Peace with my enemies, Luke 6:27-36
Live @ Peace series
Eric A. Snyder, Minister, Farwell Church of Christ
April 21, 2002
A knight and his men return to their castle after a long
hard day of fighting.
"How are we faring?" asks the king.
"Sire," replies the knight, "I have been robbing and
pillaging on your behalf all day, burning the towns of your
enemies in the west."
"What?!" shrieks the king. "I don’t have any enemies to the
west!"
"Oh," says the knight. "Well, you do now."
In our lives we all make enemies. People will not like you because of who you are or what you stand for. Perhaps you have a history of being someone who has made enemies or perhaps you just have not worked hard at peace.
A new minister was talking to the oldest member of his congregation.
"I am 90 years old, sir, and I haven’t an enemy in the world,"
"That is a great," said the minister .
"Yes sir," "I’m thankful to say that I’ve outlived ’em all."
We’re in week 3 of a series called Live @ peace.
The Bible is clear that we are to do our best to live @ peace with everyone around us and it does not happen by just outliving our critics. Because when they die off another potential enemy will rice up in their place.
You have to know that whenever we catch “Bin Laden” the evil will be transferred into another herd of swine. There will always be someone who rises up against you and what you stand for.
But that does not change the command that as far as it depends on You Live At Peace.
"But peace does not rest in the charters and covenants alone. It lies in the hearts and minds of all people. So let us not rest all our hopes on parchment and on paper, let us strive to build peace, a desire for peace, a willingness to work for peace in the hearts and minds of all of our people. I believe that we can. I believe the problems of human destiny are not beyond the reach of human beings."
John F. Kennedy
Today we are in the Book of Luke Chapter 6
Jesus is offering a concept that is radical new and different. The statements here define how he lived out the rest of his life but they also determined how he wants his followers to live out their lives.
The words of Jesus are so dynamic that they were very different than the Jewish people of his day were used to. They were counter cultural. Even today these words are hard to handle and even more difficult to live by.
Luke 6:27-36 27 "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you. 32 "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ’sinners’ love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ’sinners’ do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ’sinners’ lend to ’sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Prayer
We live in a world where past history and prejudices creep into our relationships. We don’t have to look very hard to find family feuds that go back for generations.
A Chinese man and a Jewish man were eating lunch together. Suddenly, without warning the Jew gets up, walks over to the Chinese fellow and smashes him in the mouth, sending him sprawling. The Chinese man picks himself up, rubs his jaw and asks, "What in the world did you do that for?" And the answer comes back: "For Pearl Harbor!" His response is total astonishment: "Pearl Harbor? I didn’t have anything to with Pearl Harbor. It was the Japanese that bombed Pearl Harbor!" The Jew responds, "Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese--they’re all the same to me. With that they both sit down again, and before too long the Chinese man gets up, walks over to the Jew and sends him flying with a hard slap to the jaw. The Jew yells out, "What did you do that for?" And the answer comes back: "The Titanic." "The Titanic? Why, I didn’t have anything to do with the Titanic!" the Chinese man replies, "Goldberg, Feinberg, Iceberg -- they’re all the same to me!"
Presumptions about people are many times wrong and destroy the spirit of peace before it has a chance to get started.
When we tell stories about people in the community who are in trouble with the law and have a history of being difficult people, we are automatically conditioning people to dislike. We build walls and try to get the people we like on our side of the wall.
But Jesus says you were created for community and those walls you have been building have got to come down. He says anyone can like people who like them but the real challenge is to like people who don’t like you.
Now that’s so contrary to human nature. It’s not natural and it is very difficult.
The once asked Abraham Lincoln what he thought of Steven Douglass. He said I find him to be a great leader and an incredible speaker. Then they said “he has been critical of you, I thought you were enemies” Lincoln replied “ you asked me what I thought of Steven Douglass, and not what Mr. Douglass thought of me.”
Steven Covey would call this “being proactive” Not letting anyone’s opinion of you shape who you see them as being.
“When we hate our enemies we give them power over us - power over our sleep, our appetites, our happiness. They would dance with joy if they knew how much they were worrying us. Our hate is not hurting them at all, but it is turning our days & our nights into turmoil.”
