Be Perfect

Mat 5:2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying…

Mat 5:43  Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

Lev 19:18  Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

Psa 139:21  Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?

Psa 139:22  I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.

Love and hate.

Psa_97:10  Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.

Pro_8:13  The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

Loving the Lord means hating evil.

The distinction of who is evil isn't ours to make.

God made the distinction in times past. There were entire groups of people who were evil continually-

Gen_6:5  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Gen 6:7  And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

Gen 6:8  But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

Gen_13:13  But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.

Gen 18:32  And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake.

Gen_19:24  Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven

Only Noah and his family were spared destruction- all others were EVIL.  That included all the men, women and yes, children alive at the time. Evil children? God who knows the end from the  beginning has mercy on the little children, and even though we do not want to admit it, often death is mercy when life is surrounded only by evil. Will those innocents who died be Christ's at His return? Yes. All innocents caught up in such happenstances- spared the existence of life geared towards a life of evil- they are honestly  blessed by God in this.  We can't know the heart of men, but God alone can and if HE deems innocent lives are to be taken, He does it out of a mercy we can't comprehend. He knows the paths, and ONLY HE knows what is necessary for us to seek and find His amazing grace.

We are to hate evil.

We are to hate the evil we commit and the evil others commit.

We are NOT to hate those who commit evil, but rather hate the evil they commit.

There is a distinction between evil and the evil doer.

I can hate the evil lies someone tells, without hating the one telling the lies.

Jesus hates sin, but loves the sinner.

We have to hate sin and love the sinner just as He does.

Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you

LOVE your enemies.

BLESS them that curse you.

DO GOOD to them that hate you.

PRAY for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.

LOVE

BLESS
DO GOOD
PRAY

Why do this? Why love, bless, do good, and pray for those who are your enemies, cursing you, hating you, despitefully using you and persecuting you? WHY?!

Mat 5:45  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

So we may be the CHILDREN OF GOD, OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN.

He allows the evil to exist along with the good, allowing the good to reveal His mercy to the evil. Evil unrepentant and embraced wholly reveals the horror of the father of lies, the originator of sin.

Good and evil, the just and unjust.  GOD ALONE knows the heart and the choices every person makes. God alone has the power to destroy the evil, we cannot presume that even the most evil person alive will not repent, giving their life to JESUS accepting SALVATION in Him. If we choose to hate the person we are denying them the example we could provide for the LOVE that our SAVIOR has bestowed upon us wretched sinners. Jesus has EVERY RIGHT to hate us sinners, instead He chose to LOVE US and LEAD US to HIM and SALVATION THROUGH HIM.

Mat 5:46  For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

Mat 5:47  And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

How easy it is to LOVE those who love us, to interact only with those of our like mind. How incredibly difficult it is to LOVE those who hate us, and have nothing in common with us.

Yet true love, the LOVE of God demands by its very nature we love ALL in the way we desire to be loved.

A world of difference can exist between the way we are loved by others and the way we desire to be loved by them.

Mat 5:48  Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Jesus is TEACHING US and saying BE PERFECT as our HEAVENLY FATHER IS PERFECT!

Be perfect.

Eph 5:1  Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

Eph 5:2  And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

Read that verse and then tell me we are to do absolutely nothing but go on in our sinning ways while trying to lay claim to the grace of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Walk in love AS CHRIST also hath love us.

WALK IN LOVE.

And our Savior has spent a lot of time trying to teach us this LOVE and what it REALLY is and how in will truly manifest itself in our actions towards others- ALL others, not special others. Not just the boss you are trying to impress, not just the stranger you are trying impress, not the family member you most assuredly want to impress- but ALL OTHERS.  The strangers, we, in our brute nature, could careless about, the family member who puts up with all sorts of stuff from us because they are family, these too deserve our best attempts to love as our SAVIOR instructs to love. ALL other human beings we ever come in contact with in any way deserve this LOVE this LOVE we are to WALK in and CHRIST LOVES US.

Walk in love.

LIVE love.

Would Jesus teach us the impossible? No.

Php 3:12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Php 3:15  Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

PRESS towards the mark, for the PRIZE, the HIGH CALLING of GOD IN CHRIST JESUS!

By His amazing GRACE!

In His amazing LOVE!