The Bible Meets Life

The Point Love everyone unconditionally. The Passage Matthew 5:43-48 The Bible Meets Life Love may be the most overused word in the English language. We apply love to everything, but the intensity of our love can vary, as can the cause and motivation of our love. We may not state it this bluntly, but we act as if there is a limit to our love. Jesus calls us to a whole new standard of love, a love that is unconditional and knows no limits. The Setting In Jesus day, the Jewish people in general, and the religious leadership in particular, were quite clear on who were their neighbors and who were their enemies. They were also clear on how they should treat people in each group. While the admonition to love your neighbor appears in the Old Testament, the conclusion and hate your enemy is a mere extrapolation, and not God s design. This session passage finds Jesus setting the record straight that His followers are to love both neighbor and enemy. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 147

What does the Bible say? Perfect (v. 48) This term can mean flawless. It can also have the sense of mature, complete, or fully developed in a moral or spiritual sense. In reference to God s people, mature or complete is the more likely meaning. Matthew 5:43-48 (HCSB) 43 You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father 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 will you have? Don t even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don t even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. 148 SeSSion 6

THE POINT Love everyone unconditionally. GET INTO THE STUDY DISCUSS: Invite your group members to turn their attention to the image on page 117 of the Personal Study Guide (PSG). Ask: When is it appropriate to use the word love? ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): A few days prior to your group time, ask your group members to take a picture with their cell phones of something they love. Invite group members to share their pictures with three other people. 10 minutes Notes TIP: Make a point to be the first to arrive at your Bible study. This signifies the importance you place on the Bible study and allows you to meet everyone there. RECAP THE PSG (PAGE 118): We. Love. Everything. We love burgers, children, beach vacations, ice cream, college football, spring days, puppies, action movies, romantic movies, and a host of other things. Isn t it amazing that, with the wealth of words we have at our disposal in the English language, we use the same term to describe our feelings about a hot dog as we do to describe our relationship with our mothers? Most of the time, we use the word love to describe anything that makes us feel good or happy. It s all about the way we feel at a given moment. With that definition, it s no wonder we fall out of love with people at about the same rate we fall out of love with a certain kind of food. SAY: As Jesus followers, we are called to love in the way He does. ENHANCEMENT: Bring your group s attention to Pack Item #11, Love poster, to highlight the focus of today s session. GUIDE: Call the group s attention to The Point on page 118 of the PSG: Love everyone unconditionally. PRAY: Transition into your Bible study with prayer. Thank God for His perfect love for us and ask Him to shape our hearts so that we might give unconditional love to others. Display Pack Item #11 to communicate the session topic. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 149

10 minutes STUDY THE BIBLE Matthew 5:43-45 Notes 43 You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. READ: Ask a group member to read aloud Matthew 5:43-45. RECAP THE PSG (PAGE 120): Most of the world operates by a simple premise: Love those who love you. In this worldview, people only get into relationships for what they can gain from them. Every relationship is self-serving; thus, if a relationship ceases to give you what you want, you simply move on to the next one. The kingdom of God does not operate that way. Jesus called us to love those who feel animosity and even hatred toward us. Not only are these people not giving us anything in return, they are wishing for or even actively promoting our demise. We are called to love the plotters, schemers, selfpromoters, and ego-maniacs. ALTERNATE QUESTION: When has prayer changed your attitude and actions toward someone difficult to love? DISCUSS: Question 2 on page 120 of the PSG: What is your first reaction to Jesus teaching in these verses? SAY: He extends His love to people not because they love Him, but because it s in His character to do so. SUMMARIZE: Jesus gave us our marching orders love and pray. But, don t just pray for people who wish you good; also pray for those who wish you evil. Prayer shapes our hearts. When we pray for someone who is difficult to love, we will find our hearts being bent toward that person. Prayer expresses our love. We are asking the God of the universe to exercise His power on behalf of someone else, for her good. That s powerful. 150 SeSSion 6 TRANSITION: Prayer isn t only one of the means we have at our disposal to love someone; it s the best means we have to love someone. But, in the next verses we will learn that we shouldn t stop there.