Dale Carnegie
1. Love your enemies
I am told that when President Bush was governor of Texas he had to deal with a lot of conflict. According to the sources I heard on the news one night in December He came into office with a legislature that was in the opposite party. Early in his term he met with the opposition leader of the legislative branch with the hopes of building a cooperative coalition for the future.
The meeting was a failure. There was no trust and no agreement. There was plenty of conflict.
At the end of the session as Bush got up to leave he suddenly reached over and grabbed the opposition boss with both hands on his neck and gave him a big kiss on the cheek.
The man was completely stunned. He got red faced and stammered "What did you do THAT for!".
Bush said, "If I can’t get your cooperation and help, I’m at least going to get a kiss!"
The opposition leader broke up laughing and that was the beginning of friendship and the end of conflict.
We will only begin to Love our enemies when we stop looking at them as we see them. Instead we need to see them as God sees them.
We forget who we were Before Christ saved us. The great tragedy in the church is that we have forgotten who other people are to God.
One of our core values here is that “All people matter to God” Because you matter. Because people matter to god they matter to us as well.
It does not mean everyone is easy to get along with but it does mean that even the person who is giving us a hard time is worthwhile in the eyes of God.
Love your enemies and do what you can to break down those walls of isolation and bitterness.
2. Bless those who curse you
The next thing Jesus says is really practical. When someone curses you or curses at you bless them.
One of the marks of a follower’s life is that we become blessings for others. We share the ways that God has given to us and supported us each so that we can give to those who need to witness a real blessing in their lives.
Offer God’s Grace to those around you. You will be surprised at how well it is received, The movie “Pay it forward” was a movie about showing kindness to complete strangers.
If we would commit ourselves to perform acts of kindness to people with out expectation of gratitude or compensation the purpose that Jesus was trying to express will be carried out in you.
Both of these things are hard to do but then Jesus decides to taker it up a notch. He says pray for the abusers, Pray for the takers, pray for the mistreaters.
Don’t be an enabler when it comes to abuse. Pray for these people, Pray that they will find God’s grace and that Jesus will change their hearts.
3. Pray for those who mistreat you
Now there are appropriate steps that need to be taken when abuse is an issue in your life.
It is important to distinguish that Jesus is addressing a spiritual aspect of how to deal with our enemies.
If you are in an abusive work situation take appropriate action. Do not think that the command of Jesus is for you to be sexually harassed.
There is a difference between legal recourse and spiritual obedience. This verse should not be used to support an abusive person’s mental health or psychological addiction.
That’s why Romans 12 carries that clause “as far as it depends on you”
I have heard Christians use this excuse to stay in their abusive situations at home or at work and they think they just have to deal with it.
If you are suffering abuse at home, get help. This verse is not dealing with family relationships Christ’s words for families are clear “Love one another.”
Basically there are 2 key principals that are central to this whole text
1. Show Generosity
Jesus command is that we show extreme generosity. Be generous people give without expectation of what will be returned to you.
A man received a phone call from a united way fundraising representative
The telemarketer said "You know, in this small town, everybody contributes to the United Way except you. May I ask why don’t you want to share the ’Help Each Other’ spirit?" asked the representative.
"Well, there are certain problems in my personal life, of which you may not be aware," replied the lawyer. "Oh, I didn’t know that." "Like my mother. Her Social Security is being cut off, and she’s going to be evicted soon." "Oh, I didn’t know that," the director said sheepishly. "And my kid sister has some nasty disease; she needs a boatload of cash for doctors and surgery." "Oh, I didn’t know that," the telemarketer replied with a tear in his eye. "So, if I didn’t give any money to them, what makes you think I’m going to give any to you?"
Jesus wants us to become people of Generosity. He doesn’t want us to go by the “I gave at the office mentality He wants us to become generour in every area of our lives.
Key point 1 is about looking for eternal wealth and beyond the balance of the checkbook.
2. Show Grace
Key point 2 is about offering Grace
Mercy is an attribute that is expected in the life of every believer.
Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Our goal is to become a people of grace in the most of difficult circumstances.
God showed his grace to us though Jesus
