Before we begin the reading and sermon, I thought I'd just give you a real quick update on Dan. As many of you know, he was hospitalized a couple of weeks ago with some pretty extreme sickness. He's had chronic lymphocytic leukemia for several years, and he had a pretty bad flare-up. They called us and told us we'd better make travel plans right away. I asked the doctor when he said that, I said, are you saying he could die? And he said yes. So we're very thankful that Dan has been treated well at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Hospital. He's improved greatly. He's home. Maybe you remember I said that his white blood cell count, which normal is 10,000, was up to 374,000, which they said is the highest they'd ever seen. Well, it's down to 32,000. That sounds good by comparison, but it's still high. He's lost a lot of weight, but he seems to be doing better. He was with his mother, his uncle, and grandmother yesterday at a farmer's market in North Carolina. So we're hopeful that he's on the mend, and Tracy will be coming home Monday, for which I'm thankful. But thank you for remembering him in your prayers. Well, let's go to the Lord for our Gospel reading. This is from Matthew chapter 5, continuing the Sermon on the Mount, verses 33 to 48. You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn 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 too. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. You have heard it 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 the sun rise on evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and 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. Let's pray. Lord, as we come to your word, we ask that you would open our hearts and minds in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, Jesus is speaking to the crowd in what's been called the Sermon on the Mount. And that has been commented on throughout the centuries by Christians and non-Christians alike. Oliver Wendell Holmes said, most people are willing to take the Sermon on the Mount as a flag to sail under, but very few will use it a rudder by which to steer. General Omar Bradley said, we've grasped the mystery of the atom, rejected the Sermon on the Mount. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. Since the second century, no block of scripture of comparable size has had as great an influence as the Sermon on the Mount. Passages from this discourse were quoted or alluded to more than any other part of the Bible in the early part of Christianity. To the present day, these words still profoundly challenged Christians and non-Christians alike. They caused Leo Tolstoy to completely change his social theory and influence the development of Gandhi's use of non-violence as a political force. Even Nietzsche, who objected to the teachings of the Sermons, did not ignore them. The people who heard the original Sermon were stunned. It says, when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as the scribes. The scribes and the Pharisees were the target of the Sermon, and that Jesus was correcting what they had taught concerning the law of Moses. John Stott said it seems likely he deliberately went up to the mountain to teach in order to draw a parallel between Moses, who received the law of Mount Sinai, and himself, who explained its implications to his disciples. Jesus himself calls these words the rock upon which our house should be built. Stott continued no single paragraph on the Sermon on the Mount in which contrast between Christians and non-Christian standards is not drawn. It's the underlying and uniting theme of the Sermon. Thus the followers of Jesus are to be different. That's us. Different from both the nominal church and the secular world. Different from both the religious and the irreligious. The Sermon on the Mount is the most complete delineation anywhere in the New Testament of the Christian counterculture. Here's a Christian value system, ethical standard, religious devotion, attitude to money, ambition, lifestyle and network of relationships, all of which are a total variance with those of the non-Christian world. So Jesus continues contrasting the accepted teaching of the Pharisees with his interpretation of the law, which of course is the correct interpretation. He does it by a series of, you have heard it said, but I say to you, statements. The first one we're looking at today is in verse 34, but I say to you, do not take an oath at all. Either by heaven, for it's the throne of God, or by earth, for it's his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it's the city of the great king. Now you might think, we don't do this anymore. We don't take oaths by these things. So who does this anymore? And the answer is all of us. Maybe you've seen, maybe you've been in a courtroom or seen courtroom videos on television. Something done in a courtroom situation where a witness is asked to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. At least in the past, at least in the US, they had to put their hand on a Bible and say, so help me God. But in everyday interactions, you might have heard people say, when they make a statement and somebody says, really? And then the person who made the statement says, I swear to God. Or maybe if you watch any mobster movies, you might hear something like, I swear on my children's lives or my mother's eyes. Now, a more famous swearing, which is done all over schoolyards, at least in the US, I'm assuming as well in Canada, is the pinky swear. Somebody will say something and the other person will say, do you swear? Yes. Do you pinky swear? As if that is to give it even more import than if they just said it. The swearing on something is supposed to give the statement more credence. But Jesus says, that what you say be simply yes or no. Anything more comes from evil. What does he mean by that? He means if you say something, that should be it. You don't have to say, I swear it should be trustworthy. Jesus repeats this teaching in James. I'm sorry. James repeats Jesus teaching in chapter five. But above all, my brothers do not swear either by heaven or by earth or