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Neighbors and Enemies. The Greek word Jesus used for “neighbor” is PLESION which literally means “close by” or the “person near you.” The meaning is clear; anyone who is near you is your neighbor. Can you think of someone near you whom you do not love? God does mean that you have some kind of warm feeling in your heart for this person. God does not command us to generate a feeling. No! He calls us to show loving behavior. The feeling will follow. Listen to some examples from scripture,
Honor your father and your mother . . . You shall not murder, not commit adultery, not steal, not bear false witness against your neighbor, not covet your neighbor’s house, your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor. Ex. 20:12-17 Psalms 101:5 tells us that a godless man destroys his neighbor with secret slander. Proverbs says those who despise their neighbor lack sense (Prov. 11:12), and a neighbor finds no favor in the eyes of the wicked (Prov. 21:10). Proverbs summarizes a righteous man as a guide to his neighbor (Prov. 12:26). Jesus calls us to be like the last example. Are you struggling with loving the family next door, or the woman/man at work? Jesus reaches out His hand beyond them and to your enemy. Love those who have gossiped about you. Love those who have competed with you at work. Love those at work or at school who have used you. Why?
Jesus’ Four Reasons. What is amazing is that Jesus focuses on loving our enemy and not our neighbor. He gives us four reasons to love our enemies - even those who are currently persecuting us.
The first reason He gives us is the sign or indicator of one who has become a Christian. Listen to 1 John,
By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. (NASB) 1 John 3:10 Jesus’ second reason is that God the Father loves everyone, even our enemy,
He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (NASB) Matt. 5:45 Jesus’ listeners understood His next point better than we do because they hated the Roman tax-gatherers and the Gentiles. Jesus’ next point was that they were no better than either of them if they love only those who love them and give greetings to only their neighbors - fellow Jews.
Conclusion. Jesus wants us to love those we consider to be undeserving. He calls us to love others with a mature love, even if they do not love us back. This reminds us of the following little girl,
A four-year-old girl, hugging a doll in each of her little arms, looked wistfully up at her mother and said, “Mamma, I love them and love them and love them, but they never love me back.” Rom. 5:5 says the Holy Spirit can help us love others because the “love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit” if we will confess our sins and ask the Holy Spirit to release God’s love in our hearts.
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| Sermon on the Mount | |||||