Does My Cat Hate Me? (Matthew 5:43-48)
Gary McManus, 08/11/2019Part of the Words that Divide, Words that Unite series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
August 11, 2019 ”Hate”
Matthew 5:43-48
Today’s Bible topic is “hate”
We will discover today that it is important
to understand the word hate in the Bible.
Just as we often misuse the word love,
the same is true of the word “hate”.
Let Pastor talk about his cat. . .
Younger children, even teenagers will say
in a fit of rage to their parents, “I hate you.”
Do they? Do they really? Probably not.
Pastor spoke with a Vietnam Veteran. . .
DID people hate that returning soldier?
No. They didn’t even know him.
Hate—the word hate, as we use it,
is a personal emotional response to . . .
usually a person—or at least we personalize it.
WE personalize hate! I HATE X.
But God is love and calls us to love.
. .just as the words of today’s Bible
verse make clear. . .
And yet, we do read . . .that God hates.
(Psalm 5:5, Psalm 11:5, Amos 5:21 and more)
Maybe hate means something different
in ancient Hebrew than in modern English?
hate
OT NT
KJV 141 38
NIV 91 36
What does the word "hate" mean when
we read that our God hates something.
Some folks will say
. .hate the sin but the love the sinner.
Have you ever done that?
Do we hate the offender or do we hate
what they do? Can we tell the difference?
Romans 7:21-24; Paul found it hard to do. . .
WITH HIMSELF!
The Apostle does not call himself EVIL.
Ever since Adam and Eve, we are tainted
WITH sin and we can’t remove it.
But we don’t have to DO evil if we turn
to Jesus. The Bible uses the words repent,
transformation, new creature, all things new,
born again.
A couple of words are translated as “hate” in
the Old Testament
Evil and God are always separated. It is like
purifying metal the fire separates the two.
Does one hate the other. . .Well, yes in that
they cannot be together; the dross is neglected
or hated.
God’s holiness separates us from God.
Only Jesus can overcome that and make us
holy/acceptable to God.
A human judge must separate the guilty from
the innocent. Does he hate the guilty? Not the way
we use the word. But there must be punishment.
So when Jesus says we are to hate our parents
(Luke 14:26) does He mean despise them? No.
Jesus called for love EVEN of the enemy.
If we abide in Jesus, we can abide in nothing less.
Amen.
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