Matthew 5:38-47: “Jesus’ Sermon On The Mount: About Being Taken Advantage Of And Not Taking
Personal Revenge, And Loving Our Enemies”
by
1.
In this next
section of the Sermon On The Mount, we will see that Jesus continues to teach
His disciples the principles by which the person in His kingdom is supposed to
live by, and in these verses it is in regard to loving people and not exacting
personal revenge
1.1.
Jesus gives
four examples of how we are to allow ourselves to potentially be taken
advantage of, and never to allow ourselves to take personal revenge for a wrong
suffered
1.1.1. slap in the face
1.1.2. being sued
1.1.3. being compelled to go a mile
1.1.4. lending to those who ask of you
1.2.
Then, Jesus
will teach us what is perhaps the
hardest of all commandments of the scripture for us to keep, to love our
enemies
1.3.
Christianity
stands alone as the only religion on earth that teaches its followers that they
are never to take personal revenge upon their enemies
2.
VS 5:38-42 - “38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for
an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 “But I say to you, do not resist him who
is evil; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.
40 “And if anyone wants to sue you, and take your shirt, let him have your coat
also. 41 “And whoever shall force you to go one mile, go with him two 42 “Give
to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.”” - With four examples, Jesus teaches us that His
Kingdom people should allow themselves to potentially be in a position to be
taken advantage of by people, and in all cases never to take personal revenge,
but rather do good to their enemies
2.1.
The Jewish
leaders had twisted their Old Testament scriptures (such as Exodus 21:24)
concerning the exacting of justice so that they taught the people that a Jew
was perfectly just in taking out personal revenge for any wrongs suffered
2.1.1. This was never intended by the Law, rather it was the
intention of the Mosaic Law to inform that justice should always be exacted
proportionally to the crime, and never more than that, and justice was to be
administered by the governing authorities
2.1.2. Not only did the Jews take vengenence against the
wrongs which they suffered, in many cases they exacted much more than was
committed against them originally
2.2.
Jesus here is
again comparing Himself and what the Bible originally was intended to teach
with that which the Jewish religious leaders believed and taught, and what we
see here is that the religious leaders had zeal, albeit misguided, and
discipline, for they were very religious, however what they were lacking in
their religion was “love”
2.2.1. Religion without love is the most evil of things upon
the earth, we see it often and everywhere in all parts of the world, and the
destruction of people’s lives it creates is incalcuable
2.2.2. What Jesus will begin to teach now in this sermon is
what is to be the reality of God’s love lived out in men’s lives, the reality
of love in the lives of God’s Kingdom people
2.2.3. I once met a man who spent several years in the 60’s
as a paid assasin for the NSA of the
2.3.
Paul summarizes
this same concept that Jesus is teaching here in Rom. 12:17, “17 Never pay
back evil for evil to anyone”
2.3.1. In 1 Thess. 5:15, Paul goes on further and says that
we ought to rather do good to all men, “15 See that no one repays another
with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another
and for all men”
2.3.2. In 1 Peter 3:9, Peter writes that we as Christians
have a calling to “bless” all men, “9 not returning evil for evil, or insult
for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very
purpose that you might inherit a blessing”
2.4.
Jesus sought to
teach that the way to subvert evil people was by loving them with God’s love,
and doing good to them even when they don’t deserve it
2.4.1. The legacy that organized crime families have left
should teach us all that if you take vengence upon others, it will just incite
more violence towards you
2.5.
It is usually
better if we Christians just allow ourselves to be wronged, especially if
another Christian is involved, rather than try to strike back ourselves
2.5.1. Paul wrote about this same thing to the Corinthians in
1 Cor. 6:7 when speaking about sueing each other, “7 Actually, then, it is
already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not
rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?”
2.6.
The scripture
speaks to us of how Jesus Himsel did not strike or retaliate back for wrongs
done to Him
2.6.1. Matt. 26:27-28, “67 Then they spat in His face and
beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him, 68 and said, “Prophesy to
us, You Christ; who is the one who hit You?””
