Showing love to the people who are kind to us and who agree with us, that isn't a difficult task. But what would life be like if we loved those who weren't kind to us, those people who disagreed with us? What if we showed love to those who hurt us and oppressed us? What if we showed love to the people who wished us harm? It sounds crazy, but that's exactly what Jesus asks of us as we enter into this second week of our series titled, That Thing Jesus Said, Understanding Jesus' Tough Teachings.
Instead of just loving the people who love us, he calls us to love our enemies and embrace compassion in a divided world. Truth be told, this is a bold and challenging teaching that goes against everything that we're naturally inclined to do in a world as divided as ours. This kind of love can feel completely out of reach. And yet, we can't ignore that it's what Jesus has called us to be, called us to do. Today, we're going to explore how this teaching can change us from the inside out. It can heal broken relationships and show the world a better way to live and love. But first, I want to take a moment to welcome you to Mountain View Church. Whether you're here in person, watching online, or listening on the podcast or radio, I am so thankful that you've decided to be a part of this gathering, of this audio, of this video. If you're willing, we'd love to connect with you. Please visit mountainview.church slash connect or text connect to the number on the screen, which is 867-322-8001.
For any parents out there, a reminder that we offer Base Camp, which is our children's program, every Sunday morning at 9.30 or 11 a.m. Or you can download the children's lessons and the activities at mountainview.church slash children. That's mountainview.church slash children. Lastly, our middle school and high school students are welcome to join our youth program on Sunday evenings between 6 and 8 p.m. Visit mountainview.church slash youth for more details on that program.
Now, let's get back to this tough teaching and learn how we can love our enemies. If you don't have a Bible, visit Bible.com or download a Bible app on your mobile device. And if you'd like a physical copy, just text Bible to 867-322-8001. Again, that's text Bible to 867-322-8001 and we'll send you a copy. Hi, my name is Elena and I'm reading from Matthew 5 verses 43 to 48. You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
So that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven. For he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. After reading that text, you might be thinking, loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us.
Is that even possible? Is that a thing we do in our modern era? Am I able to even achieve that in any way? Well, there's no doubt that this teaching will require a massive shift beyond comfort and on some level beyond reason. It doesn't make sense. But before we get there, I want to jump over to the Gospel of Luke to get a parallel account, to get a full picture of this teaching. You see, in Luke 6, verses 27 and 28, he expands on this. He writes, But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
That passage didn't make it any easier, did it? Not only do I have to love my enemies now, I have to pray for them, and I need to do good to them, and I need to bless them. How is this possible? You see, Luke's account reinforces the core of Matthew's account, that loving our enemies will involve action. It's an act of love, as well as prayer, which is also active. Though it's going to feel completely foreign to us as human beings, it'll go against our fallen human nature, Jesus is calling us to seek good things for our enemies and intercede on their behalf before God.
This teaching completely redefines our earthly concepts of love, no longer seeing it as a reciprocal affection, but as a deliberate choice to extend grace even to those who oppose us. This teaching compels us to confront our natural inclinations and embrace a love that mirrors God's heart. You see, by choosing to love our enemies, we're stepping into God's higher calling. It's a next-level love that transforms our hearts, reflects Jesus' character, and holds the power to change the world around us. This kind of love can't stem from our own strength. It has to flow from God's grace. That's why Jesus pairs this command to love our enemies with the immediate instruction to pray for those who persecute us. Clearly, these two actions work cooperatively, reshaping our hearts first and then providing the power to reshape the relationship.
The whole idea is that it starts with us. The change has to happen inside of us before we ever see any sort of relational, restorative, or reconciliation shift. It should be noted that this is more than a suggested behavior. This is one piece of Jesus' calling to all followers to live counter-culturally. He's not simply asking for us to adopt a kinder attitude for self-gain or self-fulfillment. That's not it.
That would be a false love. That would be a false humility. Jesus is inviting us into a higher calling that mirrors God's heart. If we focus on the first century and the original audience who heard this tough teaching, hatred for enemies was just a way of life. Not only was it tolerated, it was expected. Jesus was calling them to replace vengeance with love and replace retaliation with prayer. However, this was just one more piece of the gospel scaffolding, a kingdom ethic revealing God's mercy and grace that would be eventually fulfilled and unveiled at the cross of Christ. But let's break this down. Let's break down this tough teaching of loving our enemies because there's some incredible theological nuggets that can be mined out of this concept. First, let's focus on the commandment itself, loving your enemies.
