What makes living as a Christian hard? Part of it is the clash of cultures. The world values spin and the kingdom values truth, the world values image and power the kingdom prizes humility, the world praise independence the kingdom teaches dependence.

We find being different hard, and the kingdom manifesto which Jesus sets out here is the opposite to what society values.

1. Reactions redeemed
Yet again Jesus straightens out what society has twisted, in this case it is a misapplication of God’s good law regarding justice. As he does so he compares and contrasts his kingdom with the world.

The Old Testament provided for a judicial response to criminal actions which was designed to be just and prevent any cycle of revenge or escalation. The phrase Jesus quotes occurs in a number of places:Exodus 21:22-25, Leviticus 24:19-20, Deuteronomy 19:21.

Each of those laws allows for justice to be done, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, Lev 19:18 made clear "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself." The law did not allow personal vengeance but instituted a system of judicial justice. But by Jesus day these instructions were being applied on a personal level, and the sinful heart of man had twisted God’s good law used it to justify personal revenge.

As Jesus speaks to God’s new people gathered to hear his word he maximises the interpretations and implications of the law and applies it to personal relationships, this is how his people do not resist an evil person. We are to resist the devil, we are to fight sin, we are to flee temptation but here Jesus teaches his people that the kingdom affects personal relationships. Jesus shows how much the gospel changes our gut reactions to grace reactions.

(39)A back handed slap was designed to insult rather than assault, later on it was given to Christians because of their faith. What is our gut to reaction to insult? It is to fight fire with fire, to meet insult with insult. But what does Jesus say a gospel reaction is? To offer the other cheek. The gospel liberates us from the need to seek revenge for personal insult.

Next(40) the image shifts to the courtroom and someone suing for your shirt. What is the gut reaction? To protect what is ours. But the gospel reaction? Is to give up your coat. Jesus call is radical, the Old Testament stated that ones cloak or coat was an inalienable right - it was not to be taken, everyone had a right to it. But says Jesus the gospel liberates us to give up even our rights.

(41)The third example is very specific, the word forced that is used means to be compelled or pressed into service in military or civil matters. For example a Roman centurion could force a citizen to carry military equipment to their destination. What’s the gut reaction to such compulsion? To refuse or to do it grudgingly; complaining and moaning every step of the way. But what is the gospel reaction? Go with the person two miles, it is to serve willingly and give more than is required.

The final example is to do with requests for money, what is our gut reaction? No. It’s mine. But how does the gospel change that? "Give...do not turn away from..."

Do you see how the gospel redeems our reactions? The disciple is one who is freed by grace to respond by grace not by their gut. It changes their thinking about things, money, time, reputation and their rights and liberates them to love others. "Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God."

2. Be about the family business
In the last of these six statements Jesus calls his disciples to love like God loves, again he does so by contrasting what the kingdom values with society around him.

Turn to Leviticus 19:18 "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself." What is the difference between it and what the people in Jesus day have heard taught? In Leviticus there is no requirement to hate your enemy. Over time it had been added as people looked at Leviticus 19:18 and tried to ring fence, to limit who they had to love. The thinking went like this: We have to love our neighbours, who is our neighbour it is our fellow Jew therefore we do not have to love anyone else, we love our fellow Jews and hate our enemies. It is seen clearly in the parable of the good Samaritan - where the hatred is such that when asked who was the neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of thieves the expert in the law cannot even bring himself to utter the word ‘Samaritan’.

What does Jesus say by contrast? "But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Love is the word agape, it describes God’s active love for his son and his people which having received we then reflect back to God and out to others. Jesus tells his disciples to do two things, love and pray, because they are connected - when we pray for someone we are actively loving them and it is hard not to love someone when you are praying for them.

(45)As we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us we are displaying the family likeness, we aren’t earning it, but we are being what we are; God’s loved children responding to his love, grace and mercy by showing others love, grace and mercy. We are to be in the family business.

God actively shows his love to both the good and the evil, it does not mean God approves of how they live but he shows them his love by providing for them. Be like God actively love even those who are opposed to you, not just those who love you. Be different stand out, be in the family business, loving actively.

3. Be like your Father(48)
(48)Is the conclusion "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Jesus has been interpreting and applying God’s perfect law, correcting misinterpretations, expanding on the limitations that man has placed on it, closing the loopholes, and maximising its impact. Jesus ends by pointing us back to the purpose of the law, the law reflects the character of its maker - God is perfect, and it calls his people to be like him.

Jesus is not saying that we can be perfect. 5:3 reminds us that as disciples we are poor in Spirit in other words we recognise our spiritual bankruptcy and our need of God’s grace. (6)Disciples are those who long for righteousness and mercy(7) and they find it not in themselves but in God through Jesus. (6:12)disciples are those who pray "forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors." Disciples are ever aware of their sin, that they are sinners saved by grace.

But having experienced grace disciples are those whom God has given a new heart and in whom the Spirit lives activating the word of God in their living. Disciples are those who are saved by God through Jesus to pursue God, who are called to the family business and to display the family likeness. Who are called to change.

And look at the change it calls for; not anger and resentment but forgiveness, reconciliation and grace, a radical desire for purity, a high view of marriage, an honesty in everything, redeemed reactions, and a love the overflows from God’s lavish love.

Maybe you look at Matthew 5 and feel defeated, remember where it starts, it starts with a broken people recognising their bankruptcy and asking for mercy, who look to the cross and see their God’s love and grace. It starts with an alienated broken people being welcomed into a new kingdom, given a new heart which beats to God’s heartbeat and shares his passions, which is infused with his DNA. It is a heart that treasures God above all, above reputation, above rights, above revenge, the redeems our gut reactions for gospel reactions, and that having glimpsed God’s perfection wants to please him by living dependent on him.

The Kingdom of God is peopled by those who want God not the world’s treasures, who long to see God’s kingdom not fit in with the worlds, and to whom God has given new hearts filled with his Spirit that they may long for him and longing be seen in their living.

Matthew