2.6.2. Isaiah 50:6, “6 I gave My back to those who strike
Me, And My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face
from humiliation and spitting.”
2.6.3. Luke 23: 34, “34 But Jesus was saying, “Father,
forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots,
dividing up His garments among themselves”
2.6.4. 1 Peter 2:20-23, “20 For what credit is there if,
when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when
you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds
favor with God. 21 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also
suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, 22 who
committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; 23 and while being
reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats,
but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously”
2.7.
The first example
that Jesus uses here to teach this principle is that of someone slapping you on
the ‘right cheek’
2.7.1. The slapping of someone on the face to the Jews was
about the most humiating and demeaning thing that a person could ever do to
another
2.7.2. Here, Jesus teaches if someone slaps you on the right
cheek that you are to turn the left cheek to him so that he can slap you on the
left as well
2.7.2.1.What the implication is here is that when a Christian
brother has been hurt by a person (or persons), he is supposed to even allow
himself to be injured further so that the offending person might be brought to
faith on account of the brother’s righteous life
2.7.2.1.1.Our tendency as people is to try and protect ourselves
from further hurt when someone hurts us in any way, so to love people in this
kind of way, letting them even be allowed to hurt us again, we will need to
draw upon the Lord’s strength to help us to do God’s will
2.7.2.1.1.1.In fact, we Christians would be wise to just admit
that the Christian life is a supernatural life, and it is not hard to live in
and of our own strength, it is imposible to live. We need to by faith trust that Christ will
strengthen us and live this life through us, otherwise it will be hopeless for
us in our own strength
2.7.3. Turning the other cheek is a principle to be followed
in spirit, not something that we are to follow in letter
2.7.3.1.We don’t see in Jesus’ beating and humiliation a
mechanical following of the letter of this law by Him
2.7.3.2.We also see in Jesus’ becoming angry and driving the
money-changers out of the temple that when we let the Holy Spirit lead in our
life, at times we will at times also have to resist evil in different kinds of
ways
2.7.3.3.It would be completely appropriate sometimes to walk
or run away, restrain the one who is hitting you, or even in some instances to
rebuke the one who has hit you
2.7.3.4.The point is that we need to follow the Holy Spirit’s
leading in the application of turning the other cheek, as well as in obeying
any of God’s commandments
2.7.3.5.The point being made by Jesus is that a person should
never retaliate because of an evil, but go even further than not holding it
against the one who has done the wrong, he should do good to the one who has
done it
2.8.
The second
example that Jesus uses here to teach this principle is that of someone who
wants to sue you
2.8.1. The ‘shirt’ mentioned here which someone might want to
sue for was actually the under garment that was worn by the Jews, and the
‘coat’ was the outer cloak (or coat) which was also used like a blanket at
night
2.8.1.1.According to the Mosaic Law, if someone won your
‘coat’ as a result of the taking of a possession due to a bad debt, he was
required to return the ‘coat’ before evening to the person so that he would
have the ‘coat’ for a blanket for the evening
2.8.2. Jesus teaches here that if someone wants to sue you
for your under garment, then rather than contest the law suit, it would be
better for you to be wronged and even give him also your outer coat
2.8.2.1.I’ve already quoted Paul’s writing in 1 Cor. 6:7 where
he wrote that it is better to letter a brother in Christ take advantage of you
than to sue him
2.8.2.1.1.Paul tells the Corinthians that they have already
suffered a defeat if they sue a brother or a sister, for they have compromised
their testimony and they have not walked in love with their brothers
2.8.2.1.2.Since we Christians are to walk as Christ walked, and
commanded that we walk in obedience, then we must give up all of our rights to
God. We must also allow ourselves to be
taken advantage of while remaining unrevengeful in heart or deed.
2.8.2.2.Concerning the people of this world, we will never win
their hearts if we demand our rights and fight them back using their worldly
tactics
2.9.
