or she must

scale to the high standard of unworthy of the

kingdom of heaven and not limit our greeting

or welcome to certain people. That's what this

verse is basically saying. We also mustn't limit

our welcome to certain people. Crunch time! Do

you limit your welcome to certain people? Do

we limit our welcome to certain people in our

street? Do we limit our welcome to certain people

of our own colour or nation? Do we limit our

welcome to certain people in our workplace? Do

we limit our welcome to certain people at school

or at university? Do we limit our welcome to

people who are good citizens and behave themselves?

Or what about this one? Do we limit our welcome

and greeting to certain people at church? To

those you get along with. to those in your circle,

to those of your age, to those who are much easier

to talk to. Well, what Jesus says here has implications

in all areas of life, including how we greet

one another at church and who we greet and therefore

who we talk to afterwards, say over morning tea.

Dare I say that if you feel that someone here

almost falls in the category of an enemy for

you at the moment, or quite different, I want

to make a special effort to greet them and talk

to them afterwards. Well, in his day, Jesus once

again practiced what he preached in this area.

But I tell you, there were two groups of people

back then that most people in society avoided

greeting or welcoming. They basically avoided

going anywhere near these two groups of people.

But Jesus said, sorry, Jesus did. He always reflected

his father. He truly was the father's son in

more ways than one. And so much so that he earned

a reputation of greeting and even hanging out

with those that society didn't like. And the

writer. The writer of this gospel was one of

them. From Matthew 11, 19, he welcomes tax collectors.

Matthew's name was Levi. He was a tax collector.

And sinners. Yes, that is what was said of Jesus.

In a sense, when it comes to loving one's enemies,

to say that they are an enemy is a misnomer at

one level. Sometimes they are simply people worse

off than you or people who have made more obvious

mistakes in life than you or just different from

you. And if you think that this last point of

not limiting one's welcome to certain people

was crunch time for you, well, for us, baby,

we just ain't seen nothing yet. Have a look at

verse 48. Jesus concludes all of this by saying,

Be perfect. Therefore, as your heavenly Father

is perfect. Easy peasy. That's what I like about

being a Christian. When you come to Jesus, it's

all easy peasy. Not. Friends, we see here in

this verse the demand to be like our Father in

heaven. Well, obviously to... be perfect like

our Father in heaven and like Jesus, who not

only spoke with divine authority but also lived

divinely because he practised everything he preached,

involves, you could say, more than just loving

one's enemies, as spelled out in these six verses.

But in saying that, I think there is a very important

reason why Jesus says these words, straight after

specifically talking about... loving one's enemies

and therefore not hating them and what is the

reason why does jesus say to be perfect straight

after talking about loving loving one's enemies

i think because what is central to the very character

of god what is at the very core of god's being

is his love for his enemies His love for us.

He is so rich in love that he has poured out

his love on all people as demonstrated in all

its fullness on the cross. This is your favourite

verse, Brendan. Whilst we were still his enemies,

his son died for us. Romans 5 .8. That's true

love. And when one pours out such love on all

people, for example, in forgiveness and in welcoming,

especially on people who are most undeserving

of such love, such love is called what? It's

called mercy. Yes, it's called mercy. When one

of the other gospel writers, Dr. Luke, yes, God

loves tax collectors and doctors. When Dr. Luke

records Jesus' teaching on this very matter,

he doesn't say, be perfect, therefore, as your

heavenly Father is perfect. He says, be merciful

as your Father is merciful, Luke 6 .36. Loving

one's enemies is all about mercy. And as God

is love, he is rich in mercy. Ephesians 2 .4.

And when we are rich in mercy, we are most like

our Father in heaven and therefore becoming more

like him. Perfect. So who do you need to show

mercy to? Who do you need to be more like our

Father in Heaven to? You know, when our friend

Saul was bashed up that day and my mates and

I were praying for him and his family, one of

my mates prayed in a way that I'll never forget.

We prayed for Saul to recover. We prayed for

his family. We prayed... Also for justice to

be delivered. We gave thanks that there were

people in the hall who heard what was happening

and therefore ran out to help. My wife Sue was

one of them. But one of my mates prayed very

differently to all of us. He prayed for the character

who bashed up Saul. He prayed that the Lord would

convict this guy. of the serious wrong that he's

done and changed his life. He prayed that the

Lord would have mercy on him. And he prayed that

Saul and his family would forgive this guy. Be

perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is

perfect. Be merciful just as your Father is merciful.

Amen.