Love Your Enemies
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
In March of 1943, Bulgaria which had aligned with the Nazis received orders from Berlin that they were to begin implementing the Final Solution, the extermination of the Jewish people in Bulgaria and deport them to Treblinka.
The King of Bulgaria and the Parliament did not want to fulfill this order, but they passed it on nonetheless.
The people of Bulgaria began to wonder what would happen to their Jewish neighbors and friends.
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Now the railroad cars were lined up 100’s long and the Jewish people in 3 towns were to be gathered at the local elementary school and then placed on the trains.
Plodda was one of those towns.
The Jewish people were told to bring only what they could carry.
They were placed behind a chainlink fence at the school and they knew what was going to happen.
They began to cry out to their neighbors and tell them goodbye with tears streaming down their faces.
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A bishop came to investigate this thing he had heard about.
He cries out, ‘Children, the Christians of this country will not allow this to happen to you.
I will not allow this to happen to you.
I will lay my body on these tracks and they will have to run over my body.
This will not happen to you.’
He and the people of that town began to speak out.
Others began to speak out.
Several members of Parliament stood up and spoke but they were relieved of their offices and never served again in politics.
But the people refused to let the trains leave.
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Months later, the German Ambassador to Bulgaria on June 7, 1943 writes this back to Berlin:
‘I am firmly convinced that the Ambassador and the Parliament wish and strive for a radical final solution to the Jewish problem.
However they are hindered by the mentality of the Bulgarian people who lack the ideological enlightenment we have.’
Instead they were enlightened by the teachings of Jesus who said, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
And because the Christians of Bulgaria stood up against this while 6 million Jews were killed, of the 49,000 Jews of Bulgaria, all were saved and not a single one of them was killed by the Nazis.
They were a people who took seriously the Golden Rule and had courage to stand up for what they believe in faithfulness to Jesus’ words.
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So, please turn your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke.
We will conduct our study in Chapter 6 and focus on verses 27 through 36.
Our message this morning is titled, “Love Your Enemies”
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This message today will focus on the next section of Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain...
Today we will discuss the Golden Rule along with thew overall command to love one’s enemies.
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So, this morning we will cover five main points:
Be Loving...
Be Giving...
The Golden Rule...
Be Christ-Like...
And...
Be Merciful.
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider our text, please join me in prayer...
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Heavenly Father...
The most wise and most powerful and most loving!
We ask You to hear all our praises and requests...
We ask You to have mercy on us and to equip us to do Your will.
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Help us to understand the truth we are about to unpack from Your word...
Help us to keep the Golden Rule in our minds and hearts at all times...
Help us to love those who hate us...
Help us to love those that hurt us.
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Thank You for loving us while we rebelled against You...
While we arrogantly commited high treason against You...
You did not give us what we deserved but instead saturated us with Your love and grace.
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Thank You for sending the Way!
Thank you for sending the Truth!
Thank You for sending the Life!
Thank You for sending Your Son to a world that was so hostile to Him...
Yet He voluntarily gave His life so wretched sinners could one day wear robes of righteousness...
A righteousness that was imputed on us from Your Son who live a life of perfect obedience.
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And it is in Jesus’s name we pray all these things...
Amen.
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Let’s turn to our text for today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
29 To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.
30 Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.
31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.
35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.
36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
So, let’s look at our first point...
1) Be Loving
1) Be Loving
Verses 27-28: “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
Jesus starts off this next section of His sermon by speaking some bold statements...
Our Lord and Savior is commanding His followers to do something that goes against our natural tendencies...
We are called to love our enemies!
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So, we are not just called to ignore our enemies...
We are not just called to tolerate our enemies...
We are called to love the very people who slander us and insult us...
We are called to love the very people who hate us and want to see us suffer...
We are called to love the very people who even wish us torture and death!
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Christ also paints a picture for us on what that love should look like...
We are to do good to our enemies...
We are to bless our enemies...
And we are to pray for our enemies...
So, do good, bless, and pray for our enemies...
That is insane!
This goes against everything the world has told us to do...
This goes against our very flesh!
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In the minds of the hearers of these words we can imagine the reaction some may have...
You mean I have to love those people from that political party?
You mean I have to love those people that did this and that to my family?
You mean I have to love those people that said this and that about me and my loved ones?
Those people?
I have to love those people?
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The answer is YES!
You do have to love those whom are your enemies!
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Let’s look at the attitude that Jews had for their enemies in Jesus’ time...
This will help us understand the context better...
Pastor John MacArthur says:
“First-century Judaism was narrow, exclusive, intolerant, and hence largely loveless and condemning.