In the verse prior to the command, Jesus directly challenges first century laws and traditions. He said, you have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Now, Jesus was addressing a cultural misrepresentation or even a perversion of the Torah, the Mosaic law in the Old Testament. You see, in Leviticus 19, 18, we read, you shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
By the first century, Israel had made an assumptive opposite rule for life in general out of this law. Their idea was if they're called to love their neighbor and not take vengeance or bear a grudge against their own people, then the opposite must be true for their enemies. It kind of gave them free reign to hate their enemies and to hold a grudge against their enemies. This wasn't what God wanted. It wasn't God's heart, but this is the way they took it. And so Jesus, of course, pushes back against that assumptive narrative. Loving enemies is not just an abstract ideal. It's a defining characteristic of kingdom-minded living. His command was calling them and us to actively seek the good in all things, at all times, with all people, even those who oppose us. Why? Because it reflects God's divine compassion and mercy. Secondly, let's focus on the ethic, replacing hatred with grace.
As was already explained that in first century Judaism, a loving one's enemies was unthinkable. Old Testament laws like eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth, the passages we looked at last week, they were often justification for retaliation and revenge. Only loving for our neighbors was encouraged. However, the term neighbor was often interpreted to mean only those within one's community and nationality, the people of the same faith and religion and ideology. Hatred for enemies, whether personal adversaries or oppressive powers like the Roman occupation, that was tolerated and maybe even encouraged. In fact, hatred for those parties was expected. However, Jesus turns this idea upside down. He's expanding on the definition of neighbor to include those who hate us, those who dislike us, our enemies, even those who persecute us. This would have sounded completely ludicrous.
And it sounds crazy to us as well, but for the people of Israel, they could never imagine, never even consider for the slightest moment that a pagan Roman citizen would be their neighbor. It's crazy. But there was a deeper ethic at play. And by calling them and us to love enemies, he's revealing the heart of God's kingdom. God's kingdom is rooted in mercy and unconditional love. Jesus challenges the neighbor mindset by calling a replacement, that we're replacing hatred for grace. We're replacing disdain and revenge for mercy and compassion. It's a total shift from what they have known and for what most of us as human beings know.
If we look to the New Bible Commentary, one author notes this. Jesus goes far beyond the explicit teaching of the Old Testament law and offers an ethic in sharp contrast to natural human values. This goes beyond the literal interpretation of the law and may indeed, in some cases, leave it on one side. As Jesus' sovereign authority reveals the radically alternative value scale which discipleship must involve. You see, this ethic requires a complete reshaping of our worldview. Loving is no longer defined by reciprocal relationships, but by a proactive willingness to seek the good of others, even seeking the good of our adversaries. Let's keep moving on. Next comes the standard. This is reflecting impartial love. Jesus centers this tough teaching to love our enemies in the character of God, in a sense, helping us see God's perspective, see how God sees. Immediately after the command, he says, so that you may be sons of your father who is 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. This image of common grace reveals God's impartial love through provision, freely extended to everyone, to the entire world. to everyone as far as the standard of God's impartiality. God's love is universal, not based on merit, not based on reciprocity. By reflecting this impartial love, we point others to God's boundless common grace. We point them to the sustaining of all people, regardless of their actions. We're pointing them to God's viewpoint, to God's perspective. Moving on. In the fourth point, it centers on the call, acting beyond reciprocity.
Continuing to unpack the teaching that follows the radical command, we see that Jesus asks a series of rhetorical questions. And again, he's speaking to a first century Jewish audience. This is important because these questions would cause them to think long and hard about the actions associating with loving their neighbors. He asks them, for if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
You see, loving those who love us back is an ordinary human behavior. That's what Jesus is pointing to. The act of unconditional love extends love even to those who oppose us. It's moving past what's normal. It's a radical love that reflects God's love for us. Later on, after the death and resurrection of Christ, there was a ruthless religious leader named Saul. He hated and persecuted anyone who followed the way of Jesus.
After a supernatural encounter with Jesus, his eyes were opened to the boundless love and grace of God. This man's life was transformed and he would come to be known as the Apostle Paul, who wrote many of the writings we have in the New Testament today. Now, at some point after his miraculous conversion, he realized the magnitude of God's grace, that he was loved even during the times of his abuse and persecution to those who followed God's son, Jesus. And so it's no surprise that later on in his letter to the Roman church, he stated these words. but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Think about that concept in relation to everyone you know who currently embraces or maybe even celebrates the life of sin. Think about everyone who's choosing to be in complete and utter rebellion against God. Now think about this fact. God loves them. Even in our sin, even in their sin, Christ died for us. God loves us. God sent Jesus to die for us.