The third example
that Jesus uses to teach this principle is that of somone forcing you to go a
mile
2.9.1. John MacArthur writes about what it was that Jesus may
have been referring in using this example of someone forcing you to go a mile,
“Roman law gave a soldier the right to force
a civilian to carry his pack for a milion, a Roman mile, which was
slightly shorter than our modern mile.
The law, designed to relieve the soldier, not only caused great
inconvenience to civilians but was made even more despicable by the fact that
the oppressed were made to carry the equipment and weapons of their
oppressors. Outside of combat the Roman
soldier was probably never more hated than when he forced someone to carry his
pack”
2.9.2. There are many times in life when people try to compel
someone else to do something for them, and just the fact that someone is
compeling us to do anything tends to stiffen our necks and puff up our pride
since no one likes the idea of being treated like a slave, however Jesus
teaches here that when someone is using those type of tactics which take away
our liberty that we should even go farther than just going along with what they
want us to do, but be willing to even go twice as far as they ask
2.10. We Christians must not become hardened to the needs of
the people around us and when someone asks to borrow something from us we must
be willing to even allow ourselves to be taken advantage of and lend to them
2.11. I personally have discovered the wisdom of giving
rather than lending to someone when they have a need, for if I lend to them and
they don’t return what I lended them it can hurt our relationship
2.12. In this area of lending we must seek the Holy Spirit’s
leading and use wisdom, for there is also a time where it is wrong to lend to
someone for it will only hurt them to have people continue to support their
irresponsibility
3.
VS 5:43-45 - “43 “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 in order 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”” - Jesus tells His disciples that they are to
love their enemies
3.1.
The ‘love’ that
Jesus mentions here is ‘agape’ love, and as such it is a conscious act and one
that loves in spite of the loveableness of the person loved. Thus, it involves not merely an emotional
feeling but rather engaging tangeable ways of expression that reveal that one
is genuinely concerned for the well-being of the one loved
3.2.
This particular
teaching was probably as offensive to the Jews as anything that Jesus taught
3.3.
A lot of times we
Christians can’t even love our neighbors, friends, and family, how then will we
ever be able to love our enemies.
Sometimes to our shame we act worse than the heathen do.
3.4.
The Old Testament
(in Lev. 19:18) had commanded the Jews to love their ‘neighbor’ as themselves,
however it never defined just who their neighbor was, so their religious
leaders had twisted this around to mean that their ‘neighbor’ was a fellow Jew,
and by Jesus’ day the Jews had taken so much liberty as to believe that their
neighbor was anyone whom they happened to personally like
3.4.1. In His parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’, Jesus defined
a person’s neighbor as being anyone who needed help
3.5.
The Jews had
twisted scriptures which pertained to their’s and God’s enemies as giving them
the authority to ‘hate’ anyone whom they did not consider their ‘neighbor’, and
they hated all of their various enemies, however God’s Word never taught that
they were to hate everyone who was not a Jew, or anyone who became a Jew’s
personal enemy
3.5.1. The Old Testament taught the Jews that they were to
love their enemies
3.5.1.1.Exod. 23:4-5, “4 “If you meet your enemy’s ox or
his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him. 5 “If you see the
donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall refrain
from leaving it to him, you shall surely release it with him””
3.5.1.2.Prov. 25:21-22, “21 If your enemy is hungry, give
him food to eat; And if he is thirsty,
give him water to drink; 22 For you will
heap burning coals on his head, And the Lord will reward you”
3.5.2. There is confusion concerning the attitude that God’s
people ought to have concerning those who do evil things because of the fact
that the Lord told the Jews to totally anhiliate the people who were living in
the land which He chose to gave them as their possession. However, we must realize that the people who
were living in this area were the most wicked of peoples who have lived on the
earth, people who were even known for sacrificing their children to their gods,
so the Lord knew that if His people were to be able to stay true to Him that
the inhabitants of Canaan would have to be destroyed completely
3.5.2.1.So, this commission to kill all the inhabitants of
certain cities was what should be considered a very isolated and unusual
situation for God’s people
3.6.
