What Love Really Means Will Shock You… | Matthew 5:43-48

Show Notes

Episode 867: 
In this episode, we dive into Matthew 5:43–48 and Jesus’ call to love our enemies. We explore how loving those who oppose us is an act of peacemaking that reflects God’s complete and impartial love. This conversation challenges us to move beyond spiritual mediocrity and grow into a mature, Christlike faith that chooses grace over retaliation.

What is The Bible Guys?

Whether you’ve been following Jesus for years or you’re just starting to ask questions, there’s a seat for you here.

Join Jeff and Chris for honest conversations about Scripture, faith, and the everyday stuff we all navigate. With humor, personal stories, and plenty of back-and-forth, The Bible Guys explore what the Bible says and how it connects to your life.

Subscribe, bring your questions, and get to know the Bible one conversation at a time. Head over to TheBibleGuys.com for more information!

You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Well, good morning, Jeff. Yeah, I thought you're going to sing to me today. Yeah. I got so excited my heart just left and then he just yanked. It's a wamp wamp. Yeah. Yeah, Well guess what it'll come on another day, Jeff, it'll, it'll, it'll, it'll. Come that appetite. So good morning everybody, or evening. But welcome to the Bible Guys. I'm Chris, this is Jeff, and we are two friends who talk about the Bible. That's what they say. What nerve of them friends? That's right? Uh? And now Desiree has us doing a segment before we launch into what is going to be a riveting, riveting discussion. Quite certain of it, yes, but. Desree wants us to do the very famous and lovely who's most. Like, oh yeah, these are good? Yeah, So who's most likely to do these things? We'll just vote on me or you? Yes, number one? Who's most likely to google something instead of just asking just asking who I I? I? I guess that's assuming that there's an answer available by by asking like if. We're talking and something comes up, we just google instead of ask each other. I suppose, Yeah, I'm quick to google. I'm pretty quick to google, pretty. Quick to google. Yeah, So who's most. Likely I google something every time? Okay? And and I will say this, Well, I have. This vault of unnecessary information in my head, so I google more than you probably. Yeah, yeah, and all of that. But like I google stuff that doesn't matter. So like, for instance, I'll say, I'll say, oh, what was the name of that movie? Again? And I just will not let it go. So you got to look it up. I got to look it up. Yeah. So yeah, So I'm so we're going to vote for Chris today. We're going to lean on me. Okay, who's most likely to eat leftovers that are definitely questionable? I do it often, so I don't know if I'm more likely, but I have no question. Okay, then I'm gonna say you, here's why, because you seem to be more in charge of those decisions in your household than I have control over mind. Oh, because my wife is a So I always use the word freak in a loving way, you know, when somebody's I can like an organized freak a freak. Yeah, so I mean in a negative way. But but I will. Go on so she would probably say very conscientious. I'll go on record and say I do not apologize for saying when it comes to throwing food away, she is a freak. Oh okay, she'll say, She'll say. Oh, very conscientes. Yeah, this meat loaf is bad. I'm like, you made it ten minutes ago, right. Okay, it was bad? It sat out? No, my family always makes funkus. I'm like, what goes wrong in ravioli? Yeah, what's gonna get right? What goes bad in sausage? Right? So I'm always my family won't eat stuff now and I'm still eating it. I've already anticipating that my wife is going to yell at. Me and for calling her free conscientious, yeah live just so you know, and she and she. Is going to say that she is only following what is recommended, because she has shown me before, like plenty of Instagram things. She sent them to me, sure where it says how long can you keep lunch meat? How long can you keep protein? How long? And she's already sent this to me, And to be honest, she does follow those things. Sure, But I think those things are dumb. Okay, good, yep, yeah, the milk, you know, so my family members, my daughter, my son, my wife, all in our house. They still if it's best buy. Yeah, it doesn't say must use by, just best by. There's a big difference between used by and best buy right used by by the way used by means either use it or freeze it right, right, And if you freeze it you can keep it for you know, months longer and then still come back out. And if you thought out and use it right, then you still find right. The best buy is just a freshness thing. It's totally fraudulent thing. But man, they'll throw it away. They will throw it away. We throw away so much food that we don't need to throw away. But anyways, yeah, that's always my question. What goes bad? You know? In that's good? That's so good? In gabble? Yeah, okay, all right. Number three, who's most likely to argue with Apple maps? I'd say you, because you you are standing on the higher moral ground, not moral ground, the higher map ground. Yeah, so I don't argue with me. If it says to turn right, I turn right for real, I don't. Then my wife argues with Google Maps all the time, but not Apple Maps, well any of them, any of the maps thinks She's like, that's not the right way, and she goes another way. I'm like, girl, you