It was both an extraordinary and ordinary scene. I was a first year seminary student, sitting in a library of Christ Memorial Church at 43rd and Chestnut. I was excited about seminary. I was excited about what I would learn there. And as I was sitting there with my Greek grammar in front of me, hoping to study Greek, I was overhearing a conversation between two senior seminary students about the love of God. The conversation got louder and louder as these two seminary students debated the love of God.
Yelling About the Love of God
Soon they were arguing about the love of God. Before long, they were yelling at one another about the love of God. It didn't take long before one of them stood up and said, "Oh yeah, I'll tell you about the love of God." His fellow seminarian got up and said, "Oh yeah," and fortunately someone who sort of understood the love of God got in between them. Now, maybe that's a scene that only could ever happen in a seminary. I think not. I think that scene is a metaphor of our struggle. We can define the love of God; we can give examples of how history has been altered by that magnificent love of God; we can point to the effects of the love of God in all of our lives.
Yet, how difficult it is to live a life of love. Turn, if you would to Matthew 5 again, and I want to read for you that passage one more time, short as it is, power packed with content. Matthew 5:43: You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48, ESV) I am more and more persuaded that you cannot understand this magnificent call to love unless you understand how it sits in the middle of this Sermon of Christ that we find between Matthew 5 and Matthew 7.
There's a lot said about the Sermon on the Mount. People say, "Well, this is Christ taking His followers away and giving them their marching orders," and that surely is true. But the Sermon on the Mount is a very detailed discussion of these two things: the kingdom of self, and the Kingdom of God. What Christ is actually doing on the Sermon on the Mount is demonstrating the scary ability that we have to shrink the size of the Kingdom of God down to the size of the kingdom of self. And so, the operative passage of the whole Sermon on the Mount is Matthew 5, verse 20.
Look there. This is where Christ tells you what this sermon is about: "For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Christ is saying the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees is faulty righteousness. It's not true righteousness. It's righteousness of human conception and human power. It's righteousness of human agenda and human comfort. It's righteousness that is not true righteousness, because what the Pharisees had done is they had taken the glorious, grand, expansive principles of the Kingdom of God, and they had shrunken them so they now fit well within the claustrophobic confines of the agenda of self.
And what follows in verse 20, if you want to look with me there, are six examples of that dynamic. Look at verse 21, Jesus says, "You've heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.'" [now watch] "But I say to you..." [shrunken kingdom, true kingdom ... look at verse 27], "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you..." [verse 31] "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a (contact or a) certificate of divorce.' But I say to you...'' [verse 33] "Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely,'...But I say to you..." [verse 38] "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you. . ."
Listen, Jesus in His "But I say to you" is not redefining the kingdom; He's defining the initial intent of the kingdom principles of God. You see, our ability is to shrink the Kingdom of God, the call of God, down to the comfortable limits of human agenda. Now we are ready to look at verse 43: "You have heard that is was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Now I would ask you, before we look at that little passage I just read, "Where are you serving, right now in your life, the shrunken kingdom?
Fitting God Into Your Agenda
Where are you tempting to fit the grand and glorious principles of God into those little confines of your agenda?" You say, "Well, I don't know that I am doing that." Parents, what hour of the evening do you determine that your children must no longer need parenting, or you will be angry at the fact that there actually are sinners in the bedroom needing your intervention? Wives, how much failure will you receive from your husband before you violate the call of God in the way that you would deal with that?
Why are we angry in traffic? Kingdom of God? Why do we like to be the center of attention? Kingdom of God? Why do we not want to suffer? Kingdom of God or the shrunken kingdom of self? Now look at this call, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Here's what's important to understand about this command. Christ is not giving us two commands here. Love your neighbor and love your enemy.
Christ is actually giving us one command: Love your neighbor all the way to this person who is your neighbor who is also your enemy. It's a command of extent. You are to love this person that is closest to you that you find intuitively easy to love all the way to this person who opposes you in every way. Now here's what this means: if I love this person, and I'm called to love this person, I'm called to love everybody in between. You are to love your neighbor even if that neighbor is your enemy. Let that sink in.
I will confess to you, I have trouble loving the people that I say I love. I wish I could say that every thought, intention, desire, and action toward my dear wife was always loving, but I can't. I wish I could say that I always responded to my children with the patient love of my Messiah, but I can't. These are ones who are dear to me, these are ones that I have blood connection to, and I struggle to love them. How will I ever love my enemy!? It seems utterly impossible. What an irrational command; we might as well close the book and go home.
How's it ever going to happen? Now you're understanding true righteousness. Let me give you a principle: true righteousness begins at the end of yourself. True righteousness begins when you come to the end of yourself. The problem with the righteousness of the Pharisees, the reason it was not true righteousness is because it needed no divine help whatsoever. It was humanly conceived and humanly doable. And what's glorious about the call of the Kingdom of God is it will drive you to your knees; it will drive you to the end of yourself; it will drive you to say the best words you can ever say, "I want to, but I can't."
