Reading Matthew with Missional Eyes

For all its importance – and for all its benefits – prayer is the most often  overlooked  spiritual discipline. It is very rare to be part of a small group that does not have at least one member who is struggling to maintain a prayer life. That dynamic is also true among clergy. How could it not? Pastors and church leaders are just people too. We all struggle to spend time in prayer from time to time because prayer is a spiritual exercise. As such it is foreign to both our physical selves and the world we live in. It does not come naturally to take time out of a busy day to engage in a conversation with someone the rest of the world ignores. Reality is that while the Trinity enjoys intimate and complete communication without end, the people He made in His image – living in the world He made expressly for His glory – often carry on our lives not even looking to speak to Him.

That’s ironic, because we are all made for relationship, and the best relationship is one where someone else knows you and loves you anyway. Of course, He knows us completely and thoroughly, for He is our creator. He knows our beginning from our end and the number of days appointed to us. He knows every hair on our heads, every intention and motivation of our hearts. He knows everything there is to know about us, and He knows all that without talking to us and without interrupting the never-ending conversation between Father, Son and Spirit. For He is God, and we are not. 

Still, while we are so far removed from the divine and have nothing to say He does not already know, He yet longs to hear us speaking to Him. Like a father who can’t wait to talk to his children, He stoops down to our level, just to invest in who we are. In spite of our faulty or absent prayer lives, He looks right at us, and He speaks. God speaks through His Word, through His Spirit’s presence, through His still small voice that guides us aright. God speaks through those who have immersed themselves in Him by study and by sitting under solid preaching and teaching. God speaks through circumstance and providence, directing our paths in the way we must go. God can and does speak through innumerable ways and means. God even speaks through creation itself!

We on the other hand, have only one way to speak to Him. The disciple of God must pray. We must pray to understand and to feel understood. We must pray to communicate, and to build a relationship. He knows this. Every relationship we ever engage in begins with speaking. With communication. Our relationship with God is no exception. He knows this, so He has spoken to us that we might know to speak to Him, and how to speak to Him.

We must pray! To that very point Jesus said, “And when you pray..” Not “If”, but “When”. Whenever we can. Whenever we feel we must. Whenever the thought strikes us. This is how the Father lavishes His love on us. The creator of all, the sustainer of all, the One the whole universe answers to – somehow opens His ears to us, bends down to hear us and listens intently to us. Whenever. Whenever we barge into the throne room of grace. Whenever we need forgiveness. Whenever we need a compassionate friend. Whenever we recognize a need. Whenever we are hurt, or are happy, or are bored, or have seen something that reminds us of the privilege we have or experience a prompting to. Whenever we pray. 

How jealous the angels must be. How creation must be amazed. The Father – the King – even God Most High, always having time for His children. Whenever.

Jesus stands ready to take every prayer of ours, however imperfect in knowledge, however feeble in expression, however marred with sorrow, and he presents the purified and perfected prayer with his own merit, and it is sure to speed.

Charles Spurgeon

APPLICATION: Thanksgiving

Pray to express your gratitude to Our Father for the love He so lavishes on us, that His door is always open! 

Jesus has just warned us not to emulate the hypocrites as we give. It does us no good to   seize temporary glory by pointing out our good deeds. Past generations had a phrase for that. They called it, “vainglory”. Vainglory is what we seek when we are afraid that the sacrifice we make for the other’s benefit will go complete unrecognized. Jesus points out that such fear is completely unfounded. What we do in secret is not hidden from Him who sees. “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” 

One of the primary characteristics of God is the attribute of omnipresence. God is everywhere, all the time. Another of His attributes is omniscience. He knows all, and there is nothing hidden from His understanding. The Bible declares, “God understands the way to it [wisdom] and he alone knows where it dwells, for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens,”  and, “He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals the deep and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness.” 

These fundamental traits of the divine tell us that nothing we could ever do is apart from His knowledge of it – not only His knowledge of the event, but of our motives and intents in participating in the event. There is quite literally nothing we could ever keep secret from God. But that doesn’t mean that He’s keen to tell everyone your secrets. There are no secrets with God, but God knows how to keep a secret. 