don't even know where you are. If there's not a Starbucks on the corner, a Target on the corner, she don't know where she is. Well, I will say this, when Apple first came out and they didn't use like good sources, like sure, they were inaccurate for a long time. Yeah, and every once in a while there is something that shows up that isn't quite accurate. So you argue with Apple Maps, Well, let me tell you. Let me tell what happened. This is totally worth it. I'm going to take sixty seconds wait for this. So one time I typed in an address because my old administrative assistant at my previous church said, Hey, you're doing a funeral all the way on the east side of town way in the east side. She goes, why don't you just stop by my house and go in my house and use my house to take a shower and change into your suit after you do X, Y and Z, And I said great. So I typed in the address and I pulled into the driveway where exactly where it told me. I could even see on the Apple maps, like third house on the left right. So I pulled in the address or pulled the house, open the door, go all upstairs in the master bedroom, take a shower, get my suit on. And as I'm getting my suit on, I look at all the pictures on the wall and realize it's the neighbor across the street. That's the honesty, god truth, Oh my goodness. I broke into a stranger's house, went up to their master bedroom and showered in their room, and then and then and then she had to tell them what had happened in case there was any evidence of a stranger breaking in their mouse. No, it's true, and that was Apples that. Did it to me. Okay, So I thought it was weird that you would be like, oh, okay, I'll go over to one of my employee's house to take a shower. So home, I know, but it's still weird to me, like like I wouldn't do that. It just feels weird to me. But then you did the weird thing wrong and went to the wrong house. And hey, Apple Laps, Apple Laps man, that was not my fault. That was not my fault, that was a that was an Apple maps to act. Can you imagine what would have happened if good thing you didn't like make a sandwich or a coffee or I know, I know, Oh my gosh, And that's fabulous. Yeah, she's like, no, I'm I'm the red House. And I'm like, what telling you? Only you I know right right now? Stories Yeah, crazy. So who's most likely to say I'll be there in five minutes when they haven't left you? Oh yeah, that would definitely be me. That would definitely be me, as you look over with your eyes. Although I was late to I was late to the podcast today, so yeah. But you were in the building talking to people, and that's a work understandable thing I have. I'm notorious for being late and I have no excuse, and I am a bad person. No, you know what you are? You and you and so are my executive pastor Chad. Yeah, he he's similar to you, both of you. You look at your watch and you go, oh, I've still got seven minutes. I'm going to try to do these nine things. Yes, you're going to make this phone call. I'm going to answer this. There's no question. Oh hey, and you see somebody in the hallway and you stop on the way, you're talking on the phone, whatever, you got all these things going on. It's you guys that are highly driven to just get another thing done. Every minute is an opportunity. For me. I'm not that way. Yeah. I don't feel a lot of pressure about my schedule. I just keep doing whatever the next thing is. But I am not good at doing three things at one time. Well, I do one thing at a time, and I don't even do all those one things. Well, but if I'm doing three things, I might as well not do anything. I was getting ready this morning to come in. I had a nine forty five meeting that you know that I had, and I actually looked at the clocket it said nine twenty nine, and no, no, I'm sorry. I thought to myself, I have to leave by nine twenty nine. Oh right, And so I thought, okay. So I looked at the clockt it was like nine sixteen or something, and I was like, oh wow, I got time. So instead of coming and just being like twelve minutes early, I decided to do all these things. Then I get in my car and it said like it said like nine thirty six, I had like nine minutes, and I was like, dude, it's gonna take me like fourteen to get here at least, and then to walk in, and I thought, I'm gonna be late again. And then whenever you have to be somewhere, do you plan? It's fourteen minutes from my house to there, and I have to be there at you know, nine forty five, So I leave it nine thirty one or whatever, fourteen minutes. There are some pretty tight like that. There are times I get way more than that I should. I'm almost always trying to build a buffer. It doesn't always work, but usually in my mind, I'm building a buffer, you know, five or ten minutes. Yeah, on a thing. So yeah, that's funny, man, but that's true. Yeah, we're gonna need to wrap this Upay, last one. So who's most likely to laugh? Snow so hard they snort? I do it on a regular basis. Yeah, I'm gonna say you I don't. I rarely do that. Yeah I do. I usually wheeze. