Loving Your Enemy

I want you to just think for a minute with me about your enemy. I'm sure you have at least one, maybe you have more than one, but just for your sake and for ours, just pick one of them this evening and think about them. You know who they are, you know their name. Maybe they're in this room this evening. Maybe you're sitting next to them and that's your enemy. They don't know they're your enemy, but you know they're your enemy and just think about them for a moment. Have you conjured up in your mind that person's face?

What they look like when they're the meanest? That person that God has placed in your life. Tonight we want to look at a section of scripture that will address what you're to do with that individual.

I just want to read through the text with you and then we'll follow the same outline we've always covered. We'll talk about the rabbinical tradition, the biblical teaching, and then your personal transformation. Matthew chapter 5, verse number 43, you have heard that it was said you shall love your 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 son 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. God gives us a standard. The standard is His perfection. The standard is Him. Aim high. Aim to the highest level there is. And so when we give forth the word of the Lord, we never give a standard that in human terms is measurable.

If it's measured in human terms, if you believe that you can do it, it's not of the Lord. So Christ sets it out, look, be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect. That's the standard. The answer to that is we can't do that. And God says, you're right, you can't, but with me, you can move in that direction.

And what God wanted to do is for those surrounding them there on that, that, uh, Galilean hillside was to throw themselves upon him for mercy. They did not do that. That was his desire. But let's look at the rabbinical tradition and look at it in two ways.

Number one, their omission and number two, their addition. To understand exactly what they taught, we have to understand number one, what they omitted from the old Testament and what they added to the old Testament.

Jesus says that you have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor. Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? You should love your neighbor. Well, of course you should love your neighbor. Leviticus 19, 18 tells us that we're to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. And that commandment is repeated seven times in the new Testament. Twice in Matthew, once in Mark, once in Luke, Romans, Galatians and James chapter two. Loving others and caring for others has always been God's standard for human relationships.

It was inconceivable that they should love someone as much as they love themselves. But you'll note that that phrase is omitted in Matthew chapter five. It simply says, you have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor. Stop right there. They didn't finish Leviticus 19, 18. Because you see, in their mind, they would never, ever be able to love somebody else like they love themselves, because they love themselves too much. So they omitted that part of the commandment, realizing that they are to love their neighbor and then they could set the standard on how far that love was to go.

In fact, they used to thank God that they weren't like other people. Remember the tax gatherer in Luke 18, I thank you, Lord, that I'm not like the tax collector. I'm sorry, the Pharisee. I'm not like the tax gatherer. I'm not like the adulterer. I'm not like those people. And you know what? We find ourselves in that same kind of situation, don't we? Well, I thank you, Lord, that I'm not a wife beater. I thank you, Lord, that I'm not a drug addict. I thank you, Lord, I'm not like those alcoholics.

You ever been in that situation? You ever put yourself in the shoes of a Pharisee? We have a better idea of who we are. Well, I thank God I'm not like those people. Really? You're so much better than they are. So we think. And God forbid that we should love the drug addict or the alcoholic like we love ourselves, right? That's how the Pharisees saw it. But the Pharisees should have known better. Solomon said in Proverbs 25, 21, if your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat. And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.

That's what the Old Testament said. But the Pharisees said, wait a minute, love your neighbor, hate your enemy. But that's not what the Old Testament taught. But that's what they would teach people in their day. In fact, God never said, quote, hate your enemy. He never said that. In fact, over in Exodus chapter 23, verses four and five, it says this. If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall refrain from leaving it to him.

You shall surely release it with him. So on the contrary, God says, you see your enemy. He's got a problem. Your job is to help your enemy. But the Pharisees said, love your neighbor, hate your enemy. Over in Psalm 7, verses four and five, David knew that it was wrong to do evil against his enemy. When he said these words, if I have rewarded evil to my friend or have plundered him who without cause was my adversary, let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it and let him trample my life down to the ground and lay my glory in the dust.

David knew how he was to treat his enemies. The Pharisees should have known how they were to treat their enemies. We today should know how to treat our enemies. Do it. Christ would come back and say, on the contrary, love your enemies. Love your enemies. He did not say, live the way your enemies live. He did not say, love the methods of your enemy. He didn't say, defend the ways of your enemy. He didn't say that. He did say, love your enemies. True love is different. True love sees beyond the outer individual and sees inside the individual.

And if you have not learned to do that yet, then your love life is going to be hindered. Because you won't be able to fulfill what God has asked you to do. So I want to spend just a few moments talking to you about love. That's going to be the biblical teaching that Christ gives us. And show you some things about love that I think we can all understand and relate to. And then come to grips with what God would have us do. First of all, love is important.

Is that not true? If God wants us to love our enemies, then we've got to understand the importance of love. Turn with me over to Mark chapter 12 for a moment.

