Session 4 Love Your Enemies
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Is it not enough to love good church people and share what I have with them? You are just doing what comes naturally. Anyone can return love for love. Even those who persecute others love people who love them. They do not act mean all the time. They have some people in their own family and inner circle of friends. The worst of people help somebody. You cannot pick and choose whom to love. Love everyone.
Is it not enough to love good church people and share what I have with them? You are just doing what comes naturally. Anyone can return love for love. Even those who persecute others love people who love them. They do not act mean all the time. They have some people in their own family and inner circle of friends. The worst of people help somebody. You cannot pick and choose whom to love. Love everyone.
Wait a minute, you complain. Is that not going a bit too far? After all, look at all the people I already love. Is it not enough to love good church people and share what I have with them? You are just doing what comes naturally. Anyone can return love for love. Even those who persecute others love people who love them. They do not act mean all the time. They have some people in their own family and inner circle of friends. The worst of people help somebody. You cannot pick and choose whom to love. Love everyone.
What will you get out of all this? You will be acting like your heavenly Father. You will be showing mercy to others who do not deserve your mercy. This is how God shows you mercy when you do not deserve it from him. Act like that in love. He will call you his sons. Can you ask for anything more?
Let’s start with
27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
For most of us, the verses in this study represents probably the biggest area for growth
Today, as a follower of Christ, who are our enemies?
Is love the same thing as tolerance? How does this play out on social media?
Jesus teaches His followers that they must love all people, including their enemies (compare ). This love involves more than tolerance; it expresses itself in doing good even to enemies who are hostile and full of hatred. See .
Jesus teaches His followers that they must love all people, including their enemies (compare ). This love involves more than tolerance; it expresses itself in doing good even to enemies who are hostile and full of hatred. See .
You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
The ability to bless those who do this depends on confident trust in God’s care and sovereign direction of the events of life.
and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;
Examples of praying for one’s abusers:
And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.
59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
So, what should our position or focus be when dealing with an enemy of Christianity?
God has become our all-satisfying treasure and so we don’t treat our adversaries out of our own sense of need and insecurity, but out of our own fullness with the satisfying glory of God.
What takes away the compulsion of revenge is our deep confidence that this world is not our home, and that God is our utterly sure and all-satisfying reward.
So, in both these reasons for loving our enemy we see the main thing: God is shown to be who he really is as a merciful God and as gloriously all-satisfying.
Go to
29 To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. 31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
The point of both examples is that, even though believers will often be subject to abuse or taken advantage of, they are to face such rejection differently from the world, that is, by being generous and compassionate rather than retaliating.
The backhanded blow on the right cheek was meant primarily as an insult, a challenge to one’s honor. The striker could be taken to court and fined for this offense.
Look at . How does this tie in to our study?
48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
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Notice that when people see the good works of the disciples (like loving their enemies), they give glory to our Father. Why?
Because our Father is in us helping us and enabling us to do the good works. If we did the good works on our own so that we could then become children of our Father, the world should see our good works and give us the glory.
So Jesus not only says that God is already the Father of the disciples, but this is the very reason that they can do the loving works they do. The light that they let shine IS the light of their Father's love within them.
The backhanded blow on the right cheek was meant primarily as an insult, a challenge to one’s honor. The striker could be taken to court and fined for this offense.
Go to
6:30 Give to everyone who begs from you. Jesus again stresses that believers must be “generous to a fault,” even when someone takes away your goods (cf. note on ). The standards by which Jesus’ disciples are to live are higher than the standards of the world.
6:30 Antiquity hosted many beggars and also robbers and exploiters ready to take the possessions of those who would not fight back. Although Jesus may use hyperbole, he emphasizes trust in God’s provision and devalues desire for possessions.
6:30 See Matt 5:42 and note.
6:31 This is known as the Golden Rule: treating others with respect regardless of their conduct.
In comparison to similar expressions recorded in ancient writings, Jesus’ version of this rule emphasizes its positive effect. He demands that His followers show love to all people—neighbors and enemies alike—regardless of their behavior toward them. See Matt 7:12 and note.
6:31 Some earlier Jewish teachers offered this principle of wisdom, recognized in many cultures, though often in the negative form (see note on Mt 7:12).
6:31 The “Golden Rule” is to be practiced with respect to both friends and enemies alike. See note on Matt. 7:12.
Go to
32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
Different than sanctification
Different than sanctification
Notice these verses do not speak of a future attribute to attain; Jesus is expecting this behavior NOW if God’s light is truly within us
6:32–33 In vv. 32–35, Jesus gives three examples of the Golden Rule (v. 31). Reciprocity is insufficient (cf. 14:12–14), because even sinners practice reciprocity. The first two examples (If you love and if you do good) correspond to the first two commands in 6:27 (“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you”).