Hatred of their enemies, especially Gentiles (and above all their Roman occupiers), was elevated to the status of a spiritual virtue.
The medieval Jewish scholar Maimonides recorded the Talmud’s maxim that a Jew should not rescue a Gentile who fell into the sea.
Some Zealot extremists took that contemptuous disregard for Gentile life one step further by actually murdering Romans.
Many Jews thus found Jesus’ command love your enemies to be incomprehensible, shocking, and unacceptable.
But such vengeful hatred of one’s enemies was contrary to the Old Testament law.”
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Did you see that Beloved?
The attitude that the hearers of Jesus words would instantly feel...
Many in to this very day believe these commands by Christ to be incomprehensible...
They believe these statements to be too shocking...
And overall they just see Jesus’ words as unacceptable!
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You see Church...
There are many words for love in the ancient Greek language...
The word for “love” being used here by Jesus is “agapē” in Koine Greek...
That is the strongest form of the word love...
This is the love that is appropriate for a disciple who has experienced God’s forgiveness...
This is the perfect love that God has for His children...
And it is with this love that we are to love those who persecute us and sand in opposition towards us.
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Regarding these two verses that we have started our study with...
Theologian James R. Edwards says:
“These two verses are a single sentence constructed of four imperatives:
Love, do, bless, and pray.
Each imperative is in the Greek present tense, connoting continual action in accordance with the command.
The commandments thus characterize not temporary or occasional activities, but habitual behaviors of Jesus’ followers.
The commandments are nonintuitive, i.e., they may not seem reasonable, and they enjoin behaviors that do not come naturally.
In their ethics, Christians are not to be determined by the prior behaviors of others toward them, but by the character of God.
Hence, believers are not to reciprocate in kind, but to respond in ways unlike and disproportionate to the ways they are treated: enemies are to be loved, haters are to be treated with goodness, revilers are to be blessed, and maligners are to be prayed for.
This is not an ethics that can be argued on the basis of reason alone.
Such commands were surely as offensive in Jesus’ day as they are in ours.
There is, however, a power in these principles that is not rationally apparent, for they correspond to the nature of God, whose rule over this world is sovereign.
No power in the world is comparable to agapē love, both to keep Christians from becoming like their enemies, and to release their enemies from the prisons of their own hatred.”
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Remember what Jesus said earlier in this sermon that we covered a few weeks ago in Luke 6:22 which said:
22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!
Now Jesus is resuming this theme of His disciples being hated by giving several examples of what it means to love your enemies...
Again, we are called to Love...
We are called to do good...
We are called to bless...
And we are called to pray...
All these things we are called to practice not just for our family and friends...
But to those who have put gray hairs on our head...
To those that have hurt us so much we have shed many tears
We are called to do these tasks for the ones who given us must stress, anxiety, and depression.
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These individuals who have acted so merciless and heartless to us...
These individuals who have left us with emotional and sometimes physical scars...
These individuals who have been a thorn in our sides...
We are to love with an agapē love!
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The Reformation Study Bible puts it this way:
“Jesus illustrates this demand in the following sentences:
Respond to curses with prayer,
To assault with nonviolence,
And to exploitation with generosity.”
So, this love we are to have for our enemies involves more than just mere tolerance...
It expresses itself in doing good even to enemies who are most hostile and full of hatred toward us.
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Even in Jesus’ day these commands were considered radical...
What comes natural to us is to love our neighbor but hate our enemies...
That is the teaching that the religious elite even taught the people...
Yet Jesus flipped that erroneous concept on it’s head like when He said in Matthew 5:43-45:
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 be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
The apostles taught the same message...
Just look at what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:12:
12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;
When they revile us...
We bless them in return!
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When they persecute us...
We endure with love in return!
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Likewise, do not take pleasure in the failures of your enemy!
Do not rejoice when you see some one who hates you suffer or go through embarrassment!
When your enemy stumbles do not laugh!
That is not love!
Remember what Proverbs 24:17 says:
17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles,
Do not act like the world, Beloved!
All one has to do is watch the news and based on which network you watch...
You will see that they zero in on the blunders of their political opponents...
Maybe the person mispronounces a word...
Maybe they trip and fall...
Maybe they look foolish in a debate...
Maybe they mix up their facts...
Maybe they are given an insulting nickname...
Don’t get a kick out of that!
Don’t enjoy the suffering of other...
Even if they are enemies working against you and would laugh at you in you stumbled!
We are called to be totally different than this world!