In Mark chapter 12, we had the last question that Christ is asked by the religious leaders. The last question that's asked by Him was probably the most important question ever asked. It's in verse number 28. And one of the scribes came and heard them arguing. And recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, What commandment is the foremost of all? Lord, what is the foremost commandment? Jesus answered. The foremost is, Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength.

The second is this. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. He quotes the great Shema, the Hebrew word to hear. Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one. And because He is one, because He is supreme, because He is the greatest, because He is the priority, because He is the ultimate authority, you are to love Him with great intensity, with all your strength. You are to love Him even intellectually, with all your mind. You are to love Him in the most intimate kind of way, with all of your heart and with all of your soul.

It's totality. It's all-consuming. Here's the point. You can't love God with your mind and not love Him with your strength. That's the point. You can't love Him half-heartedly is the point. You either love Him or you don't love Him. You can't serve two masses, right? You can't serve God and money. We're going to talk about that in a few weeks. You either love one and despise the other or hold to the one and hate the other. So you can't love two people. You can't serve two people. And God says the love is one of great totality.

Everything you got, heart, soul, mind and strength and body. That's the greatest commandment. You love me. And then you love your neighbor. If you're not willing to do what Jesus Christ says in Matthew chapter 5, Folks, you don't have the foggiest idea of what love is.

You might think you do. You might think, man, I've done some good things. I serve my church. I give my church. I serve so much to the church. I love my church. But that's not the standard. The standard is God. And how do we measure up to His standard? Which leads us to point number two.

Love is impossible. Love is impossible. Christ says, love your enemies. We read that saying, who can do that? Who even wants to do that? Anybody here want to do that? Raise your hand. Didn't think so. I don't want to do that. But God says, love your enemies.

Love is impossible. See, if you think love is possible, you don't know love. Because love, biblical, true love, agape kind of love, is absolutely impossible to accomplish. Real love is loving your enemies. That's why it's impossible. It's need-oriented. Remember the Good Samaritan? The one who gave up his resources. The one who was inconvenienced. The one who sacrificed his safety. The one who sacrificed his resources. That he might take one who hated him and put him in an inn. Manage his wounds.

Christ uses the highest form of love. Agape kind of love. That seeks to meet the welfare of another one who's in need. Agape love may involve emotion, but it must always involve action. It may involve emotion, but it must always involve action. 1 Corinthians 13, love is kind. All those verbs, there's 15 of them. Love is patient. Love bears all things, endures all things. Love never fails. They're all action kinds of things. That's what love is. Love is an action. It's not an emotion. Emotion can be there, but it's primarily defined by an action.

It's me doing something for someone else. And never expecting anything in return. That's real, true, biblical love. Now granted, there is something that has to do with attitude. Because if it's not coming from inside, a hard attitude. Then it's just hypocrisy by doing the action on the outside. So there is some kind of attitude involved behind the act. As to why you would reach out and do something for somebody else. But the point is. Is that love is best described and testified by what it does. And God demonstrated his love toward us, didn't he?

And that while we are yet sinners, he died for us. He demonstrated his love. That's agape love. He put feet to his love. So we'd see it. And that's what God's called us to do. Love is important. Because God has told us to love his way. Love is impossible because he said you've got to love your enemies. But love is also impractical. It's very impractical. Why? Jesus would tell us. He says this. Pray for those who persecute you. Not only should you love your enemies, but you've got to pray for those who persecute you.

It's one thing to pray for those who do you wrong. It's another thing to pray for those who actually persecute you. Remember Matthew 5, 10 to 12? That when you live the beatitude kind of life. What happens then is that people will revile you. They will persecute you. And those are the people you ought to pray for. Those are the people you ought to bring before the throne of grace. And that's the most impractical thing about love. That those who abuse us verbally. Those who abuse us physically are the ones that we bring before the throne of grace.

That they might receive mercy. That they might receive the help of God. That they might understand who God really is. It's very impractical. Because you see when we're persecuted, who do we pray for? Us. And Jesus says, don't do that.

He says, you pray for your persecutor. See that's when you know you love somebody, right? When you're persecuted and you pray for yourself, who do you love? Self. When you're persecuted and you pray for your persecutor, who do you love? Your enemy. What did God say? Love your enemy. Pray for those who persecute you. Now don't hear me saying that you should never pray for yourself. That's not what I'm saying. But understand the implications of what Christ is trying to get across here. We are so self-centered.

In all reality, aren't we a lot like the Pharisees? In our everyday living. We would love our neighbor and hate our enemy. We would love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. That's impractical. It was Dietrich Bonhoeffer who said in Matthew 5, 44. This is the supreme demand. Through the medium of prayer, we go to our enemy, stand by his side, and plead for him to God. Wow. When was the last time you did that with your enemy? You stood side by side with them at the throne of grace and pleaded for God to show them mercy.

