True Christian Love part 4

Well, if you would take your Bible and turn back with me to Matthew chapter 5. Now I read verses 43 to 48. I did say that we would primarily be in verse 48. I kind of misalleged you because we will be in the rest of the verses in the lesson. We're finishing up this lesson spending some time on what verse 48 really means. And verse 48 is connected to some of the other material that we have studied. Now we'll ask you to turn to 2 Corinthians 5.21 because that is a key passage. It really is a key passage. And as always, I remind you to take notes. We want to be good students.

We want to get all that the Lord wants to give us, not just here as we're in worship together, but as we spend time in the Lord, with the Lord, in the Word throughout the week. Now some of you might know this, but here at verse 48 we have one of the most difficult and one of the most confusing passages in the New Testament. But verse 48 is also one of the most important passages in the New Testament. Even though this passage can be difficult, we cannot push back from it. We can't do that.

Some people may look at this verse and say, "Well, this is impossible to live, so it must not have anything to do with us." Other people can have another approach. Some may say something like this, "You know, this is one of those tough subjects, kind of like the verses that deal with speaking in tongues, you know? So what we'll do is we'll just kind of ignore it and we'll kind of go around it." We can't do that either. There also can be a great deal of confusion about what is taught here, what is meant here in verse 48. Some believe that Jesus is teaching a type of sinless perfection throughout church history.

Many have taught different forms of sinless perfection or Christian perfectionism. Some of you are familiar with John Wesley. He was the father of the Methodist movement and ultimately his movement turned into Methodism and the denomination. John Wesley really brought a view of Christian perfectionism into what you could call the mainstream of Protestant Christianity there in the 1700s. And views on Christian perfectionism or sinless perfection, it has become a part of different movements and denominations as well. I'll give you an example.

Some Pentecostals that we come in contact with, they believe in, many of them believe in a type of Christian perfectionism or sinless perfection. I remember years ago when I was in student ministry, I had a student in my ministry, a young man, and he came from Pentecostalism. And his grandmother believed in sinless perfection and that had a big effect on him. It was amazing how she could believe in sinless perfection, but when you boil it on down to the bone, she was really mean. It's amazing that she could believe in sinless perfection, but yet she was mean to her own family.

But Jesus is not teaching some type of sinless perfection here, even though the verse does say he is calling his people to do what? To be perfect. So even though the verse can be difficult and confusing, we can't ignore the verse, we can't sidestep it or go around it, and we sure cannot fall prey to some type of an erroneous teaching either. And what Jesus is teaching here is a part of the lesson, the lesson on loving our enemies, which is a part of what? The true Christian life. And we've been titling this sermon on the Mount series, The Extraordinary Christian Life.

And we're going to see that what we're looking at this morning is very, very extraordinary. Now a question that some of you could ask, why in the world would I take one message to deal with verse 48? Why is this my approach? Of all of the commentators and scholars and theologians that I do read, and there are quite a few, really none of them dealt with a verse this way. In my own study, I just felt like we needed to take an extra amount of time with this lesson, because this lesson is so vitally important. And there are two reasons why I feel like we really need to take our time with verse 48.

First of all, verse 48 is a part of the sixth lesson. I've said that. Verses 43 to 48 is one lesson. And this lesson anchors us to that which is at the center of God's heart and the center of God's character. And that is real simple. God's love for people. We must get that folks. God's love for people. So anything connected to Jesus calling his people to love their neighbors and even love their enemies, it deserves our time. Verse 48 is the climax of the teaching. Remember I said that these are mountain peaks all through this lesson that we really cannot scale on our own.

But then also verse 48 is the conclusion of the fourth section of the Sermon on the Mount. And that is chapter 5 verse 21 all the way to the end verse 48. And this fourth section is connected to the third section and a key verse there in the third section. I know you didn't follow me. Not even confused me. I'll help you understand what I mean here. And this is where we're going to turn back it and glance at some of what we've looked at. It's important for us to see how this is all connected. So please follow me. Give me some of your time here. Look at verses 17 to 20 back earlier in the chapter.

