Motives Matter Part 2

Amen. Y'all go ahead and be seated. We'll say good morning to you. Morning. Morning. And um let's go ahead and open up our Bibles.

Let's open them up to Matthew chapter 5. We're actually going to be finishing up chapter 5. We're in a series right now called What is Truth? Um because again if to know God is to also know truth and know the truth about God and to know how he wants to rightly reveal himself to us as a people. And to be honest with you, the whole world for all of history is trying to figure that out. Who are we?

Who is God? What has happened? Who how did we get here? Why do we exist? What's our purpose? And Jesus is revealing this to us.

He He's letting us know like God is not one who just wants to sit up there and say, "All right, I put all the pieces in motion and let them just figure it out and let them kind of stumble and fumble their way to me." No, he wants to be known and he wants us to know him and he wants us to know the way that he designed us and the way that he wants life to to work for us for our flourishing and for his glory. like for for us to be able to, you know, live the good life, to be able to live a life that honors him, to be able to live a life that is joyful, to be able to live a life that is ultimately holy. Holy. Because that's where there's joy. That's where there's peace.

That's where there's contentment is when we are in that place where we are treasuring Jesus above anything and everything else. And so the sermon on the mount, which we're going to be walking through this eight-week series, um the sermon on the mount is Jesus preaching the best sermon that's ever been delivered. Why? Because it was preached by Jesus. All right? He He's the only man who can say, "I'm God, and I'm going to teach you with the authority of God."

And so he preaches this sermon to reveal and expose. And I think I'm looking at a firefly right in front of me right now. It's like landing on me. That's amazing. Also heard a very sad fact. Did you know I mean I actually have not fact checked this so I don't know.

This is like I don't have ADHD but I'm totally operating in it right now. Um I think fireflies are actually on the verge of going extinct because they're not mating anymore. Has anyone heard this? Yeah. Yeah. Such a sad thing.

Like this is a summer like ritual rhythm. If you want to know the actual truth, just see Ransford afterwards. You don't even have to fact check. Just go to Ransford, okay? He will let you know what the what the status is on fireflies. We called them lightning bugs where I'm from, but you know, I don't know, whatever.

But anyways, there's one hanging out with us. Um, any back to back to where we're at. Matthew 5, Jesus is revealing himself. and he's revealing himself through teaching, through preaching, through revealing the character of God. And so, we're going to be wrapping up chapter five today. But to help those who have kind of missed where we're at due to the fact that it's summer and we travel and you've been gone and we're not judging, I'm just saying.

We're in a series called What is Truth? All right. And we want you to know what that truth is. And the way that it began with was with the biatitudes. And the biatitudes really kind of read like a list of if you are this then you'll be this or you'll you'll be if you do this then you'll get blessings. And and oftentimes that's how it is preached is if you are meek then you will get a blessing.

If you are poor in spirit then you will get a blessing. And and it in a way kind of reads like a dog doing tricks in order to get a treat. As long as you do this then you'll get this. And that's not exactly the way that it ultimately reads. Instead, it's more of a roadmap for how God's salvation for us works. When you're listening to Jesus preach the sermon and he says, "You must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect."

Which is verse 48 that we're going to cover today. It's the last verse of the first chapter. We're all looking around thinking, "Well, that's impossible. How can I be perfect as the heavenly father is perfect?" And that's where Jesus says, "Exactly, that's the point. You can't be perfect."

And when you realize that you can't be perfect, then you start looking at this list of all of these different things that we're supposed to be or also how we're supposed to live. Well, don't murder someone. Well, you also can't be angry at someone in your heart. You're the same as the murderer. Well, don't commit adultery. Well, you also can't look at someone in your mind, in your heart with lust because you are also an adulterer.

And you start looking at these things and you're like, I mess up every single week. It's impossible for me to be perfect. And that's where he points us back to how to be blessed, those who are poor in spirit, those who realize what the perfection and what the standard of Jesus is for righteousness. and you come to this sense in your heart, in your mind, I can't live up to that. Therefore, I'm poor in spirit. I'm brokenhearted.