You will be sons does not mean “you will become sons” but “you will demonstrate that you are sons” by imitating God’s care and compassion even for those who are evil. For Most High as an expression for God, cf. note on 1:32.
6:35 love your enemies. See notes on Matt. 5:44–45 and Luke 23:34. Keeping the commands of 6:35a results in your reward being great (cf. v. 23). You will be sons does not mean “you will become sons” but “you will demonstrate that you are sons” by imitating God’s care and compassion even for those who are evil. For Most High as an expression for God, cf. note on 1:32.
Compare what Jesus says in verses 34 and 35 to the actions of the apostles in ?
44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,
So by doing these things Jesus commands of us, do we then earn our salvation?
6:36 God’s character and actions are the ethical standards for His followers. Compare Lev 19:2; Deut 10:17–18; Matt 5:48; 1 Pet 1:15.
6:31 Some earlier Jewish teachers offered this principle of wisdom, recognized in many cultures, though often in the negative form (see note on Mt 7:12).
No, He does not mean that loving our enemies earns us the right to be a child of God. You can't earn the status of a child. You can be born into it. You can be adopted into it. You can't work your way into it.
No, He does not mean that loving our enemies earns us the right to be a child of God. You can't earn the status of a child. You can be born into it. You can be adopted into it. You can't work your way into it. Jesus means that loving our enemies shows that God has already become our Father, and that the only reason we are able to love our enemies is because he loves us and has met our needs first.
The power to be merciful is that we have been satisfied with God’s mercy toward us. And the ultimate reason for being merciful is to glorify God, that is, to help others magnify him for his mercy. We want to show that God is magnificent. We want our love, by God’s mercy, to make God look great in the eyes of man.
6:27–36 This section draws on the same material as Matthew (compare Matt 5:38–48; Matt 7:12 and note). Jesus emphasizes love, charity, and goodness—traits that should characterize the people of God as residents of His kingdom.
The version in Luke’s Gospel reorganizes and slightly expands the material. The love command is moved to the front (Luke 6:27) and then it is elaborated on below (v. 35). The version in Luke also inserts the Golden Rule (v. 31), which Matthew records much later in the sermon (Matt 7:12). Luke’s version concludes with a command to reflect God’s mercy (Luke 6:36); in Matthew, Jesus calls for emulating God’s perfection (see Matt 5:48 and note).
Jesus means that loving our enemies shows that God has already become our Father, and that the only reason we are able to love our enemies is because he loves us and has met our needs first.
We will take at least two weeks on this text and the command that we love our enemies. Today we try to get the big picture of the Sermon on the Mount and how its commandments relate to the whole ministry of Jesus. Next week we will move in on the specific command to love our enemies and see how it looks in practice.
How the Great Commission Helps Us Understand This Love Command
Let's step back for a moment and let something Jesus said at the end of his life wave a banner over this commandment to love our enemies.
One of the last things Jesus said after he died and rose from the dead and before he ascended to heaven was this:
All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:18–20)
Now this is extremely important for understanding our text today in Matthew 5:43–48 about loving our enemies.
Jesus says, go everywhere and make disciples. This includes bringing them to faith and allegiance in Christ expressed in baptism. And it includes teaching them to do all that he commanded—verse 20: "teaching them to observe all that I commanded you." And he said to do this to the end of the this age—"I am with you always to the end of the age." This is important because there are many teachers in the larger church today who in fact deny the "all" in this command—"Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you."
Loving your enemy doesn't pay for your birth into God's family; it proves you've been born into God's family.
Does Not Negate Grace
Some say that the commandments of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) are not for this age. They are like the Old Testament Law coming before the cross and should not be part of the normative teaching of the church in this age. The main motive here is the fear that law will be mixed in with grace and we will contaminate the gospel of free grace by the teachings of Jesus that make love a condition for finally entering the kingdom of heaven. The assumption is that wherever you have conditions, you don't have grace. And wherever you have grace, you don't have conditions. So they have developed elaborate justifications for not taking the Sermon on the Mount seriously.
Is Not an Isolated Ethical Teaching
Another group of teachers goes in the other direction and denies the "all" of Matthew 28:20 by affirming only the ethical commandments of Jesus, and leaving out of account the crucial things he did and said that prevent his commandments from becoming mere ethics. This group prizes the Sermon on the Mount, but really does run the risk of cutting it off from the gospel of salvation by grace through faith.
