Words To Live by
What Jesus Says About Love
Matthew 5:38-48
Words To Live By
"What Jesus Says About Love"
Matthew 5:38-48
Kingdom Love is Painful, Costly, Exhausting and Risky
The Kingdom way of life is:
- NOT about self-preservation; BUT all about self-presentation.
- NOT about standing up for my rights; BUT all about standing out in grace.
- NOT about elevating my liberty, BUT elevating my service.
- NOT about what I have; BUT what I give.
Necessary Heart Adjustments:
Heart Adjustment #1: It's NOT about ME
v39, "But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also."
See Exodus 21:23-25, "But if there is further injury, the punishment must match the injury: a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, a bruise for a bruise."
Heart Adjustment #2: It's NOT about MERIT
v43 "you have heard the law that says 'love your neighbor and hate your enemy'.
v45b, "[God] gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike."
See Romans 5:8-10, "But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son."
2 Corinthians 5:21, "For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ."
Heart Adjustment #3: It's ALL about Jesus
v48, "But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect."
Romans 12:1-2, "And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice-the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."
Final Thought: Want a different World? Be the difference.
Series Information
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus announces his purpose regarding the Law. He did not come to erase or minimize the law of Moses, but rather to fulfill it. He then makes a series of “you have heard” statements. He addresses the common teaching around anger, integrity, and love in these statements, but then shows how each of these should be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. Jesus’ words are to be the foundation of how we live as believers. In our world, the common understanding of anger, integrity, and love are centered around what is best for “self.” What would it be like if believers lived according to Jesus words? “But I say…” These are words to live by.