The God Who Cares

Loving Your Enemies: Jonah 4

Recap a story you already know, Jonah:

Jonah, prophet, is commanded by God to go to Nineveh, capital of Assyria, to proclaim God’s judgment against them in order to get them to repent from their ways.

Assyria was a major world power, a pagan nation, and infamous for their cruelty to their enemies. They would tortuously kill their enemies - impaling them alive, skinning them alive, and ripping open the wombs of pregnant women. These methods were intentional and they were proud of them - they recorded and proclaimed their deeds in detail to both serve their pride and to terrorize their enemies. It is suspected that they had a “might makes right” culture - if they could accomplish something by force, then they had the right to do so.

Jonah does not comply and literally runs away from the command of God. God uses a storm and a big fish to cause Jonah to relent. Jonah preaches a very simple warning, “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed,” and the entire city, including the king, repents.

Jonah 3:10 NLT

When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.

This sounds like a great ending, but let’s read about Jonah’s response. If this sounds ridiculous to you, then you’re right.

Jonah 4 NLT

This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. So he complained to the Lord about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.” The Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?” Then Jonah went out to the east side of the city and made a shelter to sit under as he waited to see what would happen to the city. And the Lord God arranged for a leafy plant to grow there, and soon it spread its broad leaves over Jonah’s head, shading him from the sun. This eased his discomfort, and Jonah was very grateful for the plant. But God also arranged for a worm! The next morning at dawn the worm ate through the stem of the plant so that it withered away. And as the sun grew hot, God arranged for a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah. The sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die. “Death is certainly better than living like this!” he exclaimed. Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?” “Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough to die!” Then the Lord said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?”

Jonah had so demonized the Ninevites, that he didn’t want them to have the care of God even if God was willing to give it! Jonah felt that he was fundamentally better than the Ninevites. In this pride, he felt entitled to be judge and jury for them.

But Jesus teaches the opposite.

Luke 6:35–36 NLT

“Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.

God is kind to all and we should be the same. This is because, fundamentally, we are not better than our enemies.

Romans 5:8–10 NLT

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.

If you don’t believe that you were ever an enemy of God, then you won’t understand loving your enemies. James says that to be friends with the world is to be an enemy of God. If you have ever been a friend of the world, then you have been an enemy of God. I don’t care if you’ve grown up in the church. God loved the entire world while all were his enemies - and he sent his son to die for our sins so that we might have a full relationship with him and have eternal life.

The lesson for us is to love our enemy.

Who is our enemy? For Jonah it was the Assyrians who he thought were so wrong and so beneath him. Who is your enemy? Reflect on the recent election. Think of the person who voted opposite of you in every way. Do you love that person? Or have you demonized that person so much that you actually believe that they are not worthy of your love OR God’s love? Guess what, there are some inside the church, within this very congregation, who voted opposite of you. They may be incomprehensible to you, but it is the truth. Now they may be wrong, deceived - or THEY may be right, but love comes first. And if we can’t love our own brothers and sisters in Christ, then we do not have the spirit of God.

Let’s talk nuts and bolts.

First, if you are a disciple of Christ, you are not a Republican or a Democrat, you are a Christian. You may vote along party lines, but that isn’t who you are. That isn’t your primary identity. I would encourage you to not make it your identity at all.

Second, you must be able to vote for policy/candidates AND love people at the same time. I know most here are Republicans. Many can’t understand voting for Democrat candidates or policies as a Christian. I’m convinced that the reason why is love. Many Republican policies become emotionally charged with hate.

Pro death penalty – Kill people

Pro military – Kill people

Pro Aggressive foreign policy – Threaten to kill people

Anti welfare – uncaring of the poor

Pro heavy border control – Hates illegals

Deny that racial issues still exist - secret rascism

Pro-life – you hate when people have sex, you think women need controlled, and you don’t care for the quality of life for the child

[my example of voting for border control and loving illegals]

Love is everything. You must understand this if you are a follower of Christ.

1 John 4:7–11 NLT

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.

If you are Republican, vote your policy, but love and care for the people. You are not better than others.

If you are Democrat, yes, many Republicans have tied hate to their policy - but you are called to love even those who hate.

Let’s bear with one another. We are about to sing about God’s amazing grace - grace we all needed - grace we still need. We were all enemies with God before Christ. Some of you still are.

{Invite for prayer or commitment to Christ]