SO, HOW ARE WE TO REACT TO OUR ENEMIES?
The natural reaction of one who does not know Christ is to strike back and to seek the greatest retribution possible. BUT THIS IS NOT THE CHRISTIAN RESPONSE
Illus: D.L. MOODY, IN ONE OF HIS SERMONS, PORTRAYS THE LORD JESUS GIVING DIRECTION TO PETER AFTER HIS RESURRECTION ON THIS VERY CONCEPT.
• MOODY SAID, "GO, FIND THE MAN WHO THRUSTS HIS SPEAR INTO MY SIDE AND TELL HIM THERE IS A MUCH QUICKER WAY TO MY HEART”.
• FIND THE MAN WHO CROWNED ME WITH THORNS AND TELL HIM I SHOULD LIKE TO GIVE HIM A CROWN OF LIFE."
Every one has enemies, even Jesus who lived a perfect life, had enemies.
Illus: A preacher in his Sunday sermon used the title for his sermon "Forgive Your Enemies".
• After a long sermon, he asked how many were willing to forgive their enemies. About 50% held up their hands.
• After he preached for another twenty minutes and repeated his question. This time he received a response of about 80 percent.
• Still unsatisfied, he preached for another 15 minutes and repeated his question. With all thoughts now on Sunday dinner, all responded except one elderly lady in the rear.
• He said, "Mrs. Jones, are you not willing to forgive your enemies?
• "I don't have any."
• He said, "Mrs. Jones, that is very unusual. How old are you?"
• "Ninety nine."
• "Mrs. Jones, please come down in front and tell the congregation how a person can live to be ninety-nine, and not have an enemy in the world."
• The little sweetheart of a lady tottered down the aisle, very slowly turned around and said: "It's easy, I just outlived them!"
We all have enemies that would do to us as much harm as they could do to us…if they had the opportunity or they could do it and get away with it.
God’s Word recognizes this is a reality, but God’s Word approaches this subject - how to live with our enemies.
Look at Matthew 5:43-45, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”
Notice, these verses begin in Matthew 5:38-39, “You have heard that it was said (WHERE DID THEY HEAR THIS FROM?) ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you, don’t resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.”
Notice, again the Lord said, “You have heard that it was said. WHERE DID THEY HEAR THESE THINGS FROM?
These things they heard go back to the Code of Hammurabi, (hame-rabe) seventeen hundred years before Christ.
To understand the CODE OF HAMMURABI you need to understand they were governed by the laws of retaliation or the laws of retribution.
In ancient Israel, part of the law’s enforcement fell to the family of the murder victim.
There was no police force in ancient Israel, so kinship posies were called upon to enforce the law. It is important to keep in mind that this system of retaliation operated within the legal system as it existed.
• According to Numbers 35:16–21, in some cases the “avenger of blood” (normally a close family member of the deceased) would be charged with carrying out the death sentence, possibly even tracking down the murderer if the murderer had fled.
• The law of retribution was not a simple pretext for revenge, although it is easy to see how it could descend to that level. “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, and life for life” was the penal code and was never intended to justify a personal code of revenge or vigilantism.
In the New Testament, Christians in the Roman Empire lived under a different penal code.
For example in Romans 12:17–13:4, Paul warns believers that they must not take the law into their own hands, but he also maintains that the government has the right and responsibility to enforce penalties, including the death penalty, for criminal acts.
Moses gave Israel the Hamurabe Code, look at Leviticus 24:19–21 —"And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him; Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again. And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death.”
That is, the Hamurabe code taught…
• If you hit me, I’ll hit you back.
• Not only will I hit you back, I’ll hit you harder than you hit me.
The government of Israel still practices this code of retaliation today.
Illus: For example, the Prime Minister Netanyahu was asked about this kind of retaliation that was worse than the crime itself that they practice.
For example, when Israel is attacked by other countries, they will respond with a stronger attack MAKING THE PENALTY WORSE THAN THE CRIME
Netanyahu said they do this because their enemy will think twice before attacking Israel again.
So, this teaching – an eye for an eye – was designed to curb violence, not encourage it: Seen in this way, the Law of Moses made sense for the people of Israel. And, while it didn’t prevent hostility altogether, at least it kept it in check.
Yet, Jesus said, “…whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.”
Not only does Israel practice this law of retaliation so do we.
Illus: During the Korean war a certain military unit had hired a local boy to cook and clean for them. Being a bunch of jokesters, these guys soon took advantage of the boy’s seeming naiveté’.
