The Love Question

A question that would invite personal reflection, a question that would invite someone to reveal

a little more of themselves, or sometimes, like this one here, a question can challenge

prevailing assumptions and wrong ideas.

So just as we did last time, we're going to think about this question and ask ourselves,

why is Jesus using it, in this case, in the Sermon on the Mount?

What is he asking of us, and what can we learn from Jesus and his question?

His question there, verse 46, if you love those who love you, what reward will you get?

So Jesus makes clear that everyone is capable of love.

We're made in the image of God, God who is love, and so everybody is capable of love for

family, for friends, in community, in a church, for example.

Now the challenge that Jesus identifies is how do we do when it comes to those who are unlike us?

Are we able to love those who don't like or love us?

Perhaps related.

You know, everybody I imagine would agree that forgiveness is a good idea as an aspect of love

for others. It always seems a really good idea and such an important thing to ask until we are wronged.

And then it becomes the challenge.

Am I able to put it into practice?

So Jesus forces us to ask ourselves the question,

can I seek the best for someone who seeks my worst?

How are we able?

How can we be able to do that?

I mentioned at the beginning that event with Dr. Brayhain for Release International.

So Eritrea is in the top, certainly in the top five most persecuted places on earth.

So there are tens of thousands of Eritrean Christians in prison camps,

and Dr. Brayhain spent time there,

and now he's actively serving Christians who are persecuted for their faith.

And I have no doubt that to listen to somebody speaking from that kind of context,

bringing that powerful story of the grace of God that enables him to love,

even in that setting,

we'll find ourselves asking,

could I do that?

How can he do that?

This challenge to love our enemies is real.

John Stott, a preacher down in London at the end of the 20th century,

commented that nowhere, in his view,

is the challenge of the Sermon on the Mount greater than in this little section.

Nowhere is the distinctiveness of the Christian counterculture more obvious.

Nowhere does it become more obvious that Christians are set apart as different,

and nowhere is the need of the Holy Spirit more compelling

than when it comes to the question of who we love and how we love.

So from this question, this conversation,

we're going to think about three things briefly together.

One, the mistake that we often make,

which we see from the Pharisees that Jesus is responding to in their false teaching.

The model that we're called to follow,

and the mercy that we need to receive.

So let's begin with a mistake that we often make.

In verse 43 and 44,

Jesus is correcting a twisting of the law.

You have heard it said.

This isn't you have heard it said in the Bible,

but they've heard it said by their religious teachers.

They've heard it said by the Pharisees.

But it's a twisting of the law that can so easily take place in a society,

and indeed in our own hearts.

So it seems that what's happened is that they've taken that quotation from Leviticus 19.18,

which we read,

you shall love your neighbor,

and in the hands of someone with a sort of legalistic view,

the logic applied is,

well, in that text,

it's written to Israelite people,

and it only mentions fellow Israelites.

Therefore, my neighbor must be somebody who is like me,

who's part of my community.

Therefore, and this is the extra step that they're taking,

I am permitted to hate anyone who is an enemy,

anyone who is a stranger,

anyone who is other.

So they take a demanding law,

love your neighbor as yourself,

and they're twisting it to try and read it in as convenient a way as possible,

to make it comfortable for themselves.

So they set a really low bar,

and they have a really limited focus.

And so Jesus wants to explode that logic,

because Jesus rejects, first of all,

he rejects the narrowing that takes place in that thinking.

The narrow reading of love.

So they hear,

love your neighbor as yourself,

and they think,

well, my neighbor is somebody who is like me.

We read to the end of Leviticus 19,

where the command continues,

to love the foreigner who lives among you.

In Exodus 23,

we could go there,

where Moses teaches from God,

if you happen to be walking in the open country,

and you meet your enemy's animal,

it is your duty and responsibility to bring it back to them.

So God's law says,

there's not to be a double standard,

based on differences between people,

there's not to be a double standard,

based on preferences.

So Jesus rejects any attempt at narrowing this command,

this reading of love.

He also rejects the narrow standard of love that they are applying.

