In the sermon titled 'Retaliation', Scott Brown explores Jesus' teachings from Matthew 5:38-48, focusing on the proper Christian response to personal affronts and the misapplication of Old Testament laws concerning retribution. Jesus contrasts the prevalent 'eye for an eye' mentality, which was misapplied by the Pharisees, with a call for his disciples to demonstrate mercy and love, even towards their enemies. Brown emphasizes that while civil authorities are given the role to enact justice, individuals are called to reflect God's mercy, not His vengeance. The sermon delves into five specific scenarios where Christians might be tempted to retaliate and instead encourages a response of generosity, patience, and prayer. Moreover, Jesus' words challenge believers to maintain a generous and forgiving spirit, demonstrating the gospel through their conduct in a world prone to conflict. Brown concludes by highlighting the importance of aligning one's actions with the teachings of Christ, ensuring that one's life serves as a testimony to God's love and righteousness.

Our text for today is from the book of Matthew, chapter 5, verse 38, to the end. You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.

And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him too. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away. You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, and do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He makes His Son rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore, you should be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the word that you've given us today. We pray that you would be on Scott's lips as he comes to preach to us. Open our eyes and our ears and fill our hearts with your word. In Jesus name, amen. Well we're coming to the end of a great section in the Sermon on the Mount.

We've been here for many weeks, and I'd like to just sort of bring us up to speed where we've come. The Lord Jesus Christ is speaking to his disciples. He's such a good shepherd. And he sits with his disciples and he begins at the beginning of what it means to be a son of a king. And it begins with the blessed state of being poor in spirit.

This is the beginning of the Christian life. This is the beginning of redemption when someone realizes that they have nothing to offer, but are absolutely poverty-stricken. So the first thing that the Lord Jesus does is he teaches his disciples how one is saved. And then In the first four of these Beatitudes, he speaks of the heart of the true Christian. And then he speaks of what happens in the relationships of that person when their heart is changed in the last four.

They become merciful in verse 7. They are pure in heart. They are peacemakers. And as a result, they are persecuted people. And then the Lord Jesus tells them who they are in the world.

They are light, they are salt. That's what they are in the world. And then the Lord Jesus instructs them about how they ought to live in the world by obeying the law of God. And so he teaches them how to interpret rightly the law of God. And he uses six laws from the Old Testament to help them interpret it rightly because the scribes and the Pharisees and the people who had followed them were not interpreting the law rightly.

They were mishandling it, and they were using it for their own ends rather than God's ends. And so Jesus goes very carefully from one law to another to explain it. And that's the section that we're in now. Here, we're in the last two laws that the Lord Jesus is doing exposition on. And so he's taken them through this journey to understand not only that one enters the kingdom of heaven when they realize that they're bankrupt, but they also have a responsibility in the world.

And that is to obey the law of God, to carry it out and to understand it rightly. And so that's where we are here in this passage. The larger context here is that Jesus is teaching his disciples what happens when the kingdom of heaven comes. What does it look like when God's kingdom is ruling in a person's heart, in a person's relationships, in a person's government? What does all that look like?

And he's explaining it in all kinds of details here. And here in this section, Jesus is teaching his disciples what true disciples do when bad things happen to them. Like, for example, when they are insulted, what does a true disciple do? What does a true disciple do when he's sued and everything he has is taken away from him? What does a true disciple do when the state comes in and intrudes upon your life and your schedule and asks you to do something untimely and unscheduled and undesirable?

And what does a disciple do when someone comes and asks for money? Or what does a disciple do when someone asks to borrow something from you? So Jesus is going through to explain all of these things. And so that's what we find in verse 38 through 42. And then the final illustration that he gives, the sixth illustration from the law begins in verse 43 to 47.

And what Jesus is doing is he's teaching his disciples how they would glorify God in the world. And he's doing what Paul said to the Philippians. He said, when he said, only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel. This is gospel behavior in the midst of a dying world. We live in the midst of a dying culture, and how does one operate in the midst of a dying culture?