The most practical out-working of these facts is that we can be ourselves with Him, for He knows our inmost thoughts and intentions and yet still loves us! Another out-working is that we need not fear that He will let any good deed go unrewarded. He knows what we’ve done to honour Him by blessing those He made, and He will make good any ‘loss’ it may be to us. How could He not? It is His nature to bless. So much so that God will never miss an opportunity to bless. How much more certain when He sees His own, acting as Himself! 

Make no mistake, giving in secret is exactly that, if nothing else. It is acting as He does. For God gives to all in secret. He does not physically show up to personally hand you the blessing. He does not write His Name on a card that He sends with it. He just gives it. And He does so from a place of invisibility and a source that we cannot locate. He does that a million times a day. He literally sends rain on the just and the unjust, and He causes the sun the rise on all who walk in the land of the living – and He does much more  besides – without accolades, without demanding applause and without even so much as whispering His Name, every day. God is constantly going about blessing all those He made in His image, and He does so without the slightest fanfare or acclamation. That is who He is.

How it must thrill His heart then, when His children do likewise.

The pardoning grace of God is flowing all day and all night long, all the year round, quietly blessing thousands.

Charles Spurgeon

APPLICATION: Worship

Praise God for the many unassuming and quiet ways He blesses you today. 

Jesus said, “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by   them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.”

Scholars tell us that in Christ’s day people did not blow trumpets to announce their giving. But the metaphorical image of tooting your own horn was already in use, and it is more than likely that Jesus was employing satire. Truly, it does seem ridiculous to us that someone would sound a trumpet when they give to the poor. Yet while it may have been satire on His part in that day, in our world today this actually happens all the time. Only instead of a trumpet, a news conference is called. A newspaper headline is written. A name is carved in stone, a sign erected or a plaque etched. Perhaps we should not judge the proverbial trumpet blower so harshly, for we as a society do exactly that, albeit with different media. Not, mind you, without cause either. We do these things because we want to acknowledge and remember those who, by their own means and exercise, have made life better for others. It is a fitting and proper thing to do for the generous when they have done something for us. 

The key is “for us,” because if what they’ve done is for God, then such recognition is wildly out of place. To do something for a fellow saint (or any made in God’s image) and then expect God to honour you is to not unlike writing a thank you card to your brother, and then expecting your Dad to take you out for ice cream for writing it. It is a blessing to bless others in the first place. After all, to do so one must first be blessed of God. You can only give what has first been given to you, or out of the fruit of the skills and talents you were already blessed with. What is it of yours then – to expect public applause – if God first blesses you in private? 

In fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that the reason we are blessed is to bless others. So to be blessed (in receiving from God) and then be blessed twice more (in assisting your fellow human beings – which is a blessing of itself, and again in being thanked for it) and then expect God to bless again for having done so, is to expect a quadruple blessing for something that was never really ours to start with, while at the same time acknowledging the other’s lack. A more definitive example of hypocrisy is hard to find. 

No, let it be said of us that we are generous without hypocrisy. That we are thankful for the opportunity to bless others, because we recognize God’s already abundant blessing on us to begin with. Let us share in God’s character of being generous to all without fanfare of any kind. Let us give when asked, and also give when not asked. Let us never draw attention to what we are doing whenever we give, no matter the amount or frequency. In this way we better reflect Him.

After all, that is how He treats us. Amen.

So subtle is the sinfulness of the heart that it is possible to take deliberate steps to keep our giving secret from men while simultaneously dwelling on it in our own minds in a spirit of self-congratulation.

John Stott

APPLICATION: Intentionality

God is gracious. If we ask Him in prayer, He will take our sinful pride and silent boasting away. Ask Him to replace it with a greater appreciation of all He has done and is doing for you.

Jesus has already told us to be generous. He said, “Give to the one who asks you, and do   not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” Such should be our attitude whenever someone asks of us. Not of course that He would think only the demanding are worthy, or that our blessing should be exclusively reserved for those who are fortunate enough to have our attention. But rather that we must reflect the heart of God to His creation. Does He not provide sun and rain for all? Does He not provide land and sea for all? Of course He does. Of His character, James writes of God, “who gives to all generously and without criticizing.” It is God’s nature to give, so much so that we can be confident of it. If that is how God treats us, should we not treat our fellow man with equal grace? So Jesus goes further, making it clear that a base expectation of His people is a generous heart, “So when you give to the needy…” 

In saying “When” (some versions say, “whenever”), Jesus implies that the occasion is not rare. That it is repeated. That it is a regular event, although not necessarily scheduled. It also implies that we will be around the poor (or they around us). 

