When we do not agree with what is said or done; the people who disagree with us become our enemy. Do we agree?  Some of us say heartily, “YES, we agree!”  Some of us pause a bit to analyze the situation.  What is disagreeable about this statement?  What is it that we disagree? Is there a solution to the dispute?  How can we come to an understanding with resolution?  And can we truly love those who disagree with us? Whew, what does God think?

Through the lips of Moses to God’s Chosen; God continued to give laws to his people. God wanted them to treat each other with respect, dignity with integrity of character because of His love for them. In the following passage, the laws give us cause for alarm and we ask why? The times were different but the intent is relatable. The Hebrews spent decades living in a land of ungodly behaviors, the worship of other gods, the sacrifice of children to the gods, along with other detestable habits and behaviors not of God, their God.  Moses is teaching God’s people to do what God says as they encounter these same evil practices that will be demonstrated by the people they are to conquer as they possess the Promised Land.  “Purge the evil,” says God.  Think about it this way: God took them out of Egypt now God is taking Egypt out of them!

Deuteronomy 25

When people have a dispute, they are to take it to court and the judges will decide the case, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty. ² If the guilty person deserves to be beaten, the judge shall make them lie down and have them flogged in his presence with the number of lashes the crime deserves, ³ but the judge must not impose more than forty lashes. If the guilty party is flogged more than that, your fellow Israelite will be degraded in your eyes.

⁴ Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.

⁵ If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. ⁶ The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.

⁷ However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.” ⁸ Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, “I do not want to marry her,” ⁹ his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, “This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s family line.” ¹⁰ That man’s line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.

¹¹ If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, ¹² you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.

¹³ Do not have two differing weights in your bag—one heavy, one light. ¹⁴ Do not have two differing measures in your house—one large, one small. ¹⁵ You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁶ For the Lord your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.

¹⁷ Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. ¹⁸ When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God. ¹⁹ When the Lord your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God promised a new way for all people, not just the Israelites, to really hear and understand Him.  Most of His People had gone deaf to His words of instruction of faithfulness to Him.  He announced a new covenant coming soon through his prophets; but still to deaf ears.  Through the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord declared, “This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; . . . I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33).  Still most would not listen, the power given to priests went to their heads, pride and greed replaced true obedience and worship of God alone until darkness overcame them and they no longer knew God or heard from Him.  But still there was a remnant who did believe God and they stood firm and faithful.  2 Chronicles 16:9 says, “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”  When God finds them; God blesses them with His ever-present help, care and leading.

After 400 years of silence from God, it was time to fulfill the promise of a Messiah as announced by the prophet Isaiah and others.  God once again looked over the earth to see whose hearts were firmly committed to Him; and He found Mary and Joseph.  Jesus, the Promised One, who would save the world and redeem all people who believe from all of their sins, was born to a virgin, Mary who was pledge in marriage to Joseph.  This is God in the flesh who came to earth and moved into the neighborhood of humanity!  His Name was called Jesus.  Jesus would demonstrate God’s love, mercy, and grace while proclaiming who God is and what He wants from us like no one else could.  Deaf ears began to hear.  Blind eyes suddenly saw God for the first time.  Crippled people from society, illness, demons and oppression were set free!  “God is truly with us” said those with opened hearts ready to receive Him with gladness!  Jesus was The Law God placed in those who believed and received Jesus, while writing The Law on their hearts!  God does what He promises!

Jesus came with New Covenant—a new and better way to think about God; He demonstrated with the Law of Love!  Jesus repeatedly assured everyone who would listen; “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:17-20

Jesus then taught the people, beginning with the truth of the original Law, which some knew but did not always understand because the teachers of The Law had “muddied the waters” with personal addendums to the Law to support their greed and pride while “lording over” the people with more oppression.  Jesus, the only one with authority and right to judge, enters these conversations with the love of God permeating His being.

Here are some examples which “fulfill” the Law of Moses given to the Israelites by God while extending the full intent of the Law of God.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” –Jesus, Matthew 5:38-42

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children 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 own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:43-48

Wait, what? Love my enemies, pray for them, and be perfect like God is perfect?  We were made in the image of God, Our Creator.  To become more like God we must love like God loves us—perfectly, without conditions to love.  Think about it this way;

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 8:6-8

God’s perfect love for us is what saved us! “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17

This is Perfect Love.  It is this love of God that is made perfect in us by God as His love grows in us.  We discover this truth: The more we realize the depth of God’s love for us the more we love others—including our enemies! It is God’s love in us that causes us to pray for them with compassion—just like Jesus did for his enemies!

Jesus repeatedly told the world the two greatest commandments of The Law:

Love God.  Love Others.  All other laws hang on these two laws to love.

Jesus demonstrated God’s perfect love as He walked throughout the surrounding towns of Jerusalem to observe people and reach out to them with compassion.  Paul, who later realized this love of God in Jesus, explains it this way;

“Therefore, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:1-11

To know God is to know Love.  (1 John 4:7-8)

Doing life with God means to love like Jesus who is God in the flesh who laid down his life for ours. Camp on that thought. Read the definition of love with how to love in 1 Corinthians 13.  God loves us!  We love Him back and love others—not suggested but commanded!

Lord,

Cleanse our hearts of all that is not you and fill us with your perfect love that knows no limits! Renew our minds so that we think more like you. Refresh our souls. Continually restore the joy of your salvation at work within us. “Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you.”

In Jesus Name, Amen