And Jesus is teaching his disciples about that. And what he does is he goes to One of the most difficult areas of life, the area of our concern about our reputations and the area about our concerns for our possessions. And he takes those two issues of life and he tells his disciples how they might glorify their Father in heaven. How they actually might be like their Father in heaven who causes his reign to fall on the just and on the unjust. Now, as we see this whole picture unfolding before us, as Jesus is moving through the law, going directly to the heart, to the behavior, and all kinds of things like that, there's something I think at the beginning we need to recognize about this text.

This text gives us a really important principle that we need to understand if we're going to understand the Bible because what Jesus does is he says there's something that your Father in heaven does that you should do but there's something that your father in heaven does that you should do, but there's something that your father in heaven does that you should not do and you must not do. And so Jesus is helping his disciples understand various distinctions that they need to grasp in order to be faithful to God in the world. They need to understand what they can do that God has patterned for them and what they ought not to do. And what they ought to do is demonstrate the mercies of God, but not the judgments of God. Now there's more detail that we can give to that because there are certain judgments that are given to men.

Fathers should use the rod on their children, the civil government should use the sword on those who disobey. So we're not wiping that away. But we have to understand that this passage gives us a really helpful picture of some of the differences that there are between God and man. And while we are to become like Christ, we can't become like Christ in every way. And this is an example of it.

We must become like our Father in heaven, but not in His vengeance, because He said vengeance is mine. I will repay. That's not your deal. So There are a number of things happening here that are very helpful and very fascinating. But all of them have to do with this one issue, that God has designed His people so that their conduct is a declaration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So this is a passage of scripture about vengeance, but it's also a passage of scripture about evangelism, about how God's people are in the world and how the name of God is magnified and glorified in the world through his sons who follow him in one way but not another." So that's sort of by way of introduction. Now to help us understand how important God the Father is as the pattern for our lives. You look at verse 16, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. I think that everything that comes after that statement is a commentary on it. You apply the law, you're glorifying your Father in heaven.

Look at verse 45, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven, for he makes his Son rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. And then in verse 48, the chapter ends with this very same principle, therefore, you shall be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect. So you see this theme that's running through here. So that's, I hope this sort of help us put the deck chairs in the right places as we begin to move into this passage. So let's look at verse 38 in 538.

You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. This begins the fifth illustration that Jesus is giving and Jesus is alluding to a rabbinic interpretation that was wrong. The rabbis were breaking an important hermeneutical principle. They were applying something that was given to the civil government, and they were pretending that they were allowed to do that. So if someone did something wrong to you, they were telling their students that they should retaliate in like manner.

An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. This was an Old Testament law that was given. Do you see it in Exodus chapter 21 and Leviticus 24 and Deuteronomy 19? It's an accurate quote of the law. However, it was an improper application of the law.

What had happened was the Pharisees were saying that an individual has a right to take retribution. Doesn't that make sense? We all want to take retribution. And so it played upon the sensibilities of our hearts. And so we would rather have an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

But that's not what God gave the law for. He did not give the law to individuals. He gave it to the civil government. And the Pharisees were misapplying the law by using it in personal relationships rather than where it was meant to be used. And this is an important hermeneutical principle.

How do you understand any law in the Old Testament? Number one, you have to understand whether it's moral, ceremonial, or civil law. You have to also understand who's given the jurisdiction to carry it out. Certain laws are given to fathers. Other laws are given to the government.

And so you have to understand that there are different laws that are given for different purposes. And the Pharisees, because of their wicked flesh, because their desire to justify themselves, because of their desire to hold a grudge and to bring retribution, because their flesh wanted it, they interpreted the law that way. We do that all the time. We take things in Scripture and we only let them touch the things we want them to touch, and we misapply them. And that's what the scribes and the Pharisees were doing.

And so Jesus here is identifying another way, you know, he did it six ways. Six ways the Pharisees do not understand the law and and and and he's identifying a way that they've twisted and distorted the meaning of Scripture now the law in the Old Testament was a prohibition to unbridled reprisals. It was meant to limit reprisals. So if someone's eye was gouged out that there wasn't a vanquishing response to kill the man for it. But there are things that require different kinds of punishment.

We know that today. There are felonies and there are misdemeanors. That's the idea. There are different kinds of infractions that the civil government brings different kinds of punishments for. That was the whole idea.

