A right relationship with God requires a right response when wronged...

This week, we have been looking at a part of a famous sermon that Jesus gave that is recorded for us in an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew. Tuesday, we looked on as Jesus called the crowds listening to His sermon to not place themselves in opposition to someone who is bent on doing wrong.  Jesus then provided four examples of situations in which a person was not to place themselves in opposition to someone who is bent on doing wrong. We talked about the reality that we your natural response is to question, or even challenge Jesus words here.

And if we could have a conversation out at the courtyard coffeehouse, the conversation would sound something like this: “Really? Does Jesus actually think that we should not retaliate when we are wrongly insulted by another person? Does Jesus actually think that we should not retaliate when we are wrongly sued by another person? Does Jesus actually think that we should not retaliate when we are wrongly humiliated by others? Does Jesus actually think that we should just give to the needy and not reject the needy, regardless of how they became needy?” If that question or pushback is running through your mind, just look at what Jesus says next in Matthew 5:43:

"You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.'

Now, if what Jesus had to say at this point was not enough, Jesus continued by quoting from another section of the book of Leviticus. Here, Jesus quotes a section of Leviticus 19:18. To truly understand the importance of this verse in the book of Leviticus, let’s look together at the entirety of what the Lord was communicating to the Jewish people in Leviticus 19:17-18:

You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. 'You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.

Now, did you notice that nowhere in these verses do you see the phrase “and hate your enemy”. However, what the religious leaders and Jewish people of Jesus day had done, was to take this passage from the book of Leviticus and add the phrase “and hate your enemy”. You see, the Jewish people of Jesus day believed and taught that they were to love one another as God’s chosen people and hate those who were not like them ethnically, who the letters in the Bible referred to as Gentiles.

The Jewish people in Jesus day believed that, as God’s chosen people, they were morally and ethnically superior to the Gentiles around them. As a matter of fact, most Jews during Jesus day considered Gentiles to be less than human. In addition, many Jewish people believed that God hated the Gentile people. After all, God had given the Jewish people the Promised Land from the Gentile nations. However, once again, the crowds listening to Jesus were not prepared for what Jesus had to say next, which Matthew records for us in verse 44:

"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven;

After repeating this commonly held Jewish belief and teaching, Jesus responded by stating, but I say you are to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. This morning, imagine yourself in the crowd listening to Jesus speaking. You have grown up your entire life believing that you are morally superior to all other ethnicities and nations. You have grown up hearing that you are to love your fellow Jew but hate those who do not share your chosen people status. It would be as if Jesus were stating to us this morning that as Americans that we were to love Al Qaeda and ISIS and pray for them.

Jesus here was calling the crowds, and followers of Jesus throughout history, to demonstrate a love that is selfless, other centered and sacrificial in nature and that seeks the good of another. Now, your natural reaction to Jesus words is “why would Jesus ask followers of Jesus to do such a thing?”  Why would Jesus expect us to selflessly love and seek another’s good, even when they have wronged us?”  That is a great question, and I am sure that it was a question that was floating through the stunned crowd listening to Jesus message. Fortunately for us, Jesus gives us two reasons why we are to demonstrate such a selfless, other centered and sacrificial love that seeks the good of others, even if they have wronged us. The first reason is found in the second half of verse 45:

for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

First, Jesus reminds the crowds listening to His sermon of God’s gracious generosity: “for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” In other words, God, in His gracious generosity, provides for those live a life that is marked by a moral and social worthlessness, and God, in His gracious generosity, provides for those whose life is marked by a high standard of worth and merit. God, in His gracious generosity, provides for those who live in a way that meet God’s right standards, and God, in His gracious generosity, provides for those who live in a way that is contrary to God’s right standards.

Jesus is reminding the crowds that God loves all His creation and demonstrates His love by generously providing for all of His creation. You see God loves all of His creation. God loves all people and desires that all come to know and follow Him. God created and loves drug addicts and homosexuals; God loves ax murderers and child molesters; God even loves people who think that God only loves them. God loves all people and desires that all come to know and follow Him.

After all, that was the whole point of Jesus coming to earth, wasn’t it? You see, Jesus came for the lost, the hurting, the broken, in other words He came for all of us. And because God loves all, even those who oppose Him and His kingdom, we are to follow His example. Jesus then revealed a second reason why we are to we are to demonstrate such a selfless, other centered and sacrificial love that seeks the good of others, even if they have wronged us, is found in verses 46-47. Let’s look at them together:

"For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷ "If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

 Here we see Jesus ask a rhetorical question: "For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?” Now the reason that this question is rhetorical is due to the fact that the answer to this question is so obvious that is does not require a reply. Jesus then reinforced the rhetorical nature of this question by pointing to two groups of people who the Jewish people looked down upon. First, Jesus pointed the crowds listening to the tax collectors of the day. Now Jews who were tax collectors were hated by their fellow countrymen for two reasons.

First, these tax collectors were hated because they would often charge higher taxes than necessary in order to make a profit. Since the Romans did not care what these tax collectors charged as long as they received what was due them, many tax collectors became wealthy by charging over and above what the Romans asked. So tax collectors often became wealthy at the expense of his fellow Jewish countrymen. Second, Jewish tax collectors were hated and were viewed as traitors because they were working for the enemy. Jewish people so despised tax collectors that they had a separate category for them. There were tax collectors and there were sinners. There were those who sinned and then there were tax collectors. Jesus point is that even people who are thought of as being immoral know enough to love those who love them. It is easy to love those who love us, isn’t it? I mean, to love those who love us is not a very high standard.