Now in verse 17 Jesus says that he has come not to do away with the Old Testament law but to exalt the Old Testament scriptures and to fulfill the Old Testament in every way. Then in verse 19 he points out man's natural tendency is to explain away or to reduce or even to add to the scriptures. We've seen that. That's the habit of the Jews. We've seen that over and over and over. That's what the Jewish leaders had done for generations. And then in verse 20 here's the climax of the section. Jesus says no one will enter the kingdom of heaven unless their righteousness is greater than the righteousness of the religious leaders of the day.

Now right here with what Jesus gives us this is an exaggeration a hyperbole and this is an impossibility. Jesus is highlighting the truth that they could not attain the true Christian life with their externals with their external religion and righteousness. Jesus is driving home the fact that they had to possess a righteousness that does not come from man it doesn't come from their religion it's otherworldly.

Now look at the six lessons the six illustrations starting in verse 21 what do we have the lesson the illustration on anger then the lesson or the illustration starting in verse 27 on lust and adultery and then verse 31 and 32 what do we have the lesson the illustration on divorce and then the lesson on oaths or speaking the truth then the lesson on retaliation and then the lesson on loving your enemies and in each of these lessons Jesus was exposing how the Jews were in error in their false external religious system and then conversely in every lesson Jesus was explaining God's standard which was meant to reveal to those listening that they needed a righteousness outside of themselves no man no man can live the lessons according to God's standard and if you've been with me all through the lessons you have seen that.