any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be no so that you may not fall under condemnation. Tell the truth. Don't lie. Don't say things like when you break your word, I didn't promise. Or my fingers were crossed. Which was popular when I was growing up. Somebody would say something and then they wouldn't do it and they said, well, I have my fingers crossed as if that was supposed to negate. So let your yes be yes and your no be no. See, Jesus teaching is correcting the accepted teaching, most likely the accepted teaching of the Pharisees. And nowhere is this contrast at greater variance than in the command to love our enemies. Deals with the first in love and we replace of it retaliation. Now you've heard their cultural sayings, most likely that revenge is a dish best served cold or don't get mad, get even. Tracy and I once went to see a play called Medea. Not because we have an affinity for Greek tragedies written by Euripides, but because our oldest son had a part in the play when he was at university. And the play is about a woman, Medea, who has been banished by her husband for the equivalent of a trophy wife. She is so incensed, so possessed by her desire for justice, which really is for revenge that she decides that she is going to kill everyone that her husband loves. Which unfortunately includes her own children. And her explanation to him is my hatred for you was greater than my love for them. Now this kind of revenge is played out all over the world in the Middle East, in Africa, in many of the gangs that roam and sometimes rule the streets of major cities all over the world. It seems apparent, for example, at least to me, that Hamas hates the Jews more than they love their own people. I'm sure they would tell a different story. But they do include the destruction of Israel in their constitution. Now most of us are not involved directly in vengeful behavior, at least I hope not. But be careful, some of you enjoy something the Germans call schadenfreude. That is taking delight in the misfortune of another. So you have somebody you don't particularly care for, and you hear they're falling on hard times, they lost their job, their team lost, they got in an accident, whatever. And in your heart you sort of take delight in their misfortune. I have a friend who loves schadenfreude, but only in sports. So if his team, which is my team as well, when his team is no longer in the playoffs, for example, he will root against another team rather than for someone. And when they lose, he loves it. He thinks it's okay in sports, I'm not sure. But Jesus wants something different for us. The scripture says when he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued in trusting himself to the one who judges justly. You've heard it said, an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, but I say to you, do not. Excuse me. Do not resist the one who's evil, but if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn the left to him also. And if anyone would sue you, take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If anyone forces you to go a mile with him, go two. Now that's interesting because in Rome, at the time this was written, a soldier could require anybody, a Jew, anybody, to carry his shield and his sword with for a mile. So Jesus is saying, look, if they ask you to go a mile, go two. The scripture says, finally, all of you have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called that you may obtain a blessing. But it's not only retaliating, it's replacing hate with love. Martin Luther King Jr. said, hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that. Dark cannot drive out dark. Only light can do that. You've heard it said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But Jesus promises great reward for all those who obey his words when he says, but I say to you, love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your father who's in heaven. Remember, when he was reviled, he didn't revile in return. Now, this whole section starts with a warning. If you want to enter the kingdom of heaven, your righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees. In fact, Jesus says you are to be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect. Then he compares the perfect righteousness of God with the righteousness of the Pharisees. Look what he says about the righteousness of the Pharisees with regard to love. If there were two groups of people universally despised, that would be considered enemies of Israel, they would be the Gentiles. The Roman occupation was a brutal regime. Uprisings had been dealt with ruthlessly. In Jesus' lifetime, there had been dozens of crucified citizens for the rebellion against Rome. At one time, the crosses lined the roads on either side, going in and out of Jerusalem to let anybody who's coming in or out realize the consequences of challenging Rome. So the Gentiles were looked on with disdain anyway. They were particularly despised. And worse than them were the tax collectors, who were Jews working for Rome in the collection of taxes. Not only did they do Rome's bidding, but when they collected the taxes, they collected more than they were supposed to. The idea was that if they collected the taxes for Rome, they'd give those to Rome. If they collected more, they kept it for themselves, which was their habit. So the tax collectors were despised even more than the Romans. And Jesus is saying, according to the righteousness of the Pharisees, according to what they teach, they are the same as the Gentiles. They're the same as the tax collectors. Do you see what he's doing here? The Pharisees would, and the Jews for that matter, despise the Gentiles and the tax collectors more than anyone. But he says, if you only love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not the Gentiles and the tax collectors do the same. That had to sting the Pharisees because they were being compared to the people they considered the most unrighteous in the world. They were being compared to the people they despised the most. And what's your reward for loving your enemies? You are sons of God. And if you have read the Gospels, I hope you have, if you haven't, please do so. You cannot help but notice that Jesus is repeatedly making room for the uninvited, caring for the ones who others pass by, loving the unlovable. Consider the case of Zacchaeus in Luke 19. Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through, and there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not see because he was small of stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to that place, he looked up and said to him, how amazing Jesus is. He knows he's there. Whether he saw him from far off, I don't know, or he just knew he was there, and when he got there he looked up. Zacchaeus, hurry and come down. He knows his name. For I must stay at your house today. So he heard and came down and received him joyfully, and when they saw it, they all grumbled. He is gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. See the difference? The Pharisees despised him because he was a sinner. They despised him because he's a tax collector. They despised him because he was in league with Rome. Jesus said, I'm coming to your house today. Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold. Basically, he's taken a vow of poverty because the way a tax collector became rich, usually, was by defrauding. So he gives away half. He's got half left. And if he pays back fourfold, if he follows through on what he says to Jesus, he's essentially making himself impoverished. Zacchaeus knew that it was worth anything to be saved. And Jesus said to him, today's salvation has come to this house since he's also a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Jesus loves and saves the tax collector, the chief tax collector. Remember, the disciple Matthew was a tax collector. The woman at the well, the Samaritan woman that Jesus saves, was an adulterous. The Roman centurion, again, the Roman people despise the Romans. The Roman centurion's slave was healed. He heals the daughter of a Syrophoenician woman. The despised, the sick, the poor, the enemies are all loved by Jesus. Now here's the danger. The danger is smiling and nodding and thinking, oh, that's wonderful Jesus. He's always going the extra mile. I guess what I want you to see clearly is that we have much in common with the tax collectors and the Gentiles. We are just as in need. I want us to see the unfathomable love of God. As I was writing this sermon, it occurred to me next week when we had the Lord's Supper, this would have been a good sermon for that. So think about this all week as you prepare your hearts to receive communion. See, we are just as much the enemies of God. Roman says while we were still weak at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous man, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in this while we were still sinners. Christ died for us. Since therefore we've not been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if we were enemies, if while we were enemies, we were restored, reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that we are reconciled shall be saved by his life. And listen to this. More than that. So even more than you've been reconciled, even more that you're an enemy made a friend, even more than you were saved by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, by his life and death on the cross and his resurrection, even more than that. We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received reconciliation. And that makes us reconcilers. So when we run across somebody that we would think, well, this person is ungodly, this person is a sinner, this person is not a Christian, this person might go to hell. What we should think is this person is just like me. Just like me. And I have the ministry of reconciliation. We were weak, ungodly sinners, enemies. It says that one might dare die for a good man, but think, think of what kind of love dies for an enemy. What makes this love even more incredible, more astounding, more extreme than anything that you and I could possibly imagine is the nature of the one loving us. Colossians says he's the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. By him all things were created in heaven, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together. He's the head of the body, the church, the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent for in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. The Gospel of John says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. They're talking about the Son of God. So that Genesis chapter one, when it says in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was formless and void and darkness is over the face of the earth and spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light and there was light. This one who is the word is the one who said, let there be light. Do you understand what that means? The creator of heaven and earth, the creator of everything you see, the creator of everything you can't see is the one who loved you enough to become a man and die for you. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. We've seen his glory. Glory is the only son from the father full of grace and truth. Think about that. The creator of heavens and earth, the one who by day causes all of it to be sustained, became an embryo, underwent birth, lived as a human and not a rich one. He did all of this so he could fill the law of Moses to the letter. He underwent the arrest, the mocking, the beatings and finally crucifixion so that he could save who? Not his relatives, not his friends, not only those who loved him, but his enemies, us. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile himself to all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. You do not have to make peace with your friends, but you have to make peace with your enemies. He made peace by the blood of his cross. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. Let's pray together. Thank you Jesus for your life, for your death, for your resurrection, for saving us, your enemies, from ourselves, from our sin, from eternity without you and giving us new life, new hope and an eternity with you. Pray in your name. Amen. Please stand.