Love Your Enemies

you have heard that it was said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but I say to you don't resist the one who is evil so one slaps you on the right cheek turned him the other also you someone Sue's you to take your tunic let him have your cloak as well if someone demands that you go one mile go with him to give to the one who asks from you and do not withhold from the one who would borrow from you you heard that it was said you shall hate your

enemy love your neighbour but I say to you love your enemies pray for those who persecute you so that you will be children of your father who makes his Sun to rise on the just and the unjust and sends rain on the good and the evil if you love only those who love you what reward do you have don't even the tax collectors do that if you greet only your brothers what are you doing more than others don't even the Gentiles do that you must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect now those are

some of the most difficult controversial radical demands Jesus ever put on the world and they're real they're in the Bob they're in the mouths of Jesus we should live that way so I have several questions I mean they're my questions they're not just for you one is do we really need to do them and do we do Christians have enemies I mean we're nice people I hate to have enemies the second question that's really complex what how do you do that aren't there contradictions between those verses and the third question is how in the world

can you get to the point where your heart really wants to bless bless I'll just do nice things bless those who curse you and and abuse you so first question are we going to need this command jesus said if they call the master of the house Beelzebul the devil me think of me the devil how much more will they malign those of his household which means if Jesus got criticized how much more you so if you're a follower of Jesus it's a given it's just a given Jesus said Paul said anyone who desires to live

a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted if you don't have any enemies your godliness is probably not showing very well jesus said woe to you if all men speak well of you so yeah we need this Christians and all the more as an American culture collapses around us and we take biblical stands over against worldly stands all the more will we be maligned we will be accused things that just are not so how will we respond to those adversaries those naysayers that's what this command is about inge says love your enemies second question

what about the complexity of it I I recited Matthew five 38 to 42 and 43 to 48 and if you look at those two units the first one emphasizes give to the one who asks just give wants to borrow give go with me warm up go with him to just give give give the second one emphasizes bless them seek their good and here's the question do those two things always go here the answer is they don't they clearly don't which makes me realize when Jesus is saying somebody asks you give somebody demands give he means

that's one crucial important way of loving your enemy it's not the only way let's just take some illustrations these are real out of my life you dealing with a suicidal person they call you it's interesting how many people who are on the brink of taking their lives reach out for help so you show up you know where they keep their medicines you see it there you take you take the medicine bottle that they were contemplating taking and they say to you give me my medicine and get out of my house that's how contradictive people really

are all right Jesus says give to him asks hmm he also says do good bless and now you realize this person in a moment of deep depression and irrational thinking about their immediate future are drawing conclusions that will be deeply destructive to them and you hold the means of saving their life in your hand and they're asking that you give it up to them and my answer that was B no you don't give it to them and you don't leave them either you know walk out they say leave and they say give and you don't

leave and you don't give because you love them at that moment they're treating you like an average ER they may get mad let me beat you slap you throw something at you and you won't give it to so Jesus is giving us one way of loving when he says give to him who asks or here's another one get it the complexity of things in church and elsewhere you got a babysitter and you find out the babysitter's been sexually abusing your children a week later while this 14 year old is being handled in the court system

what you're going to do that 14 year old calls you on the phone and says would you forgive me will you the answer is yes you will Jesus said how often shall we forgive them seven times seventy times seven forgiveness is free and forthcoming then they say on the phone can I have my job back and the answer is no forgiveness and Trust are not the same thing when you have somebody who's been an adversary and has abused your children you do forgive but you don't trust trust is something that is earned over years of

faithful obedience it is not a gift of love so this is complex isn't it or well here's one more illustration you if you want to give to a poor neighbor down the street on welfare has six kids and don't have a washing machine it's cold in Minnesota to go to the laundromat down on Franklin is a huge burden for this mom you'd like to buy her a six hundred dollar washing machine and dryer to boot so you say and you say and just when you've got enough to bless her another person says can I have

that six hundred dollars for a car repair give to him last what are you going to do I don't know what you're going to do I just know Jesus knew those kinds of perplexities and complex that these exist in life so when he said give to him who asked go the extra mile turn the other cheek he meant sometimes and you must discern what's the loving thing to do here's another reality we live in a world where we not only function as individuals we function as parents to children do you turn the other cheek with

a child citizens to police do police turn the other cheek when they're trying to rescue some one from assault we have pastors over churches just church discipline go out of existence because you're always turning the other cheek we have employers and employees and the employee says give me my wage I'm not showing up for work I just want my wage no you're fired is that love yes it is can't run a business and keep people employed in other words spheres of life function in terms of earning many times Jesus knows this he said the laborer

deserves his wages he would not give to the people who worked all day more than a Denarius because that's what they agreed on jesus knows about these so so my second observation about enemy love is that it's very complex but before I close with that last issue about where does it come from I want to go back to verses 38 to 42 we middle-class wealthy American that's who I am anyway we love to get off the hook to give to him who has oh thank you John Pfeiffer you just got me off the hook I

don't have to give to him who asked you know why Jesus said those radical commands go the extra mile let a person sue you give he really meant that should be your default response in other words loving your enemy is meant in the mouth of Jesus to be an illustration Jesus is my satisfaction I don't need money I don't need revenge I don't need security I have Jesus I can display the worth of Jesus to the world by giving to who ass by endangering myself to serve you that should be our default response you can

tell when people are studying this issue you'll know in in just a few minutes who the people are who trying to weasel they're not brokenhearted because they're unloving people they're weasel errs they try to get out of the trap of Jesus demand that we be changed at the root of our being which brings us now to this last question how you going to become a person like that well here's the idea biblical idea number one romans 5:10 if while we were enemies if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of

his son how much more will we be saved by as life God saved you while you were his enemy you didn't befriend him before he moved in on you and saved you so the root origin of how to love enemies is to experience being loved as an enemy of God second thing in Matthew 5:44 it says love your enemies pray for those who persecute you and you will be sons of your father who loves like that in other words another motive power is I shown myself to be a child of God got the same DNA

as my father that's what Jesus is talking about here's a third one this is really important one of the reasons it's hard to love our enemies is because it feels like when we're loving our enemies they're getting away with murder nobody gets away with murder or anything else vengeance is mine I will repay says the Lord if your enemy's hungry give him something to eat you see what he's saying hand over to God vengeance don't think justice won't be done it will be done all sins will be punished either on the cross for those who

repent and you can't improve upon that punishment or in hell for those who don't repent and you can't improve upon that punishment don't ever worry that you have to take vengeance into your hand so that right is done so those are at least three motive powers and I would close with this one blessed are you when men persecute you and revile you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account rejoice in that day and be glad for great is your reward in heaven there is a reward in heaven spectacularly beyond anything

you lose on this earth in loving your enemies so for those four reasons at least let's do this let's show the world how free we are from vengeance free we are from the love of money free we are from the need of security and how much love we have for those who persecute us so father do this great miracle of creating enemy love in the hearts of your people I pray through Christ amen