Because notice a phrase has been missed out.

In Leviticus 19.18,

God's law says,

love your neighbor as yourself,

but the Pharisees are only talking about,

love your neighbor.

When we think about how much love and care we show to ourselves,

if we miss that out,

it becomes much easier.

But Jesus wants to have the more demanding level of love applied.

One of the books I've been reading over the summer,

rereading is C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity,

which is a really interesting, helpful book in many parts.

One thing he says there is that as people,

we consistently apply the saying,

and we'll probably know the saying,

you know,

hate the sin,

but love the sinner.

He says the one person that we always apply that principle to is ourselves.

You know,

we will hate the sin that we see in ourselves,

but we will still love ourselves.

And C.S. Lewis says,

and Jesus says,

we need to apply that same principle to everyone.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

So Jesus rejects that narrowing of the standard.

And he also rejects that narrowing of the object of love.

Because remember,

they added the phrase,

and hate your enemy.

That doesn't come from the Bible.

It certainly is not what we see from Jesus.

Remember Jesus' famous parable of the Good Samaritan.

Why was that told?

It was told to challenge another man who had a very convenient idea about how to keep the law.

Jesus,

tell me who is my neighbor?

What do they look like?

And I'll tick the box.

And Jesus tells the parable to say that any human being who we meet,

who is in trouble,

if we have the capacity to help,

they're our neighbor.

So Jesus is rejecting all of this narrowing.

Maybe it's something of the natural tendency that we have as people

to be exclusive in how we love.

We love our friends and our family.

And there are certain types of people that we naturally connect with

and we find them easy to love.

But if we push that too far,

and where we can go wrong is we can ignore those who are unlike us.

We can indeed despise people who are other than us.

We see it,

don't we,

in our society?

Perhaps we see it sometimes in our own hearts,

that tendency to divide into them and us.

That tribalism that we see based on nationality or race or status

or even a person's point of view.

Jesus says that way of love is too narrow,

and he isn't loving at all.

In many cases,

Jesus rejects the narrowing that goes on,

and connected to that,

Jesus rejects the judging that takes place.

In our relationships,

with people that we know,

and with people that we don't know,

sometimes we're thinking about it,

often we're not,

but we are assessing,

we can find ourselves assessing,

what does this person deserve from me?

And we often want to apply a rule of justice.

How does that work?

Well, if they do good to me,

then I will do good in return.

But if you do bad to me,

what's our instinct?

I will return bad to you.

If you snub me,

if you upset me,

if you disappoint me,

if you hurt me in some way,

we'll return like for like.

We can often apply a rule of justice.

What do your words and actions merit

by way of my response?

And when we think like that,

and Jesus points this out,

if our thinking is always judging,

what do they deserve?

Are they like me or not?

It plays out as love your neighbor,

yes,

but hate your enemy.

And so we end up with these cycles

of violence and revenge

and the breakdown of relationships

if we try to apply justice

without mercy.

So Jesus rejects that kind of narrowing

and judging,

and instead he teaches

active loving,

doesn't he?

You've 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.

Remember John Stott saying

this is the most demanding part

of the Sermon on the Mount.

I remember years ago in Glasgow,

I was part of an interfaith dialogue

where we had eight minutes,

different faith traditions

had eight minutes

on the topic,

what does your holy book teach about love?

And this was the text

for explaining in eight minutes

what Christianity taught,

what Jesus taught about love,

and then the other faiths

did the same with theirs,

and there was like roundtable discussions,

and at the end,

the moderator asked for a vote,

which was the most demanding

of all the ethics

that were talked about.

And to a person,

everyone said,

well, of course,

it's the Christian ethic,

because it's not just love

for those who are like us,

but it's love across difference,

and it's love for an enemy.

It's a love that serves.

Jesus is calling us to a love

that seeks the good of others,

regardless of what they want for us.

This isn't just,

if somebody does wrong to me,

I will be passive.

Jesus is saying,

you need to seek the good

and to pray for enemies and persecutors.