Those who mourn, those who realize that because I'm spiritually bankrupt and I can't do everything perfectly in order to attain righteousness, I've actually sinned against a holy and good and righteous and perfect God who does not deserve to be sinned against. And yet, I walked away from him. I sinned against him. I turned my back on him. I thought to do things my own way instead of doing things his way and I can't believe that I would do that. Like I'm mourning the fact that I would do that.

And then he says, "Blessed are those who are meek." Meek is a term in Greek where it's like the brit the the bridal that goes in the bit of the horse of of his mouth where it is giving up the reigns of my life and letting someone else steer and guide and direct me when I realize that I'm spiritually bankrupt and that I'm mourning and lamenting the sin in my life and that there's nothing that I do that is going to earn it. There's no way of living that I can do that's going to get me out of the the problems and the mess that I've created for myself. other than giving up the reigns of my life to God and saying, "I'm yours. I surrender to you. Guide me and direct me.

Blessed are those who are meek for they will receive the kingdom of God." That's how this reads. It's really a path to salvation that then allows you to be able to live a life that is honoring of God. And that's what we started talking about last week when we introduced this idea of the law and grace. Jesus turned his attention to the law in order to address some misconceptions and malpractices that were created by the scribes and the Pharisees of the law. I mean, these are professional Jews who have made a living out of being dogooders.

Their whole life is, let's take the law and let's behaviorally modify ourselves to make it look like we're abiding by the law, but then let's also change some things. Let's also add some things. And then let's start teaching the people that this is how you are supposed to live. professional Jews that don't really understand what they're doing. They've made a living out of appearing to be lawkeepers, but Jesus is about to reveal why they are actually lawb breakakers, just like the rest of us. Just like the rest of us.

And so Jesus didn't come to abolish the law, which is a way of watering it down, dissolving it, and destroying it, but he actually came to expose the law. to actually show its true and intended meaning. What was God doing when he gave instructions when he gave a law to the people in order for them to follow it? And so last week we looked at the first three in six different points that Jesus pulls out of the law. A couple of them come from directly from the Ten Commandments and a few others come from other aspects of the law of Moses. We looked at the first three and today we'll finish up with chapter five by looking at the final three.

And if you missed last week, these three today are in the same vein. So, so you're really at this point all caught up. And so, looking at Matthew 5, we're going to pick up in verse 33 through 48. And starting in verse 33, here's what Jesus teaches them. Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, "You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn." But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by earth, for it is the foottool, for it is his foottool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king.

Do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply yes or no. Anything more than this comes from evil. Again, the law of God is a moral revelation into the character, holiness, and perfection of God. It's like a picture into who God is like. Because God is not a murderer and we bear his image, we are to not be murderers.

Because God is not an adulterer and we bear his image, we are to not be adulterers. It reveals who he is like and what we are called to be like, what we are invited to be like. And particularly in this oath or swearing falsely routine of the culture, Jesus is going to attack that by essentially saying because God is not a liar and you bear his image, you are to be truth tellers. Truth tellers. We are to be like God in the way we speak, in the way we think, and in the way we follow through on our word. And when it comes to making promises, God is not a promise breaker, but a promiseke keeper.

He doesn't have to say things like, "I swear on my mother's grave." He doesn't have to say things like, "I swear as the sun rises every morning." Because God's word never turns up void. If he says he will, he will. There's never been a moment in all of history where God promised something and it didn't be fulfilled. Hebrews 6:13-14 puts it this way.

For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, "I swear by me. Surely I will bless you and multiply you." Genesis 22:15-18 when he's speaking to Abraham, he says this. And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, "By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you've done this and you have not withheld your son, your only son. I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. and your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies.

And in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because you've obeyed my voice. Hebrews 6:15-18 gives an account of this and an interpretation of it where he says, "And thus Abraham having patiently waited obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath. So that by two unchangeable things, God and his word in which it is impossible for God to lie. we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.

