Title: Love Your Enemies / Matthew 5:43-48
A person's character is determined by love.
what do you love The quality of life is determined by the object of love.
The quality of happiness depends on how far you love.
People who like to drink are said to be drunk. A person who likes to smoke is called a smoker.
People who like nutritious soup are said to be dog lovers.
But I'm not saying these people are personalities.
Some people say they love jewelry so much that their feet don't fall off when they pass by a jewelry store.
These people need to buy jewels to unlock their jobs.
I wanted to buy jewelry, so I spent a few days begging my husband to buy it.
I am happy that my wish has come true.
Dear saints,
What do you value the most and what do you love?
Today's text speaks in a very clear tone about Christian identity.
In verse 44
“I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
A Christian is, in a word, one who loves his enemies,
A person who prays for those who persecute.
to love someone who cannot love,
It is the Christian who prays for those who cannot pray.
Therefore, biblical scholar William Barclay refers to today's text,
It was called 'the intensive expression of Christian ethics', and Martin Lloyd-Jones
It is said to be the 'highest climax of the Christian life'.
It is here that the Christian life begins with love for the enemy,
It is in loving the enemy that the Christian's most jubilant joy lies.
Dear saints,
How clean do you receive these words?
If we take the word of the Lord seriously and obey it, our people,
Our home, our society, our country, our church
It will transform into a whole new dimension.
As our Father in heaven is perfect, so we too will live a perfect life.
From a biblical perspective, there is really no reason for the church to be noisy.
But why is the church that needs to practice this love of the Lord the most talkative?
Why are you hurt at church?
Because we neglect to do what we should love, instead we are full of hatred, envy, strife, and hatred.
Who are you in the church? Are you a peacemaker?
Or are you the one causing the problem?
At this time, we should quietly listen to the voice of the Lord.
Read verses 46-48
<If you love those who love you, what reward will you have?
Aren't tax collectors like this? And if you greet only your brothers
What do you do more than others? Are not the Gentiles like this?
Therefore be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.>
If we look at verse 43 in today's text, how greatly the Pharisees and scribes distorted the word of God,
You realize that you have been taught wrong.
<And you have heard that it was said to love your neighbor and hate your enemies... … >
Love your neighbor and hate your enemies.
Everyone ! Does the Old Testament teach us to hate our enemies?
In short, there is not a single verse in the Old Testament that says to hate your enemies.
Rather, it teaches us to actively love even our enemies.
(Leviticus 19:17, 18)
“You shall not hate your brother in your heart… … , do not take revenge, do not grumble against your fellow men,
Love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.>
(Ex 23:4, 5)
“If you meet your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must give it to him.
If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying on its back, beware, and do not leave it.
Help him carry the burden.>
(Proverbs 25:21)
<If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, drink water.>
Therefore, the teachings of the Pharisees were entirely a distortion of the teachings of the Old Testament.
In order to interpret to their advantage, they did not receive the Old Testament commandments as they were, but added or subtracted the contents.
I will replace the true teaching of the Bible with something else.
In Leviticus 19, we read about the path to becoming the holy people of God.
It teaches you in many ways.
If you look at the second half of Leviticus 19:18, which our Lord also quoted while teaching,
“Love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.>
Love your neighbor as yourself. But the Pharisee said, “As your own body.”
It was deliberately omitted and taught. This is a big mistake.
Let the meaning of love be altered by deleting words that contain important principles on how to love.
I did. In the future, we will restore and sublimate in the teachings of our Lord.
'As I have loved you' and also the enemy in the object of love.
excluded from the category of neighbors. And instead he added the command to hate his enemies.
As a result, they reached a wrong conclusion that was completely different from the teachings of the Bible.
So they treat their fellow Israelites with infinite kindness, but
He lived a very utterly exclusive life toward the Gentiles.
When greeting people, only shalom among their own people, and cancel shalom for strangers.
The Gentiles came to donate that God made them to be used as firewood in hell.
And the self-proclaimed pious Jews had no dealings with the Gentiles at all.