Again, to go back to C.S. Lewis

and mere Christianity,

he very helpfully gives this piece of advice

when it comes to relationships

with other people,

don't wait to feel love towards them.

Act as if you already do,

and allow the feelings to follow.

But Jesus calls us to a love that serves,

and even more than that,

he calls us to a love that prays.

And this is hugely significant.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said,

this is the supreme command.

What Jesus is saying to us here

is that,

in Bonhoeffer's words,

through the medium of prayer,

we go to our enemy,

we stand by his side,

and we plead for him to God.

It changes how we feel about another person

when we pray for them.

It is hard to continue to feel negatively

towards someone

when you go to a God of grace and mercy

and you seek that in their life.

And when we think about a love that serves,

and when we think about a love that prays,

and we think that this is Jesus

who's speaking to us,

we know that he practiced what he preached.

Isn't this what we see and hear at the cross?

Jesus,

in serving sinful humanity,

in serving his own people,

went to the cross to suffer and die,

and died praying,

Father, forgive them.

They don't know what they are doing.

Well, let's move from there

to think about what Jesus says

in terms of the model

that we are called to follow.

It's from verse 45 onwards.

Jesus says,

Love your enemies

and pray for those who persecute you

that you may be children

of your Father in heaven.

It's interesting that modeling

and imitation

is an important part

of the Christian faith.

You go to the Old Testament

and you find that

the responsibility of passing faith

down through the generations.

That would be through teaching,

but also through imitation.

Think about the ministry of Jesus.

He called his disciples to him

and they learned from him

by watching,

by listening,

by observing,

and then they were commissioned.

Now go and do likewise.

Think about Paul the Apostle

being able to say to young Christians,

imitate me

as I imitate Christ.

To the extent

that you see something

Christ-like in me,

pursue that.

So modeling and imitation

is a feature of our faith.

It's a good thing, I think.

We need and value role models.

Here are the rules.

Here are the principles.

Here are the examples

by which we live and work

and carry out relationships.

Perhaps we see modeling

most clearly

in a family setting.

We have that related phrase

like father,

like son.

So when people use that,

sometimes that's purely

about physical appearance.

But it's often the case as well

that children will pick up

habits of speech,

specific practices

that they see

from their parents.

It's the more time

that we spend watching

and listening,

the more likely we are

to become

like the person

we observe.

And think about

what Jesus does here

in his teaching

on the Sermon on the Mount.

He has challenged,

he said,

no to having

a low bar of love

that frees you up

to hate your enemy,

only to love those

who are like you.

Now Jesus raises the bar.

Love

like your Father in heaven.

Show you are his children

by the way

that you love

others.

And I want us to notice

two aspects

of the Father's love

that Jesus draws

attention to.

First of all,

it's inclusive.

Look at verse 45,

continues there,

speaking about

the love of the Father.

Father,

he causes his Son

to rise on the evil

and the good

and sends rain

on the righteous

and the unrighteous.

There is no

Christian weather forecast.

There is no

Christian weather system.

There is no sense

that Christians

receive one thing

and a person

who has no thought

of God receives

something else

when we think about

common grace,

the good things

that we enjoy

as we live

in this world

that God has made.

We all enjoy

the kindness

of God.

Everyone in our city

right now,

we experience

the same weather patterns.

We have the same

provision being made.

It's part of God's

goodness

to the people

that he has made,

giving us the things

that we need

and enjoy in life.

Of course,

we recognize

that there is

saving grace.

That's of a different

nature.

But Jesus here

is saying that God

gives his everyday

kindness to all people,

whether they're evil

or whether they're good,

whether they're righteous

or whether they're

unrighteous.

The worshiper

on his knees,

the average person

on the street

who has no thought

of God,

the atheist

who says,

I hate God,

the same creator God

gives the same breath

to each of their lungs

that enables them

to either bless

or curse.

So we can't look out

over Edinburgh

and say,

well,

there's someone

who's clearly

a Christian

because look,

the sun is shining,

their garden is growing,

they're enjoying barbecues,

but over here

their neighbors

must be pagans

because there's hailstones

and their gardens

like a wilderness.