· They’d smear Vaseline on the stove handles so that when he’d turn the stove on in the morning he’d get grease all over his fingers.
· They’d put little water buckets over the door so he’d get soaked when he opened the door
· They’d even nailed his shoes to the floor during the night.
Day after day the young Korean took the brunt of their practical jokes without saying anything. There was no blame, no self-pity, no temper tantrums.
Finally the men felt guilty about what they were doing, so they sat down with the boy and said, “Look, we know these pranks aren’t funny for you, and we’re sorry. We’re never going to take advantage of you again.” It seemed too good to be true to the houseboy.
• “No more sticky on stove?” he asked.
• “Nope.”
• “No more water on door.”
• “No.”
• “No more nail shoes to floor?”
• “Nope, never again.”
• “Okay” the boy said with a smile, “no more spit in soup.”
There is something in our fleshly human nature that just loves to get even. When we have been bullied, or injured, or mistreated, or attacked, our emotions rise up inside of us and all we can think of is revenge or retaliation.
• You hurt me and I’m going to hurt you back.
• You mistreat me and I’m going to mistreat you.
• You yell at me and I’m going to yell back at you.
• You say something nasty about me and I will say nasty things about you.
• You tell a lie about me, I will tell a bigger lie about you.
Jesus did not act this way. He challenged his followers a new way of handling those who mistreat and harm us.
He challenges us not to seek revenge, but to retaliate with love!
The sum of it is this:
• Don’t retaliate,
• Don’t seek revenge.
• Don’t try to get even.
So, does that mean we’re supposed to roll over and play dead?
Illus: Not at all. If you hear a burglar breaking into your home, you’d be a fool to open the door and invite him in. When you’re in harm’s way, you do what you can to protect yourself and your loved ones. It would be irresponsible to do anything less.
Illus: A young man tells the true story he was going to work one day at the crack of dawn. He opened his car door and there was a big fellow trying to steal his car radio. Someone said…
• What did you do?
• He said, “When I opened the door it scared him and it scared me. He jumped out of my car and he started running. So I have never been robbed and I did not know what to do so I did what they do in a situation like that on television so I chased him.
• I said, “Did you catch him?”
• He said, “I almost did…but I had to slow down because I was about to out run him.”
Now this young man would have been a fool when he opened the door and if he had said to the thief. “Excuse me, help yourself to my radio and anything else you desire to have.”
No, an occasion like this is not what Jesus had in mind when he said, “Don’t resist him who is evil.”
Just look at what Jesus did in Nazareth.
Illus: After he preached his first sermon in his home synagogue, the elders were so upset that they took him out to the edge of town to stone him to death. Did he resist? You bet he did!
Look at Luke 4:29-30 he simply says, “They rose up, threw him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill that their city was built on, that they might throw him off the cliff. But he, passing through their midst, went his way.”
We do not know what He did to protect Himself but the scriptures tell us he didn’t let them throw him off the cliff; he resisted and walked away.
Illus: That reminds me of the Quaker who was milking his cow and the cow was constantly taking his tail and hitting the old farmer in the face. He finally got enough of it and he said to the cow. “I would not harm thee for nothing in the world, but thou standest where I am about to kick!”
So resist, if you can. Just don’t think you’re going to even the score with evil doers.
Take Paul’s advice to the Romans, where he said, “Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, ‘Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.'” (Romans 12:19)
Something that is difficult for us to understand is, ALL SIN IS AGAINST GOD!!!
That is, our enemies can do evil to affect us, but their sin in hurting us is against God.
This is why God says “Vengeance is mine, I will repay saith the Lord.”
Did you know when we leave their evil in the hands of God He can do a better job of taking care of them than we can.
Jesus went on to say in Matthew 5:43-44, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you.”
In these verses God tells us to do four things that are the most difficult things for us as Christians to do. He tells us:
1) Love your enemies.
2) Bless those who curse you.
3) Do good to those hate you.
4) Pray for those who mistreat you.
This is what God tells us to do with our enemies.
So, who better to explain what it means to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute than the Lord Jesus:
• Who was falsely accused
• Who was whipped
• Who was nailed to a cross
And yet he prayed, “FATHER FORGIVE THEM, THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.”
We all have enemies and if we are going to be CHRIST LIKE we are going to have to learn to forgive as He forgave.
Let me share with you three things to consider when our enemies seek to hurt us.