It would be a sad thing if the disciple of God had only the wealthy in their circle of influence and in their field of view. For then we might not have occasion to be generous to the poor, and how then would any find out if they have a gift of generosity? And how would they practice that gift, apart from those who lack what we can give? How would we even know what generosity even was, apart from receiving? And how sad it would be, if we realized we had lack, and there were none with abundance to help! 

It is even sadder when we see someone in need and do not feel some obligation to help. It should greatly alarm us if we see another made in God’s image in want and yet have no compassion for them, no motivation deep within us to help in some way. Indeed, because we are made in God’s image, it is natural and normal to help. One does not need a ‘gift’ of compassion to help a fellow human being. As Mark Aurelius wrote in his work, Meditations: “One man when he has done a service to another is ready to set it down to his account as a favour conferred. Another, while he may not go so far as that, still thinks of the man as his debtor, and is conscious of what he has done. A third does not, if we may so speak, even know what he has done and betrays no consciousness of his kindness, but is like a vine which has produced grapes and seeks for nothing after it has produced the fruit proper to it. As a horse when he has run, a dog when he has caught the game, a bee when it has made its honey, so a man when he has done a good act, does not call out for others to come and see, but goes on to another act, as a vine goes on to produce again grapes in the season. What more do you want when you have done a man a service? Are you not content that you have done something conformable to your nature and do you seek reward for it, as if the eye should demand a recompense for seeing, or the feet for walking?” 

If that is our common nature (and it must be, for we are all made in His image) then the people of God must care all the more. Not just to help others, but to be known as generous, just as God is known as generous. Amen.

Our use of money to help people is a test of the sincerity of our love. It evaluates our real appreciation for the grace God has given to us

Knofel Staton

APPLICATION: Intentionality

Who in your circle of influence is needy? How would Jesus want you to respond?

Right-ness before God includes everything we are and everything we do.  Right-ness is  not only our private meditation upon Him and His word. It is not only our personal prayer life and the quiet reflection of our souls. Right-ness before God (what the Bible calls “righteousness”) is inevitably expressed in our behaviour and habits. Right-ness includes the day to day interactions with family, friends and associates. Right-ness also includes our very public actions too. For life is lived largely in community among others. It includes every act of humility, kindness and generosity we participate in, when and wherever we are.

This fact can easily be manipulated by the demonic lie that if we look and sound right in our community, we will be considered righteous. That how we think and act in private and out of public view is somehow less important, or even worse, irrelevant. Such thinking is a grave error. Righteousness can never be a derivative of some form of impurity. Not public impurity, not private impurity, not even a deeply internal impurity. Impurity in any part of the whole contaminates the whole. As God sees the whole person – past, present and future all at the same time – one’s personal motivation to do something is as plain to Him as the greatest public spectacle we are part of. 

To do public works of righteousness with twisted internal motive is akin to trying to deceive God. On three counts, actually – that of one’s personal witness to God, that of one’s witness to others made in His image, and that of one’s witness to the heavenly beings who serve Him day and night. How could God Most High – holy, holy, holy God – ever reward one who practices such hypocrisy? It will never happen. As Jesus said, “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” 

Not only will the Lord not reward hypocrisy – unless we repent He will eventually reveal it for what it is. What starts out as a private and personal lie eventually becomes widely known public knowledge. This is a spiritual principle that applies to all; “…you may be sure that your sin will find you out!” That means that being mindful of God in public speech while being disrespectful of Him in private action is a recipe for being called out as a fraud – not only before human flesh, but before angels and celestial beings. 

Jesus knows that all those made in His image are made for relationship, and so are prone to heed even the perception of peer pressure. Consequently, Jesus warns us, “Be careful.” Vigilance is called for, because while hypocrisy may be obvious to the objective onlooker, it is invisible to the subjective participant. It lies in wait, hidden like a snare, ready to destroy your witness whenever you trade eternal benefit for the most temporary of compliments. The only sure path forward is to keep one’s motivation and intentions in view, and ever in check. 

