Love your Enemies
Introduction
- Recap: looking at the Beatitudes and Woes last week (v20-26)
- Summary:
- Two types of people - the children of God [the saved and the unsaved]
- Not about what you do, but what you are
- Woes pronounced on the second group of people - the unsaved, those who are living for self
- v20-26: what you are in the presence of God
- Which type of person are you?
- Moving on from speaking about what you are - to speaking about what you do
- Jesus is addressing His disciples
- He is speaking about 'upside down' things ["Kingdom Values"]
- Men do not say love your enemies - they say the opposite
- Men say be kind only to our circle of friends
- Men say do not help those who don't deserve it
- Jesus says their righteousness must be different
- Tremendously challenging verses - we know we often fail and that we can only fulfill this by God's grace
- Example
The Origin of Love
- What is the source of this love?
- We can only love in this way if we know the love of God ourselves
- We must recognise that we are sinners
- We must recognise that we are enemies of God
- We must recognise that the human heart is easily offended - revenge is in the heart of man
- Are we happy when our enemy falls?
- We are selfish and concerned about ourselves
- We are not like the Lord Jesus
- Have we come to the Lord Jesus?
- Our hearts can be stirred in church - but have we responded?
- Today is the day of salvation - if you hear His voice do not harden your heart
The Mode of Love
- What does it mean to actually love your enemy?
- We must do good
- Not just to grit our teeth and bear it - we must go out of our way to do good
- Example of Thomas Cramer
- Example of David
- We must bless
- To do with what comes out of our mouth
- Consider the book of James
- Do we pity those who curse us?
- We must pray
- That they would grow
- That they would become Christians
- Perhaps the most challenging sermon in the whole of the Bible
- Jesus is speaking about the private realm, not the public realm
- Not speaking on an national/civil level - speaking about you as an individual Christian
- Consider Rom 13 - the Bible does not teach passivism
- We must offer the other cheek (v29)
- It was cultural for people to slap you on the cheek as a rebuke
- Jesus turned the other cheek
- He rebuked them
- He did not literally turn the other cheek
- He was prepared to accept further insult
- This does not mean that the Christian cannot take up lawful procedures
- Example of Billy Bray
- We must accept loss (v29b)
- Not just to give unthinkingly
- Example of Christian student
- The passage is written in the context of our enemies - when something is taken from you
- A statement that we do not live for material gain
- Most challenging verses - cf Hebrews 10:34
- Treat others as you would be treated (v31)
- Expanded in v32-35
- Your neighbour is not just those close to you - but anybody (who may be for or against you)
- Do not be like the world
- Invite those who won't invite you back
- Consider your motives - do it not for reward but because you love God and you love this person
- Be like God/Jesus
- Jesus' concluding remarks v36
- God is rich in mercy
- God is kind
- God does not treat us as we deserve
Closing Remarks