The Law of the King

Introduction

We have the privilege this morning of placing ourselves at the feet of Matthew the apostle as he recalls to our attention the teaching of the King, King Jesus.
If you are familiar with the Gospel of Matthew then you will know that Matthew’s gospel introduces us to Jesus Christ as the King of all creation.
Matthew’s gospel starts with the genealogy of Jesus, Jesus of course was in the family line of David the undisputed greatest king in all of Israel’s history.
As Matthew illustrates His genealogy is the genealogy of a king.
Mathew further records the story of the ancient Persian King makers, you may know them as wise men, these men spent their lives searching for the real King and when they found Him they bowed in worship. Again Matthew demonstrates for us in another unique way the rightfulness of Jesus’ place on the throne.
But it doesn’t stop there Matthew also demonstrates that he was born of the Virgin Mary, conceived by the Holy Spirit, so His heavenly lineage is also made very apparent to us.
So with that as a backdrop turn with me in your Bible to Matthew chapter 5 as we consider for the next few minutes the teachings of the King and the requirement of being a subject of the King in His spiritual kingdom.
As we all know, all kingdoms have laws and statutes and Jesus Christ’s heavenly kingdom is no exception. Jesus as the King sets forth the standards of His kingdom in the incomparable sermon known to us as “The Sermon on the Mount” In fact Matthew chapters 5, 6 & 7 record for us this greatest of sermons.
In this sermon the King sets forth the standard of The Kingdom.
The message is; if you want to get into and be a part of this kingdom here is the standard by which the subjects will live and conduct themselves.
So with that as a background let us look to the text for instruction. Matthew chapter 5 verses 43-48. “You have heard that it was said…”

Background

Jesus in these three chapters does nothing short of completely and totally dismantle the noblest of all of man’s religions, Judaism.
The King arrives on the scene and sets forth the greatest sermon ever preached and in so doing reveals the complete inadequacy of all of man’s religions.
How does He do this? Verse 43 begins with the little phrase “You have heard that it was said…” this expression refers not to the Old Testament law or Torah but rather refers to the oral tradition of the Jewish rabbis sometimes referred to as the rabbinic law.
This oral tradition was memorized by each generation of rabbis and passed down to the next generation. Over time this was of course written down and is still studied today. So whenever we encounter in Scripture the term “You have heard it said…” it is referring not to the Mosaic Law of the Old Testament but rather to the Jewish tradition.
So Jesus says to His audience, your leaders have told you love your neighbor and hate your enemy…stop right there.
Where did the Jewish rabbis come up with this? These rabbis would claim from the so the question is where. The answer is, it is taken from Leviticus chapter 19 and verse 18 where the text reads:
”You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Well there are a couple of problems here, first they left out as yourself and they added the phrase and hate your enemies. This was done out of selfishness and to appease their own conscience because they hated, they held a great deal of hate on the inside and they needed to justify it.
Prejudice was the driving force here, make no mistake about it, they defined neighbor as another Jew, hatred towards the Samaritans (a half breed Jew), was justified hatred.
Hatred towards Gentiles, non-Jewish persons, was a justified hatred.
Hatred towards tax collectors, a Jew who had bought the right to collect Roman taxes, which was at its very best an extortion racket, hatred towards them was a justifiable hatred.
And we know from John’s gospel that the Jewish leaders hated the common Jewish riffraff.
So hatred was a way of life for these self-appointed teachers of the law.
But don’t think for a moment that this was limited only to the scribes, Pharisees and other Jewish religious leaders, the people joined in on this one too. They didn’t mind an ethic that permitted them to hate, and still be considered righteous before God for there actions.
Had they read down just a few more verses in Leviticus they would have found verse 34 of chapter 19 they would have seen that the LORD said:

The stranger who dwells among you shall be as the one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself.

