Who Is My Enemy?

Opening Prayer

Almighty Father, we thank you for tonight. We thank you that you have given us this space to gather so that we might hear your Word proclaimed, your Scriptures which you did not have to give to us, but did so that we might know our Creator and worship you. We thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ, who has lived the life we could not live, died the death that we deserved, and has defeated Satan, sin, and death in his resurrection from the dead, and we eagerly await his return where he will judge the living and the dead. We thank you for the Holy Spirit, and ask that he lead us into a right understanding of what Jesus says to us in the Sermon on the Mount, and that he would convict us of our sin, and strengthen us to walk in obedience. We ask this all in the name of Christ, Amen.

Prelude

The last time I preached, I preached at the end of the Beatitudes, and tonight I’m am preaching on the end of another section of the Sermon on the Mount, which I like to call the “you’re wrong and here’s why” section. Jesus begins his sermon with The Beatitudes, which if you remember are a comprehensive picture of what the Christian life looks like, and then he transitions into a section where he directly confronts the teachings of the scribes and Pharisees and shows how they’ve misinterpreted the Law of God - the same Law that Jesus said he came to fulfill. All of the passages in this section of the sermon begin with “you have heard that it was said to those of old”, followed by some misconception that Jesus soon begins to correct by saying “but I say to you”. Tonight’s passage is the last of these “you have heard that it was said to those of old”, or “you’re wrong and here’s why”, and its not the longest subject in this section, but it’s perhaps one of the heaviest subjects in this section, and it closes the entire section out with a one-verse finisher that forces us to see our need for Christ to perfectly keep the Law in our place.

There is quite a bit going on in this passage, and while we are going to look at everything contained in this verse, we are not going to be able to give equal attention to all the parts of this section. If you are wanting to read more about this section, or any other part of the Sermon on the Mount, I cannot recommend enough Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ book “Studies on the Sermon on the Mount.” If you were here the last time I preached, you know I quoted him over 9,000 times and tonight I am probably going to do the same, because his book is one of the best books you could ever read on the Sermon on the Mount. That being said, let’s dive in.

Definitions (43-44)

Starting in verses 43-44, we read:

English Standard Version Chapter 5

43 “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 and pray for those who persecute you

There is a lot to unpack in just these two verses, and we are going to first start by defining some terms. How you understand this passage - and how you understand what this passage is telling you to do - is largely determined by how you understand two words: “love”, and “enemy”. If you misunderstand either or both of those words, you run the risk of misunderstanding much of what Jesus is saying here, which is exactly what the scribes and Pharisees did in the first place and why Jesus is having to correct them. We are going to start with the word “love” because I think that’s the one we might have more questions over, which is understandable given how common the word “love” is our society. In the English language, we use the word “love” as a one-size-fits-all word for all types of love. Even though I use the same four-letter word when I say that I love my wife, or I love pizza, or I love you guys, we all understand that I am not speaking out the same kinds of love. I love my wife so much that I wanted to marry her, to leave my father and mother and become one flesh with her, to promise that I would never leave her or forsake her; I never had such desires when it comes to pizza. We use the same word in English for all types of love, but the opposite is true in Greek. In the Greek, the language the New Testament was written in, there are words for each kind of love. Here in this passage, Jesus is using the word “agapao”, a variant of of the word “agape”, which is a type of love that is unconditional and sacrificial towards someone for their blessing or benefit. Whenever we talk about the love of God the Father in sending Christ to die on the cross for us, we are talking about a love where God is (quite literally) sacrificially serving us for our benefit, even though we’ve done nothing to deserve it (and, in fact, have done everything to deserve the opposite). This type of love is very different from another type of love, which is described by the word “phileo”. “Phileo” describes a type of love that shows fondness or affection towards someone; you “like” them, more or less. It’s why the city of Philadelphia is called “the city of brotherly love”, despite the cruel irony that it’s regularly has some of the highest murder rates in the world.

Now why do I bother bringing this all up? Notice what Jesus isn’t saying in this passage. When he tells us to “love your enemies”, he is not saying that you are to like your enemies, or have fondness or affection for them. Now that might seem controversial because, in our English minds, we can very easily equate “loving” someone with having positive feelings or affections towards someone, and so when Jesus tells us to love our enemies, we mistake him as telling us to not dislike them. Jesus is calling us to something much harder than liking our enemies - he calling us to serve them. As Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains:

We are not called upon to like everybody. We cannot do so. But we can be commanded to love....What God commands is that we should love a man and treat him as if we do like him. Love is much more than a feeling or a sentiment. Love in the New Testament is very practical - ‘For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.’ If, therefore, we find we do not like certain people, we need not be worried by that, so long as we are treating them as if we did like them. That is loving, and it is the teaching of the Lord everywhere.