God is kind

to his creation.

And we see this patterned

in Jesus,

in his ministry.

It never ceases

to be amazing

that when you come

to the Last Supper,

the disciples

to a man

can be left confused

and wondering,

who is it

that's going

to betray Jesus?

Because Jesus

is treating them

all the same.

Judas had his feet

washed,

though Jesus knew

he was the traitor.

It's a remarkable

quality of God

and of his Son,

this ability

to show

inclusive love.

But also

we recognize

that the love

of God

is a merciful love.

Because Jesus

spells out

this is a love

that is even shown

to the enemies

of God.

Good gifts

are received.

While God

is perfectly

within his rights

to retaliate

for dishonor,

for rejection,

he demonstrates

a love

that is patient.

And Peter,

as he thinks

about that,

recognizes 2 Peter 3,

this is good news.

That God

is patient,

gives us

a chance

to repent

and to turn

to God

and to be saved.

God's love

is inclusive.

God's love

is merciful.

faithful.

Then we come

to the love

question itself.

Verse 46,

if you love

those who love

you,

what reward

will you get?

And verse 47,

and if you greet

only your own

people,

what are you

doing more

than others?

So again,

Jesus returns

to this point,

everybody loves,

even those

who are

considered the

most immoral

in their society,

even tax collectors,

show love

and kindness

to one another.

But Jesus

understands

that the instinct

of our heart

is that our love

be at least

somewhat self-serving.

Let me make sure

that I show love

to those who are

of benefit to me.

Let me make sure

that I show love

to those who are

of my kind,

of my tribe.

And Jesus says

the mark of Christian love

is a loving

more than others

kind of love.

It's above

and beyond

kind of a love.

It's a love

for one's enemies.

So we are called

as children of God

to imitate

the Father's inclusion,

that the model

that we are

to follow

is not that

that we see

in the world

and the society

around us,

but to look

to our Father

and say,

I want to be more

like my Father

in how I love.

Of course,

Jesus does expect

us to love

nice people,

and it's a good thing

that we have friends

and family

and people

that we connect

with easily,

but we understand,

I think,

our own hearts,

and we know

even that in itself

can be testing

at times,

but he certainly

also does expect

us to love

the unlovely,

those who are

not nice to us,

those who would

make themselves

enemies towards us.

Jesus says

we are to do that

because it's the way

of our Father

in heaven.

Our Father

in heaven

who sustains

and provides

for all kinds

of people,

sent Jesus

to be the Savior

for all kinds

of people,

demonstrated his love

in giving his Son

to make peace

with enemies,

to turn enemies

into adopted children.

So we're to imitate

that inclusion

and to mirror

our Father's

mercy,

not applying

that measure

of justice.

What does this

person deserve?

Because that will

always tend

to limit

and to exclude,

especially when it

comes to people

who are different

to us.

And we're not

to do that,

Jesus says,

because remember

the Father

poured out mercy,

he's always

pouring out mercy,

and he's

pouring out mercy

on unlovely,

undeserving sinners,

people like us.

He didn't say to us,

clean up your act

first and then

you can join my family.

He showed grace,

he showed mercy.

So we're called

to the Father's

family values.

And again,

where do we see

them displayed

most clearly

and perfectly?

We see them

displayed in Jesus

Christ,

the Son of God.

We see it in the

glory of his love.

Think about his love

and who he called

to follow him.

Some of the least

likely candidates,

many who were

rejected

and ignored

and despised

in society,

but loved,

valued,

honored,

saved by Jesus.

Jesus,

who showed the full

extent of his love

in giving himself

over to his enemies

to be put to death,

praying forgiveness

all the while

for his enemies,

dying

that enemies

and those facing

the wrath of God

may be saved

and be drawn to him.

And when we believe

and when we experience

the power of his love,

we can be enabled

to share it

as we allow

the love

of our Father,

the love

of our Savior

to overwhelm us.