Jesus then pointed the crowds listening to the Gentiles. Gentiles were not Jewish either religiously or ethnically and who worshiped something other than the One True God as God. Jesus here is reminding the crowd listening to His sermon that even people who do not believe in God love and treat well those who are close to them. Jesus here is revealing the reality that, those who want to be right with God have a higher responsibility to live a life that reveals and reflects God to those around them. Jesus point is that, as followers of Jesus, we have been placed by God in a distinctive environment to live lives that are distinctively different.

And as followers of Jesus who have been given the responsibility to live a life that reveals and reflects Jesus to those around us, we are not to live as the world lives, but are called to a higher standard that reflects the generosity and love of Jesus to all people, even those who are hostile to Jesus and to followers of Jesus. Now this morning, I want us to take a minute and imagine ourselves in the crowd listening the Jesus words. Can you imagine what the response must have been like? Can you imagine the body language? The facial expressions? Can you imagine the pushback? If you think there was pushback to what Jesus had said up to this point, just look at what Jesus says next in verse 48:

"Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

In verse 48, Jesus continues by giving what seems to be an impossible command: “Therefore you are to be perfect, as our Heavenly Father is perfect”. But this morning, what does Jesus mean when He says we are to be perfect? When Jesus uses the word perfect, He is referring to someone who is fully developed in a moral sense. This word refers to someone who meets the standards of moral and spiritual perfection and maturity. 

Remember a few weeks ago when Jesus made the statement that a person’s character and behavior must surpass that of the religious leaders of the day in order to enter the kingdom of Heaven? The greater character and behavior that Jesus first brought up earlier in this sermon is revealed here. Jesus states that being right with God by meeting His demands involves more than external obedience; the character and behavior that meets God’s demands to be right with Him involves moving past external rules and regulations to having the heart and character of God that is revealed in us as we live a life that is lived in obedience to God by doing the right thing.

And it is here that we see Jesus reveal for us a timeless truth about the true nature of what it means to obey the message and teachings of Jesus and the true nature of a lifestyle that is living a right relationship with Jesus.  And that timeless truth is this: A right relationship with God requires a right response when wronged. Just as it was for those who were listening to this famous sermon; just as it has been for humanity throughout history; A right relationship with God requires a right response when wronged.

Jesus here is revealing for us the timeless reality that a right relationship with Him requires that we respond to a personal insult by not responding in kind. A right relationship with Jesus requires that we respond to being wrongly sued by another by striving to do everything we can do in order to make things right with the one who wrongly sued us. A right relationship with Jesus requires that we respond to being wrongly humiliated and oppressed by going the extra mile for the one who humiliated and oppressed us. A right relationship with Jesus requires that we respond to the pressing and practical needs of the needy by meeting those needs, regardless of why they are in need. And a right relationship with Jesus requires that we reflect the generosity and love of Jesus to all people, even those who are hostile to Jesus and to followers of Jesus.

A right relationship with Jesus requires a right response when wronged because Jesus is not simply concerned with our external behavior when things go right and when we are treated right. Instead, at the end of the day, Jesus is concerned with our internal heart condition when things go wrong and when we are treated wrong. Jesus is concerned with our internal heart condition because Jesus knows, and human history has shown, that eventually what is in the heart will spill out. Human history has shown us that, just like toothpaste, our true character and what dwells in our heart will ultimately spill out when we are squeezed as a result of being wronged.

So here is a question to consider? What does your response to being wronged reveal about where you are at when it comes to a relationship with God? How do you respond to being insulted? How do you respond to being wronged financially? How do you respond to being embarrassed? How do you respond to those who are in need, even if the reason they are in need is a result of their own doing?

Because, as Jesus points out, a right relationship with God requires a right response when wronged. And as Jesus points out, God’s right standard is perfection. You see, Jesus never asks us to do something that He has not already done. Jesus repeatedly demonstrated a right response when He was wronged that revealed the reality that He had a right relationship with God.

And because we are not perfect; because nobody is perfect, we desperately need the rescue that Jesus provides us as a result of failing to demonstrate a right response when wronged. We desperately need the rescue that Jesus provides us because we are all guilty of murder as a result of what comes from our heart damaging another’s heart. We desperately need the rescue that Jesus provides us because we are all guilty of adultery as a result of desiring sexually what we were not committed to relationally. We desperately need the rescue that Jesus provides us because we are all guilty of misrepresenting God’s promises as a result of failing to keep our promises. And we desperately need the rescue that Jesus provides us because we are all guilty of responding the wrong way when wronged.

That was the whole point of Jesus coming to earth. That was the whole point of this sermon. Jesus came to earth and lived the life that we were created to live but are all guilty of refusing to live, and then willingly allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful life, so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life. And when we respond to all that Jesus did to rescue us from our selfishness and rebellion by believing trusting and following Jesus, we receive the forgiveness of sin and enter into the relationship with God that we were created for. We also receive the Holy Spirit, which empowers us to live the life we were created to live in relationship with Jesus as we strive to follow the message and teachings of Jesus.

The question is “How have you responded to what Jesus has offered?