We're able to have steadfast hope in the Lord because when he makes a promise by himself via his word, those are two things that are unchangeable. When it comes to God, he swears by himself because he's the only thing in all of existence that is unchanging in both his essence and his word and action. We, however, cannot swear by ourselves or even by creation. Why? Because those are two things that are always changing. Always changing.

We can only let our yes be yes and our no be no. Have you ever met those people when they say they'll do something and you just give them a look because you know that their response is frantically swearing by everything simply to try and convince you that they'll come through on it. Like these are the types of people that you just know they're just their word is no good. And because their word is no good because it's never followed up with action. They're constantly trying to convince you that this time. So, they're swearing by anything and everything to try to add weight to the fact that whatever it is they're going to say that they're going to do, they'll actually do it for the first time.

I swear I'll do it this time. I'll be there. I'll clean my room. I'll show up on time. I'll pay you back. And on and on it goes.

This is the reason why in our culture collateral exists is because we don't trust anyone at their word. Like you walk into a bank right now and say, "Hey, give me $50,000 as a loan. I just I promise I'll pay you back." And they're like, "That's great. I appreciate it. We're going to need some collateral."

So if it's a car that you're buying, the car is collateral. We own it until you actually pay it in full. House, that's why you have a mortgage. You don't own the house. The bank owns the house until the house is paid off. We have to have some type of collateral because we can't let our yes be yes and our no be no.

That's just reality. That's how our world works. That's how you know we don't trust each other is because everything has collateral to it. Well, when it comes to God, he is not a liar. And he expects us not to be liars. So in the kingdom that he is building, he expects its citizens to be truth tellers and promiseke keepers.

Not just because it's the right thing to say, but so that it also provides assurance to the promise receivers. He wants the kingdom to be a people who are trutht tellers and then are able to have assurance that when someone tells us the truth, we can also receive it and believe that they're going to follow through with it. Why? because they believe that their God that they serve is a follow-through person who will then allow us via the process of the gospel growing us and maturing us to be just like our father. He follows through, we follow through. His yes is always yes.

His no is always no. And therefore, we are able to do the same thing. DA Carson, a theologian and scholar, puts it this way. Kingdom righteousness demands I lost it. It demands integrity. The person who swears frequently is implying that without an oath, his word might not be trustworthy.

Jesus insists that our words, our words should be so truthful that oaths become superfluous. You understand that? In other words, when you say you'll do something, you do it. And when that becomes your way of life, people have assurance and they trust in that person you are. They don't need your ethereal collateral by swearing. Instead, they'll say things like, "He's a man of his word.

She's a reliable woman." That's a man or woman that you can count on. Why? Because God has proven time and time again that he can be counted on. It's almost like another commandment, thou shalt be counted on. That's what he's telling us.

Because you can count on God, he wants his kingdom people to be people that you can count on and rely on. And by the way, they don't have to swear to all these different things in order for there to be reliability. They are people who are truth tellers. And that once again connects this train of thought with what we looked at last week with marriage and divorce. Covenants are built on promises that are kept and fulfilled and not promises that are empty and broken. And to be honest, I I think this is the root of many of humanity's problems when it's full of rampant liars, cheats, and halftruths.

The lack of trust leads to distrust and judgment of others. And when that continues to scale up, you dehumanize, you villainize, and you demonize others so much that you take your judgment too far and you begin retaliating on others greater than what's necessary. Look at what's next in the verses. Look at 38. You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." Now, this is coming straight from Leviticus 24:1 19-20.

So, he's saying this is something that you have actually heard. All right? That that has been preached in the law, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Um, which actually reads like this. If anyone injures his neighbor as he has done, it shall be done to him. Fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him.

That's in the law of God. That's an that's actually Moses introducing a way of justice that would be equitable because the way they were doing things in their day was you slap me, I'm going to burn your house down. like the the the the the punishment didn't fit the crime. All right. You look at me the wrong way, I'm gonna rape and murder your wife. Like that's the anarchy and the chaos that that pagan culture was living.

