Jesus teaching is a way of life only for those people who subject their lives to God’s rule. However, this is the point at which Jesus’ ethic has most frequently been misunderstood. Those who claim to be able to accept the Sermon on the Mount, but not the other claims made about Jesus in the NT, fail to recognise the essential character of Jesus’ teaching. It is impossible to isolate his theology from his ethics, and to do so destroys the integrity of them both.

In the introduction to the sermon on the Mount, the book of Matthew informs us that it was the disciples who formed the audience for the sermon, and the various elements of it were directed to certain committed people, not to all believers.

There are two kinds of teaching that can be distinguished in the NT, and it is instructive to discover that they correspond to the overall pattern we have noticed in biblical ethics more generally.

There is a kind of teaching which is the declaration of what God has accomplished through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In terms of its function in NT ethics, this can be comparable to the telling of the story of Abraham and his descendants’ calling in the Hebrew Scriptures. Now, thru Jesus, God had acted not because of any moral value in those people who became his disciples, but purely as an act of underserved love – what Christians came to call ‘grace’. In the same way that Israel had been summoned to obey the law on the basis of God’s loving actions, Christians had also been given moral and spiritual exhortations because of what Jesus had accomplished for them in his life, death and resurrection. It is a call to live a Holy life acceptable to God.

The call to live a godly life and the connection between it and understanding what God had accomplishment for us thru Jesus Christ comes out more clearly in some of the epistles of Apostle Paul, which often deals with the theological matters first and then makes practical appeals to Christians on the basis of those theological arguments. When Jesus says to his disciples, ‘forgive others the wrongs they have done to you’, it is because they themselves had received God’s forgiveness

Matthew 6:14-15
“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins”

The disciples were also called to love their enemies, a bitter pill for all Christians. However, what this instruction should call to mind is the dynamic of God’s own underserved love.

Matthew 5:43-45
You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. In that way, you will 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. ------ ( Amen)

CONCLUSION
Therefore, brethren, I implore each and everyone to live their Christian life out on the same basis, and to remember most especially what Jesus has told us in Matthew 10:9

“Don’t take any money in your money belts- any gold, silver or even copper coins”.

Why ?

For you have received the gift of God without paying, so give without being paid.

God bless

@yommyuk. i hope as many Christians as there are on Nairaland, read and appreciate this post. Christianity is all about a way of Life. (not a religion of doctrines and dogma to be ceremoniously acted out) Exactly the way of life Jesus Christ lived. it is not to be mistaken for his financial background or educational upbringing but his spiritual life and how he related from that position with all he came in contact with and the lives he touched.

@yommyuk

[size=15pt]Did Jesus forgive Judas Iscariot? We need to apply wisdom in this area, we should forgive but that does not mean we should allow those that are evil to continue carrying out their evil on us[/size]

@MrBible - The Bible is crystal clear on the Judas Iscariot debacle

Matthew 26:24: The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born

@lagerwhenindoubt

So if you have a friend like Judas Iscariot what would you do, do run away from him or do you allow him to betray you, after which you will then forgive him?

^^^ I see where you are headed but you need to remember where you started

Judas was instrumental to the fulfillment of the prophecy around Jesus Christ. Christ alluded openly that one of his 12 disciples would be his betrayer and practically told Judas that he knew what he was about to do. Stopping him is as good as sabotaging salvation. However Judas repented but decided of his own will to commit Suicide

Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."

Jesus did all he could, but Judas had his mind made up

@lagerwhenindoubt
You have not answered my question:
So if you have a friend like Judas Iscariot what would you do, do run away from him or do you allow him to betray you, after which you will then forgive him?

^^^^^^^^

I'll forgive him and run away.

@dare2think

I'll forgive him and run away.

After or before he betrays you?

MrBible:

@lagerwhenindoubt
You have not answered my question:
So if you have a friend like Judas Iscariot what would you do, do run away from him or do you allow him to betray you, after which you will then forgive him?

As long as you are asking me and not using moi as a reference point for Jesus behaviour, that is fine.

1: I won't even speak a word to Judas and let him betray me because I have a greater purpose of which his betrayal of me is key
2: I will forgive him definitely for serving his purpose to the end - but will let him face the penalty of suicide


Scratch the above. I will actually Bribe the Sanhedrin to Bribe Judas to betray me

MrBible:

@dare2think After or before he betrays you?

after the betrayal

^^^^^^

How will you know if someone would betray me?

@dare2think
Matthew 7:16 and 20
16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

MrBible:

@yommyuk

[size=15pt]Did Jesus forgive Judas Iscariot? We need to apply wisdom in this area, we should forgive but that does not mean we should allow those that are evil to continue carrying out their evil on us[/size]

@MrBible

I will use David as an example.

David had sinned, and thought that he had managed to build an effective cover-up plan. He only overlooked one small detail: you can't hide your heart from God.

Prophet Nathan, who hadn't been a party to any of this incident, recited back to David EXACTLY what he had done, in painful detail, and pronounced God's judgement on the king. On top of that, David had already pronounced his own death sentence -->>> he was backed into an uncomfortable corner.

However the turnaround for King David can be found in (2 Samuel 12:13a)

Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has taken away your sin; you shall not die." 

David admitted and repented before he received his forgiveness. On the other hand, we are told in Matthew 27:3 that Judas Iscariot was filled with  remorse but did not repent. Some may agrue he tried to hand back the money he took. But I will say Judas should have known better as a disciple of Jesus. All he could have done was repent and ask for forgiveness in faith. He did the opposite --- "SUICIDE".

@mrbible

Inside churches and outside there are Judas Iscariots today, so a wise Christian should identify them quickly and run.

Prov 14:16
The wise are cautious and avoid danger; fools plunge ahead with reckless confidence.

Keyword: Avoidance.

Evil people are the one always talking of forgiveness so that they can continue to carry out their wickedness on simple Christians.

Matthew 12:43-45
When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none. Then it says,'I will return to the person I came from.' So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept and in order. Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of this evil generation.

What lesson do we learn from the above?

If a person does you wrong and SHOWS genuine remorse and repents, it is godly to forgive and forget. But if the person shows no sign of remorse and repents not, it is wise to forgive and avoid such person.

Matthew 7:16 and 20
16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Absolutely