But also verse 48 it is connected to verse 20 remember our verse at the end of the chapter in chapter 5 verse 20 Jesus was calling those listening to the fact that they needed a righteousness greater than the best external righteousness that they had Jesus then gives the six illustrations to show them that the righteousness that was required was perfection yes perfection and then he goes on to say in verse 48 you must be perfect as your father is perfect see it's all about perfection and that was the purpose of the illustrations the lessons Jesus was showing them God's standard and how far they truly were from God Jesus was showing them what God expected of them now think about it they all left this event this great sermon the greatest sermon ever preached the sermon the sermon on the Mount they all left either mad and murderous enough to kill Jesus if you follow the progression of the ministry it didn't take them long before they wanted to stone Jesus or they were humbled or they were humbled and hungry to know how they can have this extraordinary life Jesus was explaining the lessons illustrated to them just how far they were from the righteousness that God intended for men and they were very far from this perfection well then how are we going to study verse eight this morning or verse 48 this morning how are we going to try to understand what Jesus teaching here about perfection there are two ways I want us to look at this perfection in two ways we're going to look at what I'm calling positional perfection and then we're going to look at what I'm calling practical perfection or functional perfection positional perfection and then practical perfection so I want us to see number one we're going to look at quite a bit here first we must understand positional perfection we're going to look at quite a few verses I'm going to reference quite a few verses so jot those down as we go along and then you go back and read them and I believe the Lord will just fill in all of the cracks and blanks for you now there is no doubt that verse 48 pertains to the teaching on loving your enemies and everything in verse 43 and 47 you see that so we must deal with the verse in its context okay and we will do that now I kind of see this as reading the verse while looking back through the verses see you're reading verse 48 looking back through the lesson and how it relates to the other verses and we're going to do that here in a little while but we also must look at this verse looking forward look forward in the verse look at the verse with me Jesus says you therefore must be perfect and I see this as looking forward as your heavenly father is perfect maybe looking forward maybe looking up and I call this positional perfection because Jesus is calling his people to be perfect like God and God is perfect he is perfect he is perfectly holy perfectly righteous perfect in every way now to understand this positional perfection we must understand what takes place when we come to Christ in salvation salvation is the one time event when we are born again or born from the Holy Spirit of God the greatest example is the story of Nicodemus in John chapter 3 when he comes to Jesus with that external Jewish religion Jesus cuts right to the chase and said Nicodemus you must be born of the spirit born again born from God and he goes on to say you should know these things why because the new birth was taught in the Old Testament and then at the moment the individual is delivered from a state of death to life in Christ Ephesians 2 5 and in salvation we are experiencing a work of grace and this work has nothing to do with the works of man Ephesians 2 8 9 declares the fact that this is all of grace all of God now before salvation we are sinners we dealt with these verses Romans 5 8 and 10 says we're sinners we are enemies of God remember all mankind are enemies of God but salvation changes our position we are not enemies anymore we are united with the body of Christ 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 27 and we become God's special possession 1 Peter 2 and 9 think about that Roman says we are enemies but yet Peter says in 1 Peter that we become special possessions of God 1 Corinthians our 2 Corinthians 5 17 says that we become new creations in Christ so we are totally in a new position before God when we are in Christ now that's a real fast general overview but I want to explain a little more man can be seen as righteous or perfect only in Christ a man can be seen as righteous or perfect if man has Christ's righteousness this means that he must have Christ's righteousness given to him now this is what scholars theologians call imputed righteousness imputed righteousness now the scripture say there are three imputations not amputations help your little boys and girls to understand we're not talking about amputations it's one of those big ten dollar words you know imputations let me quickly explain what we see in scripture first of all when Adam sinned first when Adam sinned see when Adam sinned his guilt was imputed to man God saw Adam sinned and rebellion as belonging to all men Romans 5 12 says that through the one man sin entered the world and so sin and death spread to all men so man has the imputed sin and rebellion of Adam as well as his own sin and his own rebellion and then second when Christ died when Christ went to the cross the sin and the rebellion of man was imputed to Christ God saw Christ as sin second Corinthians 5 21 says that God made Christ who knew no sin to be sin so man sin was imputed to Christ on the cross and then third when man is born again when a person comes to faith in Christ Christ's righteousness is imputed to man again second Corinthians 5 21 goes on to say that Christ's righteousness is given to man I like how John MacArthur speaks of this righteousness and he also speaks of the righteousness of the Jews here follow along with me I'm going to add to a little bit of what he said and I'm quoting man's own righteousness is possible but it is so imperfect that is worthless you see man's righteousness is possible but it is so imperfect that it is worthless now Paul's there with a quotation isn't that the problem with the Jews they came before Jesus with a a perfect external righteousness and Jesus says it's worthless continuing with a quote God's righteousness is impossible for the very reason that it is perfect but the impossible righteousness becomes possible for those who trust in Christ because he gives them his righteousness see the imputed righteousness now we can't make a mistake here we can't limit or reduce what is taking place here think with me on this we can't see man as simply right before God man is right before God he's justified before God but there's more we must see man as truly possessing the righteousness of God listen close here at the miracle of regeneration being born of the spirit man comes to possess