Christian righteousness is righteousness unlimited. It must be allowed to penetrate beyond our actions and words to our heart, mind and motives, and to master us even in those hidden, secret places.

John Stott

APPLICATION: Intentionality

Be careful! Regularly check your intentions in prayer, asking Him to reveal to you what really lies behind them.

Jesus summarized the life God is purposing to take the believer into, and at the same time set a very high bar for us to look toward, saying, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Of course, perfection does not mean exact consistency with others – as though we were all clones of each other, acting in unison. Rather, it means flawless “right-ness”. 

Right-ness (aka perfection) is a condition. Like our physical condition, it must be worked on to be gained. Like our physical condition, it must be also be maintained. Even Adam and Eve, who had rightness/perfection, and who lived in a perfect place in perfect peace, needed to work on their condition. In fact, God had warned them to be mindful that they could lose that condition, “…you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” Unfortunately they were not so mindful, and they lost it. That fact is a sobering reminder that our spiritual condition is not a level we get to attain and then keep forever, like a war medal. It is far more a condition like physical fitness.

When an Olympian wins a gold medal, the different muscles, organs and tissues in their body work together – each stretches or contracts as needed, different kinds doing various kinds of ‘works’. Some pump blood, some pump air. Some contain the flowing blood and air. Some move instructions along nerves, some gather information, and some protect others from damage. But each kind does its part exactly as it was both designed and trained to do. It must do its part flawlessly for the athlete to perform well. In fact, if you think about it, you realize it must do its part very, very well for the body to do most anything at all. 

If the heart were to start pumping as hard as it can whenever it wanted – as though to impress the rest of the body – the athlete would be in very sad shape when not competing. They would be in even worse shape if the heart (or any organ for that matter) decided that they wanted to slack off and stopped working altogether. Likewise, perfection (or ‘right-ness’) in the body of Christ means we all become all God meant for us to become, and we all do all that He wants us to do – when and how He wants us to do it. 

For us who are individually members of His body, doing so is exhilarating and meaningful, and when the body as a whole works together with God’s purposes in mind, it is truly beautiful. It accomplishes tremendous good and literally does the work of God’s Kingdom. But it cannot be so if we as individuals only work when and as we wish, instead of entirely on His impulse. In short, there is a right way and a wrong way to work in “right-ness”. It depends entirely on our obedience in timing and action as well as on our own personal sanctification. 

It is true of course that confessing our sins and asking for forgiveness in Jesus’ Name allows that we are washed completely clean of unrighteousness. For the Word says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Yet a lack of unrighteousness does not automatically mean a full storehouse of righteousness. Not only can you lose your right-ness through disobedience, trying to gain right-ness the wrong way can result in no gain at all. 

Physically exercising the wrong way results in strains, pulled muscles and injuries. That hurts rather than helps. It restricts future movement, often for a significant period of time. In the same way, so also does doing the right things for the wrong reason or at the wrong time. As His body, we must pay heed to what the Head of the Church told us. For He warned us of the dangers of inappropriate spiritual exercise, saying, “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”

God made humans for a purpose: not simply for themselves, not simply so that they could be in relationship with him, but so that through them, as his image-bearers, he could bring his wise, glad, fruitful order to the world.

Tom Wright

APPLICATION: Intentionality

How are you practicing your righteousness? 

From Matthew 5:17 to 5:47, Jesus speaks about the true nature of the Law  and how to live rightly by it. Over and over He says, “You have heard it said…but I say to you.” Taken as a whole, we see that He was addressing a legalistic reading of God’s Law. He had seen how the teachers of the Law had misapplied God’s Word and so misdirected His people. So He took time to correct the core misunderstandings. Jesus now makes a declaration that puts the final nail in legalism’s coffin, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” 

Christ’s command to be perfect is a great antithesis to self-justification. God’s standard leaves no room for pride, only humility. For who among us is perfect? Apart from the mentally ill, all of us realize that we are not perfect. We might be OK. We might be good. We might even be very good in our own estimation. But no reasonable person claims to be perfect. Only God is perfect. 