There are not two laws with God; there isn’t one for Jews and another for Gentiles. Look at what Exodus 12:49 says: “One law shall be for the native born among you and the stranger who dwells among you.”
There is no double standard here with God however the King is exposing a huge double standard with this man-made religion that was based on the Old Testament that the Jews of Christ’s day practiced. That is why Christ said:

“Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

You see the teachers of the law, the scribes and Pharisees, had set a standard that wasn’t God’s standard at all and they called it righteousness, they said love your neighbor and hate your enemies and in so doing you will be righteous.
This is the net result of all of man’s attempts to be righteous. Even if he starts with the Word of God as his foundation he still falls short of the law.
So the King shows up and what does He do? He attacks the standard and He tells them it is all sub-standard.
Look at verse 22 of chapter 5 he confronts them about anger, they thought as long as they didn’t kill they were righteous the King arrives on the scene and He says if you even hate your guilty of murder.
Allow your eyes to skip down to verse 28, He attacks the issue of adultery and tells them they are sub-standard there too.
Verse 34 he condemns their oaths, they thought they could make oaths and then keep portions of them through clever wording and legal loopholes, the King says I want honesty not treachery and trickery.
If you finish the sermon (which we won’t today, whew doesn’t that take a load off?) you find that he attacks in chapter 6 their fasting, their praying, their charity, and their means of acquiring wealth.
He tells them it is all sub-standard and it doesn’t please God in fact it angers God.
That is the hate your enemy part, what about that love your neighbor as yourself stuff? They were willing to love, just not like they love themselves.
This whole loving yourself concept is a little peculiar, so you might be asking what does it mean to love ones self?
Well very simply it was you, you were concerned with this morning when you ate breakfast, and it was your stomach that was hurting therefore you fed it. Your appearance when you got out of bed this morning was rather unkempt but you took the time to repair your appearance, why, because you love yourself.
We take care of ourselves don’t we, we look out for old number one, and we are really good at that.
Some of what we do is natural self-preservation other things we do are part of our fallen sinful nature, when we do something to further ourselves at the expense of another we are not loving others as ourselves.
That is what the King is calling for, it is to love in such a way that you are looking out for the best interests of your neighbor, doing things for him the way you would do them for yourself.
The parallel passage to this is Luke chapter 6, verse 31 one records what is known as the golden rule:

Just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.

So we have seen that they added and subtracted from the Law of Moses, they removed the “as yourself” and they added, “hate your enemy”, a concept that we have demonstrated was not supported in the law.

Love your enemies

So the King now confronts head on their perversion of the Law and he sets the record straight. What does he say?
Verse 44 “Love your enemies.” Whoa…now there is an ethic, the supreme ethic, love your enemies.
If you want to be a part of this new kingdom you have to act differently than if you live in the kingdom of this world. In the world’s kingdom you hate your enemies in Christ’s kingdom you love your enemies.
Love is the supreme ethic, in John’s gospel in chapter 13 we read the words of Jesus in verses 34 & 35:

Love one another as I have loved you.
All will know you are my disciples if you have love one for another.

The word here for love in the Greek, agapao, is the highest form of love. Most of you know I am sure that in the Greek language there are several words that we would translate as love.
There is of course eros, that is a sexual form of love, Jesus is not telling us to have a sensual sort of love for everyone including our enemies.
There is also phileo love, which is a warm and friendly brotherly sort of love based on reciprocation of love between the two parties, Christ is not calling us to this form of love either.
You also will find storgoi love, or family love, this is a love that you have for the members of your family, of course God is not asking us to love everyone the way we do our own families.
Agapao on the other hand, from the root agape, is the highest and most noble form of love.
It is a love of the will, not the emotions, it requires nothing in return and always has the best interest of the receiver in mind. It is the type of love we see in 1 Cor. 13 where we read:

Love suffers long, is kind, does not envy, does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity
It does rejoice in truth, it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, LISTEN TO HOW IT ENDS, love never fails.