THE POINT Love everyone unconditionally. Matthew 5:43-45 Commentary Love even those who hate you. Verse 43: Jesus began with a quotation from Leviticus 19:18: Love your neighbor. He then added and hate your enemy. The command to love your neighbor is repeated often in the New Testament (Matthew 19:19; 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14; James 2:8). The phrase Hate your enemy is not found in the Old Testament. Although God never commanded hate for an enemy, and certainly would never have condoned it, it is a conclusion many Jews apparently had drawn. Verse 44: Jesus interpretation instructed His followers to continue loving their neighbors, but He turned the conventional wisdom about hating your enemies on its head: But I tell you, love your enemies, a demanding and radical ethic. It is not enough merely to claim to love those who might be unlovely; it requires profound action. Love by nature is a verbal noun, that is, love is something you do. Jesus offered one example of what love would do: Pray for those who persecute you. It should not surprise anyone that Jesus would climax this significant section of His sermon with the topic of love. Jesus revealed in bodily form the fundamental reality that God is love (1 John 4:8). When a Jewish teacher questioned Jesus about the greatest commandment in the Law, Jesus responded that the first commandment is to love God with all your being and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:36-40). In Luke s account, the Jewish teacher followed up with a question about who would qualify as a neighbor. Jesus responded with the parable of a good Samaritan, emphasizing we must love even those who vigorously despise us (Luke 10:25-37). Beyond the Gospels, the New Testament affirms the same reality. Paul summed up the Old Testament with the axiom love your neighbor as yourself (Romans 13:9). Peter urged his readers to maintain an intense love for each other, since love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). And John declared that the one who does not love does not know God, because God is love (1 John 4:8). Verse 45: Because God is love, as we demonstrate love to friend and foe alike, we demonstrate kinship with God. The one true God, whom we know in Christ, is love. Love is not simply another trait: it occupies a central place in defining God s essence. While the climactic demonstration of God s love was the crucifixion of Jesus, a daily reminder of God s love is the fact He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. God does not grant such favor to His enemies in order that they love Him in return. In fact, the vast majority of humanity rejects God. God gives the rain and sun as an expression of His character and being. Similarly, loving your enemy might or might not turn that enemy into a friend. The ultimate goal, however, is to reflect the love of God. As you show love to those who are hostile toward you, you display that you are sons of your Father in heaven. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 151

10 minutes STUDY THE BIBLE Matthew 5:46-47 Notes 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don t even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don t even the Gentiles do the same? READ: Ask a group member to read aloud Matthew 5:46-47. SUMMARIZE: There is the easy kind of love, and there is the difficult kind of love. Jesus drew the line in the sand for us in these verses. Easy love. If we only love those who love us in return, that s easy. Jesus used the tax collectors and Gentiles to prove a point. Tax collectors were greedy locals who collected taxes for Rome, plus whatever additional money they deemed fit for their services. Needless to say, the tax collectors were despised. But even they loved those who loved them. Similarly, the Jews looked down on the Gentiles as irreligious people, pagan in both their nature and their customs. Gentiles didn t have the first idea about God, and their actions showed it. But Jesus maintained that even the Gentiles greeted those they called brothers. Hard love. Jesus called us to love with no promise of reciprocation. Jesus called us to put ourselves out there, risk rejection and ridicule, and then to do it all over again. According to Jesus, the defining mark of His true follower is love (see John 13:35). DISCUSS: Question 3 on page 121 of the PSG: What are some practical ways to love someone you don t like? ALTERNATE QUESTION: What do we gain when we embrace Jesus definition of love? SAY: Love God s kind of love can only come from a true, vibrant, and constant experience of the gospel. DISCUSS: Question 4 on page 122 of the PSG: What do we risk when we embrace Jesus definition of love? TRANSITION: What should our love look like? The next verse gives a clear, though challenging, answer to that question. 152 SeSSion 6

THE POINT Love everyone unconditionally. Matthew 5:46-47 Commentary Love in a way that is a testimony to others. Verse 46: Jesus called His followers to love in a more radical way with respect to their motivation for loving. He employed two sets of two rhetorical questions to drive home His point. The first set began, For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? This question drove home the point that love restricted only to those who return love reveals nothing of the unconditional and unlimited love of God. Paul pointed out that God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! (Romans 5:8). Had God only loved those who loved Him, you and I would have never known His love, for we were still sinners, His enemies, when Jesus died for us. Likewise, Jesus stressed that You did not choose Me, but I chose you (John 15:16) and that, too, while we were still His enemies. Each believer s life serves as a striking testimony that God did not practice the restricted love those who love you. His character and the example He gave us is to not limit our love merely to those who love us in return. The second question, Don t even the tax collectors do the same? displays the moral bankruptcy of God s people loving in the same manner as those on the last rung of the moral ladder. The fact that Jesus used tax collectors as the epitome of conditional and limited love highlights their negative image among Jews. They were despised because (1) they contracted with Rome to collect taxes from their own Jewish neighbors, and (2) they were presumed to be financially dishonest (Luke 3:12-13; 19:8). As a result, they were grouped together with sinners (Mark 2:15), pagans (Matthew 18:16-17), and prostitutes (21:31-32). Verse 47: Jesus presented the second set of rhetorical questions revolving around the issue of whom a person was willing to greet. Jesus employed the same word later in Matthew 10:12 as He sent His disciples out to preach. He commanded them to greet a household when you enter it. Such a greeting indicated a level of significance and worth in the eyes of the one offering the greeting. To see value only in those who share your ethnicity, values, doctrinal convictions, and so forth is perfectly ordinary. That s what the unbelievers do. Christ was calling his listeners to practice unconditional love. Luke s parallel saying of Jesus added two additional rhetorical questions, each employing sinners as the point of comparison: (1) If you do what is good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that ; and (2) if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to be repaid in full (Luke 6:33-34). The additional questions offer tangible illustrations of what it looks like to love without conditions and without limits. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 153