But it was meant to bridle passion. It was also meant to destroy vigilante justice, where something happens to a family, and now you have the Hatfields and McCoys all over again. And they're going back and forth punishing one another personally, when in fact, punishment is really only given to the civil government. So that's what was happening with these Pharisees. And so the Pharisees had seized this text as a pretext for private revenge.

That's what they were doing. So that's this illustration that he's bringing. And then he says in verse 39, but I tell you not to resist in the evil person. Now here are these wonderful words, but I tell you, the most wonderful words in the Bible, you have the bankrupt wisdom of man and then you have the wisdom of Jesus Christ. It's so good, it's so refreshing, it sets us straight.

But I say to you, How many times have you heard that said to you? But I say to you, your heart says one thing, but Jesus says something else. Your mind has been used to thinking about one thing, but Jesus says, no, I'll let your mind be cleansed and purified by what I say." Well that's what Jesus is doing. He's coming and he's correcting them by saying, but I tell you, do not resist an evil person. Now what did Jesus mean by this?

Now those of you who read the book War and Peace by Tolstoy, he believed that this verse meant that there should be no police, no government, no punishment of any kind, anywhere at all. And that you just let evil run rampant. And that's not what Jesus is saying here this does not erase the other areas where resistance is necessary like for example we know first for certain particularly Romans 13 and other places that God has given the sword to the civil government to stop evil. So it's not that all evil is to be running rampant, neither should it be in your home. When evil runs rampant in your home, you use the rod, which brings wisdom back into the heart of a child.

When evil is running rampant in a church, an individual in a church, a church must engage in church discipline. So this is not a text that says no more church discipline, no more spanking your children, no more prosecuting, no more capital punishment. This text has nothing to do with pacifism, it has nothing to do with just war theory, it has nothing to do with any of those kinds, it has nothing to do with policemen, it has to do with individuals who take justice into their own hands, which belongs to God alone. That's what this passage is all about. And it's about how evil rises up in the hearts of people to punish one another, to take an eye for an eye, to do things strategically in order to put people in their place.

That's what Jesus is dealing with here. And so he's dealing with personal responses here and then he gives these five, five illustrations. And the first is when you are insulted. Now I'm confident that there's not a single person in this room who has not been insulted. Insulted probably many times.

Insulted by people that you love. I'm confident that there are husbands and wives that have insulted one another and there are wounds in this room today from that. I pray that this is the day where those things are let go and you're set free from the retribution that has been welling up in your mind, in your heart, how you keep repeating things to yourself, the insults that have been said to you, and you have been punishing your spouse by the way that you act. You are taking personal vengeance as a result of that. Now, he says, but I tell you not to resist an evil person, but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.

So this is the slapping on the cheek. This was an insult. This is not someone attacking you with a knife. This is taking something insulting and saying it to someone as exemplified by, you know, like the French way of insulting, like that, you've seen that. And so there's this tendency when we're insulted to hit back.

When I'm treated in a shameful manner, my heart tells me to shame back. When I'm treated in an inhumane manner, I'm tempted to treat in an inhumane manner. Now this just assumes that we're all going to be treated shamefully. So if you've been treated shamefully, Don't think that anything strange has happened to you. God has allowed you to be treated shamefully so that you might glorify Him in His own judgment.

That you would do your part and not usurp His part. Your part is to bless and not curse. His part is to bring the judgment. That's not our job, to bring judgment in that way. And so Jesus is saying, if you are slapped on the right cheek, turn the other to him also.

That doesn't mean that if someone breaks into your house and and attacks you that you let him continue to attack you or or your children or if you're in a church or your church or any other area that we know God has given us specific commands for. And so this is personal retribution because of an insult. We know that love that love suffers long. We know we know that God desires us to bear all things And so Christ is teaching his disciples how to live in a world of insults that come from any direction. They can come from an employer.

It's quite likely that some are here, are taking maybe silent retribution in the heart toward an employer or a spouse or a friend or someone in the church. And that's what Jesus is addressing here. To be a son of the kingdom, we don't take retribution. We leave that in God's hands. So we're forbidden from taking our own revenge.