the righteousness of God because they possess Christ Christ is God and to possess Christ means to possess the very righteousness of God in Christ then let me show you what I mean turn to 2 Corinthians 5 21 notice what Paul is saying here now I'm going to add some emphasis I'm going to pause here in the verse I think you'll see what I'm showing you what is Paul say for our sake he that's God for our sake that's us he that's God made him Christ to be sin who knew no sin see the imputed sin of man on Christ continuing with the verse so that in him that's referencing salvation so that in him we might become the the righteousness of God so to summarize really a whole lot here individuals who have truly truly trusted in Christ they've been born of the Spirit of God they have been delivered from sin and death and placed in Christ their sin was imputed to Christ on the cross Christ's righteousness was imputed to them in the new birth and those who are in Christ are right before God yes but more than that God sees them as being in Christ possessing the very righteousness of Christ God sees them just as he sees his son perfect positionally perfect before God now think back at verse 20 of chapter 5 Jesus is speaking of his righteousness what does he say you got to have a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes of the Pharisees he's talking about his righteousness and in verse 48 Jesus is speaking of a perfection here they can only come from God I talk about a positional perfection this is a total impossibility without God you get it this just exalts God and the new birth and the wonderful work of God redeeming lost men for himself and listen we must understand this before we can really understand verse 48 in the context of the lesson oh I know we've covered a lot of ground but you must get that those who are in Christ are positionally perfect before God why because when God looks at them when God looks at us he sees Christ and he sees Christ's perfect righteousness so number two we must understand practical perfection you can call it functional perfection I like practical because it alliterates but there is a practical nature to it and it is very functional in a way in which might surprise you now here's where we deal with this command in the context within this six lesson verse 43 to 48 now remember earlier I said that I kind of see this is reading the verse while looking back into the verses while looking back into the lesson in the rest of the chapter now on the surface here it seems that Jesus is commanding something which is impossible but this is not a perfection in the sense of no flaw or no struggle this is not a perfection in the sense of purity from sin this is not a perfection that speaks of a purity even an attitude or action no this is not absolute or moral perfection the word for perfect here was used quite often in their day and the word meant finished the word meant complete it could speak to something being pure it could speak to something being holy now that's just a simple definition I ran across a commentator that gives some examples of how it was understood and used culturally in their day this is real simple but this will help you thinking about a sacrifice we know the Old Testament sacrificial system they sacrificed a lamb did they not as well as other animals but a sacrifice that was set before God it was brought before God without blemish it was seen as being pure it was seen as being holy it was seen as being set apart it was perfect a man who was full grown he was seen as being perfect he was not half grown he was not almost grown see he was finished he was complete he was seen in that day as being perfect think about a student seeking an education a student who had completed his education he was finished with his education that education was complete he was not in the beginning of the educational process he wasn't part of the way through no he was completed he was perfect and the idea here is that a person is perfect when he is finished when he is complete the idea here is that he is usable because he has come to understand and embrace his intended purpose in life when a person realizes the reason God created them and put them in the world a person is perfect when they seek to fulfill God's purpose for them in life and this is a practical perfection and it relates to maturity yes this is a functional perfection in that it relates to understanding what he is created to be and to do several of the resources I looked at give illustrations like this this might help you I remember growing up my dad had tools when I was growing up the best tools came from Sears craftsmen as we got older and began to have children I remember my dad said this he said I hope your kids take all your tools and leave them out in the yard in the rain wonder who he was talking about but you know growing up one of the things that just god my dad to death is when we took one of his tools and we didn't use it for its intended purpose if he said it to me one time he said it to me a thousand times son a crescent wrench is not a hammer because I was prone to pick up anything and just use it as a hammer another thing was when we would take a screwdriver and you know we'd use it for something else it was inevitable we take one of his screwdrivers and I don't know we beat beat beat the back of the handle and we just maul the end of the screwdriver but think about it a screwdriver a wrench any tool listen it is perfect in the sense that they use the word in that day because it fulfills one purpose and it was the purpose that it was designed to accomplish you see so in summary a person is perfect when they understand the purpose for which god created them and they seek to fulfill that purpose but the all important context remember how this fits into these verses in a sense this perfection should be restricted to the context of this teaching now we should understand positional perfection yes but this verse is a part of this lesson and in a sense this perfection should be restricted to the context of the teaching if the all important context is the case and it is we should take this understanding of perfection here and read it back into the five points of the teaching that jesus gives here remember the five points that we briefly covered quickly covered last week jesus says love your enemies look at verse 44 but i say to you love your enemies man was redeemed to love his enemies god purchased man on the cross to redeem to love his enemies man is complete when he is loving all mankind even his enemies without a god they love that's the love of god that is god's love working through him man is never more like god when he is choosing to love his enemies because that is the exact same thing that god did for them he is fulfilling the purpose for which he was created and redeemed man is complete man is mature man is perfect when he is seeking