Radical Love

Preached at Cornerstone Church in Cascade, IA on Mary 11, 2014.

Turn with me to Matthew 5:38-48. Today we are turning our attention back to the Sermon on the Mount. Prior to Easter, we were examining the words of Jesus' famous sermon verse by verse. I have to admit, as much as I loved to preach the explicit Gospel over the last three weeks, I have missed finding the deeps treasures in Matthew 5-7.

In our text today, Jesus shows us what Kingdom love looks like. We will very quickly see that this love Jesus is describing is foreign, or alien, in this fallen and broken world. We will see that this love is a radical love. So as always, let us read our text, pray that God would open our hearts, and then allow God to mold us into Christ-likeness.

• Matthew 5:38-48 - "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 the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.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 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. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers,what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. ”

Your biggest problem in this world is not your circumstances, it is not your finances, it is not your relationships, it is not your government. The biggest problem that you have in your life is you. You are the problem. Likewise in my life, my biggest problem is me. To use a common phrase, “I am my own worst enemy.”

Why can I say this? Why do I feel comfortable pointing the finger? Because the Bible is my source. We have examined these text many, many times.

• Genesis 6:5 - “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. “
  
  
• Matthew 15:19 - “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.”
  
  
• Romans 1:29 - “They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. “

At the center of all of these versus lie our hearts. At the core of your heart is your self. We are the problem.

The question is, what is going on in our hearts when we do the sinful things we do? Yes, we know that we are sinners, and we are separated from God and we are desperately sick spiritually, but what is happening? I think the best verse to explain this is James 4:1.

• James 4:1-2 -”What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you. You desire and you do not have, so you murder , you covet and you cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.” 

Another word for what James 4 is describing is entitlement. We believe we are entitled to stuff. We believe we are entitled to comfort. We believe that we are entitled to respect. We believe we are entitled to honor. We believe we are entitled to respect. In fact, we don't just think we are entitled to all these things, we demand it. When we don't receive these things we are upset. We are offended. We kick and scream and complain and retaliate. It is as if we are spoiled little Kings and Queens yelling, “Off with their heads.” And this is the problem that Jesus is addressing in our passages today. It is the problem of self. It is the problem of self-centered-entitlement. It is the problem of the world.

Now that we know what problem Jesus is addressing, let us now take step back and understand who Jesus is preaching to. Let's start by looking at verse 45.

• Matthew 5:45 - “ so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”
  
  

Jesus is not preaching this sermon to the World, he is preaching it to his disciples, to his followers, Peter, John, James, Mathew and so on. Yes, the crowds surrounded him, but this was a messages for Kingdom people. When reading the Sermon on the Mount you always need to remember, Jesus' opening remarks, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted for theirs is the kingdom of heave.

These descriptions are not description of the citizens of the world, they are descriptions of citizens of the Kingdom of God. Jesus is preaching not to those who dwell in the dominion of darkness, but who dwell in the dominion of the Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and make no mistake, these two groups of people live differently, or at least should live differently. There should be something very distinct about followers of Jesus.

What is interesting about these two groups of people, those who are worldly and those who are children of God, is that geographically they live in the same physical territory. The Kingdoms simultaneously coexist. For example, this sermon was for the disciples, yet on that mountain that day there stood both believers and unbelievers. There was a mix, and this is is still true today. This reality is all part of God's plan.

• John 17:14-15 - “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.”
  
  

The King's plan has always been that his subjects would live and breath and work and play in the midst of the Kingdom of Satan. Picture it as God's children having a citizenship in Heaven, but they are given a temporary work visa here on Earth. Because these two Kingdoms live side by side they come into conflict. We can see that in our text for today.

• Matthew 6:39 - “But I say to you, 'Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.”
  
  

There are two people involved in each occurrence, the person who initiates and the person who responds. They represent to types of behavior, good behavior and evil behavior. The evil behavior, the Kingdom of the World, behavior is the James 4 type of behavior: slapping, suing, forcing, and begging. Jesus is painting a picture of self-centered entitlement, and demand to cater to selfish needs. Now don't read to much into this list. Jesus' main point is not the evil, but the response to the evil.

The response stands at a stark contrast to the initial action: turn the other cheek, give him your cloak as well, go with him two miles, give your money away. These responses are night and day different from the evil response. They are almost the opposite. Explicitly, Jesus tells us that we are not to resist the evil. We are suppose to accept what is dished out.

And if that was not enough, not only do we have to not resist the evil that is dished out, we are to love and pray for the people who dish it.

• Matthew 6:44 - “But I say to you, 'Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
  
  

Has Jesus lost his mind? He is telling us that if we are hit in the face, we are to give our assailant a second chance, love them and then pray for them. This is drastically different than everything we have been taught in society. We have been taught to stand up to bullies, to get our pound of flesh, that revenge is sweet, or to ignore them and they go away, keep our distance. Jesus is teaching the citizens of His Kingdom to to the exact opposite. Christians are told to not flee from the evil but to embrace it.