There are different kinds of retribution. There's the retribution of the heart, where you just keep rolling over and over in your mind how someone has wronged you. If that, if as the Spirit of God searches all the hearts here today, and He finds that, Let this be a place where we're relieved of that spirit of vindication and judgment. Let this be a day of freedom. You know, there is a torturer out there, and that torture is for those who will not forgive, who will not let those off the hook who have offended them.

And so we are being shown how the Pharisees had twisted and distorted the meaning of the law. Luke chapter 6 really clarifies this. Go ahead and turn there. Luke 6, beginning in verse 21, He repeats a number of the things here in Luke, but look at verse 22, Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil for the son of man's sake. Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for indeed your reward is great in heaven, for in like manner their fathers did to the prophets." So Jesus is speaking about this tendency when men hate us, or they exclude us, or they revile us that we just respond in kind.

I'm sure you've heard this old joke about the trucker who comes into the diner and he sits down and he gets his hamburger and his coke and his fries are there and this trucker is there. He's a happy, he's just such a happy man, and some bikers come in and there's three of them, one of them takes a chomp out of his out of his hamburger, another one slugs down his drink and the man just doesn't respond, he goes he pays his bill, he walks out and one of the one of the bikers says he says now now now there's now there's a woman and he says I don't know I don't know who he is but he just ran over three bikes outside there. And that's men take retribution. We want to take retribution a lot of ways. Sometimes it's a quiet way.

Sometimes we, because of our constitution, we act coolly in the moment. But then later on, we take retribution. And that's what Jesus is talking about here. And then he speaks about when the state wants to intrude in your life, or when you're sued for everything you have in verse 40. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.

And so here he's dealing with when you're being sued for everything that you have. And so he's saying that when you're being sued that you're not responding in kind. In 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 6 and 7, the apostle says, why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? And so here the Lord Jesus is dealing with this tendency in us to take everything we can.

And here you're being sued for everything that you have, as he says in verse 40. Let him take your cloak also. You know, this is making an idol out of your self-interest and taking what is being taken from you. In Hebrews chapter 10 verse 34, we read this. 34, we read this.

But recall the former days in which you were illuminated. You endured a great struggle with sufferings, partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated. For you had compassion on me and my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. Therefore, do not cast away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.

For yet a little while, and he who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith, but anyone who draws back my soul has no pleasure in him." So when you're sued for every thing that you have, what he's saying is, let him have the cloak also. And then he speaks of when the state intrudes on your life in verse 41. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him too. And so the Romans were allowed to to demand that their equipment be carried.

And what's being said here is that go ahead and take it. How do you deal with the intrusions of the civil government? And he's saying be ready to go beyond what might even be required. And we have so many institutions that impinge upon us, that challenge this whole matter. We have the TSA and the IRS and OSHA and CPS.

And CPS and what Jesus is saying is that there will be intrusions in your life. Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him too. And what Jesus is saying is this world is not your home. And he's not abrogating every other jurisdiction that you have. No, he's not abrogating your jurisdiction to protect your family.

But what he is saying is that when a soldier engages you, you have a responsibility to that person. And there's the law of kindness that ought to govern us in times like that. And so he says, Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him too. And this is all about being sons of your Father who is generous and gracious. We do have responsibilities of protection.

How far do they go? Here Jesus is saying you have a responsibility to that person, to be a blessing to that person in the midst of the various jurisdictions that are upon you. And so be a blessing to him. He's an individual, and bless that individual somehow. Are you obligated?

Well Jesus says whoever compels you to go one mile, go within two. In other words, that there ought to be some kind of generous spirit in the midst of it that you might be sons of your father, because he is generous and because he is gracious. And to do it cheerfully, there's a person there that needs to be ministered to. You might find an ungodly jurisdiction impending upon your jurisdiction as a father. You might have a visit from the government.

What do you do? Well you have a responsibility to deal with them graciously, not abrogating your responsibility at the same time. We live in a culture of rights. We're a nation that's concerned with our rights, with civil rights and women's rights and children's rights and workers' rights and prisoners' rights and animal rights. And we see everything for how it affects us.

And we think that we are the center of the universe. And so what we understand here is there are various jurisdictions that must stay within their jurisdiction. But what happens to you when a jurisdiction exceeds its own responsibility? Then a Christian must uphold the godly jurisdictions. That's what a Christian must do.

