Sermon Tone Analysis

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We have come now to the last of Jesus’ examples of “true righteousness.”
All of these examples started with Jesus’ clarifying statement that he has not come to abolish the law - but has come to fulfill it.
And so far, in each example, we have seen how Jesus’ righteous ways do just that.
Jesus doesn’t spit upon the law, He doesn’t denounce righteousness, He doesn’t belittle it or change it - He proves it.
Jesus proves righteousness in His life and living, He fulfills both the extent and the intent of the Old Testament in His coming, and He shows us what that true righteousness looks like practically.
So far, it has looked like reconciliation rather than anger.
It has looked like self-control rather than lust and adultery.
It has looked like faithfulness rather than needless divorce and untruthfulness.
It has looked like Meekness rather than retaliation and living by “an eye for an eye.”
All of Jesus’ examples have both uncovered the true depth of the law in these areas, while also uncovering the shallowness of the common interpretations, or at least the common applications of the law.
In all of these ways, men had found a means of “smoothing over” God’s revelation in order to be able to say “I am righteous in this category.”
But in every example, Jesus has shown how a false pretense of righteousness is simply another form of unrighteousness.
In the last example, concerning “an eye for an eye,” we really see the heart of Christ, and we see a glimpse into what kind of a man He would prove to be.
In His humility, meekness, generosity, and faith, Jesus showed us how to live a life that wasn’t controlled by “an eye for an eye” thinking.
But I also see Jesus’ words there in the last section as a precursor - a foreshadowing.
For in those specific ways, Jesus’ proved His righteousness in His trial and His death.
He did not retaliate in any way, but as 1 Peter 2:23 says, He trusted Himself to the one who judges justly.
So He is our example, but in being an example He was more than an example.
Truly, Jesus is our example of righteousness, but more than that, He is our righteousness.
After all, He came with a purpose.
Jesus’ living was always moving toward His dying, and His dying was with an eye to His living again.
The ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate payment, the ultimate victory.
As we move to the final example in Chapter 5, the fulness of Christ’s example and the picture of His passion shines through again, for in this passage we see the example of love.
One author I read this week put it this way.
“Matthew 5:43-48 is a concentrated expression of the Christian ethic.”
That is, the practical aspect of what it means to follow Christ is wrapped up in this short passage.
It is love - and not simply as man loves, but as God loves.
We read of God’s love earlier in the call to worship.
There is no love apart from God. Love is part of God’s essence, it is part of who He is.
The Apostle John put it this way in His epistle.
“Love is from God - God is love.”
That is not simply beautiful and poetic, it is theologically deep and true.
If there is any one of God’s attributes that we could say is universally admired, it would be that of love.
Now, how we define love may differ with many in the world, but you would be hard pressed to find a person who would not admit that love is a good thing.
Another thing about love as one of God’s attributes is this - there are attributes of God which we call incommunicable - that is, we can’t share in them.
For instance, God is all knowing, all powerful, and omnipresent - we cannot share in those attributes.
But there are attributes of God which we call communicable - that is, we can share in them at least in some sense.
For instance, God is faithful and we can be faithful, God is holy and we are called to be holy, and God is love, and we are called to love.
And for Jesus’ audience, there was no doubt about the fact that we are called to love.
But the question and qualifying nature of Jesus’ teaching here is this - whom are we called to love?
That is a challenging question, a convicting question, and a pointed question - one that we must ask along with every reader of this passage, and one that finds a clear answer both in Jesus’ words and His subsequent life and death.
Love comes from God and shows that we are God’s children.
God is the goal of love and all righteousness.
1.
The Old Unwritten Rule - Vs. 43
Like in the other examples, Jesus gets the hearer’s attention with “you have heard it said.”
Now, in some of the examples Jesus simply quotes a written law.
In some of the examples, Jesus quotes a common saying that was deduced from the law.
Here, Jesus quotes what seems to be a mixture of the two.
The first part of Jesus’ quotation comes from Leviticus 19:18
To love your neighbor as yourself was a clear command.
And it is a command that makes sense.
It is the essence of the golden rule.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
So “love your neighbor” - no problem there.
The sticky portion is the second half of Jesus’ quote.
“you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.”
If that was the common teaching, or at least the common understanding, we have to ask where that came from?
Now, to be clear, there is no direct command in the scriptures to “hate your enemy.”
So just with that, we can already say that “love your neighbor” and “hate your enemy” are on different planes.
One is a clear command of God, the other is not.
Now, it is possible that it is an inference from passages like Deuteronomy 23.
Now, there in Deuteronomy 23, there was a specific dealing with the Ammonites and the Moabites because of their belligerent past with Israel.
You can read the account in Numbers 22-24.
There were certainly distinctions like this made in Israel’s history to protect the holiness of Israel as a Covenant nation - a nation called out to worship and serve the one true God.
Yet, there was no command to hate your enemy.
It seems that “hate your enemy” was the unwritten rule born out of distinguishing between the righteous and the unrighteous in the Assembly of Israel.
In a ceremonial sense, there was a distinction.
Yet still, there was not a command to hate the enemy - but we can imaging how it would come to be the norm.
“Hating your enemy” is simply “an eye for an eye” born out.
It is “an eye for an eye” as a lifestyle.
Hating your enemy is “an eye for an eye” as the lens through which you view people.
It goes beyond “that person harmed me so I will harm them,” to “someone from that group of people harmed someone from my group of people, so I will retaliate by hating their people.”
This was alive and well in Jesus’ day.
We can’t go here today for sake of time, but Jesus was addressing a similar question in His parable of the good Samaritan.
The Samaritan’s were the racial “enemies” of Israel, and the hatred between the groups went both ways.
They thought they were completely justified in their hatred of the unclean, mixed-lineage of the Samaritans.
We have seen this born out in our day as well.
Since the attacks of 9/11, for many there has been a clear and distinct “hate your enemy” attitude toward people from a middle-eastern culture.
We have seen a “hate your enemy’ attitude born out in both directions in American slavery.
We see personal applications of “hate your enemy” when a family turns their back on another family altogether because of a dispute or disagreement.
So we have no problem with the command “love your neighbor” as long as we can hold onto “hate your enemy.”
We can excuse ourselves from loving anyone we wish as long as we can wrangle them into the “enemy” category in our minds.
A difference in political affiliation?
You’re my enemy.
A difference in opinion on Masks and Vaccines?
You’re my enemy.
A difference in skin color or culture?
You’re my enemy.
A difference in upbringing or personality?
You’re my enemy.
Except “hate your enemy” is not so much a command as it is a convenience.
It is not really even implied as a command.
“Love your neighbor and hate your enemy” was simply the way it was - or perhaps, the way it is.
But in Christ’s Kingdom, it is not the way it ought to be.
2. The True Radical Rule - Vs. 44
So when Jesus says “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” he was directly addressing the tendency of culture to live in a rut or a pattern.
It is like when you are driving down the interstate in any amount of traffic - the easiest thing to do is go with the flow of traffic.
Lizzy and I were in Atlanta a few weeks ago as most of you know, and we drove there.
Now, when you are from Vermont, any amount of city traffic is frustrating.
I even find myself decrying Rutland traffic after living in Ira for a year.
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