"Love Your Enemies" part 3
Matthew 5:43–48 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may [a]be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Therefore [b]you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
We have been studying what the Bible has to say about our commandment to love all summer. We began by saying that all of the obligation of a believer is broken down by the Lord into love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus tells us that our neighbor is the person near to us in need. And that can be further specified with some other commands in Scripture like love your parents, children, spouses, brothers and sisters in Christ, and now we have come to love your enemies as our final emphasis.
Well, so far, with "love your enemies, we've gone two points; The first describes the radical command to love your enemies. Point number two describes what loving our enemies looks like. Point number three last week was "Who are my enemies? Point number four was "Why must I love my enemies?" Point number four is "How do I love my enemies?" And I want to conclude these messages with what does it mean to love the world?
prayer
We are talking about loving your enemies. Last week some of you kazooed me. Some of you had no idea what was going on. Well, in Marianne's Sunday School class Denise just completed a study on the book of Esther. And they did a mini Purim celebration. In the Jewish Purim celebration, they read the story of Esther, and every time Haman's name is mentioned, he's the villain, the people have noisemakers that they use to drown out the name of Haman. So, just for fun, Denise and I bought kazoos, and in the reading of part of the Esther story, the class blew their kazoos every time they heard the name of Haman. They also had masks of Haman, Esther, Mordecai, and Ahasuerus, to wear during class. So, last week, some of them, from that class secretly brought their kazoos and masks into worship service and kazooed me at the start of my message last week. Now, I don't know exactly who you all are. But I put your pictures on a wanted poster in our bulletin today. You may think this is humorous, but there are going to be several charges leveled against these individuals once they are apprehended. Here are some of the possible charges;
So, if you recognize any of the people from your bulletin insert, let me know, and we can prevent further kazooing during worship.
V. How Do We Love Our Enemies?
This can be broken down into 5 points. Do good, bless, pray, forgive, and refuse revenge.
A. Do Good
Luke 6:27 “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
That means that Love is active. It does something. Look at Romans 12:20.
Romans 12:20 “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”
What does that last phrase mean? The exact background of “burning coals” is debated, but the most likely meaning is that unexpected kindness toward an enemy can awaken shame, conviction, and potentially repentance.
Colossians 3:12 So, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and [h]patience;
I know you know this, but many charitable organizations, hospitals, colleges, public schools, and crisis organizations were started by Christians. And they were started because we are commanded to do good to both friend and enemy alike.
B. Bless
Luke 6:28 bless those who curse you,
What does bless them actually mean? When we think of blessing someone we may think of pronouncing a blessing over them.
May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, and the rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
And that really does give us the flavor of what it means to bless someone. You are verbally expressing the desire that good will come to that person. And the opposite of that is that you will not curse them. You will not verbally express a desire that evil will come upon that person.
1 Peter 3:9 not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but [a]giving a blessing instead, for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.
And, might I add, that pronouncing a blessing on someone should not be spoken sarcastically. Well bless your heart. I sure hope God will give you a special blessing to day. I hope you get exactly what you have coming to you.
Proverbs 15:1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a [a]harsh word stirs up anger.
A gentle answer turns away wrath a gentle answer. That means you are responding to harshness, meanness, sometimes even cruelty. But you are not to respond in kind. In school parlance you are to deescalate the situation. Say things that will bring the temperature of the conversation down.
Romans 12:14-15 14 Bless those who persecute [c]you; bless, and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep,
You are to sympathize with their circumstances.
Colossians 3:8 But now you also, lay them all aside: wrath, anger, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.
It can be very difficult to hold your tongue when you are being accused wrongly or verbally abused. And the temptation is to throw it all back in their face. We actually had a friend this week who had this exact circumstance happen where a family member was accusing them falsely of some things. They were being vindictive and spiteful and hateful. Someone gave them some good advice. They said why don’t you write it all to them in a letter and then throw that letter away.
C. Pray
Luke 6:28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who disparage you.
Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
Why should you pray? Because prayer changes things. Just two things. First, Prayer changes you. It changes your heart, your attitudes, your bitterness. In fact there’s some good advice if you have a problem with some one, if you really struggle to love them, make them a regular part of your prayers. And this is perfectly in line with what Jesus did. Is our perfect example for dealing with enemies.
Jesus prayed:
Luke 23:34 But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.
"Father forgive them..."
Stephen prayed:
Acts 7:60 Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And having said this, he [a]fell asleep.
D. Forgive
Ephesians 4:31–32 Let all bitterness and anger and wrath and shouting and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Instead, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, graciously forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has graciously forgiven [a]you.
