SermonUnconditional Love Conquers All
An all-creatures Bible Message

Unconditional Love Conquers All
 
A Sermon Delivered to
The Compassion Internet Church
 
21 February 2016
 
Frank L. Hoffman, Pastor

Scripture References

Matthew 5:21-39
Matthew 7:12

Unconditional love conquers all the evil in the world.
 
Living with unconditional love in our heart and soul is the only way we can truly live in the heavenly will of God, and bring it here to earth as it is in heaven.
 
Think about all the evil and unloving ways in the world; can you think of any of them that unconditional love couldn’t conquer or overcome?
 
We can’t.
 
Think about what we are told in Matthew 7:12…

12. "Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. 
NASB

The only way we as a society are ever going to have peace on earth is when we learn to give unconditional love to every human being and every animal, for as the Bible says, this is the fulfillment of everything written in the Bible (the Law and the Prophets).
 
The fulfillment of treating others as we want to be treated is when both individuals offer this unconditional love to one another.
 
If we offer this kind of love to a companion animal, even one we may have inadvertently hurt, or a stray or feral animal, over a relatively short span of time, we most often see the love returned.
 
And, we can do the same thing with our fellow human beings, even if they don’t return it; for even if they don’t, our unconditional love conquers all the evil feeling the other person may have perceived coming from us.
 
With these things in mind, let’s take a look at Matthew 5:21-39…

21. "You have heard that the ancients were told, 'You shall not commit murder' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.'

It should be obvious to all of us that anyone who commits murder does not possess the unconditional love that we are talking about.
 
But, Jesus goes even further in His explanation of the nature of people like this.

22. "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, 'Raca,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.

The term, “raca” means “empty head” or “good for nothing”, which is only said in anger, as is calling someone a fool, and anyone who does this lacks the unconditional love we are talking about.
 
So, if we behave this way, the other person may respond in kind, and together we have destroyed any sense of peace that may have existed.
 
Now, if someone calls us these kinds of names or worse, we are not to respond, or we will be just like them; if we respond at all, it must be with unconditional love, and in the process we will calm them down.
 
We don’t believe that there are many people in the world who consider their derogatory speech to be as bad as murder here on earth; however, in the heavenly realm, Jesus says it is, and since we are to bring God’s heavenly will to earth as it is in heaven, this makes such derogatory speech just as bad as murder.

23. "If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,

Our brothers and sisters are not just those who are members of our immediate family, or members of our church, or fellow Christians; they include every other living being here on earth, so we really need to examine ourselves and our actions in relation to everyone else.
 
So, if we think something is wrong, Jesus tells us what we are to do.

24. leave your offering there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

What Jesus is telling us here is that it does us no good to offer anything to the Lord, and perhaps even our prayers, if we have unresolved matters with any other living being.

25. "Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, in order that your opponent may not deliver you to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.

Our courts get clogged because people don’t resolve their differences before going to court and suing someone.

26. "Truly I say to you, you shall not come out of there, until you have paid up the last cent.

We believe that this included both tangible property and spiritual problems.
 
In all of these cases, we strongly believe that unconditional love conquers all.

27. "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery';
 
28. but I say to you, that everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.

We would probably save a lot of our marriages if we really thought about and analyzed what we were thinking about in terms of what Jesus is telling us, before we act upon them.
 
Let’s expand our analysis of lustful thoughts and include eating a steak, or a hamburger, or bacon and eggs; isn’t that person betraying an animal or animals in a very similar way as betraying their spouse?
 
We believe that they are, and that this is the full intent of what Jesus is talking about, and if we really want to, we can all think of other situations where our lack of unconditional love destroys our peace.
 
And Jesus goes even further…

29. "And if your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out, and throw it from you; for it is better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

This is true, but we don’t believe that Jesus is just referring to our physical eyes, but our mind’s eye, for we can lust after many things that we cannot see.
 
So, we don’t have to blind ourselves to become Godly, we need to find ways to remove the lustful thoughts from our mind.

30. "And if your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off, and throw it from you; for it is better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to go into hell.

Again, we don’t have to maim ourselves to become Godly, just because we did something that was against the heavenly will of God; instead, we are to remove that thought from our mind that led us to do the evil that is done in the world.
 
Remember, that people do evil things because they lack unconditional love, but God made us all capable of having this kind of love, and we need to practice it until it becomes an integral part of our physical and spiritual nature, for unconditional love conquers all the evil in the world.
 
Jesus goes on with His teaching lesson.

31. "And it was said, 'Whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce';
 
32. but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the cause of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Jesus is trying to show men in particular that their lust and hardness of heart can destroy not only their lives, but those of their wives, and this all happens because they lack unconditional love.

33. "Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, 'You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.'
 
34. "But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,
 
35. or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.

Think about these things; the only reason that people want to make an oath is when they want to swear an oath or promise because they don’t really trust one another, and want what they say to be believed, for they lack the unconditional love that would guide us in being truthful, and this applies to our legal system as well.

36. "Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.
 
37. "But let your statement be, 'Yes, yes' or 'No, no'; and anything beyond these is of evil.

In other words, we are to be honest and truthful at all times, which only occurs when we allow ourselves to be filled with the unconditional love from heaven.

38. "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' 
 
39. "But I say to you, do not resist him who is evil; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.
NASB

Remember that revenge is really evil and shows that people who resort to it lack the unconditional love of God.
 
We are to be peacemaking children of God who live in the heavenly will of God, and know that unconditional love conquers all the evil in the world.
 
We can make a positive difference in this world.
 
We really can.
 
Amen.

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