1 John 4:19 says, “We love Him, because He first loved us.” For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Without God’s having loved us first, we would not have the capacity to love Him in return. God was the prime mover. He loved us not because of who we are but because of who He is. For God is love and in Him there is no darkness at all.
This week Michael writes that the sermon on the mount began with Jesus’ teaching the multitude about the way to the kingdom of heaven, to put God first by loving Him above all. Approaching the Lord begins with a heart of meekness and humility. When we approach His throne with a broken and a contrite heart, realizing we are poor, lacking in the spirit of God and mourning over the sin that has separated our heart from His heart, He will fill us with His Holy Spirit and comfort us with the comfort of His Spirit.
The people had never heard a message like this. They had been to the synagogues and to the temple and listened to the teachers, Scribes and Pharisees. However, unlike the religious leaders, Jesus did not speak with great swelling words of vanity, but in the power and authority of God’s Spirit. He laid bare the hypocrisy of the religious leaders. They misrepresented the path of righteousness by telling the people that they were justified by their own good works. Jesus said, they have their reward ... their reward is of men but not of God.
Jesus contrasted the teachings of the religious leaders with the truth of the authority of the word of God. Six times, Jesus said, You have heard.... but I say unto you. He exposed and explained the false teachings of the religious leaders. Jesus said, You have heard it said that you should hate your enemies but I say unto you, love your enemies and do good unto those who persecute you and despitefully use you. If the law requires you to carry a Roman soldier’s pack one mile, then go a second mile. The first mile is of obligation, the second mile is motivated by the love of God to serve others from a heart of Love.
The Pharisees said, how can anything good come out of Nazareth? They did not understand Jesus’ message of salvation and redemption by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. They were blind and could not see from a spiritual perspective because they did not have the Spirit of God to see and perceive the truth of the Word of God. They were blinded by their own pride and by their conviction that they were right in their own self-righteousness. They thought they were the only ones deserving of righteousness by keeping their interpretation of the Old Testament Law and that they alone were deserving of righteousness. They thought everyone else was guilty of condemnation and death.
Jesus said, Unless your righteousness is above the righteousness of the Pharisees, you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. The Pharisees thought they were righteous and that Jesus was not. They railed against Jesus for ministering to sinners, the downcast, down trodden and destitute of this world. Jesus said, I have not come to minster to those who think they are healthy but to those who know they are sick and in need of God’s healing wholeness.
We are in the midst of a spiritual battle. In the Old Testament, the enemies of Israel represented sin and the contamination of the wickedness and evil of this fallen world. The Amalekites were the enemies of God’s chosen people and worshipped the wrong god. God said through his prophet Samuel to Saul the king of Israel, “You need to eliminate and utterly destroy the Amalekites. You need to purge the evil from this land in order for God’s righteousness to prevail.” However, Saul preserved the king of the Amalekites and the best of the cattle and sheep. This was a sign of the downfall of Saul’s reign as king over Israel for disobeying God’s commandment.
Let's continue Michael's message on the Love of God in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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