Colossians 3:13 bearing with one another, and graciously forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord graciously forgave you, so also should you.
Forgiveness: does not excuse sin
We must remember that scripture teaches that repentance and confession should come before full reconciliation.
Luke 17: 3 [d]Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ [e]forgive him.”
We are to forgive as God forgives
Ephesians 4:32 32 Instead, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, graciously forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has graciously forgiven [t]you.
But God does not fully reconcile with any one without repentance.
1 John 1: 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
But he desires that all will come to repentance.
Ezekial 33:11 11 Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares Lord Yahweh, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’
Isaiah 55:6-7 Seek Yahweh while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to Yahweh, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
Forgiveness: does not excuse sin but desires that the enemy will repent and be reconciled.
E. Refuse Revenge
Romans 12:17–21 Never paying back evil for evil to anyone, [a]respecting what is good in the sight of all men, 18 if possible, so far as it depends on you, being at peace with all men, 19 never taking your own revenge, beloved—instead [b]leave room for the wrath of God. For it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Leave justice to God.
Deuteronomy 32:35 Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, In due time their foot will stumble; For the day of their disaster is near, And the impending things are hastening upon them.’
And what does vengeance look like? Vengeance for us may look like, on the surface, forgiveness but holding on to resentment and withholding from those that did us wrong. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. Now, we must set boundaries. But too often we say, I am done with this relationship. I will no longer participate. I am polite but I’m not going out of my way for them anymore. We withhold friendship and that is a form of vengeance.
"Vengeance is Mine."
VII. Loving Enemies Does NOT Mean...
Several points. Evil ignoring justice and remaining an abusive situations. Many misunderstand this command. It does not mean: Approving evil
Romans 12:9 Let love be without hypocrisy—by abhorring what is evil, clinging to what is good,
"Hate what is evil." In our society, something proposed that a loving society would have no punishment for evil or crime. We must learn to properly interpret scripture. As I said in the last sermon loving enemies speaks to my approach and attitude to those who hate me or hurt me. I am to love them. I am to desire what is good for them. But that doesn’t change the fact that God ordained certain roles for the order of society. He gave us standards for punishment of crime. Forgiveness does not mean…
Ignoring justice
Governments punish evil.
Romans 13: Every [a]person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except [b]from God, and those which exist have been appointed by God. 2 Therefore [c]whoever resists that authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for [d]good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of that authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same; 4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword in vain, for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.
Bat Passage says that rulers and authorities bear the sword. That’s a reference to using a sword to exact punishment for crime. So Paul is saying that God ordained that government’s rulers and authorities have the right and the responsibility to punish crime. So our forgiveness does not mean that a crime should go unpunished.
Loving your enemy also does not mean Remaining in abusive situations
A Bible.org article from 2006 quotes an older Moody Monthly advice column by Chuck and Winnie Christiansen. A woman wrote that her husband, who professed to be a Christian, had “thrown me, beaten me and threatened our children.” She had separated from him, but said her pastor told her to return home. According to her account, the pastor told her that God had called her to be an abused wife. When she challenged him—asking whether God had also called her husband to be an abuser—the pastor allegedly replied that this wasn't the issue; her responsibility was to submit.
I don’t agree with that pastor. I don’t agree because most situations with our enemies cannot be simplified down to a single verse like submit to your husband. There are a number of principles in scripture that can be applied to situations where a person is being abused. Let me give you a few. The Bible teaches us to
In Matthew 10:23 Jesus tells his disciples that they are going to be persecuted but that when they are persecuted in one city they are to flee to another city. We have accounts and scripture where Paul escaped from danger by being lowered in a basket out of a window. We have an account where Jesus knowing about danger withdrew from the crowd. We have an account in the Old Testament where David knowing that Saul sought his life fled into the wilderness and hid for years. There is no virtue in hanging around to be beaten up.
Seeking protection is biblical. Paul use the fact that he was a Roman citizen on more than one occasion to prevent his abuse. On one occasion when he discovered that there was a plot against his life he appealed to the Roman authority and got extra protection against that threat.
Exodus 22 verse 2 says 2 “[b]If the thief is [c]caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no bloodguiltiness on his account.
In other words you have the Biblical right to defend yourself. And since Romans 13 and first Peter 2 give the government the authority to enforce law and punish crime you have the right to call the police when you or someone else is in danger or has had a crime committed against you.
The vulnerable should be defended not sacrificed to preserve appearances.
Psalm 82: Give justice to the poor and the orphan; Justify the afflicted and destitute. 4 Protect the poor and needy; Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.
