In 1958, Dr. Normal Pittenger published “A Critique of C.S. Lewis.” One of his most notable criticisms was that Lewis did not care much for the Sermon on the Mount. In Lewis’s “Rejoinder to Dr. Pittneger,” he responded:
“As to ‘caring for’ the Sermon on the Mount, if ‘caring for’ here means ‘liking’ or enjoying, I suppose no one ‘cares for’ it. Who can like being knocked flat on his face by a sledge hammer? I can hardly imagine a more deadly spiritual condition than that of a man who can read that passage with tranquil pleasure.”
That would be an accurate statement of how I personally have come to feel about this series and truth we have been studying. The Beatitudes alone deliver eight startling blows that could even make us question the genuineness of our faith. They are followed by the powerful and inescapable metaphors of salt and light and before making the transition we are confronted by these words: “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
For the last couple of weeks we have jumped back into this series and landed in the middle of six illustrations of what our righteousness should look like. Jesus pulled no punches. He dealt with the things that threaten to ruin our lives if not surrendered to Him.
Alexander Whyte, the classic preacher, almost lost his arm when he was a little boy. He would have been taken to the hospital to have it amputated if it were not for a neighbor lady who said she would nurse him back to health, and she did. As the arm was healing, Whyte went through intense pain. But the woman would say, “I like the pain. I like the pain. . .” because that meant he had feeling in his arm and it was healing. As a result, when Whyte preached he often would say, “I like the pain. I like the pain.” This is not unlike what the sincere Christ follower will experience when taking the Sermon on the Mount to heart.
We now come to our Lord’s interpretation and instructions regarding love. He gives us basic instructions for how to build an expansive and inclusive love into our lives. It is one thing to love those who love you or those that you know but to love someone outside your area of comfort or to love someone who doesn’t love you at all is something that only God can help you do.
A story in the Sunshine Magazine about a professor of psychology illustrates how difficult it is to love others. Although he had no children of his own, whenever he saw a neighbor scolding a child for some wrongdoing, he would say, "You should love your boy, not punish him." One hot summer afternoon the professor was doing some repair work on a concrete driveway leading to his garage. Tired out after several hours of work, he laid down the towel, wiped the perspiration from his forehead, and started toward the house. Just then out of the corner of his eye he saw a mischievous little boy putting his foot into the fresh cement. He rushed over, grabbed him, and was about to spank him severely when a neighbor leaned from a window and said, "Watch it, Professor! Don’t you remember? You must ’love’ the child!" At this, he yelled back furiously, "I do love him in the abstract but not in the concrete!"
Jesus is not talking abstracts in the Sermon on the Mount.
43 “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’[r] and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies![s] Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends,[t] how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:43-38 
1. The Traditional Teaching: Limited love
43 “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’[r] and hate your enemy.”
In Jesus day this was the traditional teaching that the man on the street was taught. This was taught by the religious establishment but the words “hate your enemy” were added by Jewish scholars. They were added because they interpreted the words, “love your neighbor” to be talking about their fellow countrymen.
They did this because of the times in the Old Testament when God ordered them to exterminate the unrighteous Canaanites for instance. What they did not make allowances for was the fact that these commands from God were judicial and never individual.
The Old Testament clearly teaches kindness toward your enemies. In Exodus 23:4-5 we read these words: 4 “If you come upon your enemy’s ox or donkey that has strayed away, take it back to its owner. 5 If you see that the donkey of someone who hates you has collapsed under its load, do not walk by. Instead, stop and help.”
In Romans 12:20, the writer is quoting from Proverbs 25:21 with these words: “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.”[h] 21 Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.” By the time Jesus was speaking these words the hatred of foreigners was so institutionalized that the Jews thought they were honoring God by despising anyone who was not Jewish.
It reminds of that more recent poor attempt at poetry:
Believe as I believe, no more no less;
That I am right, and no one else confess;
Feel as I feel, think only as I think;
Eat what I eat, and drink what I drink;
Look as I look, do always as I do;
Then only then, will I fellowship with you. –source unknown
You know it is one thing to look back into biblical history and see what they were taught but what do you think? How do you treat your enemies? How do we respond to the person who crosses us, cuts us off not just on the highway but in life?
