Sons of your Father

When Jesus taught that we should love our enemies, He connected it to being a son of a heavenly Father.

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love you neighbor, and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to shine to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:43-48

Jesus made a reference to one of the two most important parts of the Law: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." This is the royal law; all of the Law hangs on this commandment and one other: "you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." But what Jesus taught exceeded the requirements of the Law.

Jesus did not appeal to the Law as the basis of what He taught; He appealed to sonship. But we all have an earthly father; we are not the physical sons of a heavenly Father. Jesus is not appealing to a universal Fatherhood of God. He is specifically stating to those who are listening that God is their heavenly Father; they are to be different than all others because of this difference.

The basis of what Jesus taught is that something in us that is a son of the heavenly Father. This is the point that He makes in the parable of the tares: the good seed are the sons of the kingdom. Just as in the parable of the tares, the word "sons" is used, not the word "children". The word "sons" implies maturity; something in us is can be a mature expression of our heavenly Father.

What Jesus taught is what is necessary for us to express the life that our heavenly Father has conceived in us. We cannot make a son of the heavenly Father by doing the right things, but we can nurture the life that He has placed in us. The life that He has placed in us is like Him.
We are not just muddling through, trying to do the "right" thing; something alive inside us is seeking to be expressed in this world. His life within us is an accurate expression of who He is: nothing less.

In the kingdom of God, the will of the Father is done; the life inside us is that kingdom brought near in us. We are to be perfect like our heavenly Father because the kingdom of God is near.