Daily Devotional For Thursday, October 3, 2024

It is “Tremendous Thursday.” We are making our way through Jesus’ Sermon On The Mount in Matthew chapters 5, 6, & 7. We currently are looking at Matthew 5:43-48:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ (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; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (46) 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? (48) Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (NASB).

Our “enemies” are not often real enemies such as terrorists or a thief or a murderer, but simply mean, ornery, cantankerous, selfish, prideful, judgmental and impatient and self-righteous people. An enemy might simply be someone who disagrees with us or has a different opinion than us. In this passage, Jesus told us to not only love our enemies, but to pray for them. All people live with guilt from some sin or wrong. Some people even attempt to elevate their guilt by ignoring it or using some substance to hide it. Throughout history, the worst persecutions have always been religious. Persecution is often the world’s response to the truth of God’s Word.

Jesus told this in John 15:20, “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also” (NASB),  We are to pray for those who persecute us. 

“Pastor and author Charles Spurgeon once said: `Prayer is the forerunner of mercy,’ and that is perhaps the reason why Jesus mentions prayer here. Loving enemies is not natural to men and is sometimes difficult even for those who belong to God and have His love within them. The best way to have the right attitude, the agapē love attitude, toward those who persecute us is to bring them before the Lord in prayer. We may sense their wickedness, their unfairness, their ungodliness, and their hatred for us, and in light of those things we could not possibly love them for what they are. We must love them because of who they are—sinners fallen from the image of God and in need of God’s forgiveness and grace, just as we were sinners in need of His forgiveness and grace before He saved us. We are to pray for them that they will, as we have done, seek His forgiveness and grace” (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 347).

Meaning that whoever persecutes us or hurts us should be on our prayer list. Talking to God about them rather than to others is God’s way of also softening and appealing to that person’s heart: 

• An early “church father” by the name of Chrysostom (born around 340 AD and died 407 AD) said that prayer is the very highest summit of self-control and that we have most brought our lives into conformity to God’s standards when we can pray for our persecutors. 
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the pastor who suffered and eventually was killed in Nazi Germany, wrote of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:44, “This is the supreme demand. Through the medium of prayer we go to our enemy, stand by his side, and plead for him to God” (Souce: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, p. 166).

Jesus says that when we do this it proves we are “sons of your Father.” Consider these words from Scripture:

• Jesus said this in John 13:35, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (NASB).
• 1 John 4:16, “We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (NASB).

Loving other believers and our enemies does not make us “sons of the Father” but it does give evidence we might be. One of the most common and sometimes unfortunately truthful evaluations by the world is that Christians do not live out what they claim they believe. Just as God causes the sun to rise and set on the evil and good as well as send the rain for the same, we are to be impartial in our love toward anyone and everyone – especially our enemies. 

If we only love those who love us, we prove nothing. Jesus used the terms “tax-collector and Gentiles.” To Jews, this would have been insulting. Jews considered both the most evil and on their way to hell. Tax-collectors were Jews who were seen as traitors and extortioners of Rome. Gentiles were considered “unchosen people” and “uncircumcised people.” They were considered outside of God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. If we only love those who love us, then Jesus said to those Jews and religious leaders listening, “Your righteousness is the same as tax-collectors and Gentiles” because they do the same thing. 

As Christians, we are to stand out as different. Jesus said this in Matthew 5:16, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (NASB). And in verse 47, Jesus says we are to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. Before you say, “Impossible! There is no way! Jesus is being unfair and expecting too much here”  Let me explain what Jesus is saying here first. 

