Sermon on the Mount; Jesus Teaches; Behaviors and Relationships. Matthew 5:38-48, Love and Hate

Teaching about Revenge
38"You have heard that the law of Moses says, `If an eye is injured, injure the eye of the person who did it. If a tooth gets knocked out, knock out the tooth of the person who did it.' 39But I say, don't resist an evil person! If you are slapped on the right cheek, turn the other, too. 40If you are ordered to court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. 41If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles. 42Give to those who ask, and don't turn away from those who want to borrow.

Could you imagine that? You couldn’t do that in battle.
But I don’t think this is meant to be taken literally.
What it tells me is, don’t act out in anger. Not only that, do the opposite.
When I feel like yelling, screaming or worse, I pray for myself and the person that’s making me angry.

Romans 12:19 Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord.
Maybe you’ve heard it this way. ‘Vengeance is mine; saith the Lord’.

But if you look at what Paul is telling the Romans he says, ‘Leave that to the righteous anger of God’.

‘Righteous Anger’? Anger being right in God’s eyes? Yes, we can Hate Sin. Not the sinner, but their sin.

When we truly know God’s love, it hurts us to see others living in sin. That is God’s perfect love.

8" class="scriptRef">Romans 5:8, 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

Teaching about Love for Enemies
43"You have heard that the law of Moses says, `Love your neighbor' and hate your enemy. 44But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! 45In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and on the unjust, too. 46If you love only those who love you, what good is that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 48But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

PERFECT? How on earth are we to be PERFECT?

Perfection is never completely obtained, until you take your last breath.
But we are to work towards it till we get there. But How?

God gives us some simple instruction on that.

Romans 12:2, 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.

We have to get outside the box that the world puts you in.

Stop thinking about earthly things.

John 3:12 But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things?

John 3:31 “He has come from above and is greater than anyone else. We are of the earth, and we speak of earthly things, but he has come from heaven and is greater than anyone else.

Colossians 3:5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.

James 3:14-16 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.

Well in reality, all things are possible with God. But maybe this could at least be our mind set, or heart set. To want to be perfect, or right in God’s eyes.

That is possible; to want with all our heart to want to do right in God’s eyes.