In other words, Jesus is saying that regardless of how we may feel about someone, we are to show love to them by serving them, and Jesus specifically tells us to pray for our enemies as a practical way of loving them. But now let’s look at the word “enemy” because although it means exactly what you think it means, it also means more than what you think it means. Look back again at the phrase that Jesus is challenging: “You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.” To one group of people, you behave one way, but to another group of people, you behave a different way. As long as a person is your enemy, it’s okay to hate them, but you’re not allowed to hate your neighbor. But this raises the question: who is your neighbor? In , Jesus is directly asked this question by a lawyer who was trying to justify his righteousness. We aren’t going to read the entirety of the passage, but I want to read a portion of how Jesus answers this question:

English Standard Version Chapter 10

29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

English Standard Version Chapter 10

29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.

You probably recognize this story as being the parable of the Good Samaritan, and in this very parable we can see everything that Jesus talks about when he talks about loving your enemy. We read this parable and see that the Samaritan is the nice guy who took care of this man who was at death’s door, but we often fail miss out on is the fact that Samaritans and Jews were natural enemies to each other. They hated each other. There’s a very strong likelihood that the Samaritan in this parable did not like this Jew even as he was loving him by taking care of him! The idea of a Samaritan going to such great a length to help a Jew would’ve been incomprehensible to either a Jew or a Samaritan. And yet, Jesus makes clear that the Samaritan - the Jewish man’s enemy - “proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers.”

In other words, there is no distinction between someone who is your enemy and someone who is your neighbor, like the scribes and Pharisees were saying. John Calvin says it well when he writes:

Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke Matthew 5:43–48; Luke 6:27–28, 32–33, 35–36

It is astonishing, that the Scribes fell into so great an absurdity, as to limit the word neighbour to benevolent persons: for nothing is more obvious or certain than that God, in speaking of our neighbours, includes the whole human race.

the word “enemy” because it’s perhaps the most straightforward word to understand, and it means exactly what you think it means.

Because your enemy is also your neighbor, you are not to treat your enemies differently than you would treat your neighbor.

Your enemy is your neighbor, and because your enemy is also your neighbor, you are not to treat your enemies differently than you would treat your neighbor. You may not like your enemies, but you are still called to serve them as though you were serving your neighbor.

Now before we keep going, I think I need to pause real quick and make one thing very clear: loving your enemy does not mean letting them do whatever they want to you. There are wicked and evil people in this world who will use this passage (and the previous section about retaliation, and other related passages in Scripture) to try to shield their behavior from criticism or exposure, and I want to make it abundantly clear that this passage does not say that you are to be a doormat and just accept whatever behavior your enemy shows you without showing any resistance. Recently Mel and I have been having to deal with an individual in our lives who can be very emotionally abusive to us at times, and after a recent incident we had to make it very clear that this person will not continue to treat us this way, and that we will simply not continue to speak to this person if there is no change. Right now we very much do not like this person, in the sense that we do not have much fondness or affection for them, but yet we want to love this person, and have praying for this person daily, not for punishment or retribution, but for conviction and repentance and life and restoration. I’m not saying this to make us look good, I’m saying this because this person’s behavior is legitimately abusive and you are not hating your enemy if you seek to put a stop to it. Loving your enemy does not mean letting your enemy abuse you. Loving your enemy does not forbid you from getting help or seeking protection or relief. Loving your enemy does not mean allowing an abuser to continue their conduct without consequence or exposure. Loving your enemy is to seek their wellbeing even as they persecute you, and you can still seek their wellbeing ever as you seek yours.

Recently Mel and I have been having to deal with an individual in our lives who we love, but who can be very emotionally abusive to us at times, and after a recent incident we had to make it very clear that this person will not continue to treat us this way, and that we will simply not continue to speak to this person if there is no change. Right now we very much do not like this person, but yet we have praying for this person daily, not for punishment or retribution, but for conviction and repentance and life. I’m not saying this to make us look good, I’m saying this because this person’s behavior is legitimately abusive and you are not hating your enemy if you seek to put a stop to it. Loving your enemy does not mean letting your enemy abuse you. Loving your enemy does not forbid you from getting help or seeking protection or relief. Loving your enemy does not mean allowing an abuser to continue their abuse without consequence or exposure.

Now that we understand that our enemy is our neighbor and that we are to love them by serving them unconditionally, we can start talking about “why” we are to love our enemies, and Jesus outlines three reasons why in the rest of this passage.