It will drive you to your Redeemer; it will drive you to His grace; it will drive you to His love; it will drive you to His wisdom; it will drive you to His power; it will drive you beyond yourself, and you'll say, "The standard is too high; the standard is too great; God help me." There is where true righteousness begins. And when you're overwhelmed by the call of God, you're actually in a spiritually healthy place. Think with me this evening of your own struggle to love. Think how you wouldn't be very comfortable with us playing the DVD of all the ways you've responded to the people that live near you in the last week.
Think of the grandeur of what Christ has called us to, that we would be people who are known, hear this, for inexplicable love. It's love that can't be defined by friendship. It's love that cannot be defined by family. Its love that cannot be defined by shared activity. It's love that goes way beyond all of those comfortable places. It's love that takes us to where we do not want to go, where we are utterly incapable. It's love that brings us to our knees, that makes us call out for the help of God.
And as we do that, we begin actually to receive the power to love those who oppose us, those who are unlovely, those who stand against everything we hold dear. I would ask you this evening: where, in your life, is that inexplicable love that is a true sign of the power of God operating through you? "You've heard it said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies, [now hear this] pray for those who persecute you"- that always my first thought! You know, when I am mistreated, I just find myself always just praying blessing immediately.
Christ Pushes You Beyond Yourself
My heart is just filled with thoughts of blessing. Incredible, incredible call. I want to say it again, brothers and sisters, it's the intention of Christ to push you beyond yourself. His love pushes you there because you'll only be the light of the world when you have given up on you, when you have given up somehow of finding love that doesn't take cost and doesn't take sacrifice, love that you can fit into your schedule, love that will fit with your agenda, love that will be comfortable, and easy, and nice.
It's only when you and I give up on that that we begin to experience the power of God working through us. Notice verse 45, "...so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." What an amazing statement--"so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven." What does that mean? Does it mean that if I love in this way, then I get accepted by God? No, that's not what this means at all. That phrase 'sons of' is a language idiom, it means 'exhibiting the character of.' Barnabas was called a son of encouragement.
The Bible talks of sons of light, sons of the devil, sons of the Father means this, that as I live this way, I begin to exhibit the essential character of the Father who is in heaven. Listen, what is the epicenter of the character of God? What is the characteristic that holds all other of His characters together? It is the love of God. What moved God to prophesy redemption right away after the fall? The love of God. What caused God to harness the forces of nature and control the events of human history?
The love of God. What caused God to draw Israel out of Egypt? His magnificent love. What caused Him to sustain His people through the wilderness? His love. What caused Him to give them the Promised Land? His love. What caused Him to send prophet, after prophet, after prophet announcing forgiveness and redemption?--His love. What caused Him to send His Son? His love. What caused Him to cause His Son to die? His love. What caused Him to send His Son to sit at His right hand? His love. What will cause Him to draw us all to Him for eternity?
His love. It's His love, it's His love, it's His love! That's the greatest force of transformation in the universe. Listen, it can be said of you that you love, but it's said of your Heavenly Father, "God is love!" His essential character is the ultimate definition of love, and we will only image our Lord when we are living that way outside of those metal gates. God is a God of such magnificent love. Hear this, there's never a moment in human history where He isn't shining His love on people who don't deserve it, even shining His love on those who oppose Him.
Luella and I have a habit, every year, of going to New York City during the Christmas season. No major city does Christmas like New York does. And the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we decided we would go up to New York City. Maybe it was a moment of marital insanity. There were probably seventy million Americans in New York City that Saturday afternoon. You know, you are shuffling through the streets, shuffling up Fifth Avenue, to get to Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree and the beautiful white wire angels there.
And at the end of the day, I was so impressed by the love of God. You say, "Why?" Because it was an amazingly orderly scene; people were aware that they were in a crowd, and people were saying, "Excuse me," and "Oh, that's okay," and we were talking with people we don't even know about how busy it was, and where are you going, and it was amazing. Now I thought, here we had millions of selfish sinners, all wired with their own agenda, and the vast majority of us lived. We got home without injury. I don't think we had a bruise.
The Restraining Love of God
You do not understand the spiritual dynamics of the universe unless you understand that was the result of the magnificent restraining love of God. That was God's love keeping us from being as selfish as we could be, as evil as we could be. God's love restrains the world around us. God's love causes the crop of that evil farmer to be rich and fruit bearing. God's love causes that businessman to be successful, even though success is the last thing he deserves. God's love defines explanation and defines description.
God loves; God loves; God loves; God's loves, and if He didn't, your life and mine would utterly be impossible because this world would explode into horrible chaos. God loves; God loves; God loves. Here's what He says to you and me, "Now you go love in that way. And don't you dare play favorites; you love. And don't you make a person fill out an application before you determine that they are worthy of your love. You go out, and you do what I do; I make my love fall on the just and on the unjust. I'm a God of magnificent love."
Verse 46 is the contrast: For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Now this is tough talk if you are a Pharisee. You would not like to be compared to a tax collector. That's about as pejorative as Jesus can get. The tax collectors, as you know, were those Jews who worked for the Roman government and collected an exorbitant tax that had broken the back of the Palestinian economy.