But what Jesus is saying is that you can go the second mile. It doesn't abrogate your jurisdiction. Be a blessing in the world, is what he's saying. And God has given us in our nation the ability to change laws and to work for those things. But at the same time we have to understand that there are godly and there are ungodly jurisdictions.

Here, Jesus is identifying a request that can be granted to an ungodly jurisdiction. So if we can grant it and be a blessing, then we ought to do it. But there are some that we cannot grant. And then he speaks about when someone asks for money in verse 42. Give to him who asks you and from him who wants to borrow from you, do not turn away.

So this is about personal generosity. And in Deuteronomy chapter 15, when we were there last year, we saw that if there's poor among you in your gates, do not harden your hearts against them. And he's contradicting the whole principle of mine is mine and no one has any right to ask for anything. And it will probably happen that someone will ask you for something. And he's not saying that you have to give whatever is asked of you.

If crooks or frauds come and ask for you, you are not always obligated to give that to him. He's speaking of a general principle here to To have grace to those that love somehow sets the pattern. To give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you, do not turn away. So there should be a careful consideration when someone asks us for something, realizing that it's a possession that God has given. We're not obligated to give everything that someone asks us for.

That's a ridiculous interpretation. I mean, when you read this, you have to ask yourself, you know, when you come to a ridiculous application it's probably wrong and that way and a ridiculous application is a crook comes in and wants to get something from you just automatically are obligated to give it to him. That's not what Jesus is saying here. And then he uses the same principle for borrowing. From him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.

The borrowing might be related to loaning at interest. These could be forced loans of some kind. We're not exactly sure. The Old Testament prohibits interest on loans between brothers. And so, but the principle here is that there's a generous disposition, not giving only when you're going to get it back.

But giving even when you know the receiver can never pay it back to give a borrower in that way. If a man asks for a loan in business it doesn't mean that you're obligated to give it, But it means that you shouldn't harden your heart against your brother and you should check yourself and Ask yourself if you have lost a generous spirit in the midst of all of your goings about in your life That somehow you you had you You have become so selfish that you can't let anything be lent out. Well, because you've had a bad experience. You lent out that car and it came back with a broken motor or something like that. You gave someone your prize tool and it came back broken.

So you're never going to lend out again. Jesus is attacking that kind of mentality. So when someone wants to borrow something, then there ought to be consideration of it. So this comes to the end of this fifth illustration that Jesus is giving. You have heard that it was said to those of old, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

And Jesus is attacking the interpretation of the Pharisees in this matter, where they were using retribution one to another personally. And then the sixth and final illustration is in verses 43 to 47. You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you." So this is exactly what the Pharisees taught that you on the one hand, you love your neighbor and you hate your enemy. That was their teaching.

And Jesus is coming against that whole thing. We find, this is contradicted in many places, even in the Old Testament law. If your neighbors, if one of your enemies, ox or donkey is lost or burdened, you're supposed to take that ox or donkey home or unburdened it. That's how you treat your enemies. And Jesus is attacking their misinterpretation of that law.

And he says that we have duties, and the duties are outlined in verse 44. You love your enemies, that's one. What do you do with your enemies? You love them. And then what do you do to those who curse you?

You bless them. And then what do you do to those who curse you? You bless them. And then, what do you do to those who hate you? Do you hate them back?

That would sound reasonable. That's what the Pharisees said. No. You do good to those who hate you. And you pray for those who spitefully use you.

So all of these things are totally counterintuitive to the way that we want to respond. Rather than to love our enemies, we want to do different things to them. Here he says, those who curse you bless them, those who hate you do good. Now I'm pretty confident that most of us have enemies in this room today. And so we have to ask ourselves, how are we acting toward our enemies?

There's this idea in our heads that we pay our enemies back according to the way that they have paid us. And Jesus is saying, no, that's not how the sons of the kingdom operate. You know, I think back on some of my enemies, And while, and I can see ways that I have sinned against my enemies. One way is that while I might in my heart not be grinding away against them. On the other hand, I'm not doing them good.

I'm not doing good things for them. Maybe you're like that. Maybe that's one of the problems that exists here in this church. We have enemies and we've ceased doing good to our enemies. So I would just like to ask us to consider that question.