The Gentiles firmly believed that hating and staying away from them was obeying the will of God.
Especially when the Israelites left Egypt and entered the land of Canaan.
Based on God's command to destroy the Canaanites, Israel loved,
I have come to think that it is okay to hate strangers and be hostile to them.
But in Exodus 12:49, “This law shall not apply to the natives and to the Gentiles who sojourn among you.
When judging on the basis of the same>, God never tells us to hate the Gentiles.
It becomes clear that you did not command it.
No, rather, God has commanded the Gentiles to think and love in many places.
(Leviticus 19:9-10) <When you cut the grain of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edge of the field;
You shall not glean any of your ears, nor shall you pluck all the fruit of your vineyard.
Do not gather any fruit that has fallen in your vineyard, but leave it for the poor and foreigners.
I am the LORD your God.>
(Leviticus 19:33-34) <If a foreigner sojourns in your land, you shall not mistreat him;
Treat the foreigner with you as one born among you, and love it as yourself.
You also became strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.>
Here we come to an important conclusion. The lesson of our Lord's love revealed in today's text is
I am convinced that it was the original teaching of the Bible.
(Verses 44-45) <I tell you, love your enemies,
Pray for those who persecute you. Having done this, the heavenly
you will be sons of your father, for God makes his sun rise on the wicked and on the good,
He sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.>
We are all children of God.
But the children of God have no right to hate their enemies.
There is only the duty and responsibility to love.
In addition, we have a mission to pray for those who persecute us.
Of course, it's not easy to pray for someone you hate.
It cannot be done without the love of the cross. It is accompanied by pain.
However, it is an important mission that we must do, no matter how much pain and sacrifice it takes.
Often, we easily say that there is no love in the church.
But let's think soberly. How did we live a life of love?
Have you ever loved someone who hated you? Have you prayed for those who persecute you?
People who say they don't love are actually the most unloving people.
Those who say there are problems are in fact the most problematic.
Love is a reward given only to those who love it.
Not feeling love means that you don't love others.
That would be the most convincing evidence.
In this sense, Alfred Plummer's words should be savored quietly.
"It is the devil's work to repay evil for good,
It is a man's work to repay good for a good deed, and to repay good for an evil deed
It's God's work.>
In what dimension do we live? Are you doing the devil's work?
Are you just doing human-level work? Or are you doing God's work?
Hate begets more hate. Hate begets more hate.
But the prayer of love produces forgiveness and reconciliation.
The surest way to get rid of the many hatreds that have settled in our hearts is
We pray for those we hate.
As long as there is hate, as long as there is hate, we can never be free.
Even when he suffered on the cross like our Lord,
"Father! Forgive them their sins. They do not know what they are doing."
Only when we pray for the enemy who kills us can we enjoy the joy of true freedom.
Dear saints,
Do you still hate someone? Is there still someone you can't forgive?
I can't love, I can't forgive, by my strength alone, by my will alone.
Only through prayer can we love our enemies.
Chrysostom, a famous father and preacher, no matter how well he preached,
Nicknamed the Golden Mouth.
This man said this about the nine stages of faith.
1. To not do evil first.
2. Not taking revenge when you do something evil.
3. Keeping silence.
4. To suffer, even if vaguely.
5. To obey the evil one more than he requires.
6. Not to hate the evil one.
7. To love the wicked.
8. Doing good to the evil one.
9. Asking God on behalf of the wicked.
(1 Peter 3:8-9) <Finally, be all of one mind and compassion;
Love your brother, have compassion, be humble, and do not repay evil for evil, or insult for insult.
Rather, you will be blessed. To this you have been called
This is so that you may inherit a blessing.>
“And you have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemies.
I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
When you do this, you will be sons of your Father who is in heaven.
For God makes his sun shine on the wicked and on the good,
He sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
If you love those who love you, what reward will you have?
Not even a publican is like this. And if you greet only your brothers, you are more than others.
What is it, are not these strangers also
Therefore be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect” (verses 43-48).