What is crucial for us to understand is that Jesus is not asking his disciples to do something that he is not willing to do. This is exactly the life of Jesus when he walked the earth. He is the ultimate example of this lifestyle. His own town rejected him and attempted to throw him off a cliff, but he did not retaliate. He was mocked by Herod, Pilate, Roman guards, the Sanhedrin, and he opened not his mouth. With holes in his hands and feet, thorns in his brow, his flesh torn open, slowly suffocating on a cross, he prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” How wild is that? Jesus was praying for the people who, not only struck him on the right cheek, but who were accomplices to his murder. This is radical love. This is love that the world does not have. This is love that is blinding as compared to the darkness of revenge, and this is their King of the Kingdom.

I love that we have a King who fearlessly leads the way. He does not sit back and tell us to do something that he has not already done. He is a King who rides into battle, leading the charge. He loved to the fullest, even unto death. This love is a love that the world had never seen. It is a scandalous love. It is an explosive love. It is a radical love, and it is the love that our King wants us to have filling our hearts.

How? How can we display the same radical love as our King. How is it possible to be like Christ? There is only one way, we must be born of God.

• 1 John 4:7-12 - “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.  “
  
  

The only way that anyone can live in accordance to the radical love that Jesus requires if the love of Jesus lives inside of us. It is impossible to meet the standard of Christ apart from Christ. He must be the power that controls you in the midst of being struck in the face, stolen from, and inconvenienced in time and money. When Christ comes and takes up residence in your heart, you are left with no option but to love. For when we are born of God, we are born into a new Kingdom, a Kingdom of God, a Kingdom of Christ, a Kingdom of radical love.

Verse 8 goes so far as to say that if you don't have love, then you don't know God. And we are not talking about intellectual know, but intimate know. Meaning that if you don't love, then you are not his child. It is impossible to be God's child without having love. Being born of God and loving as Christ loved are inseparable.

So this begs the question, how do we become born of God? We must deny ourselves and trust Christ.

• Luke 9:23 - “And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?”
  
  

If you recall, earlier I stated that our biggest problem is ourselves, so what is the solution? It is the denial of self. We must stop pursuing our desires, our passion, our purposes, and we must turn and pursue Jesus' desires, Jesus' passions, Jesus purposes. We must follow him.

We must lay down our lives, so that we can save our lives. We must die to self and live for Christ. When we stop living for ourselves, we will stop acting like the world and stop feel entitled. No longer will there be fighting and quarreling, because it takes two to tango. If one person refuses, the fight is short lived. When Jesus becomes you greatest treasure, someone stealing your coat is insignificant.

A guy by the name of George Muller, who was a mighty follower of Christ said this: “There was a day when I died, utterly died, died to George Muller and his opinions, preferences, tastes and will; died to the world its approval or censure, died to the approval or blame of my brethren and friends and since then I have studied only to show myself approved unto God.” If you get a chance do some study on George Muller. This man wreaked of love.

This is what people don't get. People love to proclaim love, and hold up peace signs, and sing songs like “We are the World,” and “All We Need is Love” yet they don't get it. Love is not something that is manufactured by jingles and ad campaigns. Love is not something that can be conjured up in a sinners heart. The heart is desperately sick. No matter how hard you try to love, you can't. The only way this world is filled with love is through repenting and placing your faith in Christ Jesus. Love is a fruit of abiding in the vine of Jesus Christ.

So what happens when people start to love like Jesus loved? Simple, hearts are changed. When we live like Christ and radically love those who are unlovable, mountains are moved and sinners become saints. Why? Because when the citizens of the Kingdom of God act like their King, the world is coming into contact with the King himself. And it is the love of Christ that can break hearts of stone.

I can't recall what book I read this story from, but it moved me. There was a young man in a village who became a Christian. As you can expect he was full of joy and excitement and he wanted to share the Gospel with his family and his village. He went to his village and began to share the message of Jesus Christ with them. The immediately began to beat him. The beat him so bad that they knocked him out and drug him outside the village. He awoke and thought to himself he must have wrongly shared the Gospel or perhaps they just misunderstood, so he went back to them and shared the Gospel again. They did the same thing. They beat him up and drug him outside the village again. Once again, he woke up and went back a third time to share Christ. They began to beat him again, and then they stopped and they began to cry, for they recognized that whatever had captured his heart and gave him the radical love that compelled him to come back over and over again, must be worth listening to, so they did, and his entire village was saved. Why? Because of the love of Christ that dwelled in his heart and was poured out onto the lives of his family and friends.

Have you done something like that? Could you do something like that? What if all of us lived a life as radical as that young mans? What do you think would happen? Revival is what would happen. If we denied ourselves and followed Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit then hearts would break and people would not only hear the Gospel, but they would see the Gospel. They would not be able to deny the evidence that the God of radical love dwells in our hearts.

So let us commit to follow Christ. Let us die to self and live for Christ. Let us lay down our entitlements and be filled with the love of Jesus Christ and let us live like him.

• Philippians 2:3-8 - “ Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant,being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. “