As believers we need to to represent Christ properly and that means we have to love the unlovable!
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Jesus perfectly modeled this for us...
His enemies...
The ones who schemed and plotted out His execution...
Those that tried to constantly trap Him....
Those who tried to make Him look bad...
These enemies of Christ were the worst of the worst...
Yet look at what Christ said while on the cross as recorded in Luke 23:33-34:
33 And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.
34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.
Stephen likewise shared this beautiful attitude of love of ones enemies as recorded in Acts 7:59–60:
59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
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Jesus made this point clear here and in other parts of the Gospels...
Take for instance the truth found in Matthew 6:14–15 which says:
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,
15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
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Next, Jesus gives more example for how His followers should act...
He does this by giving a few examples that act as temples for us to follow in our Christian walk...
And this takes us to our second point.
2) Be Giving
2) Be Giving
Verses 29-30: To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.
Let’s start by looking at the command to turn the other cheek.
The ESV Study Bible reveals this great wisdom we need to keep in mind when interpreting this passage:
“Jesus is not prohibiting the use of force by governments, police, or soldiers when combating evil.
Rather, Jesus’ focus here is on individual conduct...which shows that he is prohibiting the universal human tendency to seek personal revenge.
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If anyone slaps you on the right cheek pictures a backhanded slap given as an insult (a right-handed person would use the back of the hand to slap someone on the right cheek).
The word ‘slaps’ translates in Greek to be ‘rhapizō’ which means ‘to slap, to strike with the open hand.’
One should not return an insulting slap, which would lead to escalating violence.
In the case of a more serious assault, Jesus’ words should not be taken to prohibit self-defense (see Luke 12:11; Luke 22:36–38; Acts 22:1; and Acts 24:10) or fleeing from evil (see 1 Samuel 19:10; Luke 4:29–30; John 8:59; John 10:39; and 2 Corinthians 11:32–33), for often a failure to resist a violent attack leads to even more serious abuse.
Acting in love toward an attacker will often include taking steps to prevent him from attempting further attacks.
Jesus’ teaching must be applied with wisdom in the light of related Scriptures that address similar situations.”
Additionally, in the ancient world...
Because a slap usually involved the back of the hand as we mentioned...
This may be a picture of public rejection from the synagogue.
As the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament on Luke says:
“Such striking is really an abuse of power and a misuse of personal authority.
Nevertheless, one is not to fight back in kind, but remain vulnerable to the insult again.”
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So, in the face of great insult...
Even so far as an actual slap in the face...
We are not only no to retaliate...
But we are to turn our other cheek...
Expecting full well that we may be slapped again.
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Again this is so counter to what the world has shown us...
And this was equally shocking to the hearers in the 1st century...
As Jesus says in Matthew 5:38-39:
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’
39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
As always...
Jesus did not just preach it...
Hew lived it and modeled if for us.
As pastor MacArthur says:
“Jesus demonstrated the proper response to being unjustly humiliated during His trial before the high priest.
When one of the officers struck Him, He did not turn His head and ask to be struck again.
But neither did He lash out in anger and revenge at His mistreatment.
Instead, He calmly pointed out the injustice of the act.
To turn the other cheek is, like Jesus did, to accept hostility and ill treatment without hatred or retaliation, but to show love in return.”
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Next, Jesus addresses the situations that we may find ourselves in were even our possessions...
Some of which are very much need...
What do we do when those possessions are taken from us...
Whether that be by some form of injustice by the courts or if it is simply stolen from us.
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In our passage Jesus says, “From one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.”
In Matthew’s account it says this in Matthew 5:40-42:
40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
So, Jesus again stresses that believers must be generous to a fault...
Even when someone takes away our goods...
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Simply put, the standards by which Jesus’ disciples are to live are higher than the standards of this wicked world.
Scholar Darrell L. Bock says this regarding Jesus words about one’s cloak being taken away and our response to not withhold even our tunic :
“The picture is of a robbery and the point is that one should not seek revenge, but again remain potentially vulnerable to a second attack.
Missionary travel was potentially dangerous, since robbers lingered on the highways;
But one should not cease from missionary work simply because one might get jumped.
Another possibility for the remark’s background is that the social ostracism of persecution produced situations where things were taken or damaged.
These factors should not stop one from loving and serving one’s neighbors.”
Furthermore, it should be noted that in the 1st century many people owned only one coat, or cloak, which also served as a blanket when they slept.
Because of that, the Mosaic law required that any coat taken as a pledge had to be returned before sunset...