You see, Jesus is trying to help us understand that. He's trying to help us understand that a God-centered love isn't just a commandment. It is, but it isn't. It's a calling. It's a life. It's a life lived toward the transformative power of the gospel, the good news of Jesus. By extending love and grace to our enemies, we demonstrate that same love that God showed us at the cross of Christ. We have to remember that. Moving on. Let's come back to this key verse, but let's talk about the practice Jesus issues. Praying for persecutors.
As we highlighted in the introduction, Jesus pairs the command to love with instruction to pray for those who persecute us. He matches them together. Now, why prayer? Because prayer causes a supernatural shift. It shifts not only relationships and restoration, there's lots of things, but it starts so central to who we are. It shifts our perspective, it softens our bitterness, and more importantly, prayer invites God's grace into, first us, then the difficult relationships. Prayer is an act of surrender, acknowledging that ultimate justice belongs to God. That's what prayer does. One author writes it this way, praying for persecutors reflects God's mercy, even toward those who reject it.
Through prayer, we break the cycle of bitterness in our own hearts, paving the way for forgiveness and inviting God's transformative grace. The greatest example of this was when Jesus demonstrated it prayerfully in love and grace on the cross, when he cried out to his Father, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. You see, this act of intercession reveals the supernatural depth of mercy and redemption that Jesus was bringing forward to humanity. Moreover, when we pray for those who harm us, we align ourselves with Christ's character. We choose to reflect his heart.
You see, Jesus calls us to love as he loved. He's inviting us to embrace the same sacrificial love that he displayed on the cross. And if he did that for us, how much can we just show grace to those who maybe want to harm us? How many more wanted to harm him? Even us, before we found him. This brings us to our sixth and final point, and the ultimate goal, which is to live out the gospel.
You see, Jesus' teaching to love our enemies and pray for our persecutors finds its deepest meaning in that gospel message, the greater gospel, the good news of Jesus, that God's grace and mercy met us at our worst, offering us reconciliation and transformation. That same grace and mercy should become the wellspring from which we can extend love to others. When we choose to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, we reflect the gospel's power to heal, to reconcile, to restore. All those things which seem irreparably broken, God can restore. It's through the gospel that we find the courage to forgive, the strength to pray, and the ability to love as Christ loved. Now, during this entire sermon, at least some of you have felt a little uncomfortable in identifying someone as your enemy. I get it. But I'm sure there's someone who you really struggle with. Maybe there's someone in your life who's consistently rude or cruel to you all the time. It might be a co-worker or a family member. Perhaps it's something totally different, like you have a past hurt or a past wound, and there's someone who you need to forgive for that past offense.
Maybe you've had a long battle with someone or a long battle internally with bitterness and you're fighting that ongoing desire for revenge, that ongoing feeling of hatred. Whoever it is, whatever the situation, I'd like you to take a few minutes to think of that person and what they've done to you. I know it's difficult. It won't be easy, but allow your mind to process those thoughts for a moment. The thoughts that you would normally push away or bury deep inside of you, pause and let them fill your heart. Let them fill your mind.
If you need more time, now would be a good time to just pause the video or audio and just sit in that moment. Although it's difficult, it's important. Once you've got that, let's work through Jesus' teaching. Let's work through these two simple steps in a real life situation. Step one, pray for their needs. Pray for that person's needs. Prayer is where transformation begins. Ask God to bless them, care for them, and guide them, which will soften your heart toward them.
Prayer might not change the situation or the relationship, but it will change you. It'll dissolve bitterness and create space for God's grace to work in your life. Through that time of prayer, we surrender our self-interest and we align our hearts with God's greater purpose. It's important. Once you've had a time of prayer, move on to step two. This is a choice to show them a kindness, an act of kindness. This week, find one concrete way to show kindness to the person you're struggling with, to your enemy, so to speak. It could be something as simple as sending them a thoughtful note or a message.
You could offer to help them with a task or some sort of need they might have. You could bring them a small gift to their home or bring them their favorite coffee or snack to their work. You could also choose to compliment or encourage them sincerely the next time you meet them. If you find yourself in a conversation with them, intentionally take time to listen and have the patience and empathy to actually be with them without the bitterness and anger. See, by praying for your enemy and showing them small acts of kindness, you will be living out the gospel in tangible ways. These intentional behaviors reflect the love Christ calls us to.
They gently move our hearts away from pain and away from bitterness. And if you're willing, consider making these prayers and acts of kindness a regular practice with that person. Why? Well, over time, through God's grace, you'll experience a freedom, an amazing freedom that comes from the releasing of those past wounds and offenses. Lord willing, the relationship will be reconciled. And Lord willing, may it flourish in the future. You see, when we love our enemies, we're not just obeying a command. We're revealing God's heart to a broken world.