Erwin Lutzer, wrote these words:
Perhaps you read the story about a woman and her husband who came to a pastor and said, "We’re going to get a divorce, but we want to come to make sure that you approve of it." There are people who come to the pastor hoping that when they say there is no feeling left in their marriage, the pastor will say, "Well, if there’s no feeling left, then, the only thing you can do is split."
Instead, the pastor says to the husband, "The Bible says you’re to love your wife as Jesus Christ loved the church."
He says, "Oh, I can’t do that."
The pastor says, "If you can’t begin at that level, then begin on a lower level. You’re supposed to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Can you at least love her as you would love a neighbor?"
The husband says, "No. That’s still too high a level."
The pastor says, "The Bible says, Love your enemies. Begin there."
"Learning to Love," Preaching Today, Tape No. 99.
You see it’s a standard that lays crossways across our lives. This teaching of Jesus forces us to face ourselves and think. 
2. The Lord’s Teaching: Unlimited love
44 “But I say, love your enemies![s] Pray for those who persecute you!”
For Jesus to speak these words as a religious teacher was radical and beyond anything those listening had ever heard. Jesus commanded a love without limits that loves everyone regardless of what they say or do to us. This is truly revolutionary teaching. In fact, if just those of us in this room practiced this it would begin to change our entire community.
To be fair to this study I think we need to find out why Jesus ordered us to love in this way. I believe He gives us two reasons.
A. “...you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.” (45)
The illustration that is given by Jesus is that the sun rises on the evil as well as the good. It rains on the field of the righteous farmer and the unrighteous farmer. In other words, if you want to be like your Father in heaven you will show no partiality. If you show as much love to your enemies as you show to your friends you will be a reflection of God.
Dr. Harry Ironside was in Ganado Arizona many years ago at a Presbyterian Mission Hospital. While there he met a poor Navajo woman who had been nursed back to health through the consecrated work of a Christian doctor and the Navajo nurses. She had been cast out by her own people when they thought she was going to die, and was found after three or four days of exposure. After nine weeks in the hospital she recovered enough to begin to wonder about the unexpected care she received. She said to one of the nurses, “I can’t understand it. Why did the doctor do all that for me? He is a white man, and I am an Indian. I never heard of anything like this before.”
The Navajo nurse, a Christian, said to her, “You know, it is the love of Christ that made him do that.” She said, “Who is this Christ? Tell me more about him.” The nurse called a missionary to explain the gospel. The staff began to pray. Several weeks passed. Then a day came when she was asked, “Can’t you trust this Savior, turn from the idols you have worshipped and truth him as the Son of the living God?” As the Navajo woman pondered her answer, the door opened and the doctor stepped in. The face of the old woman lit up. She said, “If Jesus is anything like this doctor, I can trust him forever.” She came to the Lord Jesus Christ and accepted him as her Savior.
Do you know what it was that reached her? It was love. Simple righteous, godly love.
B. “46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that?”
This question goes the heart of this sermon today. As Christ followers we should be different than those who love those who love them. There is something different about a genuine follower of Christ and that is all inclusive love.
“When we hate our enemies we give them power over us - power over our sleep, our appetites, our happiness. They would dance with joy if they knew how much they were worrying us. Our hate is not hurting them at all, but it is turning our days & our nights into hellish turmoil.” --Dale Carnegie
Jesus takes us to a place that touches us in every area of our lives. 
3. Practicing Unlimited Love
“But I say, love your enemies”
There it is in black and white. You and I have to deal with it. Can we just stop for a moment and think about it. Maybe ask yourself who is your greatest enemy right now. Is it a family member? Is it a neighbor or a co-worker? Is it someone you used to have a relationship with? Is it someone around the world that you have never met? Is it Osama Ben Laden or someone you disagree with politically? Is it the Taliban?
You see this message has ramifications at levels that range from deeply personal to those that threaten to engulf the entire world. As those professing to be followers of Christ we should be trying to figure out what it means.
45 “In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.”
This thought should dominate our lives: Are we acting as true Children of our Father in heaven?
How in the world can we do that? Jesus included that in this message. Remember last week. We learned about turning the other cheek, giving away more than was asked of us and going the extra mile. That message really connects with this one. It is all about loving those that frankly are hard to love.
Let’s look one more time at the scripture lesson today:
43 “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’[r] and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies![s] Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends,[t] how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:43-38
A. Love them
B. Pray for them
I love the line that Jesus included here. He said we could be acting as true children of our Heavenly Father but then He said this: “For He gives His sunlight to both evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.”