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're a weezer. Yeah, thank you? Is that I'm always? Is that me? That's that was yourtion to me? Okay, great? You know what now that you've said that it's gonna be hard to love you because you have posture yourself as an enemy to me, making fun of mine. It did it build up some hostility? Yeah? It built up somehow, satility the point you were in this moment. You're my enemy. You know one of my goals would be to work towards lasting peace. Oh yeah, yeah, the note that this is incredible. This is incredible. This happened today. Wow, Because Desiree wrote Matthew five forty three through forty eight teaches us the act of love disarms hostility and builds what a transition. This is our chance, Chris, this is our chance. Yeah. I felt like I should just snorted there. Okay. So Verse forty three in Matthew chapter five built off of the fact that Jesus says God blesses those who work for peace. Right, So it says, you've heard the law says love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, and that way you'll 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, If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even crept tax collectors do that much. If you're kind, only do your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your father in heaven is perfect. Wow. And that word perfect means complete, complete, right, So be complete in your love, right, is what he's saying. He's not meaning perfect like Denzel Washington and remember the Titans. You will be perfect. This team will be perfect, right, even though that you know you can never shoot for perfection. But that's not necessarily what he's meaning. He's meaning your faith being complete, your love being complete to the point to where God's love is demonstrated. Here Jesus says, hey, everybody needs sunlight for crops, right, everybody needs rain. Right. God gives sunlight and rain to the just and the unjust. So therefore, Jesus says, go ahead and love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you. You know, don't just love one group, love the other group, because you know, God's definition of love is a new concept in the first century. I mean think about it. You hear love one another and you're like, oh, that's as old as time, right, But Jesus says a new command I give to you love one another. And he's saying he's saying, I want you to love everybody. Right. The Law of Moses says, hey, there's there's justification to hate your enemies and those who persecute you. And I'm telling you that you should give grace and mercy and love to even your enemies. It's crazy. Yeah, you know, it's interesting that there's a we Love the Life Application study Bible. Yeah. Yeah. And the note for this passage says, by telling us not to retaliate, Jesus is keeping us from taking law into our own hands, which which really is the foundation to this whole idea. You don't have the right to take the law into your own hands. God has government set up for these reasons for judgment and execution and all that kind of stuff. But for you, God never gives you the right to be a vigilanti. Right. And it says by loving and praying for our enemies, we can overcome evil with good. We need God's supernatural help to love people who commit cruel and evil acts. Then it says the Pharisees interpreted Leviticus nineteen eighteen as teaching that they should love only those who love and return, and then Psalms one thirty nine nineteenth through twenty two, and one forty nine through eleven as meaning that they should hate their enemies. David talks about how he hates those who hate God, right, and so they're like, oh, this is justification as opposed to we should never make any kind of theology based on the book of Psalms. Right. Psalms and Proverbs they're poetic books and they're not legal books or law books. And the Pharisees knew that, but they were happy to justify bad behavior anyways. And so where David poetically is saying, man, I can't stand those people that are again you or hate you, or my enemies that want to kill me, I want to kill them back, They're going, oh, God put that in the Bible. We can go ahead and embrace that idea. And Jesus is saying, no, that's not okay, right, Jesus says, we are to love our enemies. If you act and love for your enemies, treating them well, you will show that Jesus truly rules your life. And this becomes possible when we give ourselves fully to Jesus's lord, because then he can deliver us from our natural self centeredness. We must trust the Holy Spirit to help us show love to those for whom we may not feel love, which is I think a very powerful idea. It's not that he because he's saying, you don't get any credit for loving the people you already love, right, he said, even the Pagans do that. So he's challenging us to love the people that don't feel very loving. Yeah. I love the idea that in different parts of the Gospels, Jesus tells his disciples, And the phrase is sticking out my mind is he says, with you, it shall be different, right, because whenever you're talking about behaviors. Yeah, he does. He does that multiple times. Multiple times. Yeah, he says, he says, not so with you, with you, it shall be different. What he's really doing is he's calling us out like that. I forget what passage it is? What what what passage says? We are peculiar people. You know what I'm talking about. Peter wrote about it. He says we are a called out people. A peculiar people. The King James says, peculiar, right, and and and and so it's it's being in the world, but not of the world being completely different. And so the idea that Christians should be different is uh something that we need to hold on to because our behavior needs to be so different than what the world would typically do. And that would definitely include loving your enemies. I remember so many times I have forced