And so when they are freed from it and are now wandering in the wilderness, God is saying to his people, "We're not like them. We're not like pagan culture. We don't exact retaliation in an unjustified way. We're going to do it justified. And so he actually introduces eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. Make sure that the punishment fits the crime.

It's restraining evil in this moment. But Jesus takes it deeper deeper. Jesus wants to hit on a very specific point in regards to when it's okay to exact justice and when you should let someone get one on you. I'll just put it that way. Look at verse 39. But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil.

If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. Now, there have been, I mean, literal doctrines of pacifism formed by this one little verse where some would say, if someone breaks into your home, you should let them do as they wish, for God wants us to turn the other cheek. I have problems with that because I don't think that's what the Bible is teaching here. The Bible ever says for you to not be able to defend your home from intruders or for you to not exercise even the use of weapons in order to protect your family. Jesus is a person who used a weapon. And I'm not even talking about the word of God.

He fastened a whip, which is a weapon, and he drove people out of the temple because they were um they were oppressing and suppressing a vulnerable culture of people for their own greed and gain. And so, he's walking in and saying, "No, I'm going to defend the vulnerable and drive out those who are oppressing here." In addition, when he's sending the disciples out, he tells them to actually set aside some money in order to buy a sword when you go out. Now, he wasn't saying go out and preach the word by sword, but he's saying there needs to be some moments here where you are actually able to defend yourself. And so, what then is he talking about? Because I I'm just if someone comes into my house and they're wanting to harm my family, am I going to just turn the other cheek and let it happen?

No. I'm going to tell them about Jesus. And the way that I'm going to tell them about Jesus is just direct introduction to them by exercising my Second Amendment right. They will meet Jesus that day. Amen. That's gonna happen.

What then is he talking about when he says for us to turn the other cheek? I don't think this has to do with someone wanting to inflict physical harm on you, but rather someone aiming to insult you or defame your character. In their culture, slapping someone on the cheek was like a backhanded slap that exemplified the attempt for humiliation of the individual. And what Jesus is promoting here is don't retaliate and stoop to their level. Don't retaliate and stoop to their level. Today, this would be like someone writing a negative character defaming post about you on Facebook and then you retaliating and entering into a debate about whether who's right or wrong in regards to it.

Jesus is saying, "Let them speak lies about you. The truth always prevails so long as you are a trutht teller followed up with truthful action." If you're a trutht teller and you're living in step with what you are speaking and you're living in step with the spirit of God and you're being a faithful Christian and other people are trying to defame your character for that, let him turn the other cheek. God knows who you are. God's going to defend you. God's going to let truth prevail.

It's okay. This is not a call to enable injustice, but to demonstrate radical freedom from materialism and personal retaliation. Look at verse 40. If anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. That's actually pulling from Exodus 22 26 where it says that they are if someone takes your tunic, which is basically just like your shirt. They are not lawful to take your um cloak, which is almost like a blanket over top of you.

And he's saying, "Yeah, if they take your shirt, whatever. It's not lawful for them to take your coat or your blanket. Just give it to them as well. Go above and beyond. Jesus is teaching his disciples should value love and reconciliation over possessions or vindication. The kingdom of God is not built by defending every personal right, but by demonstrating grace even when it costs us.

Look at verse 41. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. This is where that phrase go the extra mile comes from. The reason why he brings this up is because if you remember the Jews at this time in Jerusalem, Israel is under Roman occupation. Okay? And so, not only did they have their own laws, but they also have to abide by Roman laws.

And one of the Roman laws was is that a Roman, if he's walking down the road and he's tired of hug of of literally just carrying his luggage or his equipment or his his armor or sword or whatever, he could grab any Jew at any moment and make them carry for him their luggage for the next mile up to a Roman mile. And Jesus is saying, when they force you to do that, go the extra mile. go two miles just to show them a different way that hey there is kindness there's grace that's coming from these people. Where does that come from? Why are they living this way? Why are they doing this?

