In a recent column in Leadership Weekly, Gordon MacDonald, a retired pastor and editor at large for Leadership, a journal for pastors, reflected on a comment from Louis Berkhof who said, "God does not want us as objects but as covenant partners, partners who can converse. He desires our conversation input, our spontaneous gratitude, our free concurrence, but also our patient or impatient questions (rather than) our silent, unconvinced acquiescence.”
In his reflection MacDonald asked, “Does God want conversation? Does God really desire my patient or impatient questionings?" I’ve got a lot of the latter if He’s really interested. Is he?”
“If I could get my own impatient questions,” he goes on to say, “off my chest and shoot them heavenward with a bit of passion and challenge, maybe I’d feel a tad better. Perhaps… God wouldn’t mind my advice on occasion…advice which he is free, of course, to accept or reject. Would it be all right to shout at God about a few things I think are wrong with me and the rest of the world? Would he mind if I dreamed a bit with him about a world that reflected Kingdom values rather than the ones that it seems to reflect now? Would he be offended if I called to his attention some things going on that I am tempted to feel he doesn’t see or hasn’t heard about?”
Our summer sermon series is entitled “God, I have a question” and for eight weeks we are addressing questions that have been in asked in response to my question, “If you could ask God one question, what would it be?” Two weeks ago we addressed some questions related to the welfare of children and why they are sometimes in the positions they are in that seem far removed from what God desires for them.
This morning we address a question that is very much a part of our world as it directly relates to the issues of war and peace both in a military and, for most of us here, in a personal situation as well. They are questions about loving our enemies.
One of the questions that I received as I asked people for a question they would like to ask God came at the time of the terrible beheading of Nicolas Burg at the hands of terrorists in Iraq:
“How do we show our love to those 5 Iraqi men who beheaded a young man whom was stated by the national news that he wanted to help the Iraqi people? If we were to stand and look at them in their face, on their own soil what else could we demonstrate to them about God’s love?
Another came from someone who asked, “Why, in Your name, do we suffer so much hatred and death in the world? If we believe in your love and kindness, as others say they do, why does it seem we are bent on destroying one another?”
Good questions. Important questions. However, we do not have to look at Iraq and all of the hatred and strife there to wrestle with the question about loving our enemy. We have only to look inward in our minds and downward at our hearts to come face-to-face with the issue of enemies in our lives and the tension of Jesus’ statement about loving our enemies in Matthew 5:43, “You have heard that the Law of Moses says, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!”
What does Jesus mean? In this segment of scripture Jesus is laying out the beginnings of the new covenant that He would speak of in Luke 22:20 at the last supper, “This wine is the token of God’s new covenant to save you- an agreement sealed with the blood that I will pour out for you.” He uses contrast to make clear what this new covenant would entail for those who entered into it.
He states in verses 17 through 20 of Matthew 5 that He has come to fulfill the law of the Moses and the writings of the prophets and that they would be around until their “purpose is fulfilled.” (Verse 18) But starting in verse 21, Jesus begins to contrast what was then current interpretation of the law with what He says is correct interpretation of the law. It is the “you have heard that the Law of Moses says” verses “But I say,” of the rest of chapter 5.
In each of these areas Jesus moves from the issue of the outward acts of murder, adultery, divorce, taking an oath, revenge, and response to enemies to the internal reasons for those acts with this contrast. He is challenging interpretations of these parts of the ancient Jewish law that had grown to distort the original meanings that God had intended by going to the inner motives behind those acts. Our text is a case in point.
Jesus quotes from Leviticus 19:18 that says, “Never seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.” Over the years, this was interpreted to mean that you were to love only those who loved you in return. A far cry from what the verse says.
Then some verses from Psalm 139 were eventually interpreted to mean that it was okay to hate your enemies. “O God, if only you would destroy the wicked! Get out of my life, you murderers! They blaspheme you; your enemies take your name in vain. O LORD, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you? Shouldn’t I despise those who resist you? Yes, I hate them with complete hatred, for your enemies are my enemies.” (Strong stuff isn’t it?)
But Jesus challenges these interpretations by saying, “Love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you. In that way you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
These are hard words to hear and to accept at times when we have been hurt or threatened and our emotions run high. However, we cannot get around them. We cannot interpret them away to certain times and certain circumstances. Which begs the question, “Who then, is my enemy?”
The questions before us this morning give us one answer to the question “Who is my enemy?”
“How do we show our love to those 5 Iraqi men who beheaded a young man whom was stated by the national news that he wanted to help the Iraqi people? “Why, in Your name, do we suffer so much hatred and death in the world? If we believe in your love and kindness, as others say they do, why does it seem we are bent on destroying one another?”
Our enemy can be one who seeks to kill us and destroy our way of life.
Our enemy can be one who does not believe as we do and seeks to impose their beliefs on us, by force and oppression, if necessary.
Our enemy can be one who disagrees with us on some point and decides to actively oppose our action and views at every turn.
Our enemy can be one who simply does not like us.
But what is our answer to these two large questions before us?
“Love your enemies,” is the correct answer to this question. “But how Jim can I do that? How can I love someone who hates me or who I simply cannot get along with? How can I let someone who seems to oppose me at every turn not get to me?”
If you notice what I just said, about our enemy it gives us a clue on how to love them – “our enemy can be one who…” It is a matter of choice – our choice and their choice.