(1). First, analyze yourself.
Did you do something to make them hate you? If you did you need to go to them and make it right and ask forgiveness.
Sometimes it has nothing to do with us; Face it, some people will be turned off by the way…
• You look,
• You talk,
• The way you walk,
• The way you fix your hair.
• The color of your skin.
Some people are filled with hate and they have to find someone to hate and you guessed it! YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED!!!
Let me illustrate, using a true story…
Illus: A man was drinking in a night club and he felt tough and mean. He told the man he was with he was going to shoot someone.
• He looked the crowd over and he walked up to one man and said, “I AM GOING TO SHOOT YOU.”
• The man said, “Mister, I do not know you and I have never done anything to you, please don’t shoot me!”
• He said, “I have selected you,” and he shot him!
The man did not die but later he told how he was shot.
Listen, there are some people that are filled with hate and they are constantly looking for someone to hate. We have not done anything to them but they have selected us to hate for one reason or the other.
But if someone hate you, you need to ANALYZE WHY DO THEY HATE YOU!!! Maybe you have done something to cause them to hate you. If they have you need to make it right with them.
But sometimes, you just can’t win, and it’s not your fault.
But we need to analyze the situation.
But another thing we should do is…
(2) Look for the good in your enemy.
Illus: As Mr. Rogers on television used to say on his TV program for children, “Have you ever noticed that the very same people who are bad sometimes are the very same people who are good sometimes?” There’s an element of evil in the best of us and an element of good in the worst of us.
If we look hard enough we can find some good in everyone. It is difficult to find good in the life of some, but if you look hard enough and long enough you can find something good about them.
Illus: This reminds me of a preacher who had to preach a funeral for the meanest man in town. He thought and thought what can I say good about this man.
He finally came up with something at his funeral and said, HE SURE COULD WHISTLE GOOD!
Yes, sometimes it is very difficult to find something good to say about some folks. But if we look hard and long enough we can come up with something.
When someone hates you:
• Analyze the situation
• Look for something good in the life of your enemy.
(3) When the opportunity presents itself for you to defeat your enemy, that is the time which you must not do it.
Nothing is truer than this: “What goes around comes around.”
Illus: Say, a person cuts you off in traffic or is rude to you at Wal-Mart; then, unknowingly shows up at your office looking for a job. Whoops!
When that happens – when you’ve got your enemy over the barrel, that’s the time when you have the opportunity of demonstrating the power of love, bearing witness to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
We can never be more Christ like than when we return GOOD FOR EVIL.
Think about it, there are evil people God has never done anything but good for them, but yet they…
• Take His name in vain
• Abuse His children
• Take His day of worship and use it to worship their gods.
• Rob Him of His tithes and offering
And what does He do? The Bible tells us He allows the RAIN TO FALL ON THE JUST AND THE UN-JUST.
What a wonderful example He sets for us each day. He does not lower the bar for us, He raises the bar for us.
The Lord said in Matthew 5:46, “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?”
We all like rewards, but anyone can love someone who loves him.
But when someone does you wrong God takes notice that you do not retaliate.
You love everybody, because God loves them. And you come to the point that you love the individual who does the evil deed, while hating the deeds that the person does. In other words we can hate the deed but love the person.
Illus: Years ago when my wife and I went to our home in the mountains I had a tractor and a Kawasaki there for work and enjoyment. On this occasion I saw I had a flat tire on my tractor and Kawasaki. As I looked at the flat tires I noticed the reason that they were flat was because someone had cut both of my tires.
I thought, “Who would do such a thing!” But as I thought about it I felt like it was a man that I knew. He had gotten in a fuss with some of the neighbors and he wanted me to join him in making life rough for them and I told him that I loved all the folks in the community and I would not assist him.
Then he got mad with me because I would not assist him in his evil.
After a lot of trouble and expense I got my tires fixed. And as I prayed about it I felt impressed of the Lord to go to Lowe’s and buy a gift card and sent it to him.
After I sent the gift card I was working in my yard one day and I noticed this man was in his truck parked in the road in front of my house looking at me. I stopped what I was doing and walked over to where he was; not knowing what to expect. I greeted him and he looked at me and said with almost tears in his eyes, “Preacher, I just want you to know I think a lot of you and your wife and if you ever need anything that I can do for you, do not hesitate to call on me and drove off.”
I never said anything about the flat tires nor did he, but from that time on he was a friend of mine.