John Nolland wrote, “One must go all the way in obeying the will of God; one cannot be content with some circumscribed version of obeying God’s will.” This is the crux of the matter; What use is the half-hearted disciple? Rather like a fair-weather friend, they are only there to capture select blessings of the relationship instead of the whole. The legalist seeks not to fulfill the Law, but to justify themselves independent of character or thought. Focusing only on behavior, they take what was meant to be about God and His purpose, and make it all about themselves. Effectively, they whittle down God’s intention and make it into an unhelpful burden instead of a declaration of His glory.

That was never God’s plan for His disciples. Thousands of years earlier, the Father had said to Abraham, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.” Moses had reiterated that same command to the new Israelite nation, “You must be blameless before the Lord your God.” Such statements mandate regular and careful consideration of both one’s ways and one’s thinking. The true disciple makes space in their lives to re-evaluate themselves in light of God’s perfection.

The thing is, every time we do that we find we are falling short in some capacity or another. Our brokenness is exposed. But rather than use the revelation of another gap in our lives as a stepping-stone to self-criticism and despair, the disciple leans into the love of God and repents. Repentance becomes a springboard, launching us into a deeper relationship with the Father. As a result, we find His love more than sufficient to heal us, closing that gap and making more like the risen Christ. 

We find that God’s command to be perfect was not to crush us, but to make us stronger. For in humility before Him, we find certain hope that one day He will make us perfect. We will be free from sin forever – literally perfect, and able to perfectly enjoy God in His perfection without fear of being destroyed by His flawless holiness. Amen. 

We are not perfect. But we can be consistent. And we can consistently work at becoming perfect as Jesus is perfect.

Anonymous

APPLICATION: Worship 

Praise God for His glorious grace to us. Praise God for His patience endurance to us. Praise God for His commitment to us. Praise God for His plans and purposes for us. Praise God for His holy perfection.

No parent expects much from the children of others. But they do have  expectations of  their own kids. God does too. Jesus said, “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?”

There comes a day in most every parent’s life when they purpose to bless their child, and yet find that before they can do so, the child acts out in a most unacceptable manner. The parent’s plan must be re-accessed. They realize the blessing must be withheld – at least for a time. But holding the blessing back is grievous. Not to the child, who was altogether unaware of the blessing to be had. Rather, it hurts the parent. They know the day was supposed to be one of celebration, and instead has turned to a day of punishment. Their imminent joy at the child’s happiness has been stolen from them, and that by the very one they meant to bless. 

If that is so for us, how much more so for God? For it is His nature to bless. How He longs to bless His children! How it must grieve Him when He has to withhold blessing on account of His son or daughter’s selfishness!  

God is the giver of life. The sustainer of life. The One who purposes that we might live an abundant life. God is the one who provides for this life, and died on the cross that we might live forever. We have a most gracious and generous Father! So much so that even while we were running about getting on with our lives and largely if not totally ignorant of Him and His mission, Jesus was building and preparing a place for us in His Father’s house, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.”

In consideration then, it must not be that we should do only as the ungodly do. For even the greedy and selfish love those who love them. Even secularists show hospitality to other secularists. God’s children surely must have a higher standard than that, do they not? Surely the child of God will not act as the world acts. Or as a Muslim acts, or as a Hindu or Bhuddist acts. Surely a Christian (literally ‘little Christ’) would do as Jesus would do. And Jesus has already told us, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

Jesus has no illusion that doing so is easy. He speaks using the language of reward, because He knows that we need some kind of promise that doing so will be ‘worth it’. In a way that is really sad, because all through our existence God has been showing us that He is worth it. But if we ever needed one more reason, here it is. Act like Jesus, and know that it will be worth it. There is a reward for being like Him in character, and in outlook, and in deed. For if He died for us while we were still sinners, what more will He do for us when we truly are and act as His children?

Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.

Jesus (Revelation 22:12)

APPLICATION: Thankfulness 

Thank the Lord for the blessings you enjoy today, His bountiful blessings you will enjoy yet in life, and the unimaginable blessings you will enjoy in His presence forever. 

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be  sons of your  Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?”

