Matthew 5:43-48 (NKJV) 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
In our last post, we began looking at a teaching Jesus gave as part of the sermon on the mount. In these verses he gives us some special insight into the working of the love of God. As I read what he was saying, I began to think about how Christianity had gone from an insignificant Jewish sect to a religious system that overthrew an empire. What was it that gave it such power and resiliency? How does it relate to what Jesus said in John 16:33? The power he is talking about is the love of God. It overcame the world when Jesus was sent into the earth.
John 3:16 (NKJV) 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Jesus understood the power of God’s love when he told his disciples that to be at peace and of good cheer because he knew it was the same love that had sent him in the first place. He also knew that his coming was the culmination of a plan put into place by the Father at the beginning of human history (Genesis 3:15.) It was not possible that God’s love would fail in Genesis nor in John. It will not fail today. As we continue in Jesus’ teaching from Matthew 5, we see how to apply this love in the middle of difficult situations. When we do, we may go through some short-term difficulties but in the end the love of God is a weapon that will overcome the world and one against which the devil has no defense.
As we continue in Matthew 5, Jesus is taking what he teaches about loving one another and putting it into the context of how to walk in that love when we deal with people in the world. In particular, he is telling us how to deal with those who hurt us and oppose us. This is something everyone has experienced. I am no stranger to it in my life. Natural wisdom says that we must look out for number one. It says that if someone hurts me, I must protect myself. What Jesus teaches is a wisdom that seems not only to be the opposite of what makes sense, but something that will leave us more vulnerable. It actually makes us less so.
If the church would begin to act according to Matthew 5:38-48, God would back us up as he did Jesus. Under his ministry multitudes were healed, demons could not resist him, and hearts were opened and healed of all manner of hurts. That is what Jesus wants to manifest through his church. That is what it means to overcome the world. How do we walk in that kind of love?
In verse 44 Jesus gives us three types of injury and three ways we are to respond. “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” I do not know about you, but that is not something that would come naturally to me. Let me take a minute to look at this more closely.
We are to love our enemies by blessing those who curse us. I would have a problem with that if we were talking about cursing the way we think of it today. Jesus is not talking about someone who comes up to us and says a bunch of four-letter words describing our family heritage, our nature and our low level of intelligence. In this verse the word curse means much more. According to Strong’s concordance it can mean to doom.
Jesus is talking about words that are meant to doom us. These words would put into people’s minds that there was something wrong with us. They would try to say we had done or were doing something wrong. The words are not true. These may be words spoken to us. They may be words spoken to our colleagues our boss or our friends. As a pastor for 40 years, I had my share of curses spoken over me. People who had no idea about the truth said things behind my back that had the potential to cause me great harm. What should we do about this?
There may be a time to talk to them to help them see the truth, but Jesus has a more immediate solution. He tells us to bless those who curse us. He does not say to bless them when they repent. He says to bless them while they curse us. The Greek word for bless comes from the word meaning eulogy. Nobody giving a eulogy speaks bad of the person. Jesus says, “When somebody curses you, say something nice about them.” It is even more than that. It means to invoke a blessing. That means to call down something good upon them. It also means to praise.
That sounds foolish to the natural mind, but Jesus commands us to do this. Why? The devil cannot understand this behavior. The world cannot understand it. More than that, according to verse 45, doing so makes us like our Father in heaven. What father will not protect his children, especially when they act like him. It also demonstrates to the one who is cursing what God is really like. Not everyone will change as we do this. However, the world was changed by this kind of love because of the number who will respond as we act on this commandment.
There is a progression in this verse. He starts with someone speaking against us but then moves to those who hate us. I do not believe in hate. I try not to hate anyone. There are those I do not like but I ask God to never let me hate. The Greek word means to detest and even persecute. There are people who, for no reason, detest us. They may think there is a reason, but this verse implies we have done nothing worthy of such feelings. What should we do? Should we defend ourselves. Should we prove that we have done nothing wrong. Should we hate back. Jesus has a better idea.
I think it is not a stretch to say that these people have gone beyond words. They are doing something against us. How do I respond? I do something good for them. What would happen if you showed up at the door of the neighbor who just hates you with a plate of cookies. Better yet, what if you mowed their lawn, or something along those lines. What if you bought them a coffee or invited them to dinner? I know, they would probably suspect your motives and/or refuse the invitation. That is not your problem. What if you just kept doing it? I know something could change because we would be acting in faith on the Word of God.
Finally, he says we should pray for those who spitefully use us. The term “spitefully speaks to me of intent. We might excuse someone as ignorant who cursed us or hated us. There is no doubt about someone who spitefully uses us. They are doing what they are doing on purpose to bring harm. They persecute us on purpose to hurt or destroy us. Why should I pray for them? So that you will be like your Father. He gave Jesus for them. He was not moved by the evil in the world, he was moved by his love for it.
When I pray for someone, there is an intimate connection that develops. I may begin with clenched teeth, but as I continue to pray for them something happens in me. When we pray, we are communing with God. When I pray for someone who persecutes me or spitefully uses me, I cannot help but begin to feel what God feels for them. I am not talking about excusing their behavior. I am talking about seeing beyond the flesh as Paul did in 2 Corinthians 5:14-16. He was compelled by the love of God because he knew that Jesus died even for the spiteful user and persecutor. As you pray, you begin to feel what God felt when he sent Jesus. Love overcomes hate and you can respond to them in that love.
None of this is easy. It is hard, but we have it on the word of Jesus that it will change our world. We just have to do it. Jesus lived this way, and he changed the world. The first church, for the most part, lived this way. Many had to die for this kind of love. Many more suffered persecutions but they did not give up. They changed the world and unleashed a belief system and a way of life based on this “God given love life.”
If it worked for the church of the “red letter first century, it will work today. What do you say? Shall we ask the Holy Spirit to help us live these sayings?
For an audio teaching go to https://anchor.fm/bill-kiefer or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Leave a Reply