We know that from passages like Exodus 22:26 which says:
26 If ever you take your neighbor’s cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down,
And look with me at Deuteronomy 24:13 that likewise says:
13 You shall restore to him the pledge as the sun sets, that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you. And it shall be righteousness for you before the Lord your God.
So, to keep a person’s cloak would constitute serious abuse.
Yet when that happens...
Christ’s disciples are not to retaliate...
Instead we are to continue to lovingly minister to those who persecute us...
Even if that results in losing our shirt or inner garment as well.
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This is a temple and should be applied to our lives today too...
Do not seek revenge when someone takes something from you...
Even if it is of great importance...
Instead...
Go the extra mile...
Do what would be shocking...
And love your enemy.
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Did you have your jacket stolen?
Maybe that person who stole it can’t afford coat and is too embarrassed to ask for help...
Yes, then sinned but our task it to love them...
Give them your gloves and winter hat too!
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When your enemy sees this they will be shocked...
They may desire to learn why this would be your response...
This may be the action that leads them to knowing the Lord!
Isn’t a jacket of little value in comparison to an enemy won to Christ!
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This need to be how we reorient our minds...
This is who the world will see our genuine faith in Christ!
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As 1 Peter 2:12 powerfully says:
12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
As the New International Commentary on the New Testament on Luke says:
“All this should be viewed in the light of the general principle that there should be a constant endeavour, in a spirit of sincere love, to bring the guilty to repentance and to conquer evil by good.
And even where severe measures have to be taken, this should be done only from motives of genuine love.
But the Christian throughout must be prepared to deny himself to the utmost and to place his own interests completely in the background.”
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You see, Beloved...
We must treat others the way we wish to be treated if we were caught in their situation...
And this takes us to our third point.
3) The Golden Rule
3) The Golden Rule
Verse 31: And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
Although other ancient text had similar statements...
Not was ever as powerful as the way Jesus declared it here.
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The Reformation Study Bible again has a great note for us:
“Often called the ‘Golden Rule,’ this principle was stated in a negative form by various ancient thinkers as, ‘Do not do to others what you do not want done to you.’
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Jesus is the first to give the Golden Rule in this positive form.
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Jesus makes it a positive obligation, a requirement to proactively do for others the good one wants for oneself.
Here it appears after the discussion of God’s goodness and His willingness to give.”
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The Golden Rule is also found in the Gospel of Matthew and it is recorded in Matthew 7:12 like this:
12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
The Golden Rule is a perfectly concise summary of the whole commands of God in one phrase...
So, look at the 10 commandments...
They can be condensed into two commands...
We see this in Matthew 22:35–40 which says:
35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
38 This is the great and first commandment.
39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
The first four commandments of the 10 commandments is summed up in “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”
The remaining six commands of the 10 commandments is summed up in “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
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Then Paul...
He show how even these commands can be found in a single command...
Look with me at Galatians 5:14 which says:
14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Why is Paul only saying “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” to sum up the whole law of God?
The reason for this is to show that the only way one can truly “love your neighbor as yourself” is to “ love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”
So, this single command is really the Golden Rule...
To do for others whatever you wish that others would do to you...
Like sharing the Gospel...
What has been more loving and had the greatest impact on your life than when you and I were exposed to the Gospel...
So, following the Golden Rule we share Christ with others as that is what we would want done to us...
And we love our enemies even when they don’t deserve it.
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As Romans 12:19–20 says:
19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Again this truth is found in passages like 1 Peter 3:9 which says:
9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.
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So, we are truly called to be Christ-like in all our actions...
Jesus is to be our model and the template we follow on how to treat others...
And this takes us to our fourth point.
4) Be Christ-Like
4) Be Christ-Like
Verses 32-34: “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.
Jesus provides further instruction for His followers...
He is painting an all around picture of what loving one’s enemies should look like...
Here He continues to provide more examples that will also serve as additional templates we are to follow in our daily lives and interactions with those we come into contact with.
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Again, the New International Commentary on the New Testament on Luke is helpful to our study and says:
“The test of real love is that it should be unselfish—self-interest must play no part in it.
Therefore the genuineness or unreality of a man’s love will especially appear in his attitude towards those who are evilly disposed to him.
There is nothing particularly praiseworthy in our being well-disposed to those who love us and treat us well.
Even those who live in sin are generally inclined to be kind to their benefactors.”
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Matthew records this truth in His Gospel this way in Matthew 5:46-47:
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?
To only love those who already love you is of nothing unique...
Even the worst of sinners will love those who love them...
This is nothing special...
The world does the very same thing.
That is easy...