The reason that
Jesus gives to His disciples for why they ought to love their enemies is in order
that they might be found to be like their Father in heaven, for He acts the
same way towards those who are His enemies
3.7.
Jesus speaks of
the ways in which the Lord shows the love that He has for His enemies:
3.7.1. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good
3.7.2. He sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous
3.8.
God is
tremendously patient and long-suffering toward those who continue in evil, and
He gives them a very long time to change their mind, before He finally gives up
on them, and we as Christians should emulate our Father in heaven and be
patient towards those who continue in sin
3.9.
Spurgeon often
preached about how we Christians must love as Christ loved, and love our
enemies
3.9.1. Once he preached about how we as Christians must never
hate anyone, “THE Christian religion is a golden chain with which the hands
of men are fettered from all hatred. The spirit of Christ is love. Wherever he
governs, love reigns as a necessary consequence. The Christian man is not
allowed to hate any one. Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old
time, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy; but I say unto you,”
said Jesus, “Love your enemies; do good to them that hate you, and pray for
them that despitefully use you.” The word “hate” must be cut out of the language
of a Christian, except it be used with one meaning and intention only, and
that, the meaning of my text. Thou hast no right, O Christian, to tolerate
within thy bosom wrath, malice, anger, harshness, or uncharitableness, towards
any creature that God’s hands have made. When thou hatest the man’s sins, thou
art not to hate him, but to love the sinner, even as Christ loved sinners and
came to seek and save them. When thou hatest a man’s false doctrine, thou art
still to love the man, and hate his doctrine even out of love to his soul, with
an earnest desire that he may be reclaimed from his error, and brought into the
way of truth. Thou hast no right to excrete thy hatred upon any creature,
however fallen or debased, however much he may irritate thy temper, or injure
thee in thy estate or reputation. Still hatred is a power of manhood, and we
believe that all powers of manhood are to be exercised, and may every one of
them be exercised as in the fear of God”.
3.9.2. On another ocassion he preached about how we must
pursue peace with all men and love them, “We are to follow peace with the
most infidel, the most superstitious, the most wicked, the most cruel. If they
will fight, let the fighting be all on one side; or if we take up any weapons,
let the weapons be those of longsuffering and of love; let us kill fire with
fire, and by the flame of love overcome the flame of hatred. The anvil after
all breaks the hammer, because it bears every stroke and returns none; so be it
with the Christian. “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to
them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute
you.”
3.10. In contrast, Ciscero once communicated what is I
believe the spirit of the world concerning these things, “kindness must not
be shown to a youth, nor to an old man;
not to the aged, because he is liked to die before he can have an
occasion to repay you the benefit; and
not to the young for he is sure to forget”
3.11. Jesus tells His disciples to pray for their
persecutors, and we see from the rest of the New Testament that this is just
what they did
3.11.1.Jesus as our example of love prayed on the cross, as
the men who had crucified Him were casting lots for His clothes, that what they
had done to Him would not be held against them
3.11.2.In Acts 7:59-60, Stephen prayed similarly for those
who were persecuting him, “59 And they went on stoning Stephen as he called
upon the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 And falling on his
knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against
them!” And having said this, he fell asleep”
3.11.3.In Rom. 12:14,19-21, the apostle Paul exhorts us
concerning this area of loving our enemies and doing good to them, “14 Bless
those who persecute you; bless and curse not...19 Never take your own revenge,
beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is
Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20
“But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink;
for in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome
evil with good”
3.11.3.1.Paul writes that we Christians are only to ‘bless’ the
people of this world, we are never to try to emulate Balaam who sought to
‘curse’ anyone
3.11.3.2.Paul writes that we are never to take our ‘own
revenge’, but rather to leave all revenge taking to God