It was deeply deeply loving loving. And so Jesus is flipping the situation. He says don't just do the required but go the extra. This would have shocked his listeners. Instead of resisting the unjust demand, go beyond what is required and do so freely. Look at what he says in verse 42.

Give to the one who begs from you and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. Jesus calls his followers to transform oppression into an opportunity to witness. to witness. That extra mile might be the only time that this Roman official will ever hear the gospel preached. So be willing to sacrifice some of your own time, energy, materialism, resources in order to engage someone who might be treating you unjustly, but so that they might be able to be introduced to the one who actually exacts true justice. Look what he says in verse 43.

Before I read it, just remember true kingdom living doesn't just meet the minimum. It goes beyond the maximum. Jesus calls his followers to do this. Verse 43, you have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." Now, this is a changing of the law because nowhere in the law has it ever said, "Hate your enemy." Hate your enemy.

It does say, "Love your neighbor." They got that right. He's actually pulling from Leviticus 19:18, which commands, "You shall love your neighbor." But hate your enemy is not in the Old Testament. It was a popular mislication of the law. religious leaders of the day had narrowed neighbor down to mean fellow Jews.

My Jew is my neighbor. Everyone else then Gentiles, even Samaritans, kind of the halfbred Jews and enemies are considered my enemies. But Jesus says this in verse 44. I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Jesus expands the definition of love to include enemies and persecutors, not just neighbors. This love is not emotional affection, but it's agape.

It's agape type love which is sacrificial actionoriented love for the undeserving for the undeserving. It includes praying for those who wound you echoing Jesus' own prayer from the cross. Father forgive them for they don't know what they're doing in Luke 23. You see, true Christian is not or true Christian love is never reactive love. It's never reactive love, but it is patient, proactive, countercultural, and it's rooted in God's grace. Always.

It's rooted in God's grace. And as verse 45 says, "So that 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 he sends rain on the just and on the unjust." You see, when the Bible was written, there was no terminology for godly. Godly.

So nowhere in the Bible does it say, "Well, that man was godly." It refers to them as they are sons of God. They are daughters of God. They are living in such a way that they are like the father. So when you see in the scriptures that it says that you so that you might be sons of him, so that you might be daughters of him. It's saying so that you might be godly.

So that you might be living like the father. So that you might be reflecting and exemplifying and imagebearing his ultimate image. and his standards, his righteousness. In other words, this kind of love reflects the character of God. How will they know who he is like? Will they experience it in the way that we are like?

And then when they ask us, why are you like that? We then point them to the word of God and we say this is where it comes from. This is where it comes from. This is how we are able to know who God is and what God is like. Because the invisible attributes of the father have been revealed to us through the visible attributes of the son Jesus Christ in the way that he lived the perfect life and then sacrificed himself on your behalf in his death and then satisfied the wrath of God and ultimately fulfilled all of the law and then resurrected three days later guaranteeing for us a new life in him when we believe in him. And how do we know that?

Because then not only is he the visible of the invisible representation of God, what represents the visible of Jesus is the word of God revealed to us written by God, inspired by God in order for us to know to know who God is. And it's through this character of God who blesses both the righteous and the unrighteous with the sun and rain. Jesus isn't saying that you become sons by doing this, but that you show that you are sons and daughters by bearing the family resemblance. Then look what he says in verse 46. He just continues driving this point home. For if you love those who love you, what what reward do you have?

Did not even the tax collectors do the same? I mean, that's like an insult. They considered the tax collectors as the bottom of the barrel just disgusting people who just rob everyone. Well, even the tax collectors love other tax collectors. They love other people who are like them. And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?

Do not even the Gentiles do the same? And in that way, he's saying not just like Jews and Gentiles, but Gentiles in the sense of just the lawless people. Even lawless people love others who are like them. We would look at that today and say even people who are not Christians do good things, right? They do good things. They they they're a the majority of the philanthropy that is out there is actually non-Christian.

