[audio:http://crosschurch.net/media/audio/11feb06.mp3]
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Sermon Outline:
“Love Your Enemy.” (Matt. 5:43-48)
Sermon Text:
Matt. 5:43-48
Love Your Enemies
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is 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. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Sermon Notes:
Thinking Biblically
I am delighted to welcome to the pulpit today one of our missionaries, Steve Reitz. As you know, Steve and Kim and their family are missionaries to Bosnia and have shared recently with us some of the joys and trials of ministry there. I asked Steve to preach today because this next week they head back to Bosnia and we won’t see them for another two years. So this is a wonderful blessing to have Steve deliver the Word of God to us today. Please continue to pray for them in regards to their safety, their provision, and their ministry in the gospel among the Muslim people.
We looked at what biblical love is in detail a few weeks ago during our series on “The Covenant Community of Faith.” We saw that biblical love is five things: unmerited (we can’t earn it); undeserved (we’re not worthy of it); unfailing (nothing can separate us from it); self-sacrificial (serving others); and unreciprocated (we can never repay it). This morning, Steve will challenge us all to love our enemies through the words of our Lord Jesus taken from the Sermon on the Mount. May we be this kind of covenant community everyday in the world God has sovereignly placed us. –Pastor Camp
The Challenge
Jesus challenges Jewish tradition and rabbinical teaching about love.
Your love is ________________.
You’ve been told your pride is __________ and your prejudice __________.
Jesus says Kingdom character is indiscriminate; it loves friend and foe just the same.
The Correction (Luke 10:30-36)
But wishing to __________himself, he said to Jesus “And who is my neighbor?”
Which of these three proved to be a ___________ to the man who fell into the robbers hands?
Your neighbor is ___________in your path in need.
The Command
Love anyone in your path in need.
Love is not necessarily _____________.
Love is an act of __________________.
John 13:5
1 Cor. 13:4-7
