Kingdom Love Series

Erwin Lutzer tells the story about a man and his wife who came to their pastor and told him, “We're going to get a divorce, but we want to come to make sure that you approve of it.” Like many people, they were not looking for advice. They just wanted their pastor to agree with what they had already decided to do.

Instead, the pastor says to the husband, “The Bible says you're to love your wife as Jesus Christ loved the church.”

The husband replies, “Oh, I can't do that.”

To which the pastor says, “If you can't begin at that level, then begin on a lower level. You're supposed to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Can you at least love her as you would love a neighbor?”

The husband says, “No. That's still too high a level.”

So the pastor says, “The Bible says, Love your enemies. Begin there.” (Erwin Lutzer, “Learning to Love,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 99; www.PreachingToday.com)

God doesn’t let us off the hook, does He? He commands us to love anyone He brings into our lives, no matter who it is – spouse, neighbor, or enemy.

But why? Why is it so important that we love even our enemies? What are the benefits of such unconditional love? What profit is there for you to do good to the one who hates you? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Matthew 5, Matthew 5, where Jesus lays out those benefits.

Matthew 5:43 You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ (ESV)

I.e., love the one who is close to you, and hate the one who opposes you. Now, the word for “neighbor” literally means “one who is near”; and depending on the context, it can refer to someone who is near in place (like your next-door neighbor) or near to your heart (as in a friend).

Well, the ancient scribes interpreted the Law to mean love those who are near to your heart; i.e., love your friends and hate your enemies. However, Jesus didn’t see it that way. He rightly interprets the Old Testament Law to mean love anyone who is near in place, even if it is your enemy.

It’s like G. K. Chesterton once said, “The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.” (G. K. Chesterton, Leadership, Vol. 9, no. 2; www.PreachingToday.com)

Look at what Jesus said.

Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you... (ESV)

Jesus said...

LOVE YOUR ENEMIES.

Give good things to those who hate you. Do what benefits them.

Now, this kind of love is NOT a feeling. It’s agape love! It is an act of the will whereby you choose to do what’s good for someone, whether you feel like it or not, and whether or not they deserve it. That includes praying for them, because it’s hard to hate someone you’re asking God to bless.

Many people don’ know it, but the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and Justice Ruth Bader Binsburg were close friends. Even though they were polar opposites when it came to politics, he always gave her roses on her birthday and shared her reverence for the law. Someone once asked Scalia how they could be such dear friends with such different views. Justice Scalia answered, “I attack ideas. I don't attack people. Some very good people have some very bad ideas. If you can't separate the two, you'd better get another job.” (Roxanne Roberts, “When the Supremes socialize,” THE WEEK, April 9. 2016. p. 36; www. PreachingToday.com)

We need to learn to separate people from their ideas, especially in our current divisive political climate. Their ideas may be bad, but they are made in the image of God, and they are people for whom Christ died. So we must love them as God loves them, or as God loves us, unconditionally and without any bitterness, doing good even to our political enemies.

Daryl Davis, an African American, sets the example for all of us in his relationships with so-called “white supremacists.”

Less than two years ago (December 2017), Davis traveled to Charlottesville, Virginia, to meet with Billy Snuffer, an Imperial Wizard of the Rebel Brigade Knights, a sect of the Ku Klux Klan. Snuffer was there with other Klansmen to support an associate who was facing gun charges resulting from the infamous “Unite the Right” rally which took place in August of that year (2017). That was the rally where a woman was killed by a driver who rammed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters.

Davis wasn't exactly there to support Snuffer and his friends, but he did want to engage them in conversation in order to understand them.