Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

Andrew Jackson was the 7th president of the United States and one of the most popular presidents ever.

After two terms he left office with greater popularity than when he entered.

He is one of the most interesting presidents to study, for the record would indicate that he had no business being president.

He was left an orphan at age 14 because of the horrors of the Revolutionary War.

He had a rough life from the start, and never did learn to speak or write correct English.

He was unrefined and uneducated, and he had a violent temper.

All of the presidents up to Jackson had been from the social aristocracy, and were wealthy and highly educated.

One thing Jackson was really good at, however, was hating.

He hated the British for killing his family.

He hated the Indians for he had seen them massacre many families.

He hated his political and personal enemies.

He was divorced, and his enemies tried to use his former wife in attacking him.

He fought several duels over her.

Jackson was a fighter all his life, and that is how he became a popular hero.

He led his riflemen to victory in the battle of New Orleans with only 8 of his men killed while the enemy lost 700 dead and 1400 wounded.

This man of battle, driven by hatred, became a Christian in later years, and after confessing Christ as Savior he was baptized and joined the church.

He spent a great deal of time in study of the Bible.

He died with a deep commitment to Christ and the Word of God.

But he confessed that his toughest battle as a Christian was the forgiving of his enemies.

This is easy to understand when you think of a man who has been conditioned from childhood to hate.

He thrived on hate, and hate is what motivated him and made him the hero of the masses.

He was an expert hater, and only had a short part of his life to learn to love, and so he was only an amateur at love.

Jesus wants us to be real professionals at love, but unfortunately even those of us who have not been conditioned by a life time of hate find it hard to rise above the amateur level.

Sometimes we are able to do it, and other times we are so overwhelmed by anger, bitterness, and resentment, that the best we can do is feel guilty because we fall so far short of the ideal.

God specializes in the impossible, but we have a tough enough time trying to be effective on the level of the possible.

It is possible to love our neighbor as our self, but even this can call for enormous effort.

We even struggle at times to love our loved ones, and God Himself is not always a snap to love, for we do not understand His ways, and we suspect we could do something better if we were God, and so we even sometimes resent Him.

No love comes easy all the time.

But this love of ones enemies really goes against the grain of our nature.

It does not seem to fit reality.

It is like trying to taste sound or hear color.

It doesn't make sense.

What good is an enemy if you cannot enjoy hating him?

There are some people you just love to hate, and, therefore, you would hate to love them.

Elizabeth Skoglund in her book To Anger, With Love, tells of how a Christian can battle with this business of trying to love an enemy.

She worked under a supervisor who treated her and others unfairly.

She was filled with resentment because of the unjust treatment.

She was furious within, and she wanted to quit, but she would only damage her own career.

Her only release was in prayer, and she revealed how honest prayer can save your sanity.

She shares one of her prayers: "Dear God, you know how I hate this woman.

You know I'd only be playing games with you if I ever said I want to like her.

I don't.

I thoroughly enjoy hating her, but I can't be close to you and hold on to hate.

So because of that, I give you the right to love her through me.

I ask you for a love I don't have and can't produce."

She began to eat lunch with her supervisor, and she asked about her family.

She realized the only way to love is to know.

People you despise become more real as people when you know them.

It took time, but she got to know her well enough to genuinely like her.

She never completely trusted her, for she was unpredictable and changeable, but she came to the point where she had a relationship where her anger was not in control of her emotions.

By surrendering to God and opening herself up to know her enemy, she was able to come to the place where she was able to love her enemy.

It was not perfect, but enough so that love triumphed over hate, and set her free from the spirit of revenge.

The convicted prisoner was brought before the judge for sentencing.

"I find you guilty on 26 counts," the judge said.

"And I sentence you to five years on each count, making a total of 130 years."

The prisoner was shocked, and he said, "I can't serve that much time."

The judge responded compassionately, "I know, so you don't have to serve the whole 130 years.

Just do as much as you can." Jesus as our judge wants us to love on His level, and if we are totally yielded to His Spirit we can actually be channels of that kind of love.

But the fact is, we are seldom that yielded.

The ideal is not lowered to our level, but it is kept on His level of perfection, and His word to us is, "Do as much as you can."

We are not to do nothing just because we can't do everything.

What we need to avoid is the terrible guilt feelings that develop in Christians because they have so many negative feelings toward others that contradict the spirit of Christ.

Some of that guilt is good, for it is based on rebellion and a refusal to follow Christ, and are guilt is to lead us to repentance.

Much guilt, however, is false guilt that comes from misunderstanding.

Many Christians feel that they have an obligation to like everybody, and this really is impossible.

Loving your enemy is not the same as liking your enemy.

If you really liked your enemy, he would not be an enemy, but a friend.

That is the goal, of course, of loving your enemy, but if that goal is not reached you can never like your enemy.

It is demanding of yourself more than Jesus intended to try and pretend that you like people who despise and persecute you.

It is impossible to like a lifestyle that is one of evil, and which is injurious to those who live it, and to the society in which they live.

Trying to like everybody would be like trying to like all tastes in food, clothing, cars, life-style, etc.

The commands of Christ are tough enough without making them absolutely impossible, and if you equate loving with liking, that is exactly what you are doing.

Love for an enemy is based on an awareness that they are persons of infinite value for whom Christ died.

They have the potential as you to be trophies of God's grace, and part of God's eternal family.

This means you care about them and are concerned that they find God's best in Christ.

You deal kindly with them in anyway you can, and you pray for them.

You go out of your way to avoid offense and being a stumbling block to them.

You strive by word and deed to enable them to feel the touch of God's grace in their life.

Jesus did this with His most antagonistic enemies, the Pharisees, and many of them came into His kingdom as leaders.

Nicodemus, Joseph of Aramathea, and Paul the Apostle just to name a few.

But Jesus never once altered His dislike for the Pharisees, and their whole legalistic scheme of life.

He loved them and ate with them, and He counseled with them.

His door was ever open to meet any need of the Pharisees, but Jesus never did like them.

To like them would be to approve of them, and Jesus could never do that.

So we see the paradox of being able to love your enemies while at the same time never liking them.

The Christian who tries to eliminate the not liking of his enemies is trying to do what goes beyond Christ, and that is not an achievable goal, nor is it even a desirable goal.

If one could get to the point where he liked evil, injustice, and folly, one would be more like Satan than like Christ.

It is failure to keep this distinction between love and like that leads people to distort the love of God.

God is love, but God is not like.

When you make the love of God such that it means He likes all as He loves all, you end with an universalism that eliminates judgment.

You have reduced God to a level of indifference to evil, and so there is really no difference, and everybody is okay.

Nothing could be further from the truth of Christ's teaching.

Jesus loved His enemies so much He died for them, but He never did like them, and He never ceased to fight their evil and warn them of the judgment to come if they persisted in their evil ways.

Matthew chapter 23 reveals Jesus telling the Scribes and Pharisees how it really was.

He calls them hypocrites, snakes, a brood of vipers, and sons of hell.

He warns them over and over again of the judgment awaiting them for their folly.

It is clear that Jesus did not like His enemies, and, therefore, do not demand of yourself that which is contrary to the spirit of Christ.

To despise evil men and evil schemes is not inconsistent with obeying Christ.

Following Christ's demands that we oppose the forces of evil, and do all we can to prevent their evil influence from hurting lives.