The Sermon on the Mount: Loving Your Enemies

In the tenth in his series on the Sermon on the Mount, Pastor Shane examines Jesus' teaching on how we are to respond to those who wrong us.  
Click here for the recording of this 3/23/25 Service, and you can fast-forward to 19:51 to get to the start of the sermon.

Our text comes from Matthew Chapter 5.43-48

43 “ You have heard that it was said, ‘ You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors, do they not do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Even the Gentiles, do they not do the same? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Introduction…

• Sanctification is a theological term used to describe the process of becoming more and more like Jesus, and less and less like our former self

• Scripture teaches that this is both instantaneous, and progressive- it happens when we make Jesus Lord of our life, and continues throughout our earthly walk with Him

• Quite often, He uses the negative to bring growth in our life more so than the positive

• We can learn from the pain, or not- the choice is ours

v43

• Again, Jesus starts with the only Bible He had, the OT- Lev 19.18, Dt 23.3-6

• Again, if there is no text, there is no sermon- slj

• The thought behind these OT texts was that Israel was to love their own people, and not associate with those who did not serve Israel well when they left Egypt

v44

• And again, Jesus turns this OT teaching on its head- “But I say to you…”

• Love (agapaō- in the NT usually the active love of God for his Son and his people, and the active love his people are to have for God, each other, and even enemies)

• Your enemies (echthros- the hated, one’s adversary)

• And pray for those who persecute (dioko- to pursue, to systematically oppress and harass a person or group) you

• This, is hard; why does He ask us to do this?

v45

• So that you may prove yourself to be children of the Father who is in Heaven

• We get our identity in Him, and not what others think of us

• The best way to process hurts is to pray God’s will for the one who hurt us

• He causes the sun to rise on both the evil and the good

• He sends rain on those who are in right relationship with Him and those who are not

• Because of the fall (Adam/Eve’s failure in the Garden), both good and bad happen to those who are both good and bad- you have to leave this to the sovereignty of God

• He does what He wants, when He wants, for His own reasons, which He is not obligated to explain to us

V46-47

• You don’t gain anything in God’s eyes by loving those who love you

• Even the sinful do that

• If you greet only your own kind (those like you), how are you benefiting others?

• Even the Gentiles (those outside your own people group) greet the outsider

• Have you ever been ignored?  How did that make you feel?

• When someone enters this church, they should never be ignored

v48

• Jesus is calling His audience to be perfect (teleios- mature, finished; brought to completion; fully accomplished, fully developed; entire, as opposed to what is partial and limited)

• In other words, He is calling us to full maturity in the way we treat people

How we apply this to our lives

1. We have to bring ourselves under the authority of Scripture, Just as Jesus did; Scripture makes uncomfortable demands on us

2. The best way to recover from those who have wronged you is to pray through
   imagine a jar of hurts
   a- talk to God honestly about what hurts you- take the lid off
   b- express your feelings about your hurts- pour out your pain
   c- ask the Lord for a new meaning from your old hurts, a new way of looking at them
   d- praise God for the new meaning He gives you
   (Dobbins’ 4 Steps to Praying Through)

3. you get your identity from what God knows about you, and not what others think about you- “if you claim to be a biblical Christian, primary identity in anything other than Jesus is idolatry” –slj

4. learn to trust the sovereignty of God

5. consistently reach out to those outside your own people group

6. Trust the Lord to grow you into the complete, mature person He wants you to be, regardless of how He chooses to do so