This love of the will he so much higher an ethic than normal love.
Allow me to submit to you for your consideration. When you hear on the news or read in a periodical that the Christians are attacking the Muslims, or the Jews, the Hindus, the Catholics, whatever, may I suggest you aren’t reading or hearing about the real Christians?
What did Christ say? You will be able to spot my disciples because they have love for one another or in other words for their neighbor.
The mark of kingdom living is loving ones neighbor and that includes enemies.
Pay attention you will want to get this, the term neighbor encompasses your enemy. Let me say it again, the term neighbor encompasses your enemy.
Again thinking of Jesus when the eager young attorney approached Him and that man asked Jesus who is my neighbor, hoping to Jesus answer would confirm that his current works justified him?
How did Jesus respond to that? He told a parable, a parable about a person that we know as the Good Samaritan.
The story is recorded for us in for us in Luke’s gospel chapter 10 and verse 25 and following.
You remember the story, what did that parable teach in effect? That anyone we come across that has a need is our neighbor.
Doesn’t matter if they are black, white, or otherwise, doesn’t matter if they attend a rival school, doesn’t matter if they work for the competition, it doesn’t even matter if they go to a different church or live in a different country.
If God places someone in your path he just made them your neighbor, even if everything else would point to this person being your enemy they just became your neighbor.
The history between the two of you is irrelevant, it doesn’t matter if he has hit you, stole from you or even much worse, that person is your neighbor and according to the King you are to love that person!

Pray for your persecutors

2^nd ethic of the kingdom, pray for your persecutors (verse 44).
The King doesn’t leave it open for interpretation what he means by love your enemies. The leaders have already proven they are good and perverting the obvious so he closes the gap.
He gives some practical tips on how to do this look again to the text, verse 44,

Bless those who curse you
Do good to those who hate you
Pray for those who spitefully use and persecute you.

The theme here is invest in the lives of your enemies.
You haven’t really forgiven someone until you are ready to invest in his or her life again. Catch that? You can’t just say I forgive but still avoid contact with that person; you must invest in their life.

Ill.

I am reminded of a soldier from WWII, he had been a track star and even competed in the Olympics prior to the war, however he was captured by the Japanese and placed in a POW camp.
While in the camp he was made to race the Japanese soldiers that ran the camp. And the way it worked was if he won the race they beat him for winning, and if he lost the race they would beat him for not trying hard enough. Either way he received a beating.
Well after the Japanese surrender he was released and returned home. But something was different about this man, this man was a subject of the King, and he knew the King’s requirements.
So began the process of forgiving the man that had run this POW camp he had been in for several years. But in this process he began to realize he couldn’t really say it had forgiven this man until you stood before him face-to-face and invested in his life by sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with this prison warden.
So on his own nickel he boarded a plane and flew and found this man. The man was now in prison on trial for war crimes. But he stood before that man looked him in they eye and told him he forgave him and then proceeded to share Jesus with this prison warden.
That ethic goes way beyond anything any mere man would think up this is a heavenly standard that a heavenly King imposes on his citizens.
When we are instructed to pray what are we to pray for, that they get struck by lightening or drown? No we are to pray for their soul, pray for salvation.
That guy got it didn’t he, he traveled back so that he could personally share the gospel, he put his enemies needs before his own needs, that is that love of the will and he prayed for and shared the gospel with his persecutor.

Exhibit your sonship

Love your enemies, pray for your persecutors, Exhibit your sonship.
Verse 45. “That you may be sons of your Father 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.”
Whose son are you? Does whose son you are matter?
Jesus speaking to the Jewish leaders in John 8 and verse 44 told the leaders:

You are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie he speaks from his own resources, for his a liar and the father of it.

