The 6 Hardest Things (you'll ever try to do) #6- Not Hate your Enemies; Build your Life #19

Intro: Do you remember where you were when you heard the news that America was under attack, on September 11, 2001? I was a young 25-year-old associate pastor when our pastor came into the office & told us that a plane had struck one of the World Trade Center towers.

At that moment, it didn’t faze me. I didn’t understand what was happening. But then the 2nd plane hit the south tower, & it became apparent that the United States was under attack. Then flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. 20 minutes later the South Tower collapsed, a few minutes later, flight 93 crashed in Shanksville, PA, 24 minutes after that the North Tower collapsed. In less than three hours, everything we thought we knew about America’s security had changed.

All told- 2,996 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks. It’s hard to wrap your head around a number like that- that’s the size of a small town. A good visual was the American Tribute by the Veterans War Memorial- almost 3,000 American flags, each one representing a victim of 9/11.

Many of you remember how Americans responded after the attacks: with great compassion, unity, & duty, but Americans also responded with stress, fear, & anger. Much of that anger was directed toward Islamic extremists in a global war on terror- an enemy that was hard to pinpoint. So, we kind of pointed the finger at anyone like them, even some Americans who also happen to be Muslims (also happened to Japanese Americans during WW2). Fear, anger, & hate can blurs the lines of neighbor and enemy, but Jesus wants to clear up our vision.

Matt 5:43–48, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

1. It’s hard to not hate- Enemies DESERVE the Hate they Get.

For the first part, Jesus quotes from Leviticus 19:18,You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

The 2nd part (hate your enemy) is not found in the Law. There are possible allusions to places like Psalm 139:21-22 , Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? 22 I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.

What Jesus quoted was more likely just a common expression, one of those things people say-e.g., the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Imagine that you were taught that there is a group of people that you should hate: perhaps because of their color, religion, creed, culture, whatever, but all your life you’ve been taught that you hate them & they hate you, & that’s just how it is. You don’t know any differently. In your day-to-day experience with them, none have done anything to you personally, but you hate them anyway. Is that person your enemy?

Jesus says no, and here’s why- What makes someone an enemy is not what you’ve been taught about them, but how they treat you:

· Curse- to invoke divine harm or evil upon someone

· Hate- to intensely dislike, or feel aversion towards someone

· Spitefully use- verbal abuse, foul or abusive language toward

· Persecute- to cause physical or emotional suffering

You see the escalation from cursing (inward) to hating (you can’t hide) to verbal abuse & physical harm. Put yourself in the shoes of the person receiving that kind of treatment (the victim). How would you feel about them? You would HATE them wouldn’t you, & they would deserve it.

You might even feel compelled to get even with them, except Jesus already taught us to not respond like that. So how are we supposed to respond? Jesus said to love your enemies: If they curse you, you bless them; If they hate you, you do good to them; If they mistreat and persecute you, you pray for them.

An enemy is not someone who is different from us, but someone who actively despises us & does us harm. Christian, this is for us. We can expect that people are going to hate us because they hate Jesus.

John 15:18–19, If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

It’s so hard to not hate those who harm us, because they deserve it. But thank God, that isn’t His attitude towards His enemies.

2. God doesn’t TREAT His Enemies like they Deserve.

God’s example is in vs. 45. He provides for the good & the evil, the just & the unjust. Evil- wicked, bad person, one who does harm to others.

This is the 3rd time we’ve seen this word in as many weeks. Vs. 37- evil one meant the devil; vs. 39- evil person was one to not resist; & now in vs. 45, the evil are people whom God blesses with His common grace.

Along with the good(those who are good to other people), God makes His sun to shine on them both. He also sends rain on the just (a person characterized by right actions) & the unjust (someone not characterized by righteousness or godliness). To us, why should anyone (esp. God) do good to those who are evil, or do right by those who are unrighteous?

The Bible is very clear, in our natural state, we are all enemies of God. Ephesians 4:17-19 says that we are alienated from God, blind in heart, past feeling, given to lewdness, uncleanness, greediness. We are dead in our sins, walking according to the course of this world & the prince of it- the devil; we are sons of disobedience, & children of wrath (Eph 2:1-3).

In that state of spiritual deadness, we have no strength or ability to save ourselves. Someone may die for a righteous man, maybe even for a good man, but we are not good or righteous. In our sins, we are natural enemies of God- there is enmity & hostility between us and Him.

We hated Him, but He loved us. Romans 5:8–10, God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us... 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

God’s example is clear- He loves those who hate Him, so much so, that He gave His only Son to save those who are His enemies.

The teaching of Jesus is clear- we love our enemies so that we may be the sons & daughters of God.As it is with anything, we cannot give something that we do not have. So, if you are lost, do you despise the riches of God? “His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4). God loves His enemies, and His children are to do the same.

3, Love is the DEFININGQuality of those who belong to Jesus

To Hate our Enemies won’t make us different from anyone else, only the LOVE of God can do that. If we love those who love us, how does that make us any different from the lowest people in life (IRS agents, i.e., tax collectors)? If we only greet those who are like us, then what are we doing that is any different from anyone else? IRS- tax collectors do that.

We’re kind of “funning,” but we’re kind of not. Tax collectors were some of the most hated people in Israel because they worked for the Roman government, extorted their own countrymen, lined their pockets.

In much the same way, we know the IRS has targeted Christians & Christian organizations.In a 2021 letter to the Commissioner of the IRS by the House Ways & Means Committee, it was made clear that the IRS was guilty of tax discrimination against Christian organizations.

In a 2022 interview by the House Ways & Means Committee Republican Leader, Kevin Brady is quoted saying- “Every American should worry about an IRS who has the power to destroy through taxation and its actions that any IRS from any government, any administration, would be able to target Americans based on their political or the biblical beliefs.”

How does that make you feel? Does it make you angry? Does it make you want to get even? Does it make you want to target them in return- curse them, hate them, & persecute them? They are the very ones that Jesus says- love them, bless them, do good to them, & pray for them.

Love is how we become perfect, like our Father in heaven is perfect. Perfect- mature, be complete. God doesn’t need anything else to make Him God. If we love our enemies like He has loved His, we will have obtained everything that we need to be like Him. 1 John 4:12, No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.

Loving our enemies may be the only God some people ever see. E.g., Corrie Ten Boom. ‌During WWII, Corrie’s Dutch Christian family hid Jews from the Nazis. It’s estimated that 800 Jews were saved through their efforts. When her family was caught, their home was raided, they were arrested, & incarcerated. Corrie’s 84-year-old father soon died in prison, & a few months later her sister Betsie died in a concentration camp. 12 days later, Corrie was released for reasons unknown.

Corrie soon returned to the Netherlands & set up a rehab center for concentration camp survivors. She even took in people who had cooperated with the Germans. In 1946, she began a worldwide ministry that took her to more than 60 countries. In 1971, she wrote a best-selling book of her experiences called The Hiding Place (1975, a movie).

‌She wrote about an encounter with one of her former Nazi guards who stood at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the 1st one she had seen since the war- “And suddenly it was all there – the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, [my sister] Betsie's pain-blanched face. He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. ‘How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein.’ He said. ‘To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!’ His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.

‌Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him. I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I prayed, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness.

‌As I took his hand 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 almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.”

Corrie is an excellent example of what it looks like to actually love our enemies like God loves us.

Jesus said, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:34-35).