Epiphany 7 Matthew 5:38-48

Epiphany 7 Matthew 5:38-48

February 23, 2014

When the LORD God gave the Ten Commandments to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai he began by telling them how much he loved them. From the midst of fire, smoke, thunder, lightning, a trumpet blast and trembling earth the holy, almightyGod called himself their God. He reminded them how his love moved him to flex his divine muscle and deliver them from cruel slavery in Egypt, the greatest nation on earth at the time.Then in love he told them how to live their lives as his people. Like a father taking his children by the hand, God would lead them with his law and guide and protect and prosper them with his wisdom. And their obedience would be an expression of their love and respect for him.

Fifteen centuries later the LORD God came to earth and gathered his people on another mountainside. This time the earth wasn’t trembling. There was no fire, smoke, thunder, or lightning. Just the still small voice of Jesus. The same holy, almighty God had come again to tell his people how much he loved them. This time his love would move him to flex his divine muscle to deliver them from slavery to sin, death, and the devil. So as Jesus began his Sermon on the Mount he told them about blessings for those who belong to God. Then he told them how to express their love forGod by living as his redeemed people. Because we are blessed, we have confidence to live with boldness and without fear.

The pattern for our life would be Jesus himself. Some years later the apostle Paul urged us to “be imitators of God and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” If God’s people are to be known by anything, it is by our love. And as Jesus shows us,LOVE GOES THE EXTRA MILE.

1. In dealing with our enemies

When I was still in college I worked for a nursing home as a maintenance man. One hot summer day I was driving their laundry van and stopped at a gas station to get something to drink. It looked closed, but a couple young guys were sitting outside. I said hi and told them I just stopped to get a pop at the soda machine. They told me to get lost, but not quite in those words. I wanted for all the world to say something back, but I bit my tongue, got back in the van, and left.

I wish I could say it was because I was a Christian studying for the ministry and was turning the other cheek. The truth is, there were two of them and one of me and I was “on the clock”. If I’d had my way, I would have retaliated. You see, it isn’t in the nature of our old Adam to willingly do any of the things Jesus tells us to do, especially when we are treated unfairly. Our “default setting” is to get even. Brothers and sisters, you know all about that, right? So do husbands and wives. You hurt me – I’ll hurt you back…with a little extra for the pain and suffering you put me through.That’s why we tend to surround ourselves with people we like and who like us back. If they hurt us, we just “unfriend” them.If we value the relationship – if there’s something in it for us – we’ll forgive them.

That’s how our sinful nature works, and that’s how the unbelieving world operates. Love those who love you back.Go out of your way for someone you really like.If necessary,show some compassion for a stranger who is in danger or in desperate need. But for everyone else: “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” See- it’s right there in the Bible!

But Jesus wouldn’t allow people then or now to take God’s Word out of context and use it to justify their sin. “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth” was meant for the courtroom, where God required fairness and demanded that the punishment must fit the crime. It wasn’t his permission to take personal revenge. “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the LORD. (Romans 12:19). God forbids us to wish we could get even by keeping a record of wrongs and holding a grudge against anyone. From his holy perspective, that is hatred, and hatred shares the same roots as murder. And no murderer who clings to his sin will enter the kingdom of heaven.

So how is it possible to love our enemies, turn the other cheek, be generous to those who hate us, to go the extra mile?

Such love is possible only for those who know Jesus’ love. And his love is full of surprises! If anyone has been treated unfairly, it’s God! Once we were his enemies. From Adam we inherited a sinful nature that goes out of its way to ignore him and disobey him. To this day our old self refuses to thank God for a single blessing and always returns evil for good. But love is full of surprises! Instead of avoiding us, God sent his own Son to walk among us, patiently share the secrets of God’s loving heart with us, devote his life to serving us, and finally suffering the eternal vengeance of God for our sins. That’s what God did with his enemies. He loved us to death – his own death – so he could love us to life – everlasting life with him in heaven.

The real question is: how is it possible for those who have received such reconciling love from God NOT show the same love to others? “If God causes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous”, if God loves everyone the same, how could his people not do likewise? And what is the goal of God’s love? “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” If someone is your enemy, he is still God’s enemy in his heart, and God wants to rescue him from his sin and save his soul as much as he saved yours. God’s purpose in putting that person in your life is so that you will pray for him to have what you have – the peace and joy of God’s forgiveness – and to show him the kind of love he’s never known before – the unconditional love Jesus has for your and for all sinners.

Love is full of surprises! Love goes the extra mile! This is not only true in how we deal with our enemies. Love goes the extra mile…

1. In living for our Savior

Years ago I worked on the assembly line for the Chrysler Corporation in Belvidere, IL. I only did one part of the many jobs it took to make a car, but even that one part was important. One day I was working and another guy on the line came up to me and told me not to work so hard. “Just do as little as you have to do. You’re getting paid by the hour, not for doing a good job. Just put in your time and go home. Besides, you’re making us all look bad!

Just do as little as you have to do. That’s the language of our old Adam. It’s the sinful attitude that looks at God’s commandments and meets the outward expectations just enough to get by and avoid punishment. It’s the way the world operates, and it’s at work in all our hearts, too. How much do I have to do? What are the minimum requirements? How many worship services do I need to show up for to avoid a call from the elders or pastor? How much do I need to memorize for confirmation classes? How much do I need to help around the house? Our lazy, self-centered, what’s-in-it-for-me sinful nature will always live down to its lowest expectations.

It comes as a shock, doesn’t it, when Jesus concludes by saying, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect”! There’s no living down to the lowest requirements in the life of a Christian. No “how much do I have to do”. Just the opposite! “How much can I do?” The apostle Peter would put it this way: “Do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written, “Be holy, because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:14-16)

Just hearing that tells me I’m doomed. How about you? Every day my sinful heart is on the lookout for the minimum requirements. Every day I wrestle with a stubborn wicked will and a guilty conscience that reminds me that I fall short of the glory of God. Jesus sets the bar so high I can’t begin to reach it!

And that’s what those words are meant to do to our sinful heart. “Be perfect!” And I drop to my knees in helplessness. I can’t, Lord. I’m not what I’m supposed to be. And that’s when Jesus turns to me and says, “But am. I was perfect for you, from the inside out. I give my perfect life to you as a gift so that you stand perfect in your heavenly Father’s eyes. And because of my suffering and death, God has put away your sins. You are clean and holy in his sight.”

And then he says to me, “Now be perfect like your heavenly Father. Live up to the highest goals, the goal of being like your heavenly Father. And since you’ll never reach that goal in this life, you have the rest of your life to go the extra mile with everyone you meet.” In love for Jesus. In love for those he loves. Amen.