In fact, I was preaching a revival near his home and he came to the revival and when I gave the invitation he came down the aisle to give his heart to the Lord.
DO YOU KNOW THE BEST WAY TO DESTROY YOUR ENEMIES IS TO MAKE FRIENDS OUT OF THEM!!!
Illus: In her book, The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom tells how she and her sister, Betsy, were interned in a Nazi concentration camp in World War 1 Years later, at a Christian rally in Munich where she had given her witness of faith, she came face to face with the former SS officer who had watched over the women in the camp.
• He came up to her and said, “I’m grateful for your message, “Fraulein; to think that, as you said, Christ has washed away my sins.”
• She said she stood paralyzed, staring at his outstretched hand. Finally, she prayed, “Lord Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness.” As she whispered the words, she felt her hand reach out to grasp his. She said, “the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that overwhelmed even me.” (p.233)
Here’s what I hope you’ll take home with you today, if you do not learn how to forgive your enemies they will stack up like cord wood.
As a pastor I have known people who did not know how to forgive and they had a difficult time to find enough pall bearers to carry their casket to their grave side.
Most of us have encountered some enemies along the way. But did you know Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate.
God says:
• Love your enemies-don’t hate them.
• Love your enemies-don’t despise them.
• Love your enemies-pray for them.
This may be the most difficult command Jesus ever gave. Even when we read it in the Bible, it is extremely difficult to believe Jesus meant what He said.
There are a lot of other things we would like to do to our enemies, like getting even or making them suffer like we have suffered.
Nothing seems more natural than to hate those who have mistreated us. But here we learn a better way.
We need to pray for our enemies…they need our prayers.
• If we don't pray for our enemies, who will?
• If we don't pray for our enemies, how will they ever change?
• If we don't pray for our enemies, how will we ever be free from bitterness?
What does it mean to love the people who have ruined everything you hold dear?
• How do you pray for someone you despise?
• How do you seek the good of people you wish were dead?
• Why would you seek their prosperity after what they did to you?
How Are We to Love Our Enemies?
Here are seven short suggestions that will move us in the right direction.
1) Greet Them
We often overlook this simple step. One part of loving our enemies is greeting them graciously when we see them.
Some of us have been quite skillful at looking the other way. Such as:
• Ducking into a room,
• Crossing the street,
• Or even using Caller ID to keep from greeting people we don’t like.
But if we only greet our friends, what benefit is that?
It’s the first step in saying, “I love you.”
When we greet people it’s a good first step to SMILE AND GREET PEOPLE.
Did you know?
• It does not cost anything to be nice to people.
• It does not cost anything to smile at people.
• It does not cost anything to speak to people.
Greet them instead of avoiding them.
What does our smile greeting them accomplish…
2) It disarms Them
God tells us what to do and that is GREET THEM WITH A SMILE AND WHEN YOU DO IT …THIS COMPLETELY DISARMS THEM.
Romans 12:21, “Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Notice, God’s Word tells us when we return GOOD FOR EVIL - “…in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.”
If someone dumps coals of fire on your head that GETS YOUR ATTENTION LIKE NOTHING ELSE WILL!
And when we greet our enemies with A FRIENDLY SMILE it will completely DISARM THEM!!!
You disarm them by doing the very thing they least expected.
Illus: General Robert E. Lee was once asked his opinion of a fellow officer who was widely known as one of Lee’s greatest detractors.
• The general responded that he thought the man was a very fine officer.
• But General,” his questioner replied, quite perplexed, “I guess you don’t know what he’s been saying about you.”
• “Oh, yes I do,” replied Lee. “But I was asked my opinion of him, not his opinion of me.”
When we do good for evil it completely DISARMS OUR ENEMIES.
We not only disarm them with a smile the Word of God tells us…
3) Do Good to Them
It’s fascinating that in Luke 6, when Jesus said, “Love your enemies” (verses 27,35), both times he immediately added, “Do good to them” so we wouldn’t miss the point.
Doing good means doing what will promote their healing despite the way they have treated you.
• You make the first move.
• You send the e-mail.
• You pick up the phone.
• You make the contact.
• You bridge the gap.
• You set up the appointment.
We're not in charge of how people respond
But what if they don’t respond well? That doesn’t matter. We’re not in charge of how people respond to us. Make the first move and let the Lord take care of the results.
4) Refuse to Speak Evil of Them
That’s what Jesus meant when he said, “Bless those who curse you” (Luke 6:28).