It's just true. I think it still lands in the category of people trying to earn their salvation, trying to earn their righteousness, trying to earn their they're being the professional dogooders. And Jesus here is hopefully explaining to them it's not enough. That's not enough. Kingdom love must surpass worldly standards. Kingdom love must surpass worldly standards.

That's why he said, "Your righteousness must surpass that of the Pharisees." That was last week. Your righteousness must surpass that of the Pharisees who, though they believed they were doing the right thing, were in fact indistinguishable from the criminals of their day. Like, you catch that? He's here saying, "Don't be like the tax collectors. Your righteousness must surpass that of the Pharisees."

Why? because they're like the tax collectors. They're just using religion to rob from people. Jesus is deconstructing what was falsely taught and then reconstructing for them by exposing the true meaning of the law what God's actual standard and measure is for righteousness and then telling them to surpass what they are seeing and hearing and then try to measure up to what it actually is. And that's why he goes on down into verse 48 and says, "Therefore, you must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect." So Jesus is redefining this lo this love not just as something we feel but something we do especially for those hardest to love.

Again, this is the distinguishing mark for his believers, for his followers. This is what this is what makes them a district in a city. A district again this is why we call our name our name. It's an area or group within a city marked by a particular characteristic. We are a people within a city marked by and transformed by the gospel of Jesus. We live a way via the way that is different than every other way.

And we want everyone to know there's a different way to live. There's a different way to have hope. There's a different way to have peace and contentment. So if you're wanting to follow all the worldly standards, you can continue doing that. It's going to you're going to be end up spiritually bankrupt if you do that. Instead, follow Jesus.

Enemy love is not for or is not optional for Christians. It's evidence. It's evidence of divine transformation. So, let me ask you a couple of questions. Is there someone you find hard to love? And I know someone just popped in your head.

Is there someone you find hard to love? If they're in the room, we got some work to do. Can you begin to pray for them? Can you begin to pray for them? Because what prayer does when you pray for your enemies is it aligns your heart with God's heart and how he views them and what he sent his son Jesus to accomplish for them to where you now begin to have a transformation of perspective to where maybe I don't want to exact judgment on them and send them to hell. Maybe God actually wants them to meet his son Jesus and be able to come to heaven.

And so now I have sympathy and empathy for them rather than hatred towards them because I now understand why they are acting the way they're acting. And I want them to meet Jesus so that they have an opportunity to repent of whatever it is that they have done that has harmed me and instead now have an opportunity to walk in step with the spirit of God. That can all happen by you praying for them. praying for them. How does the father's kindness to you empower you to show grace to them? I mean, we got to remember we were considered enemies of him.

While we were enemies, he demonstrated his love for us and by sending his son Jesus to die on the cross for us. So, if we're talking about loving enemies, we were enemies of God. We're We're not just walking around being like, "Dude, we were so awesome that God sent Jesus and wanted us on his team. Like, we were first picked on his kickball team and and we're just knocking home runs left and right. We're awesome." That's the Pharisees and the scribes.

That's what they thought. That's what they thought. And Jesus is saying, "They're no different than the criminals of their day. You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. When you get to this part of Jesus's sermon, you just you have to be thinking this is impossible. This is impossible.

Yeah, you don't want to murder people physically. Great. But I can't even be mad at them. Like I can't be angry at them in my heart because don't we just want to be angry? Last week I said I was like most people are like I'm not an angry person. I said yeah we're frustrated then we'll just change the language of it.

You are frustrated people. You are. We're all frustrated with something and it builds anger in our heart. I told you that last week someone cut me off while I was driving on the road and I if I was God they're in hell. It's just true. I was angry.

We look at this list. How can our righteousness surpass that of the professional dogooders? How can we be good enough? How can we do it in our own strength? Even more than that, more than murdering someone or committing adultery or retaliating, how is it possible for us to never get angry at another person or or lust or try and protect our property and reputation? It's impossible, Jesus.