10 minutes STUDY THE BIBLE Matthew 5:48 Notes 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. READ: Ask a group member to read aloud Matthew 5:48. SUMMARIZE: Imagine you re a young parent preparing to assemble a crib. So you open the box and see a dizzying array of diagrams and parts. As you assemble the crib, you notice a set of screws that require a special tool to tighten them. Fortunately, the manufacturer included a tool that fits just right, so the bed finally comes together. That tool was the perfect tool for its function. You might never use it again, but for that moment, and on that particular occasion, it fit just right. To do the job it was designed for, it was good and right. It was perfect. RECAP THE PSG (PAGE 123): Look at Jesus call to be perfect in terms of our function. Verse 48 reminds us of the overarching purpose God originally created us to fulfill. God created us as beings distinct from any other part of creation. We were created in His image to relate to Him in a unique way. And, we were made to display God s character and glory in every part of our lives. We should love like God does. ALTERNATE QUESTION: How would you describe your function as a follower of God? God loves those who do not acknowledge Him. God is generous to those who don t recognize or reciprocate His generosity. God provides for those who are ungrateful. DISCUSS: Question 5 on page 123 of the PSG: As a group, what are some opportunities we have to express unconditional love? DO: Divide your members into groups of three or four people each. Within each small group, direct members to complete the activity on page 122 of the PSG. Distinct Love: In your community, what groups of people need to see or experience God s unconditional love? What steps might your group take to demonstrate God s love to one of these groups? How can your group express that your love is unconditional and is given without strings attached? 154 SeSSion 6

THE POINT Love everyone unconditionally. Matthew 5:48 Commentary Love like God loves. Verse 48: This pivotal saying, be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect, concludes the sixth of the you have heard it said but I tell you sayings. The challenge of the saying hinges on what Jesus meant by perfect. It is not difficult to envision ways in which God is perfect in His being and in all of His attributes. God is perfect in His self-sufficiency, in His glory, and in His unchangeableness. God is perfect in His eternity, in His omnipresence, in His omnipotence, in His omniscience, and in His goodness, justice, mercy, and wisdom. As Wayne Grudem rightly describes: God s perfection means that God completely possesses all excellent qualities and lacks no part of any qualities that would be desirable for him. 1 In Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus highlighted a first and primary attribute God possesses in perfection: love. While God is perfect in all of His attributes, Jesus was not making that point here. Jesus instructed His followers to go beyond loving those who love us in return, reaching the very extent that we love even our enemies. To practice loving our enemies is to love like God. God s love of friend and foe alike is evident in the fact He provides sunlight and rain on those who love Him and those who reject Him (v. 45). We must love in the same manner. In doing so, we reflect God s perfection. Perfect, while appropriate to describe God, seems undeserved and unattainable when applied to any human being this side of heaven. The Greek word can mean perfect in the sense of being flawless. However, it can also have the sense of being mature, complete, or fully developed in a moral or spiritual sense. When used with reference to God s people, as it is here, mature or complete is the more likely meaning. Thus, Jesus called His people to be complete in love. While Matthew 5:48 brings the section on loving our enemies to an end, it also concludes the entirety of the six contrasts. Jesus called His followers to display a greater righteousness than the scribes and the Pharisees (v. 20), then illustrated what He meant. As we live and love like this, we become complete in life and love, and portray a fuller and more accurate reflection of God the Father and His Son. 1. Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 218. A previous Biblical Illustrator article Perfect: A Word Study (Fall 2012) relates to this lesson and can be found on the DVD in the Leader Pack or can be purchased, along with other articles for this quarter, at www.lifeway.com/ biblicalillustrator. Look for Bundles: Bible Studies for Life. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 155

5 minutes LIVE IT OUT Notes SAY: Showing love the way God loves is what makes us truly distinct. What opportunities do you have to stand apart from the rest of the world? GUIDE: Lead your group members to consider the responses to the Bible study listed on page 124 of the PSG. Pray. Commit to pray every day for one person in your life who is difficult to love. Pray that God would bless that person. Notice how your heart softens toward that person. Thank. Have you ever been difficult to love? Think of someone who loved you during a time when you were hard to love. Make a call and express your thanks for the way his or her love reminded you of the way God loves all the time. Sacrifice. Jesus loves us sacrificially. What is one practical way you can sacrificially love someone else this week? Wrap It Up SAY: It s OK to love ice cream. And beach vacations. And college football. But don t confuse all that with God s love the love He calls you to walk in. God loves you. Now go and do likewise. Get expert insights on weekly studies through the Ministry Grid (MinistryGrid.com/web/BibleStudiesForLife). 156 SeSSion 6