That is the contrast that the King has set, you will behave like your father.
So to answer the question does whose son you are matter I would say most definitely, either be a liar or love your enemies.
Well you say I don’t want to love my enemies but I don’t think I am a liar. To that I would respond oh really! You call yourself a born-again believer saved by God’s grace, you attend a church with other believers, on the outside you talk the talk and walk the walk but in the privacy of your car or your home how do you behave?
Is your behavior different than it is when you darken a door or warm a pew if so then you know deep down you are lying to yourself and others.
If you aren’t about the business of loving your enemies you are about the business of hating your enemies. And I would guess that you wouldn’t want most of us to see the thoughts you have about your enemies because of how dirty and filthy they are.
Bottom Line: love your enemies or be a liar & I leave it at that.
How about the latter half of verse 45; He makes his sun shine on the evil and the good, rain on the just and the unjust.
What is Christ talking about here? He is talking about universal benevolence.
In theological circles you will here this termed “common grace”, you could also think of it as God’s providence.
Let me ask you something. If God gave you control over the sun and rain for one month what would you do with it? Be honest,
You would be driving to work and someone would cut you off and you would darken the sun and poor rain on right in on them through their open window.
The neighbor whose leaves blow on your lawn you would keep the sun and rain off of his tree so it wouldn’t grow any leaves wouldn’t you.
We wouldn’t be very loving if we had control of the elements would we.
But that is exactly what we are being called to do here. This is the standard of the King for His kingdom.

Exceed your fellow man

Love your enemies, pray for your persecutors, exhibit your sonship, exceed your fellow man.
Verses 46,47 get right to that point; if you love those that love you what reward is there in doing that, even the tax collectors do that.
Tax collectors as we said earlier were turncoats and the lowest denominator in Jewish society they were as low as criminals in the average Jews mind.
Jesus said “All you do is what sinners do and you think you are saints?!”
Even the worse do that if that is all you do you are no better than the worse.
Quite frankly anyone can love those that love them. Where is the nobility in that?
The kingdom ethic that the King is teaching is much, much higher; don’t just love those the love you, love everyone that you come in contact with, and treat them just like you would want to be treated if you were in their shoes.
Perhaps we could say empathize with your enemies.
You see the King doesn’t deal with the surface issues he goes straight to the motives of the heart. For the Pharisees they needed a way to be hateful and still appear godly at the same time. This is why Jesus referred to them as whitewashed tombs, clean on the outside but full of rottenness and deadness on the inside.
Perhaps you have come to a point in this sermon where you think maybe this is just a little bit beyond what you can do, good.
If you are sitting there thinking this is impossible and there is no way I can live this way, perfect.
You and I both are right were the King wants us. Look at the next verse.

Emulate your God

Love your enemies, pray for your persecutors, exhibit your sonship, exceed your fellow man, emulate your God.
Verse 48 “Be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
Oh well that is all, just be as perfect as God and you have it all figured out, we can go home now because it is really just that simple.
Ah but that is what the verse says; be perfect just as God is perfect, but how.
We do it by loving the way God loves. As John MacArthur says: “You are never more God-like than when you love.” This is especially true when you are talking about it in the context of loving your enemies.
You desire a closer walk with God, maybe you even prayed that you would grow closer to God in your Christian walk however you walk on the other side of the street to avoid having to make contact with old Joe or whoever your arch rival is.
You want a closer walk with God, you want to be more like God, love your enemies.
This is the standard of the Kingdom, it is quite plain and an undeniable truth.
By the way this isn’t a new standard we read in Leviticus 11:44 “I am the LORD your God…You shall be holy; for I am holy…”
Peter states it again in 1 Peter 1:15 “but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all of your conduct.”
God has called us to holy, perfect living. That is our calling but it is something we can not achieve on our own is it.

Conclusion

So we are to be perfect and holy but how?
This is the really neat part. God gives us the very righteousness he requires. He gives us Christ’s righteousness.
But how can he do that you ask, he can do it because he gave Christ the sinner’s sin.
He imputed to Christ’s account what we couldn’t pay and only Christ could. And He did this in order that he could impute to our account the righteousness of Christ.
This is what Paul is talking about when he writes 1 Cor. 5:21:

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him

See when you see all of this in perspective it takes us right back to chapter 5 and verse 3.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who understand their position before God and know that they deserve a sinner’s hell.
Blessed are they who mourn, those who are broken and contrite over their sin.
Blessed are the meek.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.