How are we doing good to our enemies? Have we done any good to our enemies? Have we blessed any of our enemies? These are the kinds of responses that God calls us to bring. And then our identification is very clear in verse 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.

And we are copying the Lord in His mercy. We, while we were yet sinners, while we despised His name, He sent a son. He was gracious to us. We copy the Lord in that, not in his vengeance. And so we identify with our Father that we may be sons of our Father in heaven.

And it proves that we're sons of God. You can tell what a man loves when he's persecuted, or when he has an enemy, or when someone curses him, or when someone hates him, or when somebody is spitefully using him and persecuted you can tell whose son he is. And here Jesus says that this proves that you are sons of your Father in heaven. So there has to be a whole different way that we react. I mean, we have to understand that Jesus is not telling the disciples to throw out all judgment and evaluation and to stop doing what they're commanded to do specifically in various areas of life.

Jesus is not saying that you cease reproving and rebuking and exhorting with great patience. He's not taking that off the table. But what he is doing is he's saying that you have a duty to those who hate you. You might say, well, you know, What if I don't like them? Well, I don't.

The whole matter of liking someone isn't really on the table here. It's your duty to them. We're going to struggle with liking people, people who attack us, people who have shamed us and hated us and persecuted us and maybe even spitefully used us. But whether we like them or not has nothing to do with what our duty is. And we're charged here with a duty that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.

And then he gives an example in verse 45. For he makes his Son rise on the evil and on the good, and sins reign on the just and on the unjust. So here, our example in this is God. God is not our example in retribution, but He is our example in mercy. And there are two categories, the sun and the rain that he gives us.

He causes his sun to rise on the evil of the good and he causes his rain to fall on the just and the unjust. So that's our responsibility in the midst of people who are our enemies, who curse us, who hate us, who spitefully use us, and who persecute us. We have a responsibility to bring the sun and the rain to them, recognizing there is a day of judgment. It is coming. God will judge the world.

There's not one wrong that will be left unjudged. There won't be one single cursing. There will not be one act of hatred. There will not be one spiteful act that will be go unpunished. They will all be punished.

God will vanquishingly punish the wicked. And while God would give the church, church discipline, and while God would give parents the rod, He does not give Vengeance to his children. That's not theirs. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord of Hosts.

And then we're given a contrast in verses 46 and 47. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so.

So here's this contrast regarding brethren and tax collectors. And so of course what Jesus is saying is that we are so self-obsessed that we forget who we are to be with everyone. While we do have jurisdictions, while we have to make distinctions, at the same time we have responsibilities to tax-gathers as well. I'd like you to turn to Romans 12 because I think in Romans 12 you find really a commentary on this section. Look at verse 14, bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse.

Go to 17, repay no one evil for evil, Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. Therefore, if your enemy is hungry, feed him.

If he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap coals of fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." And So Jesus is saying this here in Matthew and the Apostle Paul is taking up the exact same principle as he's speaking to the Roman church. And then finally, he concludes in verse 48, Therefore you shall be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect. Now this is a summary of Christianity.

God takes sinners through His mercy and He makes them His sons. And He makes them like Him. This is the Gospel. That God has mercy on sinners and He makes them finally perfect as He is perfect in heaven. One day we will see Him as He is, and we will be transformed, and we will be changed.

That's the vision that Jesus is presenting here. And it hearkens back to verse 16, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. So here Jesus is dealing with these misapplications of the law to help his disciples understand how they ought to interpret it so that they don't act like the Pharisees. Okay, I want to bring some applications here. First of all, you know, this whole passage of scripture is about the bad things that happen to you.

It's about the way that people abuse you, they curse you, how they say evil things about you, and how they are actually your enemies and what do you do with your enemies how do you act toward them your enemies your enemies could be former friends your enemies could be family members and enemies can come in all all kinds of different different shapes and sizes And we have to understand that all of this is under the providence of God, which is why James says, consider it joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials. This is for the testing of your faith, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Enemies come, and it's not for us to take an eye for an eye with our enemies. We have a certain responsibility to them, to bless them and not curse them. And we can only do that if we understand that we ought to consider it joy.