You know why that's important? Jesus tells us. In order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. The point being is that real true children of the king live this way. These are my kind of people. You prove yourself to be a son of your Father who is in heaven when you live the way God himself lived. By loving his enemies and praying for those who persecuted him. When he would go into Jerusalem and pray for those who he knew were going to put him in a tree. He loved them anyway. He loved them to the end.

He says, these are the people of my kingdom. This is how you can tell them. Let me ask you a question.

Does anybody tell, can anybody tell that you're one of the Father's kids? Because you love your enemies. And you pray for those who persecute you. That's the point. Are you living up to your faith? Love is important. Love is impossible. Love is completely impractical. Love is impartial. Love is impartial. That's verse number 45. For he causes his son to rise on the evil and the good. And sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Well, that's a great verse. Because it shows you that God's love is what?

It's impartial. Our love is to be impartial. Those who are unrighteous get rain. As well as those who are righteous. Those who are unrighteous get the sunshine. They get the benefits of God's benevolent love. Just as those who are righteous do. God doesn't show any partiality by how he helps divvy out sun, rain. Even those who deny his existence. And even those who rebel against his name still receive rain and sun. What would you do if you were God? And people rebelled against you? Would you still give them the same benefits as the righteous?

Probably not. That's why you're not God. See, God does. Because his love is impartial. So, love is important. Love is impossible. Love is impractical. Love is impartial. And lastly, love is impressive. Love is really impressive. In fact, that's the only thing that impresses God. Is real true love. Listen to what he says. For if you love those who loved you, what reward have you? Do not even the task 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?

God says, you love your brother? Who cares? Who really cares? No big deal. Don't be thinking you're so good because you love your brother. Do you love the task gatherer? Do you love the Gentile? Not the Pharisees. See, he just blew their self-righteousness right out the window. See, they prided themselves on who they love and who they didn't love. And God says, no big deal, man.

If you love those who love you, who really gives a rip? Nobody cares. But if you love those who are your enemies, that's impressive. Why? Because you see, the unbeliever can't do that. The unbeliever doesn't want to do that. And the unbeliever has no attitude toward that direction. But the believer does. That's why it's so impressive. And everybody around sees it. And everybody says, then how can they do that? How can they actually stay with the one who has abused them for so long? And still love them and still care for them?

Because God has empowered them to do so. The unbeliever just says, I'm done. I'm out of here. I'm finished. That's why love is so impressive. That's why God's love is so impressive, isn't it? While we were enemies, He loved us. That's when He demonstrated His love. It didn't say that He demonstrated His love toward us when we loved Him. Why? That's no big thing, man. That's no big thing. But what would make the angels in heaven stand up and take note? That the Father would send His only Son to the enemies of His Son.

And He would love them even though they persecuted Him. He would give His life for them even though they hated Him. He would rise again and redeem the ones who despised Him. That is love. Is your life explained that way? Or can your life be naturally explained by even the unbeliever? Only you can answer that. So if you're here and you're saying, man, I think I want to try this love thing. I think I want to try to do the right thing. I hope that's your attitude. Let me give you three suggestions.

Number one, you've got to follow your Father's example. Verse number 48, therefore you are to be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. He said it this way because that's the standard. There is no other standard but God's standard. To minimize the standard would be to do exactly what the Pharisees did, right? They lowered the standard so they could meet the law. So they could look at themselves as righteous and tell everybody else they were on their way to heaven.

God says no. The standard is so high you can't even keep it. So don't even try to keep it. And say, well, wait a minute. I can't be like you are, Lord. And the Lord says, you're right, you can't. You can't do that. But that's my call. And I will empower you to do that as you throw yourself upon me. Matthew 19, 26, what did Christ say? With God all things are possible. Which leads us to point number two.

Function under your Father's enablement. Function under your Father's enablement. Ephesians 5, 2, the command is what? Walk in love. Walk in love. Well, how do I do that? Paul tells us, just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. Walk in love. How do you walk in love? Just keep giving yourself away. Just keep giving up everything you've got. Say, well, I don't want to do that. Well, then you don't want to walk in love. But that's what love is.

Romans 5.8 or 5.5. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, is it not? The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. Because we are partakers of Christ's divine nature, he is a God of love. He enables us through his love by placing it in our hearts that we might love as he loved. So you see, we can do it. Not because of who we are, but because of who he is and what he wants to do in our lives. Because the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts. Follow your Father's example. Function under your Father's enablement.

And number three, fulfill your Father's exhortations. Fulfill your Father's exhortations. Or better yet, his expectations. Love one another. Sixteen times that phrase is used in the New Testament. Do you love? Do you love your enemies? I pray that God gives you the grace to do that. That you might prove to all those around about you that you are a child of the King.