It means you choose not to think evil thoughts, and you refuse to speak evil words against those who have wronged you.
I am increasingly impressed with this thought: Forgiveness in many cases is not possible because we will not stop talking.
As long as we talk over and over again about how others have hurt us, we will never find the strength to forgive.
At some point, we have to stop talking and start forgiving. Here is the simple truth:
• You can criticize them.
• You can pray for them.
But you can't do both at the same time.
5) Thank God for Them
If you believe in the sovereignty of God, you must believe your enemies are sent to you by God’s design and with God’s approval.
Illus: If Satan could not:
• Tempt Job without God’s permission,
• Satan could not sift Peter without Jesus’ permission,
Your enemies cannot torment you without God’s permission.
I believe God places in your life every person you need for your spiritual growth.
Behind your enemy stands the hand of God. God would never permit it if he did not intend to bring something good out of it.
6) Pray for Them
When German pastor Martin Niemoller was arrested by the Nazis in World War II, he prayed daily from his prison cell for his captors.
• Other prisoners asked why he prayed for those who were his enemies. “Do you know anyone who needs your prayers more than your enemies?” he replied.
• But what if you hate the person you are praying for? Tell that to the Lord. He won’t be surprised.
• Then say something like this, “Lord, I hate this person, but you already know that. I ask you to love this person through me because I can’t do it in my own power. I ask you for a love I don’t have and can’t begin to produce.”
God will not turn you away when you come with an honest heart, admitting you need his love to flow through you.
7) Ask God to Bless Them
Here’s a simple way to do that. When faced with someone who has mistreated you, ask God to do for them what you want God to do for you. Seek the blessing for them you want God to do for you.
Think of it this way: The greater the hurt, the greater the potential blessing that will come when we forgive from the heart and by God’s grace bless those who curse us.
Illus: A woman said she realized she needed to forgive her husband who left her for another woman after many years of marriage. She found out he had been having an affair for the previous year. To make matters worse, she discovered that some of her friends not only knew about the affair, they were aiding her husband and helping him cover up his infidelity. When she wrote to me, she said she realized she had never truly forgiven those friends for what they had done.
Here is her story:
Today I wrote to four people the Lord brought to my mind that I needed to pray for, ask for a blessing for them, and I felt the drive to write to them and tell them I had asked God for them to receive a blessing from God.
At first it was the hardest thing I had done, but then as I started writing the quick message telling them after hearing a sermon (didn't say on what) that I was writing to tell them I'd asked God to give them a special blessing. Three of the four people have claimed to be Christians, but they all contributed to my ex's infidelity and adultery. Yet, after writing the emails, I felt better and more at peace.
This is a good example because she did not mention their sin. She simply wrote to say she was praying for them to receive a blessing from the Lord.
How did they respond to those notes? I don’t know and it doesn’t matter. She did what she needed to do, and it set her free.
Your enemy is a gift from God to you
Just as David needed King Saul to pursue him, to persecute him and repeatedly attempt to kill him, we need the enemies God sends to us. If we didn’t need them, he wouldn’t send them. Therefore, we thank God who knows best, and we love our enemies the best way we can.
Often God raises up an enemy to see if we really want to be like Jesus.
Now I told you the title of this sermon is HOW TO DESTROY YOUR ENEMIES.
God’s way is to make friends out of them. Do everything you can possible to make friends with them.
Now some you cannot make friends out of them. But once you have done everything God’s Word told you to do it is their problem.
Romans 12:18, “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.”
Sometimes it is not possible because some people are so filled with hate they won’t live peaceably with you.
After you have done everything you know the Word of God tells you to do…LEAVE THEM ALONE!!!
All you can do is PUT THEM OUT OF YOUR LIFE because if you do not their presence in your life will haunt you every time you see them.
But if you have done your part God will bless you.
Conclusion:
God knew in this life we would have enemies so God tells us how to live with them in His Word.
And if we do it God’s Way by making friends out of our enemies we can destroy them as our enemies.
We have looked at HOW WE CAN DO THIS:
I. GREET THEM
II. DISARM THEM
III. DO GOOD TO THEM
IV. REFUSE TO SPEAK EVIL OF THEM
V. THANK GOD FOR THEM
VI. PRAY FOR THEM
VII. ASK GOD TO BLESS THEM
Note: If you would like to hear this sermon preached by Dr. Odell Belger, please go to: YOUTUBE - LYKESLAND