3.11.3.3.Paul writes that we don’t need to exact revenge
because God will eventually take out what He perceives just revenge on those
who refuse to repent
3.11.3.4.Paul names some kind acts that we Christians ought to
do for those who are our enemies:
3.11.3.4.1.If they are hungry, feed them
3.11.3.4.2.If they are thirsty, give them a drink
3.11.3.5.When we do good to those who are our enemies we are
heaping burning coals upon their heads
3.11.3.5.1.This could mean that they will suffer a fiery
conviction for their sins
3.11.3.5.2.This could also mean that should they remain
unrepentant that their judgment will be all the more severe for not having
repented when you had shown them such love
3.11.3.6.Finally, Paul writes that we as Christians are not to
be ‘overcome by evil’, but rather to ‘overcome evil with good’
3.11.3.6.1.By loving our enemies and doing good things to them,
we will then win them to the Lord and they will be transformed from an evil
life of sin to living a holy life
3.11.4.In 1 Cor. 4:12-13, Paul writes about how the apostles
lived their lives, and what examples they were in loving their enemies, “12 and
we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are
persecuted, we endure; 13 when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have
become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now”
3.11.5.The stories of the Christian martyrs of all centuries
has shown that they blessed, prayed for, and forgave their persecutors
4.
VS 5:46-47 - “46 “For if you love those who love you, what reward
have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same? 47 “And if you greet your
brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the
same?”” - Jesus
tells His disciples that they must have love that is greater than the tax-gatherers
and Gentiles have
4.1.
The Jewish
religious leaders thought that they were loving people because they loved their
fellow Jews and family, however they did not know what real love is, the
‘agape’ love that is part of God’s nature
4.2.
The kind of love
that the world has for each other is at best the kind of love that in the Greek
language is called ‘phileo’, and though it sometimes has a great depth, it is
love that is conditional and is dependent upon having things in common with the
ones loved
4.2.1. This is the kind of love that I had with all of my
friends before I came to Christ. I grew
up in the hippie era, and though the slogans were for ‘peace and love’, the
love that existed was a very selfish self-centered type of love
4.2.2. With ‘phileo’ love, the person who loves does so
because of what he or she gets out of it, it is not a love that loves a person
unconditionally
4.3.
You can always
tell who your real friends are when you become needy and can’t give anything in
return to others, then is when you find out who is a ‘fair weather’ friend and
who isn’t
4.4.
Paul wrote in
Rom. 5:8 that God demonstrated to us what real agape love is when He gave His
Son to die on the cross for our sins, “8 But God demonstrates His own love
toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”
4.4.1. What makes God’s love even more tangeable is that in
Rom. 5:10 Paul writes that God sent Christ to die for us while we were His
‘enemies’, “10 For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God
through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be
saved by His life”
4.4.2. We were all hostile towards God and haters of God at
one time, yet God just looked at our condition as an opportunity to demonstrate
to us that He really did love us, and thus He sent His Son
4.5.
Jesus tells us in
these verses that in order to get rewarded for our love of people, our love has
to go beyond the love that the people of this world have for each other, it has
to reach out and love the unloveable and help those who have no way of paying
us back
4.5.1. In Matt. 11:19b, Jesus is telling His disciples how
the Pharisees viewed Him and His ministry because He hung out with sinners and
those who society despised, “19b “...they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and
a drunkard, a friend of tax-gatherers and sinners!’””
4.5.2. If we would reach out to those who are unloveable or
can’t return back to us what we give, then we could have such a great impact
upon winning the lost to Christ
4.6.
In order to help
you grow in God’s love, I have an assignment for you. I would encourage you these next few days and
weeks to pray for the Lord to reveal to you someone whom you could love
unconditionally with ‘agape’ love, someone who by their very nature could do
nothing to pay you back even if they tried, and then let the Lord show you ways
in which you can demonstrate to them the love that God has for those who don’t
deserve it