Proverbs 24: Deliver those who are being taken away to death, And those who are stumbling to the slaughter, Oh hold them back.
Proverbs 31:8-9 Open your mouth for the mute, For the justice of all those [a]passing away. 9 Open your mouth, judge righteously, And render justice to the afflicted and needy.
said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Now we need to be careful and precise here Earlier in this message I said that that law was not intended to be a rule for personal relationships. That meant that we are not to approach our personal relationships intending to exact vengeance for every wrong done against us. But that does not change the fact that civil law and criminal law is designed to punish evil doers. Physical abuse is a serious crime and is subject to criminal law.
Forgiveness does not eliminate consequences or preclude safety plans.
Matthew 18: 15 “Now if your brother sins[h], go and [i]show him his fault, between you and him alone; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every [j]fact may be confirmed. 17 And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as the Gentile and the tax collector.
Ephesians 5: 11 And do not participate in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead even [f]expose them.
Those verses together tell us that sin is to be exposed.
Luke 3: 8 Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say [d]to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.
Acts 26: 20 but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, practicing deeds appropriate to repentance.
Saul repented twice for his abuse of David. The first time David went back to serve in Saul’s presence. The second time he did not.
John 2: 4 But Jesus, [h]on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, 25 and because He had no need that anyone bear witness concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.
Acts 9: 26 And when he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples, [j]but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.
Acts 5: 29 But Peter and the apostles answered and said, “We must obey God rather than men.
So we have considered the radical command what loving enemies looks like, who are our enemies, why must I love my enemies, how do I love my enemies, what loving enemies does not mean, and lastly I wanted to look at what it means to love the world.
Love the World
There is an interesting tension in Scripture when it comes to how Christians are supposed to view the world. On the one hand, we have perhaps the most familiar verse in the Bible: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16). God loved the world. Yet John later writes, “Do not love the world or the things in the world” (1 John 2:15). So which is it? Are we supposed to love the world, or are we supposed to refuse to love the world? At first glance, those statements can sound contradictory. But they are not. The difference is found in what Scripture means by “the world” in each passage. God loves the people of this fallen world, while refusing to love the sinful system, desires, values, and rebellion that characterize the world in opposition to Him. And Christians are called to do the same.
When John says, “God so loved the world,” he is speaking about God's love directed toward fallen humanity. In fact, the greatness of God's love is demonstrated by the condition of the people He loved. God did not wait for the world to become righteous before loving it. Paul says, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). A few verses earlier, Paul says that Christ died for the “ungodly” (Romans 5:6), and then he goes even further: “while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10). That connects perfectly with Jesus' command to love our enemies. God did not love us because we were already His friends. He loved us while we were sinners and enemies.
But God's love for sinners never means God's approval of sin. John 3 itself makes that clear. Only a few verses after “God so loved the world,” Jesus says, “the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil” (John 3:19). God loves the world, but the world loves darkness. God's response is not to begin loving darkness with us. His love seeks to rescue us from it. That is why John 3:16 says that God “gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” God's love is a rescuing love. He loves sinners too much simply to leave them where they are.
That helps us understand what John means when he later commands, “Do not love the world or the things in the world” (1 John 2:15). John is not telling Christians to stop loving unbelievers. He immediately explains what kind of “world” he means: “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world” (1 John 2:16). In this sense, “the world” is the fallen system of desires, values, priorities, and beliefs organized in rebellion against God. We are commanded to love the people who are trapped within that system without falling in love with the system ourselves.
Jesus modeled this perfectly. He was called “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 11:19). He ate with people whom respectable religious society rejected. When the Pharisees complained that He ate with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus answered, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick” (Matthew 9:12). Then He said, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). Think about the picture Jesus gives us. A physician must get close enough to sick people to help them, but he doesn't accomplish that by becoming infected with their disease. In the same way, Jesus entered the world of sinners without participating in their sin. He loved them without affirming everything they did. He befriended them without adopting their values. He welcomed them while simultaneously calling them to repentance.
We see that combination of grace and truth throughout Jesus' ministry. When the woman caught in adultery was brought before Him, Jesus showed extraordinary mercy toward her, but His mercy did not redefine adultery as acceptable. He told her, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more” (John 8:11). Compassion and a call to holiness existed together. Jesus did not say, “Because I love you, your sin doesn't matter.” Nor did He say, “Because you have sinned, you are beyond my compassion.” His response was essentially: I will show you mercy, and I am calling you out of the life that is destroying you. That is biblical love.