myself to be nice to a teacher that didn't like me, or to go overboard and reward an enemy who you know, in front of everybody else, and to honor somebody when I could have slammed them, you know, not to make an opportunity to put somebody down, you know, when I could have you know, I remember there there was a strangely enough, I'm short, right, but I played volleyball, and you know, in high school I played decent, you know, and I could at the time, I could have jumped and spiked. And there was this kid. He was small, and he was verbal, and he said something to me in front of everybody, in front of a whole gym. And there was a time where they set me up and I could have just jammed this thing in his face. Man, I could have been like bam, but instead I was just like boop, right, and I just did it. And I remember thinking to myself, I'm not going to do it. I'm gonna be the better person. I'm not going to hurt him when I could, right, and. I could have, and and there's just certain things that you know, happened. I remember one time I double tipped a server, you know, or you know, we're getting money for being bus boys and things like this, and you're supposed to, you know, go back and forth and tip up other people. And he was actually a bar back, you know. But but the point is is that I should have given him some of my money. Well you know it's like ten percent or something. Well I gave him like twenty five percent at the end of the night, and he was he was like you might. I mean, he's my sworn enemy, right and anyway, yeah. Well that's it's those kinds of things practical application, Jesus says, But with you, it's going to be different. And I think that that's the goal because when you get to the end of this passage and you already comment on it, but he says, because you're supposed to be perfect, even as your father in heaven is perfect. And we read and hear the word perfect in English, very different than what his listeners would have heard. And so we see that word perfect and I go man alive. It's hard for me to do it one time right, right, but to do it perfect every time. And so we have to understand that the Greek word there that is translated perfect here for us does mean complete, and it's possible for me to be complete in Jesus. Jesus completely forgave my sins. He completely loved me, He completely has set me apart for his own use, and he's going to completely completely take me to heaven when I die. And in the meantime, he's going to complete this new work he's doing in me. All those things to be true. And at the same time, I can still have room to grow, right, I need to grow more in love, I need to grow more in peacemaking. I can grow more. I can get better at it. Even though God has completely saved me, I still can be better at this. I can be more like Jesus. And this is why he can tell us that you're complete and at the same time say grow up. In your faith grow up into the full stature of Jesus Christ. So if Jesus is my God loves me completely, he's restored me completely. He's bringing me to His kingdom. Or redeem me completely was the word I meant to say. And he's bringing me completely into eternity someday. But there's still work to be done for me to choose. Like he said to his disciples, for you, it's going to be different, and I can I can decide in that moment. Okay, this moment, I don't have to prove anything anybody because I'm complete in Christ. But I'm gonna try to be better at this. And so there's a really great note in the Life filf Case just said by about this, and it says our shortcomings must never deter us from striving to be more like Jesus. He wants all his disciples to rise above mediocrity and to mature in every area, becoming more and more like him. Those who strive to be perfect will one day be perfect, even as Christ is perfect. That's what John first John chapter three says. That's great, right, So I know I'm going to be perfect someday, But I can also decide not to be a mediocre Christian today. Oh well, you know, I just have a bad tempersius. Who I am. That's a mediocre choice. Yeah, lukewarm also right right. As opposed to me going, you know what, today, I'm gonna do the best I can do. I can't change tomorrow, and I don't have a promise for tomorrow that I'm gonna make a good choice. But right now, in this moment, I'm I'm going to do the best I can to do the right thing. And you're rising above a mediocre Christian life or a lukewarm Christian life, and you're saying, I want to be more like Jesus because I appreciate what Jesus did for me. And uh, I think that this is really that intent that I am already complete in Christ, I will be perfect in eternity. Between here and there, it's it's now and not yet at the same time. And so when we're living in the now but not yet time, there's this tension and I get to choose, am I going to be more like Jesus or I'm just going to keep living like myself? Hey, Jeff, you complete me. Movie? It is it Jeremyguire. It is Jeremy. I'm so proud of you. Okay, I found it. You got one. Wow, that's great. I feel so awesome now I finally figured out what was like to be you. By the way, awesome. I've had like seven movie quotes going through my head. When you were talking about we reserve the right to be judge and jury, I was like Judge dread with Sylvester st Alone. And then then when you were talking about the sworn enemies and I said, I said, oh, yeah, I said, I said, he was my sworn enemy at works. At work. I was thinking of, uh, the sworn enemy of Florin, remember, yeah. Which is princess. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, I had all these movie quotes going through my head all the time. So if you can think of it this way, that you are growing up to mature spiritual maturity, there's a I have a different expectation for my baby. My daughter in law's getting ready to have our third granddaughter. By the time this heir is our third granddaughter will be born. You have a different expectation for a newborn than you do for eleven month old. And then you have a different expectation for toddlers than you do babies, and then a different expectation for you know, young children and middle schoolers and teenagers. And right, there's a maturing that happens, and we should not be content of being stunted in our growth and always second graders spiritually, or always stay second graders with how we manage our anger, or always stay second graders spiritually in the way that we express a lack of love towards our enemies. Right, we should hopefully the longer you've been walking with Jesus, you're going to But that means you have to learn new things. You're never going to be a senior in high school. If you don't learn to read in second grade, it's not gonna happen. So you have to progress, and there's some work involved with that. And we hate this idea. We hate the idea that there's work involved with our character because we're so glad there's no work involved with us going to heaven. So then I'm like, great, give me that free ticket to heaven, and I'm not gonna do any more work in order to be able to be a better person. And Jesus wants to change us here even while He's taking us there, and that means that we're gonna have to make some hard choices. But God promises to bless us, and I can't think of anything I need more in my life than God's favor while I'm living out my everyday life. You know, when you said work at your character, what came to my mind is people's character at work. So I was thinking people at work because a lot of our tension filled relationships are at work, you know, enemies, bosses, coworkers. So anyway, I was just thinking, like, Okay, there are some relationships, like enemy defined relationships that are so hostile that maybe the best thing to do is just to avoid them and not say anything and just be quiet. So I do understand that, But there are just there are some where they're more like frint of me type things where I would just give the people advice who are listening, just to kill them with kindness, right, So just actively be kinder. And by the way, it's so much it's such a better way to live than to be petty and to play the game of treating them like an enemy. If you kill them with kindness. Number One, you're gonna feel better about yourself. Number two, you're demonstrating the love of Christ, giving him glory. Number three, you're you're going to uh, you know, uh demonstrate that this is the. Way to live. And then also there's that whole convicting thing, right, like like a person who doesn't know Christ sees that and says, how can they do that? And there's like a conviction that goes along with that not to mention it feels good and on the selfish side, sometimes it makes them angryer, which makes you feel better anyway. Well, the Book of Romans says that, yeah, right, and and there's a couple of places in the Bible that talk about that, to do good to your enemies, and it's like heaping coals of fire on there. Yeah, that's Proverbs. Yeah, Proverbs talks about the Psalms. Yeah, heaping coals of fire in the head Romans quotes that idea as well, that there is this when you choose to be, you know, to go the high road, and somebody's trying to bait you into a fight. Book of Proverb says, only only by pride comes contention, and it's saying it takes two people's pride to cause a fight. If one person has pride, and you choose to be humble, there's no fight coming. It requires that you do the wrong thing, and I have a sinful response. My pride rises up against your pride turns into a fight. That's what happens every time. So so if I decide instead, you know what, I'm not going to be baited down into this fight, then I rise above it. What that does for a reasonably good person is you go and it makes you mad. It makes you feel bad that they chose the right way and you were choosing the wrong way. It kind of positive, and I highlights that that's what the Bible's right on that. So there is that advantage as well. So there's all the other things you said that winds up being from our benefit for God's glory and all that kind of stuff. But it also does put the entire argument or fight into a perspective that makes the other person their own conscience begins to work against them too. So I'll wrap it up by saying it is in proverb, yes twenty five, and it says this, If you're enemy is hungry, give him food to eat. If he is thursday thirstay give him water to drink. And doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you. So okay, anytime the Bible says the Lord will reward you or bless you, let's just go do that. Your life is gonna be better. And Romans twelve twenty is the one that quotes that. There you go, I told you Romans quoted it. Yep. All right, yeah, wait, let's wrap it up that guys. That's right. It takes both of us. You get the Old Testament, I get the New Testament. There we are, all right. We'll see you tomorrow hopefully on the Bible. Guys,