But we are called to do so much more...
We are called to love those who despise us!
We are called to love those that care not for us!
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To do good to those who already do good to you is of nothing unique...
Even the worst of sinners will do good for those who do good to them...
Again, that is nothing special...
The world does the same thing.
That is easy...
But we are called to do so much more...
We are called to do good those who despise us!
We are called to do good those that care not for us!
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Jesus points out that to lend money to those from whom you expect to receive is nothing unique....
Even the worst of sinners will lend others if they expect get back the same kind of interest.
Again, that is nothing special...
The world does the same thing.
That is easy...
But we are called to do so much more...
We are called to give those whom we don’t expect to be able to repay us!
We are called to give those whom may very well be our enemy!
As Proverbs 25:21–22 says:
21 If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,
22 for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.
To do this is to be an imitator of God...
As the apostle Paul recorded in Ephesians 5:1-2:
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
The MacArthur New Testament Commentary on Luke says it like this:
“Merely to love like sinners do is no gospel witness; that kind of love will not convince anyone that the person manifesting it belongs to God’s kingdom.
It gives no evidence of a regenerated, transformed life.
But the supernatural love of God demonstrated in the lives of believers is a powerful apologetic for the truth of the gospel.”
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We are explicitly called by God to be merciful to all...
Even the ones who themselves are merciless...
And this takes us to our fifth and final point.
5) Be Merciful
5) Be Merciful
Verses 35-36: But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
Jesus here summarizes what He has been saying since the opening of our passage...
Love and do good to your enemies...
Lend with no expectation of a return...
In this life you may experience some loss...
But in the life to come the Lord God will reward you for He sees what you are doing and it is not in vain!
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The reason God commands these shocking commands is because it lines up with His perfect character...
We are called to be like our Master.
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So, it is important to note that these verses plainly teach and show solid proof that God’s love extends even to His enemies...
Although shocking...
The universal love of God is manifest in blessings which God bestows on all humans indiscriminately.
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Scholars and theologians refer to this universal love and blessing as “common grace.”
However, it is vital to note that this “common grace” must be distinguished from the “everlasting love” that God has for His sheep and elect...
We see this distinction in passages like Jeremiah 31:3 which says:
3 the Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
So, what is being referred to here is a sincere goodwill to all like is referenced in Psalm 145:9 which says:
9 The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.
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Furthermore, the phrase “you will be sons” in our passage does not mean “you will become sons”...
Instead, it should be understood to mean “you will demonstrate that you are sons” by imitating God’s care and compassion even for those who are evil.
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We are commanded to be “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”
And we are commanded to be perfect or complete like our Heavenly Father as it says in Matthew 5:48:
48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
So, God’s people are to be like God...
We are to be as merciful as He is...
Yet we can’t do this on our own.
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The only hope for us to keep this command is by His heart-transforming grace which can make His children willing to practice such counterintuitive, self-sacrificial love for enemies.
In other words, those who demonstrate love in the manner attributed to God the Father will become perfect—complete or mature.
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This is a truth that has always been the standard of God for His followers as witnessed in passages like Leviticus 19:2 which says:
2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
And this truth continues for all believers today as expressed in 1 Peter 1:15 which says:
15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
So, as this message comes to a close...
I would like to share this that I came across in my study this week:
An Armenian nurse had been held captive along with her brother by the Turks.
During this already traumatic event...
It would soon become tragic as her brother was slain by a Turkish soldier before her eyes.
Yet, somehow she escaped.
.......
Years later she became a nurse in a military hospital.
One day she was stunned to find that the same man who had killed her brother had been captured and brought wounded to the hospital where she worked.
Something within her cried out...
“Vengeance.”
.......
But a stronger voice called for her to love.
.......
So, she nursed the man back to health.
Finally, the recuperating soldier asked her,
“Why didn’t you let me die?”
Her answer was,
“I am a follower of Him who said, ‘Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you’”
Impressed with her answer, the young soldier replied,
“I never heard such words before.
Tell me more.
I want this kind of religion.”
.......
Jesus has presented us with an unconditional command...
We are to love our enemies with an agapē love!
There are no exceptions...
There is nothing anyone could do make that command no longer necessary...
.......
We are believers today...
Were at one time rebels against God in our past...
We deserved God’s wrath but He meet us with mercy...
And love...
Agapē love!
.......
So, let us go and love like our God loves us!
Let us live by the Golden Rule!
Let us share the Good News!
And Lets us share our faith and live out our faith!
.......
To God be all the glory.
Amen.
.......
Please join us for one more song from the Praise Band.