Our tendency in our hearts is to strike back, to unlawfully apply the law, an eye for an eye. It was meant for the civil magistrate, not for the individual. So when we are abused, consider it joy. Now consider also how much we are governed by people. And we're governed, our whole spirits, our disposition, our attitudes, the way we respond, it's governed by what they do and what they said about us and how they offended us.

And we have to ask the question, are other people controlling us? Or are we fulfilling our role? Are we doing the duties that are outlined here? Because we have a role to play, rather than to be controlled, but rather to bring into the situation something from heaven, the things that are outlined here. That He sends rain on the just and the unjust.

Not only for those who love us, but also for those who hate us. How do we respond when people attack us and assault us? Or how do we respond if people are just willfully disobedient and we treat them in a certain way? It might be a government official who asks us to go one mile. And we say, here's your one mile, you can take it.

Rather than blessing that, we have to understand that's an individual, that's a person. We have a responsibility toward a person. So we have to see people in a different light, that they're instruments really in God's hands, sometimes to chastise us, sometimes so that the blessing of God would come out. So that rather than cursing we would bless, that we would be doing good to those, rather than responding, rather than being the puppets of the people around us. It's so easy to be the puppet of the next attitude that you encounter.

You know, husbands and wives know how true that is. Children know how true that is. Everyone knows how true that is. You become subject to the next attitude that you see. Next attitude that you see.

They're instruments in the Master's hand to sanctify us. So we have to understand that they have a purpose. The hatreds of this world and the slanders of this world have a purpose. They're designed by God. We've been reading Samuel Rutherford this year, his letters, over and over in Rutherford's letters to someone who's suffering, someone who's been maligned, someone who has lost something so dear, someone who's been mistreated.

He always responds the same way to them. He says, remember that it's God's hand that has afflicted you. Aren't you glad it's his hand? Aren't you glad that he is sovereign over all the insults of this world? That's sort of the tenor of all of his letters to the suffering people that he's writing to.

And then the third application has to do with our possessions. How much are we controlled by our possessions? You know, all of these examples are about our possessions. It might be the possession of your reputation and the insults against your reputation. And your desire to just strike back and defend yourself and go after those bad people who insulted you.

Or it might be your physical position. It might be the thing that someone asked of you. They asked money of you, or they asked something that you, some treasured tool or something that you don't want to get broken or lost. How much are we controlled by our possessions? How obsessed are we over what the government took from us?

The government takes a lot from us. Well, if you think it takes a lot, go to Europe and find out how much it takes there. You know, if you're called to be a missionary in Europe, it's going to be a lot worse. It'll be the will of God in your life to have so much of your possessions taken from you. Taken from you.

It often happens that our possessions are plundered, And we should be like the Hebrews who joyfully responded to the plundering of their goods. You know, it's quite likely that many of us are going to lose our property someday. I hope you don't love your property that much, because you might lose it. There are a lot of different ways you can lose your property by an ungodly government. We may lose everything at some point.

We should not be too tied to it. And Jesus is attacking a life controlled by possessions. All of these examples are about some form of a possession, whether it's the riches of your reputation or whether it's the things that you own. Now, the more that we love the world, the more that the injuries hurt. The more that we love the world, the more that the injuries hurt.

The more that we love the world, the more the slanders will hurt us. The more that we love the world, the more that our loss of our possessions will hurt us. Whether we are sued and have nothing left. This also has to do with getting along with various authorities and jurisdictions. How do you relate to authority?

When an authority slaps you, what do you do? Fortunately, we live in a nation where you can actually do things legally and rightly, and we should. When wrong things are done, we have a mechanism to work through, and that's a blessing. That's something that God has given us in this land. And we have an obligation to deal with those kinds of things.

But getting along with authorities is a critical issue here, whether it's an authority, like the Apostle Paul was slapped by an authority, and then he sinned against that authority, and then and then he repented of it. This also identifies a sin that perhaps some of us are engaging in. And that is because of our disposition toward the ungodly, toward the government, toward those who have maybe slandered us, that because of that, the range of our relationships has gotten really small. It's gotten so small that we no longer do good to that person. We no longer bless that person.