to love his enemies jesus says pray for your persecutors verse 44 but i say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you man was purchased on the cross by christ to do what to pray for their persecutors man is truly set apart when he is praying for the ones that are persecuting him man is never more like jesus than when he is choosing to love his enemies and praying for those who are persecuting him he is taking them to the very best of places just like jesus did he is taking those who would persecute him to the very throne of god he is living out the purpose for which he is created he is complete man is set apart and when he is praying for those who are persecuting him he is being like christ he is perfect jesus says make your sonship known look at verse 45 so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven for he makes the sun rise on the evil and the good he sends the rain on the just and the unjust man is born again man is born of the of the spirit of god to be the son of god in the world man is truly set apart to make his sonship known now how does this work how does this apply how does this happen loving his enemies praying for his persecutors jesus loved his enemies perfectly jesus prayed for his persecutors perfectly and when man does the same he is making his sonship known he is revealing his sonship therefore he is living the purpose for which he was created he is complete he is set apart he is perfect and then jesus says love better than what's the normal love better than what is the norm look at verse 46 and 47 for if you love those who love you what reward do you have do not even the tax collectors do the same and if you greet only your brothers what more are you doing than others do not even the gentiles do the same you see when a man is born of god god's love is put within a man let me say that again when a man trusts in christ and he's born of the spirit of god god puts his love within that man and because the holy spirit lives in his people god's love resides in there as well and a man is abled he is called he is compelled to love like god a mere man a lost man loves his own a mere man a lost man the normal man loves ones that are like him but a man in christ loves better than the norm he loves his neighbors he loves his family he loves his friends but he also loves better than the norm because what he loves the tax collectors and the gentiles of society therefore he is living the purpose for which he was created and redeemed he's set apart he's complete he is perfect and then jesus says be like god verse 48 be perfect you therefore must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect listen folks god loved his enemies perfectly god loved his enemies perfectly and those who profess to know christ should seek to be just like god god is our example christ is our example he is our pattern day after day and to be perfect is to live for the purpose for which we were created to be perfect is to live for the purpose for which we were saved so in summary we see this practical functional perfection it speaks to maturity it speaks to completion it speaks to being set apart it speaks to truly living for the purpose for which you were created and you were redeemed as i move toward the conclusion of the message i know we've studied a lot here quite a few verses i would guess that this true christian love is maybe more than you realized but i want to make one big observation before i conclude with some application i seek to apply i want to help you apply it out in your life you know there's a question i always ask so what so what does it mean to me and you we've just got to make this stuff work out in our life and that right but i want to make a big observation before i make some application we must see that this love for our enemies all that is within this lesson it comes to us by nature you need to get this folks this comes to us by nature when we are born again christ comes to live within us and we receive a new nature and we should be compelled to love according to that new nature see we can't learn this this is the opposite of man this is the opposite of the flesh and religion and becoming more religious it doesn't fix that problem for a man i think back to my days of holland babish church when i was a layman i was involved in the single sunday school class there was an older man who taught the class sometimes mr ray moffitt and mr moffitt had a ministry on the side besides serving in his local church he went to the local drug rehabilitation center and the authorities there the those who were over the drug rehab center there in laurel that they gave mr moffitt the right and the authority and the responsibility to take some of those drug rehab patients to church and there they were sitting in sunday school i don't remember how it came to be but sooner or later me and a friend of mine ended up going to the the local rehab with mr moffitt sunday after sunday different times during the week and sooner or later it happened that mr ray couldn't go anymore so me and my friend andy went and oh we had that responsibility and we began to pick up people and it didn't matter if they were black or white or somewhere in between it didn't matter if they were clean or dirty oh we picked them up and we brought them to sunday school and then when they made a profession in christ we helped them find jobs when they got out and we helped them get apartments and we helped them get back into life now now why why would we love people like that i think about when god called me into the ministry now not everybody's called a vocational ministry i understand that but every born-again christian called a ministry when i went to first babish church in ellisville i instantly fell in love with people people of that church teenagers teenagers there at south johns high school teenagers there in the ellisville community now why did i love those teenagers was it that long ago we were nola babish church and you know one of the things we began to pray in those early years is we began to pray for spiritual orphans you know who spiritual orphans are those children who don't have mothers and fathers who love the lord many of those children came from drug-infested homes some of the most serious sinful situations now why in the world do we love people and why was i compelled to love in these circumstances i was compelled to love because there was a greater love and there is a greater love within me and it was put within me and i have been acting according to the new nature that is the nature of christ within me the love of god within me you see when we were born again we have the capacity to love like god you show me somebody that's been in the church for 20 years and they can't love like god i have to wonder if they're even born of god we are positionally right with god and therefore we can practically functionally love like god