Every citizen of a country gets to enjoy the blessings of that country. They have the right to protection by the state against foreign aggressors. They have the privilege of participating in that country’s institutions and economy. They can go about their lives as every other citizen can – quite independently of whether they like their government or not. They may even be subversive to a some degree, but because they are citizens their country is obligated to protect and care for them. The whole world innately recognizes the injustice of leaders who do not protect and care for their citizens.

God owns all the world, and as King of the World, He blesses all who bear His image. All who He created He cares for. All who He created can enjoy the life He gave them – even quite apart from any repentance on their part. They live a lifetime as all of us live a lifetime. To see morning after evening. To see rain as well as sun. God blesses them and us so that all might know that He is God and not a man. For surely no mere man (or woman) would be so gracious in blessing their enemies! 

Yet God goes much further. Every day His enemies have breath is another gift to them. Another opportunity for them to turn in repentance, and though they are enemies, in repentance they receive complete amnesty! “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” All it takes for a sinner to become a child of God Most High is for the sinner to call on His Name. As Joel prophesied, “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” That is the bar – the entry to salvation, the price of eternal freedom. Just to call on the Name of the Lord. 

Regular people are never so quick to forgive. Never so quick to bless. Neither are earthly kings – they are usually very slow to bless, and hardly ever forgive. But God’s character is such that He does forgive. He does bless. In fact, He is constantly seeking for the sinner to come to that point of repentance so that He can bless much more. He gives the sinner breath and time and speaks to them in all manner of ways, going so far as to write down His promises in His Word. He goes further still, making provision in the past for their present sin, and preparing storehouses of blessing for future days. This is how He treats His enemies! Why, even hanging from the cross, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Loving our enemies as God does is hardly a natural inclination. It is difficult to love our friends consistently, let alone care about someone who cares not for you – and much harder still to care for (let alone love) someone who is working against you. Yet God loved us while we were still sinners. So what Jesus says, He does not suggest. He commands, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.”

It is a command borne entirely out of God’s love for us. It is a command to be blessed as God is blessed. It is a command for our benefit as well as the benefit of the one we love instead of hate.

Amen.

Jesus directs us to love others in exactly the same way he loves us.

Henry & Richard Blackaby

APPLICATION: Worship 

Worship God for so loving us that He purposes we would reflect His innate character to all – even those people who are still working against Him.

Does God ever hate? Does He ever hate a person? These are legitimate  questions.  Philosophers ask them. Theologians ask them. Soldiers ask them. Everyone who’s ever felt crushed and abandoned by Him asks them. 

All who read the Bible find the answer.

Psalm 11:5 says, “The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates.”  Psalm 5:5-6 declares, “The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong. You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the Lord abhors.” Proverbs informs us, “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.”  

Reading that, one must conclude that yes, God does hate. One might even be tempted to conclude that God hates some people. Yet what God is saying is not that He created some people so that He might despise them, but that what those people do sets them up as His enemies. Our sin is part of us, and unless and until we repent we are inseparable from their sin, so the unrepentant go the way of their sin. That is, they ultimately go to the same place as their sin was always determined to go – to the same place all God’s enemies go – to complete and utter destruction. 

This then shows us the great mercy of the cross of Christ. For at that junction point, we find forgiveness for our sins – not because God overlooks our sin when we turn to the cross, but because at that point He separates those who call on Him from their sin; The sin He leaves on the cross, the person He made in His image He raises from the dead at the last day. As the Word affirms; “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.”

It is true that God hates the wicked and those who love violence, and even hates all who do wrong. Yet God does not rush to do harm to them. God’s hatred is nothing like our hatred. We hate unto violence and destruction. God hates unto redemption and restoration. He hates sin and yet died to restore the person. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 

Unfortunately we cannot see the difference between a person and their sin. So if we permit ourselves to hate a sinner, we will hate the person that God still loves – the person Christ died for, the person for whom God did literally all He can to redeem from their sin. God knows that, so He knows that the only way for us to manifest His character when we are faced with a person who is sinful is to love them anyway. Thus we hear Jesus telling us, “I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Amen.

Jesus did not simply define neighbor as friend, our group or someone who treats us nicely. We are to love the man who does something mean and nasty to us, the man who deliberately sabotages us.

Francis A. Schaeffer

APPLICATION: Intentionality 

Today, deliberately find what you can do to bring the blessing of God to those you do not like.