We can be like

Stephen,

the book of Acts,

the first person

to die

for following Jesus.

We turn to

Acts 7

just for a moment,

a beautiful testimony

to Stephen

and his faith.

Acts 7

Acts 7:59

verse 59,

while they were

stoning Stephen,

I see verse 55,

first of all,

Stephen,

full of the Holy Spirit,

looked up to heaven

and saw the glory

of God

and Jesus standing

at the right hand

of God.

And then while

they were stoning him,

Stephen prayed,

Lord Jesus,

receive my spirit.

Then he fell

on his knees

and cried out,

Lord,

do not hold

this sin

against them.

When he had said

this,

he fell asleep.

Stephen was looking

to Jesus

and he was loving

like Jesus.

And when he died,

he went to be

with Jesus.

So that's the model

that we are to follow.

It's the model

of our Father.

And finally and briefly,

let's think thoroughly

about the mercy

that we all need.

Again,

to take Jesus'

teaching seriously,

I imagine,

is to give us

a sense of conviction,

perhaps of failings

that we are aware of.

You know,

if this is God's test,

if this is what he calls us

to,

love your enemies

and pray for those

who persecute you.

If he asks for us

to go above

and beyond

the most loving

and merciful

non-Christian

that we meet,

if the standard

that God expects

is the standard

of verse 48,

be perfect,

therefore,

as your heavenly Father

is perfect,

you can possibly

match up.

Now,

when Jesus says there,

be perfect,

he's not saying

there will be a point,

there should be a point

where sinless moral perfection

is possible in this life,

because remember,

Jesus teaches us

to pray,

forgive us our debts.

Jesus says,

blessed are those

who hunger

and thirst

for righteousness.

So,

what does he mean

when he's talking

about being perfect

as our heavenly Father?

He means put on

a love like our Father's.

Practice merciful,

inclusive,

extravagant,

patient love.

This is the requirement

truly no one measures up.

The law of love

stands to condemn us,

but at the same time

points us to Christ.

Because when we turn

to Jesus,

there is hope,

there is good news,

because Jesus perfectly

kept the love command.

He loved his neighbor

as himself.

He didn't hold

anything back.

He practiced

what he preached

in his conversations,

in his tears

over Jerusalem,

unwilling to repent

in the way he died

on the cross.

Jesus mirrored

the Father's love.

He is the glory of God

in human form,

so the love

that we see in Jesus

is the love of God.

Utterly unique.

Utterly transforming.

We mentioned the

Good Samaritan parable,

of course.

Jesus perfectly shows

what it looks like

to be the Great Samaritan.

Sacrificing himself,

giving everything,

paying everything

for helpless,

hopeless people like us

who could never

hope to live,

to enjoy God's presence

without his mercy

and grace.

It is Jesus

who shows us

the beautiful,

unique love of God.

Romans 5,

Romans 5:10

verse 10.

The love of God

that reconciles us.

The love of God

that saves us

from his wrath.

While we were enemies

through the death

of his Son.

When we think about

the question of love

and our lack of love,

often our greatest need

is first and always

to receive.

To receive this merciful love

for ourselves.

By faith,

to trust in Jesus as Lord

to find forgiveness,

eternal life,

and to be brought

into relationship

with the God

of perfect love.

And it's then

and only then

that the power

of the gospel

begins to grip

our hearts

and can control

who we love

and how we love.

As we understand

that we are first

and always

subjects

of a wonderful,

gracious love

from our God.

As we allow that

to shape our heart

and our will

so that we want

to live the Father's way

even when it's hard.

Even if we might

get rejected

or be ignored.

That the love

that we receive

would lead us

to share

the Father's love

so that people

around us,

including enemies,

including those

who wrong us,

including those

who speak badly of us,

including those

who think the worst

of us,

would come to experience

something of the Father's love

from children

who would follow

in His footsteps.

Let's pray together.

Lord,

our God,

we recognize

how incredibly

demanding

the teaching

of Jesus is.

We recognize

how often

we can lack love,

we can grow tired

of our love.