They were hated men, and so Jesus says, "Look, if you love those who love you, I mean look, even a person with a complete lack of morality like a tax collector does that." And then He says, "If you only greet your brother are you any better than a Gentile?"(read 'pagan unbeliever.') Now think about that. Who do you really spend your time loving? Do you spend most of your time loving people who love you? Do you spend most your time loving those who are familiar and those who are safe? I would have to say, "Yes I do."
And in so doing, I have shrunk God's call of love down to something that is humanly conceived and humanly doable. Now, we're ready for this final verse, "You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." What does that have to do with this discussion? Well, I thought of two things as I was studying this passage. One, I think I mentioned this to you some months ago that I was educated in a German Lutheran elementary school and I remember my teachers, Rudolph Ranke and Karl Ochts, definitely men of German descent.
It was a rigid sort of school. We would be in the classroom before the teacher was there, and the teachers would always make an entrance after the bell would ring, and when that teacher hit the door, you stood, and you stood till the teacher hit his platform. Yes, the desks were on a platform, and he would say, "Class, be seated," and you would not be seated until you were told. The teachers would leave the day that way as well. The lecture would sort of end, and the teacher would stand up, and the whole class would stand, and we'd stand at attention till the teacher was out of the room.
And I was remembering in that environment, as rigid as it was, being exposed as young boy to Martin Luther's small catechism. And I'll never forget the way that God used the questions and answers of that catechism to begin to move into the heart of that little boy called Paul Tripp. And I remember one particular question that just stayed in my mind; it stayed in my mind all these years. Luther asked the question, "How is it that God demonstrates His holiness?" How is it that God demonstrates His holiness?
Well, there are people who would argue that there's nothing that demonstrates the holiness of God more than the cross of Jesus Christ, where God is able to redeem without compromising for a moment His righteousness. But that's not the answer that Luther gives. The answer Luther gives is this. Question: "How does God demonstrate His holiness?" Luther's answer is (are you ready for this?) "In everything He does." Everything God does is holy, every thought, every action, every intention, every plan is pure, perfect, righteous, holy.
Get Your Definition Vertically
Now here's what Christ is saying, "If you want to be part of God's Kingdom work, you do not get your definition for your practical everyday living, horizontally; you get it vertically." Your standard is the Lord. In this case, your standard of love is nothing you could ever find in every human being because every human being's love, no matter how grand, is flawed in some way because every human being is a sinner. You will only get the call of love, the definition of that call as you look vertically, and you are blown away by the grandeur and glory of the love of God.
That perfect love is the Kingdom standard. What does that mean? Hear this, brothers and sisters, that means this side of eternity, there will never be a moment where you can say, "I've done it." There's never a moment where you'll be able to say, "I've arrived." There will never be a moment where you can ever say, "I've achieved the standard." This is a call to strive, and to work, and to pray, and to persevere because the standard is the ultimate standard; my standard is my Lord. Praise Him! Listen, and in giving you that standard, hear this, God is rescuing you from you because our problem is not that we want too much from our Father.
Brothers and sisters, our problem is we would settle for too little! We would stop at being polite; we would stop at being nice; we would stop at being socially conscious; we would stop at being familyoriented; we would stop at being politically correct; we would stop at being conscious of culture and age, and all those things are not inappropriate; they're not enough. This is ultimate, sacrificing, perseverant, glorious love. It is your model; it is your call. Now, where does that leave us? Two places: First is this: It leaves us on our knees because there is not a person in this room, yes, He is pointing His finger.
There's not a person in this room who can say, "I'm living that way." I want to give you my own experience. I find this a very hard sermon to preach because it has so completely exposed the condition of my own heart. I would like to stand before you and say, "I'm an example of this." I too, with you, am on my knees, and I too, need to be rescued from me. There's a second thing. This is what it means to be the light of the world, because when you begin to live in love that cannot be explained by culture, and politeness, and niceness, and manners, you begin to present the glory of God to people who need to see it because it's only God who produces that kind of love.
And, no, that person won't know that that's what you are doing at first. They won't understand it, but they'll begin to become inquisitive. They'll wonder, "Why would this person do this thing for me? Why would they be so kind to me when I have been anything but kind?" And those questions are the Holy Spirit of God, beginning to dismantle the rebellion of that person and beginning to move them toward the Kingdom of God. Praise God! But you've got to start here and say, "Lord, if you're my standard, I'm a person in deep need of help, and I've come to You and say, "Won't you rescue me from me?
Won't You produce in me this kind of love? Won't You open my ears, and open my eyes, and open my heart? May I be a person of love?" And in so doing, image before a lost world what is the epicenter of the Kingdom of God. This is a Kingdom of transforming love. Let's Pray: You, Father, are love. You, Son, are love. You, Holy Spirit, are love. And we bring our weary souls to thee. Oh, we would love to say that we image You well, but we fall so short of Your glory still. Visit us by Your Spirit; visit us in Your grace; forgive us; restore us; empower us.
May we be a community that's known for its love that is like a city on a hill that cannot be hidden, and in so doing, may we be sons and daughters of the Father. In Jesus's name, Amen.