Like, I want to please you, but I can't. And Jesus says, exactly. That's exactly where I want you. Blessed are those who are poor in spirit. Blessed are those who look at the list and look at the law and say, "Who can do it?" Exactly.

You are spiritually bankrupt. You can't pay back what you owe. You're spiritually bankrupt. Blessed are those who mourn their sin. Blessed are those who when they see the righteousness of God revealed through the law and say, "Oh my goodness, are you serious? Not only does God not murder, but he's never angry at someone in his own heart.

Now, there's a holy, righteous anger that Jesus did in the temple, and that's different. He was able to be angry and not sin. Not only was God not an adulterer, but he never like Jesus never lusted when he was walking on the earth. No. when they're publicly putting Jesus on trial, defaming his integrity, his character, mocking him by his claims as being the son of God. He did not open his mouth.

He did not retaliate in that moment. And yet we sinned against him. Like that should break our hearts. That should break our hearts. It's why when like when you experience someone who is just like, and I know there's no one who's good, but when you just know what I'm talking about. There are just those people who less who sin less than you do.

Okay? All right. Like there are those people who are out there just like man they're just they're they're more mature. They're awesome. They're humble. They're just spiritfilled.

Like they they're just so kind and so generous and so and then like I in all honesty like I don't know if she's if she'll listen to this or not. This is my mom. Like I look back on the child that I was and the type of mom that I had and it breaks my heart the things I put her through. It breaks my heart. But more than that, God who's never done anything wrong. Jesus who's never done anything wrong.

my mistakes and my mess. He goes to the cross and takes my punishment for me. I can't I It starts to where I mourn my sin. Which guides me to be able to say for him to say, "Blessed are those who are meek. Blessed are those who when they realize they're spiritually bankrupt and when they realize the depravity of their own sin, they then say, "We need a different way. We need a different way because our way ain't working.

We need a different way. And Jesus says in John uh John 14, I am the way, the truth, and life. And no man comes to the father except through me. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life.

And we say, well then I want that. Here's the reigns of my life. You can steer me and guide me and direct me wherever you want me to go. I give you my life. I surrender to you. I submit to you.

Jesus is Lord of my life. Which means you're saying to him, you govern me. You control me. You guide me. I am yours. You bought me by the blood that you offered as a price.

You paid for me. I am yours. I give you the reigns of my life. And he's saying to us, blessed is that person when you realize the whole reason why the law was given to us was yes. to be a guide for what morality should be like amongst the people. That's why it's called a city on a hill amongst all other nations is because if they were living by the law, they would not be killing each other.

They would not be taking each other's spouses. They would not be exacting retaliation and retribution on one another. They would instead be loving one another and serving one another and cheering one another on and encouraging one another. And the rest of pagan culture would be like, "How come they're outliving us?" Oh, that's right. Cuz we're killing each other.

How come they're able to like amass wealth? Oh, it's because they're not stealing from each other. It's a city on a hill. But the reality was was it was to show that no nation can actually achieve it. What the Jews were supposed to do in that moment is actually come to the Lord and say, "We can't be an example for everyone else." You're right.

Believe in my son Jesus. The gospel is for the Jew first, then to the Gentile. Believe in Jesus and now you can walk in step with the spirit of God. Believe in Jesus. And as Paul gets to the end of Romans 3:31, he says, "Do we then overthrow the law?" No.

No. No. No. Because of Jesus and him fulfilling it and coming to live inside of you. He who lived by every law and standard and was righteous now lives inside of you. Guess what you get to do?

You get to now uphold the law. Congratulations. That's what bless actually means. Congratulations. You now have the ability to not look at someone else with anger. Congratulations.

You now have the ability because of Jesus living inside of you. You now cannot look at someone attractive lustfully. Congratulations. You now have the ability that when someone speaks um negatively over your integrity and character, you now have the ability to not retaliate. Instead, you get to go the extra mile with them and love them with kindness, which is again an opportunity for them to be like, "Why would you do that?" And that's the exact same thing we say when we see the loving kindness of God who reaches out of heaven.