You and I don’t get the option of playing favorites. We are to live in this world and love every one equally. There was probably nothing more nauseating to me than watching church people during the 90’s. President Bill Clinton was viewed with pure hatred by many people who think nothing of calling themselves Christians. I am not talking about politics or morality right now so here what I am saying. The bible’s standard is simple: Pray for those who are in authority over you. Yet I watched and listened to people in Sunday school classes, small groups, dinner conversations and even church sanctuaries and pulpits engage in hateful sarcastic and often ungodly conversations. I dare say most of you who did that kind of thing have never uttered a prayer for Bill Clinton in your life.
You know what I am hungry for? Authentic Christianity and to be around a group of people who will read this book (the Bible) and pray hard that God will help them live it out.
We quote C.S. Lewis a lot around here and this time I am repeating one I have used before.
“The rule for all of us is profoundly simple. Do not waste your time bothering whether you “love” your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn you will find yourself disliking him less. . .The difference between a Christian and worldly man is not that the worldly man has only affections or “likings” and the Christian has only “charity.” The worldly man treats certain people kindly, because he likes them; The Christian, trying to treat every one kindly, finds himself being liking more and more people as he goes on – including people he could not even have imagined himself liking at the beginning.” – C.S. Lewis
A woman wrote to "Pulpit Helps" to explain a miraculous lesson her family experienced. During one of their family Bible readings as new Christians, they ran across the verse, "If your enemy is hungry, feed him" (Romans 12:20 RSV). She writes:
Ours sons, 7 and 10 at the time, were especially puzzled. "Why should you feed your enemy?" they wondered. My husband and I wondered too, but the only answer John could think of to give the boys was, "We’re supposed to because God says so." It never occurred to us that we would soon learn why.
Day after day John Jr. came home from school complaining about a classmate who sat behind him in 5th grade. "Bob keeps jabbing me when Miss Smith isn’t looking. One of these days, when we’re out on the play ground, I’m going to jab him back.
I was ready to go down to the school and jab Bob myself. Obviously the boy was a brat. Besides, why wasn’t Miss Smith doing a better job with her kids? I’d better give her an oral jab, too, at the same time!"
I was till fuming over this injustice to John Jr. when his 7 year old brother spoke up: "Maybe he should feed his enemy." The 3 of us were startled.
None of us was sure about this "enemy" business. It didn’t seem that an enemy would be in the 5th grade. An enemy was someone who was way off... well, somewhere.
We all looked at John. Since he was the head of the family , he should come up with the solution. But the only answer he could offer was the same one he had give before: "I guess we should because God said so."
"Well," I asked John Jr., "do you know what Bob likes to eat? If you’re going to feed him, you may as well get something he likes." "Jelly beans," he almost shouted, "Bob just loves jelly beans."
So we bought a bag of jelly beans for him to take to school the next day, and decided that the next time Bob jabbed John Jr., John was simply to turn around and deposit the bag on his "enemy’s" desk. We would see whether or not this enemy feeding worked.
The next afternoon, the boys rushed home from the school bus and John Jr. called ahead, "It worked, Mom! It worked." I wanted the details: "What did Bob do? What did he say?"
"He was so surprised he didn’t say anything - he just took the jelly beans. But he didn’t jab me the rest of the day!" In time, John Jr. and Bob became the best of friends - all because of a little bag of Jelly Beans.
Both of our sons subsequently because missionaries on foreign fields. Their way of showing friendship with any "enemies" of the faith was to invite the inhabitants of those countries into their own homes to share food with them around their own tables.
It seems "enemies" are always hungry. Maybe that’s why God said to feed them.
AGAIN – so much of what Jesus teaches is just nuts according to the world… he taught THAT…
Nietzsche was right. To a people clawing their way to reach the top of the their dung heap, this is nuts. The gospel presents crazy ways of thinking about power, crazy definitions of success, crazy ideas and images about the meaning and purpose of life, crazy story-lines that no author would plot (Leonard Sweet, Jesus Drives Me Crazy)
Closing benediction:
“Practice the presence of Christ.
Ponder the Scriptures.
Pray daily in private.
Serve others in Christ’s name.
To widows an orphans, the poor and oppressed,
Withhold no good deeds, spiritual or financial.
As you live this way, you will find those most needy of God,
You will find yourself, and you will be found. Amen.