This distinction is increasingly important for Christians because our culture often defines love as affirmation. We are told that if we truly love someone, we must approve of his choices, affirm his beliefs, celebrate his identity, or agree with his understanding of right and wrong. But that is not how Scripture defines love. “Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6). Biblical love and biblical truth can never ultimately be enemies because both originate in God. If something is destroying a person spiritually, morally, relationally, or eternally, it would not be loving to celebrate it simply because confronting it might be uncomfortable.
At the same time, Christians must guard against the opposite error. We can become so determined not to “love the world” that we stop loving the people in it. We can begin seeing unbelievers primarily as opponents in a culture war rather than lost people who need Christ. We can condemn the darkness while forgetting that, apart from God's grace, we were once part of that same darkness. Paul reminds believers, “At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord” (Ephesians 5:8). Titus gives an even more humbling reminder: “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures” (Titus 3:3). What changed us was not our superiority. Paul continues, “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us” (Titus 3:4–5).
That should radically affect the way Christians look at the unbelieving world. The person living in rebellion against God is not fundamentally someone for us to hate. He is someone who needs the same grace that rescued us. The person who mocks Christianity, rejects biblical morality, or even considers us an enemy is still someone made in the image of God. And Jesus says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Why? Because when we do that, we reflect the character of our Father, who “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).
This means our relationship with the world must contain both separation and engagement. Jesus prayed concerning His disciples, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15). Then He said, “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (John 17:16). But only two verses later He said, “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world” (John 17:18). That is the balance. We are not of the world, but we have been sent into the world. Christianity is neither isolation from sinners nor assimilation into their values. We are called to enter the world carrying the truth and love of Christ without allowing the world to enter us.
Paul makes a similar point in 1 Corinthians 5. He explains that when he warned Christians not to associate with sexually immoral people, he did not mean unbelievers generally, “since then you would need to go out of the world” (1 Corinthians 5:10). Interestingly, Paul expected Christians to have contact with unbelievers. His stronger warning concerned someone claiming to be a Christian while openly persisting in serious sin. In other words, holiness does not require us to avoid lost people. How could we fulfill the Great Commission if it did? Jesus commanded us, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). We cannot make disciples of people whom we refuse to know, speak with, serve, or love.
And this brings us back to God's love for the world. God's love did not remain distant. “God so loved the world, that he gave.” Love moved toward the lost. Love sacrificed. Love sent Christ into a hostile world to save sinners. Jesus said that “the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). If we are going to love the world as God loves the world, then our love must move us toward lost people as well. We should care about their suffering. We should show kindness to them. We should defend those who are mistreated. We should feed the hungry, help those in need, pray for those who oppose us, build relationships with unbelievers, and above all, tell them the good news of Jesus Christ.
But loving the world as God loves it also means telling the truth about sin. The gospel itself begins with the reality that something is terribly wrong. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The answer is not affirmation but reconciliation. Paul says that “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself”, and then describes our mission: “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:19–20). Notice the heart behind those words: “We implore you.” There is urgency, compassion, and pleading. We are not standing at a distance shouting condemnation at the world. We are ambassadors walking into the world with God's offer of reconciliation.
And God Himself shows us what that attitude should look like. He says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways” (Ezekiel 33:11). That is a remarkable picture of God's heart toward rebellious people. He does not approve of their rebellion. He warns them of judgment. Yet He calls them to turn because He desires repentance rather than destruction. Peter similarly says that the Lord is patient, “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). God's love does not eliminate repentance; God's love is one of the reasons He calls sinners to repentance.
So when Scripture says, “God so loved the world,” and then tells us, “Do not love the world,” there is no contradiction. We are to love the world the way God loves the world, while refusing to love what the world loves. Love the sinner; don't love the sin. Love the people; don't adopt the system. Love those walking in darkness; don't join them in the darkness. Love those who oppose God; don't compromise God's truth to gain their approval. Desire their good, pray for their repentance, show them compassion, speak the truth to them, and point them toward Christ.
And perhaps that is where “love your enemies” ultimately takes us. The world may increasingly view Christians as enemies. Some will ridicule us. Some will misrepresent us. Some may hate us precisely because we refuse to affirm what Scripture calls sin. But our response cannot be hatred in return. Jesus did not command us to defeat our enemies by becoming like them. He commanded us to love them. And the greatest expression of that love is not telling the world that it is fine without Christ. It is lovingly telling the world that Christ came for it.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son.”
If God loved a rebellious world enough to send His Son into it, then surely those of us who have been saved by that Son should love the people of that world enough to take His gospel back to them.