And because we see his kindness, what does his kindness lead us to, church people? Repentance. Because we say, "Why would God do this for me? Why would God send his son Jesus out of the out of eternity where he was in perfect holy communion with the trinity, the father, the son, the holy spirit, living, loving, perfect communion for all of eternity?" Why would Jesus step out of that and come in to our world as a baby in a manger? Why would he have to go through the whole process of of growing and maturing just like we do?

Why would he have to experience hunger and thirst like we do? Why would he have to swing a hammer with his dad and work like we do? Why? Because he was earning something for us that we could not earn for ourselves. Righteousness. Righteousness.

And so every good thought Jesus had when we believe in him and we give up the reigns of our lives, that good thought gets deposited to our account. And G and God looks at us and says, "Every thought of yours is good now." Amazing. You weren't that way. Now you're good. You're righteous.

How? Because 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "He who knew no sin, Jesus, became sin on the cross, so that you and I might become his righteousness." He becomes what we are so that we might become what he is. And did you do anything for it? No. The only thing you bring to your salvation is the sin that put Jesus on the cross.

That's what you bring to the table. You You're kind of coming in like, "Is there anything in there, God? Can you work with any of it?" And he's saying, "No, no, no." Isaiah even goes on to say that even your good deeds, your righteous deeds are like filthy rags. And we're not just talking like dirty rags.

The language actually goes into like menstrual rags which they considered unclean and which you throw away and burn and you don't touch because it would make you unclean if you were to touch it. He's saying bring your sin. Bring what you think you've done that is good and realize I can't touch any of it. I'm actually going to damn Jesus on the cross for it. And when he dies, my wrath towards it will be satisfied. I'm going to bring him back to life three days later.

And if you believe in the work that he did on your behalf, I will also resurrect you to a new life. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, for what he has done for us. for what he has done for us. That while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. We were not neutral toward God.

And so, as we come to the Lord's table today, we were reminded that the command to love your enemies is not just a moral teaching. It's a picture of what Jesus has done for us. He loved his enemies well. We were resistant. We were rebellious. We were self-centered.

Yet Jesus didn't love us when we had cleaned ourselves up or proven ourselves worthy. He loved us when we were unworthy. He didn't just pray for his enemies. He died for them. And now as those who've been loved this way, Jesus calls us to love like him, to love our enemies, and to pray for them. This table reminds us of the cost of that love, his blood poured out and his body broken.

This table reminds us of the power of that love that it reconciles enemies to God. This is the only way we get to God. And this table reminds us of the call of that love is that we are to love one another as Jesus has loved us. And that might mean sacrificing ourselves for the sake of others. giving up something of ourselves so that others might receive grace. So before we take the bread and the cup, let me ask, is there someone that you are holding anger or resentment against?

Is there a person that you've refused to pray for? Is there a person that you've refused to pray for? Is there someone that you need to forgive or ask forgiveness from? That's what we covered last week was Jesus is telling us not to be anger, not to be angry at other people. And then the way that he reconciles that is he basically says if you've made someone angry at you, be reconciled to them. oftentimes we want to just think about our anger towards others, but we got to remember we've sinned against others as well that might be angry with us.

Is there someone you need to forgive? And is there also someone that you need to ask forgiveness from? Communion is not just personal, it's communal. It's a meal of reconciliation. First with God, then with one another. Paul warned us of this in 1 Corinthians 11 where he says not to take it in an unworthy manner which includes division and unforgiveness within the body.

So let's take a moment as the band plays this next song. I want you to take a moment. I want you to thank God that he loved us when we were enemies of him. I want you to confess any hardness of heart that you might have towards others or towards that person and that you're specifically thinking about. And I want you to ask the spirit to help you love as Christ has loved you. His heart was not hardened towards us, but it was softened to the point of sacrificing himself.

In light of God's grace, we take and we eat not because we are worthy, but because he is. Because he is. So, let's go ahead and stand. And as they sing the song, have a moment.