Saturday, December 04, 2010

An Impossible Command

“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, “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. “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? (Matthew 5:43-47, NKJV).
An Impossible Command
Our job as Christians is to allow Christ's work of sanctification to proceed in our hearts so that we are conformed into His image - becoming increasingly like Him. It is a tall order, not so much because of the necessary transformation involved, because He does that within us, but because of the self-surrender involved. The largest, most horrific part of that surrender from our perspective is relinquishing our PRIDE.

I am continually amazed at how evil my own pride is, and how deeply embedded it is in who I am and how I think and feel. I am convinced PRIDE is a direct result of the Fall and the center of the maelstrom of all sin throughout human history. It is the single most destructive element in the Universe, and is the father of everything that defiles, defies God, and demolishes good.

And yet - and yet - pride is precisely that which we hold onto the most dearly. It is the most difficult enemy besides death itself to overcome. It is the most effective weapon the Enemy has in his arsenal in the war against God, and it is why a man will go screaming defiantly into eternal punishment rather than reach out to a loving God and be saved.

In these verses above, Jesus' commands are each direct challenges to our own rancorous, un-killable pride. The Old Testament directed Israel to love its neighbor, but the Lord goes so far beyond that simple command into the realm of utter impossibility and exhorts His followers to love our enemies. Why? Because that is exactly what He has done in loving us. Prior to being saved, each Christian, like all unbelievers, are implacable enemies of God. They HATE God and all things pertaining to God. Do you want proof? Look around at the evidence of the long war against God. See how people truly react at the name of Jesus. You who may be reading this who do not believe that Christianity is true, honestly examine the contempt in your heart at the thought of the Lord Jesus Christ, and at what His disciples do and say. Be assured that the underlying foundation of your contempt, regardless of how cleverly it is disguised, is your own pride, which I have undoubtedly just offended. Believe me, I know.

Biblical love is an action not a feeling, so Christ follows the order to love with tangible demonstrations of that love. We are to bless, do good, and pray for those who seek our humiliation or end, or desire to cause us hardship or pain. These actions are the brass tacks of Christian obedience. It is easy to SAY one thing, but DO the opposite. Jesus does not leave us that loophole. The saying is meaningless without the doing.  Again, why are we so commanded? That we may prove to the world our familial relationship to God by faith in His Son. REAL Christianity is soul deep. It is not a situational thing at all. As members of the family of God, we are to resemble Him, whether or not anyone is watching. We are to be godly, and that means doing in His strength with a heart purified by His Spirit within us precisely those things which our pride rails against with such ferocity. God, our Father, pours out His goodness is so many forms on all the inhabitants of the earth, the good, the bad and the ugly.

Again the reason behind this is His desire to transform us into His image. It is such a heart-felt goal on His part that He submitted to death on the Cross to make it possible. And He knows it is incredibly difficult to kill our pride so throughout His Word he provides us with both positive and negative incentives. Here, the inducement is reward.

Tax Collectors were the most despised members of ancient Jewish society it was possible to be. They were traitors to the Nation and all it stood for, and gloated in the profit they received because of it. Their job was to meet Rome's tax requirements, while simultaneously rewarding themselves with as much additional money they could extort from their fellow citizens. Some were incomprehensibly ruthless in their endeavors, hiring a small army of bodyguards and thugs to intimidate and threaten the unprotected citizenry. All were hated. They were the perfect illustration of all that was despicable about outwardly respectable human beings, yet even these miscreants were capable of loving and greeting family and friends.

Jesus' logic in using them as examples of self-serving goodness was impeccable. If they could love and be loved, as exploitively evil as they were, what possible reward could any of us expect for doing the same self-serving things. The answer was a resounding NONE.

Any act of kindness or goodness done in human strength without that person being regenerated through faith in Christ is irremediably contaminated and polluted. In essence, it is neither kind nor good, but a filthy, bloody rag in the eyes of a holy and righteous God. That is the thing that the Lord is conveying so brilliantly, though so simply. Without Him, we can do nothing. With Him, we can do all things - even win the battle against our own stinking, merciless, self-serving pride.

The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate. (Proverbs 8:13, NKJV).
Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18, NKJV). 
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:29, NKJV).
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2, NKJV).
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, (Philippians 3:10, NKJV).
who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. (Philippians 3:21, NKJV).
But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, (2 Thessalonians 2:13, NKJV).
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (John 15:5, NKJV).
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13, NKJV).