Reason 1: Christians are Children of God

Let’s look at the first part of verse 45:

English Standard Version Chapter 5

so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven

Now, if this phrase sounds familiar to you, it’s because you’ve heard a similar phrase already in the Sermon in the Mount once before - and, coincidentally enough, you heard it the last time I preached here. To jog your memory, here is :

English Standard Version Chapter 5

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

To recap that passage, Jesus is saying that if those who are pure in heart are those who value God above all else and devote themselves fully to them, they do so because they’ve turned to Christ to save them from their sinfulness and have been given new hearts that long to glorify Christ, and part of the reason why we desire to glorify God is because, though Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, we have been reconciled back to God. When Christ saves us we are no longer his enemies but instead have been adopted into his family as sons and daughters. Where there was once hostility between us and God because of our sin, now we have peace as a result of our adoption, and because we are now sons and daughters of God, we ought to love other as God has loved us. As tells us:

English Standard Version Chapter 5

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

While we were still his enemies, God loved us by sending Christ to die for the sins we committed against him as his enemies! How can we then fail to love our enemies in lesser ways? When we love our enemies, we demonstrate to the world a small taste of the love that God has shown us, and in doing so open a wonderful door for us to become peacemakers through the proclamation of the Gospel of peace.

Reason 2: Christians imitate God

The second reason Jesus tells us why we are to love our enemies and treat them like our neighbor is because God does the same thing. Let’s finish the rest of verse 45:

English Standard Version Chapter 5

For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Now I wish I could spend a ton of time on this statement, because there is so much that could be unpacked here, but for the sake of time I am going to keep this one short. We are to love and serve our enemy as though he were our neighbor because God does the same thing to the good and the evil, the just and the unjust. He does not only give the sunrise and rain to those who are his children, but even to those who hate him and sin against him in their unbelief. God would be entirely just in withholding his blessings to those who hate him, but he doesn’t, and he treats those who hate him the same way he treats those who love them. We are to do the same to our enemies, by loving them as a neighbor.

Reason 3: Christians Are Different

We know that a time will come when GWe are to do the same to our enemies, by loving them as a neighbor.

The third and final reason why Jesus tells us we are to love our enemies is because Christians are called to be different. Let’s keep going:

English Standard Version Chapter 5

46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

Christians are not to be like everybody else. It doesn’t take anything special to be warm and friendly to those who love you - anyone can do that. Nobody expects you to love your enemy, or is disappointed when you hate your enemy. Loving your enemy, on the other hand, is to go above the average expectations of the world, but to do so in a way that points to Christ. As Martyn Lloyd-Jones says:

“The Christian, you see, is a man who is different from others. He does what other people do, yes; but he does more than they do. This is what our Lord has been emphasizing all along. Anyone can go the first mile, but it is the Christian who goes the second. He is always doing more than anybody else. This is obviously tremendously important. The Christian at once, and by primary definition, is a man who stands out in society, and you cannot explain him in terms of the natural man.”

But what is it that makes a Christian different than others? It’s because they desire to fulfill the very last verse in this section:

English Standard Version Chapter 5

48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Christians are different from others because we love God and want to keep his commandments. We want to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. But here’s the thing: you know you can’t be perfect. You know that you have murdered in our hearts. You know that you have lusted after others in your thoughts. You know that you have swore falsely. You know that you have retaliated in ungodly ways. You know that you have hated our enemy. Because you have not kept God’s law, you know that you are not perfect, but even more specifically that that, you know that you have sinned, and that the wages of your sin is death. But, the Christian also knows that where we have failed to be perfect, Jesus Christ was totally and completely perfect, and where we failed to keep his law, Jesus Christ kept it perfectly. We know that because we have placed our faith in Jesus Christ for our salvation, we receive a record of perfect obedience - but it’s not one we’ve earned for ourselves, but one Christ earned for us. We know that because Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead, that we too will one day be raised from the dead and live with him forever. When we love our enemies, we are demonstrating to the world one of the most powerful truths of the Gospel, because it is so intimately connected to how God loved his enemies. To quote Lloyd-Jones one more time:

But here’s the thing: you know you can’t be perfect. You know that you have murdered in our hearts. You know that you have lusted after others in our thoughts. You know that you have swore falsely. You know that you have retaliated in ungodly ways. You know that you have hated our enemy. You know that you are not perfect, but even more specifically that that, you know that you have sinned, and we are poor in spirit and mourn and lament the price and cost of our sin.

It is not possible to truly love your enemies apart from understanding the great lengths and depths to which God showed his love to us even as we were his enemies. You cannot do it in your own strength, effort, or energy. You must first understand that you have failed to

“What is it that thus makes the Christian a special person? What is it that accounts for this uniqueness? What makes him do more than others? It is his whole outlook on sin. The Christian has seen himself as utterly hopeless and condemned; he has seen himself as a man who is utterly guilty before God and who has no claim whatsoever on His love. He has seen himself as an enemy of God and an outsider. And then he has seen and understood something about the free grace of God in Jesus Christ. He has seen God sending His only begotten Son into the world, and not only that, sending Him even to the death of the cross for him, the rebel, the vile and guilty sinner. God did not turn his back on him, He went beyond that. The Christian knows that all this happened for him, and it has changed his whole attitude towards God and to his fellowmen. He has been forgiven when he did not deserve it. What right then has he, not to forgive his enemy?”