We choose to make someone our enemy when we choose not to love but to hold a grudge against someone that we have been hurt by or disagree with. And, more than we care to admit, that grudge can easily build walls and turn into hate and despising that creates a tension and misery in our hearts. How can we change this situation? How can we not hate and seek to show God’s love to those who would seek to destroy our very lives and faith? Here are three ways not to make someone your enemy.
#1. Remember Jesus’ words, “God gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good and he sends his rain on the just and on the unjust.” Notice the use of the pronoun ‘his’ in reference to sunlight and rain. The use reminds us that it is God’s creation and everybody benefits by it. The good and the bad, our friends and our enemies, are the recipients of the sunlight and the rain. They serve as a reminder that God’s grace and mercy is present to and for all people no matter what they think about God and good and evil and us.
When we remember that God’s mercy and care is bigger than ours, and it is His will and purpose that our mercy and care grows larger, then we can begin to reduce the list of our enemies from our end.
#2. Work at the perfection of love and mercy that Jesus says is the standard in verse 48. “But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” He reminds us that pagans love those who love them but, as followers of God, we are to love those with whom we disagree and even dislike.
This seemingly impossible standard though, is a lifetime process and commitment that we cooperate with the Holy Spirit on as we consciously work at learning to respect those who can easily become our enemies. (Respect, we need to remember often comes before we can learn to love someone.)
#3. Keep in mind what Paul said in Romans 12 and put it into practice.
In verse 9 we read, “Don’t just pretend that you love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good.”
In verses 19 and 20, we read, “Dear friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God. For it is written, “I will take vengeance; I will repay those who deserve it,” says the Lord.”
Instead, do what the Scriptures say: “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink, and they will be ashamed of what they have done to you.”
Two important points are made in these three verses that directly answer the questions that have been asked by our two questioners.
1. Being good and doing good is an intentional action of the will. Love others. Hate what (not who) is wrong. Stand on the side of the good. These attitudes and actions require us to make the choice to live for and by good instead of evil. This is something that we really agree to when we turn our lives over to the Lord at our moment of conversion.
2. Turn over to God the right to get even… as often as you need to by doing good for the one who has wronged you. One of the great truths of scripture is that when Christ returns all of us will be judged and all of us will give an account of how we spent our lives. So then, the final judgment will provide final justice for all of us – victims and victimizers. In the mean time, we need to acts of good for those who we have trouble with so that maybe, maybe they will change their ways.
Finally, there is verse 21, “Don’t let evil get the best of you, but conquer evil by doing good.”
There is a mistaken belief that those do what is right and good are that way because they are passive and let things alone. If that were true, would any of us be alive? Would the human race still be in existence? Would we be able to walk around and live without a reasonable amount of security in place? NO!
Doing good, loving our enemies, and making the right kind of difference for Christ, requires action, commitment and courage. We see this truth illustrated in both the history of our faith, the history of our nation, and in our own personal history that sometimes all comes together in a person’s story.
In the early 1960’s our nation was wrestling with racial issues and equality as it watched African-Americans lynched, beaten, jailed, and murdered in the south. No place was safe from such actions, not even the church, as was the case in 1963 when a black Baptist Church in Alabama was bombed on a Sunday morning killing four young girls.
Can we imagine how their parents felt because of such action? Can we imagine the anger, rage, and desire for revenge?
Yet, nearly 40 years later Alpha Robertson, one of those girls’ fathers, was quoted in the May 12, 2002 issue of the New York Times as saying, “You can’t waste a life hating people, because all they do is live their life, laughing, doing more evil."
Over 20 years ago the late Ronald Reagan survived an assassination attempt by John Hinkley, Jr. A year after that his daughter Patti Davis talked about the impression his attitude made on her regarding that terrible moment.
“The following day my father said he knew his physical healing was directly dependent on his ability to forgive John Hinckley. By showing me that forgiveness is the key to everything, including physical health and healing, he gave me an example of Christ-like thinking.”
The late Lewis Smedes, one of my favorite Christian authors, once wrote, “True forgivers do not pretend they don’t suffer. They do not
pretend the wrong does not matter much. The 1st stage of healing is release. You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and you can wish them
well.”
So how do we respond to those who terrorize or hope to terrorize us into submission or withdrawal? We do the right thing for the right reason in the strength and power of the Holy Spirit.
And why do we do such terrible things in God’s name instead of doing the right and loving thing in His name? Because we have the choice to do good or to do evil every day of our lives until we die.
These are challenging days we live in for many reasons. Yet there are two reasons that it seems that hate is easily sparked into existence these days. One is that it is a presidential election year and the second is that we are still in a battle with those who seek to destroy us and our way of life.
I find, more than I want or care to admit, myself getting angry and hateful very easily because of these two issues that cause me to become judgmental and think thoughts that are very unchristian.
But, then I remember the verses that we have looked at this morning and I remember my calling, not just as a pastor, but also as follower of Christ, and I remember that I am told to love and to conquer evil by doing good. Yet that requires the work of the Holy Spirit in my heart and mind so that my attitudes are what they should be.
So I have to make a choice – let my anger and my frustration boil over into a hate that allows me to look at my enemies as sub-human and worthy of a terrible fate or to do good to them and let God deal with them (as He is doing and will do). For as Stormie Omartian writes, “Forgiveness doesn’t make the other person right, it makes you free.”
Let us then live free, no matter how long it takes, 40 seconds or 40 years because Jesus said “love your enemies.” Amen.
Quotes are from Sermon Central website at sermoncentral.com
