MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER
RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK
(REVISED: 2019)
(The Powerpoints used with this sermon are available for free. Just email me at mnewland@sstelco.com and request PP #117.)
TEXT: Matthew 5:43-47
Earlier this year we looked at the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in the Book of Matthew & considered what Jesus was saying in Matthew 5:38-41.
"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
"And if someone wants to sue you & take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.”
Now we have already discussed those verses, so let’s proceed on from there & look at verses 43-47 where Jesus says,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy,’ but I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.
“He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
“And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
These words of Jesus are some of His most difficult for us to under¬stand. Is it really possible or desirable to obey what He is telling us to do here?
We are also a bit puzzled by them because in other scriptures we are told "to resist evil, & hate the evil things of this world." Yet, here we are told to "love our enemies."
Yet we look at Jesus & see Him knotting the cords, & driving the moneychangers out of the temple, & we think, "Was He practicing what He preached? Did He really love those people that He was driving out of the temple?
ILL. What about some of the evil people of today? What about ISIS, & Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran, & the hatred that they express for the U.S.? Are we supposed to love them?
Are we to love all the evil people? If someone comes to my house to steal my TV, should I say, "Help yourself, & take my couch too"?
Just exactly what is Jesus teaching here when He says that we are to "turn the other cheek, go the 2nd mile, & love our enemies”?
PROP. Well, to begin with, I want us, this morning, to notice the things Jesus probably did not mean when He said, "Love your enemies." Then I want us to look at some of the things He did mean.
I. WHAT IS JESUS NOT SAYING WHEN HE SAYS "LOVE YOUR ENEMIES?"
Now let’s consider what Jesus is not saying when He says, "Love your ene¬mies."
A. First of all, I don't believe this commandment is a "legalistic" commandment. Now, I want you to understand what I am saying. I don't think He means for us to take these words & apply them in a legalistic way. If we did, we would have to do certain things only if certain other things happened first.
For example, when was the last time someone hit you on the right cheek? How long has it been since someone took your tunic? How long has it been since someone compelled you to go with him for a mile? Probably not recently, if ever at all.
You see, I think what Jesus is doing here is giving us "windows" through which we can see the quality of love that He desires His followers to have.
We might do all of these things - go the second mile turn the other cheek even give our coat & still not have the quality of love that Jesus wants us to have.
But these are windows that we can look through & see the nature of Christ's love, & the love that we, too, are to have as His people.
B. Secondly, I don't believe that Jesus is saying that we are to love just our enemies. He doesn't tell us to love our friends. He doesn't have to, because we love our friends, anyway.
What He is doing is picking out the most extreme case & saying, "Here are your enemies. I say to you, love them as well as your friends."
In other words, Jesus is saying, "There should be no limit on your love. You are to love everybody, even your enemies."
C. Thirdly, I don't believe that Jesus is saying that we must like our ene¬mies. This is rather important for us to understand, because usually love follows "liking" someone.
"Boy meets girl. Boy likes girl girl likes boy." After liking each other for a while, they often begin to love each other. "Liking" preceded the "loving." That is usually the way it happens.
But when Jesus commands us to "love our enemies" He is saying "love your enemies first." Then you may, or may not grow to like them but you begin by loving them first.
It seems that everything is turned around. We are not commanded to "like" them, but we are commanded to "love" them. We may never approve of their opinions. We may never approve of their conduct.
ILL. I don't think we are supposed to like members of Al Queda. I don't think we are supposed to like the dishonest politician who takes money underneath the table. I don't think we are to like the murderer but we are to "love" them. Jesus commanded us to love them!
D. Fourthly, I don't believe that Jesus is saying that we are to submit to them, & allow them to control our lives.
We are told in the Scriptures "to be fools for Christ's sake", but nowhere are we told simply to be "fools." We are told in the Scriptures to be "peacemakers", but nowhere in the Scriptures does it say that we are to surrender to evil.
We are told to "love our enemies," but we are also to "oppose them" when they are wrong & when they oppose the things of God.
Now remember, what we have just been considering are not the things that Jesus was telling us to do when he said, “Love your enemies.”
II. WHAT DOES JESUS MEAN WHEN HE SAYS, "LOVE YOUR ENEMIES"?
So now let’s consider what Jesus does mean, what Jesus wants to accomplish in our lives when he says, "Love your enemies."