The Greek New Testament word Jesus uses as “perfect” is [τέλειος, teleios]. This word means to reach an intended end or a completion and is often translated “mature” (1 Cor. 2:6; 14:20; Eph. 4:13; Hebrews 4:14-6:1; etc.). Pastor and author Chuck Swindoll writes this:

“The term teleios, translated here as “perfect,” doesn’t mean being godlike. It means living up to our created purpose. A man who has reached full-grown stature is teleios, no longer a little boy. A student who now grasps mature knowledge of a subject is teleios, unlike a kindergartner. The related noun, telos, refers to the end, aim, goal, or purpose for which something is created. You and I are teleios when we fulfill the purpose for which we were created—bearing the image of God and reflecting His love, justice, grace, and mercy in the world. Jesus’ statement doesn’t mean that we are to be as perfect as our heavenly Father but that we are to be perfect, complete, and mature in our actions in accordance with our purpose as humans—just as the Father is perfect, complete, and mature in His actions in accordance with His divine nature” (Source: Charles R. Swindoll, Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary, “Matthew 1-15,” Vol. 1A, p. 105).

New Testament scholar Bruce B. Barton writes this:

“As followers of Jesus Christ, how can we be perfect?

• In character. In this life we cannot be flawless, but we can aspire to be as much like Christ as possible.
• In holiness. Like the Pharisees, we are to separate ourselves from the world’s sinful values. Unlike the Pharisees, we are to devote ourselves to God’s desires rather than our own and carry His love and mercy into the world
• In maturity. We can’t achieve Christlike character and holy living all at once, but we must grow toward maturity and wholeness. Just as we expect different behavior from a baby, a child, a teenager, and an adult, so God expects different behavior from us, depending on our stage of spiritual development.
• In love. We can seek to love others as completely as God loves us” (Source: Bruce B. Barton, The Life Application Study Bible Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 106).

When we say or think, “Well no one is perfect and God knows I am doing my best,” the truth is, no one is perfect and no one does their complete best. See Romans 3:9-20. As long as we give credibility to our own feeble efforts at righteousness, we will never recognize our desperate need for a Savior. Our tendency to sin should never be an excuse to give our best to strive for perfection and maturity in Christ. Yet our attempts to do so can never be obtained through our own strength, but only through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

I wish to close with the words from former atheist now Christian apologist, C.S. Lewis:

“The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste your time bothering whether you “love” your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good-turn, you will find yourself disliking him less.… The difference between a Christian and worldly man is not that the worldly man has only affections or “likings” and the Christian has only “charity.” The worldly man treats certain people kindly because he “likes” them; the Christian, trying to treat everyone kindly, finds himself liking more and more people as he goes on—including people he could not even have imagined himself liking at the beginning” (Source: C.S, Lewis, Mere Christianity, p. 114).

Questions To Consider

1. When you think about the people who have hurt you or someone you love, do you love them and pray for these “enemies”  as Jesus commands? Why or why not? If you do not, is it possible God is withholding blessings in your life due to your disobedience? Is it possible that the stress, anxiety, worry and problems you have God has allowed due to your disobedience? If so, when will you choose to be obedient?
2. Do you only love those who love you? Jesus says we are to stand out like light. Are you in any way hiding your light or dimming your light or covering your light depending on the situation? Why or why not?
3. God is mature and complete. He always lives out His purpose. This is what it means to be perfect. Do you know your God-given purpose and if you do, are you living it out? If you do not know, why? I teach a class that helps you with this – Class 301 – S.H.A.P.E. If you have not taken it, would you take it the next time it is offered? In case you are wondering, the next class will be Sundays, November 10 & 17 at 9:00 AM. 
4. Do you agree with C.S. Lewis above? Has this been your own experience? If not, why is that and how could you choose to be more like Jesus in this?
5. Look at the ways Bruce B. Barton says we can be “perfect” above. Which of these do you need to focus more on in your own life and why?

Scripture To Meditate On: Philippians 3:12-15, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. (13) Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, (14) I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (15) Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you” (NASB).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, help me to love people I do not like. Help me to love, forgive and pray for people who have hurt me and the people I love. Lord, I need to grow and mature and be perfected in this area. I can keep a grudge and all memories of that hurt and pain. Jesus, You command me to stand out like light and not to hide my light. Lord, help me to be like You in this area. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen!”

I love you Southside!---Pastor Kelly