practically and functionally meaning that it happens in us and through us it happens we love like god so i ask you the question do you have this new nature do you have the love of god in your life do you love sinners do you love the tax collectors the samaritans the gentiles or do you just love your own remember the Pharisees they hated everybody oh they loved their fellow Pharisees and Sadducees and they kind of loved the jews they didn't really love the common folks but anybody who wasn't a jew they hated listen in some of my study i ran across scholars that said this historians tell us that the romans when they occupied Israel they were in shock at how the jews hated people and that was the antithesis of what god intended for them in the old testament and if they were living with god's heart and mind when the romans came they would have been shocked that the jews even loved them their enemies do you have this new nature you've been born of god you love people you just compelled to love people now also i want to show you that true christians can struggle here sin hinders love sin hinders our ability to love the way god wants us to to love you know i think about one sin in particular now before we turn to this one sin i want you to see we're praying for our enemies we're loving enemies we're praying for those who persecute us this is pretty personal now here's the one sin that will hinder us here if we flip back to the previous lesson on retaliation what did we learn there we have no rights we have no rights we have no rights we're to lay down our rights but what do we do in our flesh oh we hold on to the grudge we get mad we get angry it's not fair no you should have never done me that way but what does jesus say no no no you have no rights that is the one sin that will prevent you from loving like christ simply if you hold on to your rights listen you will not love the enemies you will not pray for those who persecute you and listen that one sin can hinder the flow of god's love through you do you hold on to your rights there are people in the life of this church who've been hurt greatly i know that join the crowd i was talking with one of the men who's been visiting here going through some pain going through some hurt and you know when you're going through that you have a tendency to think that you're the only one and i comforted him by saying you know if we had a show of hands of who's been hurt who's been run over and who's been abused you'd be in shock at the hands would go up i said as a matter of fact some people would raise both hands now i'll close with the five points of instruction quickly that i gave you last week remember i said make a list make a list of your enemies folks make a list of those who persecute you listen close now listen you've already got a list in your mind and your heart see if you hold on to your rights if you're holding on to your pound of flesh and you just want to get even you got a list in your mind and your heart make a list and i'll begin to pray for them pray the way jesus prayed what did he say when he was on the cross he prayed the very best thing he said father would you forgive them those were the men who had just nailed him to the cross they were gambling for his clothes there at the foot of the cross and what did he do he took them to the very best place to the very throne of god and so we're to pray for them and look you might not feel like doing it in your flesh make your flesh do it be obedient your feelings will come behind and then number three really might threat number three might need to be number one for you pray over your feelings the animosity the bitterness the anger some of you been hurt you got to pray through all of that you got to crucify that day after day after day and you know these kind of feelings are kind of like roaches that get in the woodwork as soon as you kill one another one comes out and then number four pray and ask god to show you how you might demonstrate this agape love you might say demonstrate it you might find yourself staring into the face of those who have persecuted you they become your enemy and you have the opportunity to demonstrate this love but oh number five pray and wait pray god i'll show you he'll show you how to work and listen folks you will find yourself loving be on your self if you'll let me have a little more time i'll tell you a little story some of you know the story one of the very first times i ever had to live this one of my old best friends years ago in ministry we did ministry together i looked up to him he taught me a lot but you know there was a circumstance in life whereby he misled me he wasn't honest with me oh it involved moving it involved the church position i traveled across many state lines to to go interview with this particular church feeling led of god to talk to them and and he was involved in a way in which he wasn't honest with me and then when all the truth came out i realized that my friend had lied to me my friend had had misled me and my friend had hurt me and oh i was angry i wanted to get mine and i went to where he served at a church and rather than go through his office door and sit down i stood outside i wanted my rights i didn't sit down when he opened the door i told him just what i thought you lied to me you misled me you hurt me and i don't think i slammed the door when i left but i left mad and you know for years i wrestled with that for years there was a gnawing feeling in my gut why why would my friend do that and i prayed and i prayed and i wrestled and i wrestled and remember the cockroaches they just come out at various times and i just had this in me and i didn't know how to deal with it and lo and behold i was in a particular place and i bumped into him not playing i just came around the corner and there he was some five years later and i just began to talk like old times just came out i was just me i think we probably talked for 30 or 45 minutes you know i can talk the hind end off a horse and then it came time to leave and i said bye see you later and i walked off and i got about 10 or 20 feet from me and his voice changed i said chris i stopped i turned around and he literally looked at me and he said i picked up the phone to call you and i never called i got out paper to write a letter and i never wrote it i got in the car put the keys in ignition to come see you and i never did and he said i'm sorry and only god gave me the words i said the burden you've been carrying all these years i released it from you i released you from it it's okay that wasn't me i had to crucify a lot of self to get to that point you see now what are we looking at this morning what are we finishing up true christian love this is what this is about folks so let's pray let's commit what we've studied and learned this morning and let's ask god to get us to a place where his love will flow through us let's pray