A. First of all, we are to love our enemy because we need to get rid of hatred & malice in our thoughts. You may like or dislike your neighbor. You may approve or disapprove of him.
You may submit to or resist the person who is opposed to you but there is no place in "love" for "ill will". There is no room in "love" for the desire to "hurt", or for delight in destroying another person.
ILL. Someone said, "We are made kind, by being kind!"
So we are to love our enemies but that is an acquired skill. We do not come by that naturally. We must learn how to do it & we learn to love by loving!
So Jesus is saying, "Start practicing what you do not know how to do naturally. Start loving your enemy. Get rid of your hatred & malice."
B. Secondly, we are to come to know and understand our enemies. You see, when we talk with one another, we begin to learn things about each other that may not be all that disagreeable.
ILL. One of my favorite stories to illustrate this is of a mother who had a fool proof method of dealing with her children when they got into a fight. She would take them by their ears to the dining room & set them down in two chairs facing each other.
Then she would shake her finger at them & say very sternly, "You sit there & you look at each other & don't you dare smile!"
You know the result. They couldn't look at each other very long without smiling. First thing they would know, all their anger & hatred would be gone. "She's not my enemy, she's my sister." "He's not my enemy, he's my brother."
That is what Jesus is saying. He is saying that when we sit down & come to know our enemy, sometimes we will find that we are not enemies at all.
C. Thirdly, Jesus is also saying, "Seek their welfare."
I don't believe that He means that we are to go help the bank robber rob the bank. Nor that we ought to buy the drunkard another automobile so that he can have another accident & maybe kill somebody in the process.
But neither does He mean that we are to wait for our enemies to become lovable before we love them.
ILL. Someone said, "He who waits for the time to be ripe, often waits until it is rotten." Wise words!
What Jesus is saying, is that "when you know me, & when you have accepted me as the Lord & Savior of your life, then you, as a Christian are to seize the initiative. You are the one to begin the process of loving, even if your enemy never becomes a lovable person.
III. THREE SOUND MOTIVES FOR "LOVING OUR ENEMIES"
So let’s consider some very sound motives for loving our enemies.
A. First, we are to love our enemies because of simple decency.
When people don't appreciate me, I usually reason that it is because they didn't give me the benefit of the doubt. Not because there is anything wrong with me, of course it is just because they didn't give me the benefit of the doubt.
Unfortunately, we seldom use that standard of judgment on other people. We look at them, but don’t give them the benefit of the doubt. But Jesus says that we must judge people by the same standard by which we would like to be judged.
ILL. A person has a sick body we don't go out & shoot him or her. We do everything within our medical power to make him or her well again. If a person has a sick soul, we should do everything within our power to make that person well again.
If someone has a crippled body, we do everything within our power to help that one walk, & run, & enjoy a normal life. If a person has a soul that is crippled by ignorance or prejudice we should do everything within our power to help that soul know the Lord. So, because of simple decency, "Love your enemies."
B. Secondly, we are to love our enemies because Jesus commanded it. He said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." It is a forthright commandment from our Lord, "Love your enemies." Jesus is our greatest example of that love.
As He hangs on the cross, He looks into the faces of those who drove the nails, & those who laughed & cursed, & He says, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing."
C. Thirdly, we are to love our enemies because that is what Jesus did.
Max Lucado wrote: The Creator of all that there is was watching. Three figures hung on 3 crosses. Arms spread. Heads fallen forward.
Men clad in soldiers’ garb sat on the ground near the three. They played games in the dirt & laughed.
Men clad in religious robes stood off to one side. They smiled. Arrogant, cocky. They had protected God, they thought, by killing this false one.
Women clad in sorrow huddled near His cross. Speechless. Faces tear-streaked. One put her arm around another & tried to lead her away. But she wouldn’t leave.
All heaven stood to fight. All nature rose to rescue. All eternity poised to protect. But the Creator gave no command. “It must be done…,” he said, & withdrew.
But as He stepped back, He heard the cry: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He wrenched in agony.
The angel spoke again, “It would be less painful if You…” The Creator interrupted softly, “But then it wouldn’t be love.”
(Adapted from "In the Eye of the Storm" by Max Lucado.)
INVITATION: Yes, He loves me. He loves you & me. And because of His love, I love Him, too. And that is why - as the old hymn says:
All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love & trust Him, In His presence ever live.
All to Jesus I surrender, Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love & power, Let Thy blessing fall on me.
I surrender all, I surrender all.
All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.