We've gotten really narrow. We're so narrow that we can't even hardly look at people without sizing them up and deciding whether I'm going to bless them or curse them. You curse them by treating them wrongly, by not loving them. So often what happens to us is because of offenses. One offense one year, another, another year, another, another, and pretty soon our range of relationships is so narrow.

And here Jesus is saying, no, widen it out. Bless that one who cursed you. Do good to the one who persecuted you. Widen it out. Don't let your range get so narrow that it ends up just you and your little church.

Because when you do, somebody in your church is going to offend you. And it's going to get littler and littler and littler and pretty soon you're just going to be avoiding everyone. So what happens to us is because we embrace truth We begin to get so narrow in our ability to relate with people. And we quit doing good. We quit blessing.

And the whole evangelistic enterprise is destroyed in the church when we do that. I think I said at the beginning, this is an evangelistic text. And so who is it out there for you? Who's been checked off and knocked off the list that needs the blessing from you, that needs the good being done? Who is that?

That's a question that I've considered all week long there is an element there is an element as we understand from Romans chapter 12 that those who cause divisions, you avoid them. So there are certain kinds of people that you should avoid. You have to figure out who those people really are. But my guess is that many of us have so narrowed our range of relationships that we're not able to do what Jesus is telling his disciples to do. And Jesus is a good father.

Jesus is a good shepherd. And he's teaching his disciples how to express his name in the world and how to love the unlovely, to love those who hate him because God allows his rain to fall on the just and on the unjust, and he causes his sun to shine as well. And so often we get it wrong because we get so offended and then we're just relating to a realm of people that's too small. And so we hit back. Now I have I want to have a word particularly with those who are young today.

Because there are people in this room who are older and they have grooved a pattern of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. And they have lots of people that they're playing the eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth game. And they're always holding them in judgment and they never let them off the hook. To forgive means to let someone off the hook, to let them go. And it's for man, it's for man to forgive only in a certain way.

It's for God to go the other way. And If you're young today, understand that you can defile your conscience by continuing in this sin of playing the eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth game. And you might, if you don't get a handle on it now, if you continue in retribution because your father offended you or your friend offended you, understand You can make a pattern in your life where you will never be relieved of this sin like you ought to be. Because it has become such a part of you. I do believe God can rescue all of us from it and set us free.

But I do know this. People can create a culture in their families where their offenses drive the culture of that family. And that's all they talk about, about who offended them. And they never do good to their enemies and they never bless those who persecute them. They always have a bad word to say.

It's so easy to have a bad word to say to those who persecute you and to those who spitefully use you. It's so easy. But let's be really careful not to create family cultures like that. And if you're young now, understand that you have a duty, and the duties are outlined right here. Now, you might say, you know, I don't bless, I do curse, I don't do good to those who've done evil to me, I don't.

And maybe you're convicted by that, that you've done no good to anyone who's persecuted you. And the only comfort that we can take is that God causes His Son to rise on the evil and the good, And he sacrificed his son on the cross to rescue sinners like that. And if you've allowed people and possessions to control you. Don't first of all say I must not be a Christian, because if you're grieved, if you're grieved that you've been that way, then flee. Flee to the only hope of mercy.

Because God does cause His reign to fall. God does have mercy on sinners. But If you're hard in your heart toward those who have done you wrong, then you might not be a Christian. It's possible. And a text like this should help us to search our hearts as to whether we have become so narrow in our ability to relate with people because of offenses, there might be a time of repentance for us as a church.

I know for me there's repentance in this passage for me. And I've had to consider, I've had to consider how much good I've done to those who persecuted me. And I pray that all of us will be able to somehow find our way in this as well. Would you pray with me? Lord, we pray that you would teach us your ways, that you would help us to understand the various responsibilities that we have, that we would seek you with all of our hearts and see if there is any wicked way within us that we would be found in the everlasting way.

That we would do our duty in this world and leave your duty to your own wisdom. Oh Lord, we pray for wisdom in all these things. I pray that you would use this time to cause reconciliation and love and evangelism to flow in this town. That you would use it Lord to send us out to be different when we speak to those who have done us wrong or who are wicked. That you would help us to deal with them rightly in judgment, according to righteousness, in faithfulness to all of your commands, setting none of them aside.

In Jesus' name, Amen.