This kind of love transforms relationships, heals wounds, and brings reconciliation where it once seemed impossible. Just imagine the impact if we truly lived out this teaching. Imagine families being restored and workplaces renewed and communities transformed by grace and forgiveness. It can happen. Let's make a commitment today to reflect God's love, his perfect love, and break the cycle of hatred and division that we know too often. Let's collaboratively demonstrate the transforming power of the gospel and point others to Christ's kingdom.
by loving them and praying for them, by showing true grace and forgiveness. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for loving us even when we were far from you. Help us to love our enemies and those we struggle with. Help us pray for their needs and show them kindness. Soften our hearts, Lord. Dissolve our bitterness so that your grace can work through us. Teach us to live out your gospel in real, tangible ways. Help us reflect your love and point others to you. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Thank you so much for choosing to watch or listen to today's message. As we close, let's take a moment to look at what's coming up in the next few weeks. First, now is a great time to join a community group. If you're looking for a place to grow deeper in your faith and connect with others, community groups are a great option. Simply visit mountainview.church slash groups and you'll have a list of groups and launch dates right there on that page. Some of them started this past week, but it is not too late to jump in.
Next, we have a membership meeting scheduled for Thursday, January 23rd. It's an important meeting where we'll present ministry team mission vision goals for 2025 and we'll be voting on our 2025 budget. So start time is at 6.30 p.m. and as always, child care will be provided. Related to our membership, perhaps you're interested in becoming a covenant member. If you've been attending for a while and have decided that Mountain View Church is your home church, we would love for you to be a part, a covenant part of our church membership. Visit mountainview.church slash membership and complete the membership application on that page.
A member of our pastoral team will be in touch with you afterwards and guide you through the next steps. Hey Mountain View, I'm here to ask you a question and then present you with an invitation. My question is, how much do you think about yourself? It's probably not something that we think about much, how much we think about ourselves, but the answer to that question can bring us to some pretty interesting places and will perhaps shed some light on a problem we may not even know that we have that colors so much of our own thoughts and affects both our own hearts and our interactions with others. So the question was, how much do you think about yourself?
Now, my invitation is for you to join us on Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. beginning January 16th to read through and discuss Tim Keller's book, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness. We'll spend a couple of months looking at the problems that focusing too much on ourselves creates, and then we'll investigate gospel-centered solutions to help us shift our focus and the freedom that that can bring. Basically, if you want to learn how to embrace humility a little more, and you know that you need to learn how to get over yourself, come hang out with us. Obsession with self has been a struggle for me at times. I think it's a struggle for everyone, and everything in our society tries to make us the center of our own attention. So let's push back on that a little and see what happens. That's Thursday nights, Mountain View, starting at 7 p.m. on January 16th. We're open to anyone, so, you know, come out and see us, and also we'll have snacks. So there's really very few reasons not to come. For more information, just email me at aaron at mountainview.church. We'll see you then.
Hi, Matt. My name is Haley, and I have the pleasure of being the leader for the Young Adults Ministry at the church. And so what that is, is we plan one monthly event. It's open to all if you're in between the ages of 18 and 35. So if that sounds like you, I'd love to invite you to our first event of the year, which is going to be happening this coming Saturday, January 18th. We are having a pizza and games night here at the church. So it's going to start at 7 p.m. You're welcome to bring a friend, bring a board game if you like, and yeah, just head on into the church and down the stairs at the front of the church, and we will be down there. So once again, that's this coming Saturday, January 18th at 7 p.m. See you there.
Finally, it's time for our discussion question and our prayer focus for this week. Here we go. Ask yourself or ask a friend or drop a comment in the feed the answer to this question. How will you show your enemy love and kindness this week? How will you show your enemy love and kindness this week? After you talk about that or reflect on that, spend some time in prayer. Pray for the courage to love your enemy and pray for opportunities to show them grace. Pray for the courage to love your enemy and pray for opportunities to show them grace.
And please come back next week. We'll be exploring another tough teaching of Jesus. This time, be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. This call for perfection isn't about living without sin. That's impossible. But it's about embracing a completeness of love, mirroring God's love. So let's keep tackling these tough teachings, invite a friend, and let's study together next week. See you then.
If you prayed to receive Jesus today or would like to connect with our church community, visit mountainview.church and click the connect link. If this podcast and radio ministry has been a blessing to you, please consider partnering with us or making a tax-deductible donation at mountainview.church. Thanks for listening to Mountain View Church Audio. Join us next week for more Christ-centered teaching from the Wilderness City Whitehorse Seat Farm.