So one group tries to protect the gospel of salvation by grace through faith by putting the ethical teachings of Jesus into a special category that doesn't apply to us today. And another group tries to rescue the ethical teachings of Jesus even though they don't think the other deeds and words of Jesus about salvation and faith and grace are essential.
I think Matthew 28:20 steers us between both of these views, and says we should observe ALL that Jesus commanded us—and that we should do this as long as this age lasts, not just for some distant future time or past time—because all authority belongs to Jesus and he will be with us to the end of the age. So when I read the Sermon on the Mount, I take it to refer to me and my family and this church, and all people Christ wants us to disciple among all the nations. And, until I see otherwise from the Word, I assume that the Sermon on the Mount does not contradict the way of salvation that Jesus and his apostles taught.
The Context of This Command: Six Statements
So let's go back and look at the command to love our enemies in its context—both the nearby context and the bigger context of the gospels. Matthew 5:43–44 is the last of six statements in the Sermon on the Mount that begin, "You have heard that it was said . . . but I say to you." The series of six statements begins in 5:21. Just before this series, in 5:20 Jesus says,
For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Then come the six statements: "You have heard that it was said . . . but I say to you." I take this to mean that Jesus is explaining in these six statements what the righteousness looks like that he requires beyond what the scribes and Pharisees require.
Verse 21: "You have heard that the ancients were told, 'You shall not commit murder' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.' 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court."
Verse 27: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery' 28 but I say to you, that everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart."
Verse 31: "And it was said, 'Whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce'; 32 but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the cause of unchastity, makes her commit adultery."
6:31 This is known as the Golden Rule: treating others with respect regardless of their conduct.
Verse 33: "Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, 'You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.' 34 But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool."
Verse 38: "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' 39 But I say to you, do not resist him who is evil."
So what Jesus is doing here in these six commandments is showing his disciples how some of the scribes and Pharisees applied the Old Testament teachings, and then, over against that, what he was calling them to do—something different, or something deeper.
So when verse 20 says, "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven," he was saying, "There is a way of life—there is an authentic, deep, unhypocritical way of life—that you must live if you want to arrive in heaven." He is not saying: I have an impossible standard of righteousness that you can never meet, and so stop trying to meet it, and trust in my righteousness. That's not what he is saying. He is saying, "If you will come to me, and trust in me, and receive the power of the kingdom, and be cleansed on the inside by the forgiveness and love of God that I offer, and bank your hope on all my promises, and let my ransoming death cover all your failures and imperfections, then you WILL be able to live this way (not perfectly, but powerfully), and your life will be the light of the world that proves you are the children of God."
In other words, Jesus is assuming that something very profound has happened to people who live the way the Sermon on the Mount calls us to live. Let me try to show you why I think that, and what it is that has to happen to us so that we can live this way and surpass the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees—not to earn our way to heaven but to show that God has graciously and powerfully changed us and promised us heaven.
Look at verse 44–45:
But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.
Now someone might take this to mean that you must first become a person who loves his enemies before you can be a child of God. But it may also mean: love your enemies and so prove yourself to be what you are—a child of God. That is, show you are a child of God by acting the way your Father acts. If you are his, then his character is in you, and you will be inclined to do what he does. God loves his enemies—the evil and the unrighteous—in sending rain and sunshine on them instead of instant judgment.
"Let Your Light Shine Before Men"
I think that is, in fact, just what it means: love your enemies and so show that God is your Father. Why do I think that? Several reasons. Let me just give two from the Sermon on the Mount. One comes from Matthew 5:16,
Notice two things: one is that Jesus speaks to his disciples and calls God their Father. He does not say, "He may become your Father." He says, "He is your Father." Second,
The Basis for the Golden Rule
The other reason I think Jesus means that loving our enemies is not the cause but the evidence of our having God as our Father comes from Matthew 7:11–12.
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!
So here again Jesus tells his disciples that God is their Father—even though they are imperfect in their love (he calls them "evil")—and that he stands more ready to give us the help we need than we are to give our own children help when they ask.
Then—and this is the crucial point—in verse 12 Jesus draws this conclusion from his teaching about the love of God's Fatherhood in verse 11:
Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
In comparison to similar expressions recorded in ancient writings, Jesus’ version of this rule emphasizes its positive effect. He demands that His followers show love to all people—neighbors and enemies alike—regardless of their behavior toward them. See Matt 7:12 and note.
The word "therefore" is crucial here. It means that the golden rule is based on the loving, prayer-answering, Father-heart of God. God will answer your prayers and take care of you . . . THEREFORE, love others the way you want to be loved. In other words, Jesus makes our love for others the result or fruit of God's fatherly love for us, not the payment we make to become his children.
So when Jesus says, back in Matthew 5:44, "But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, 45 in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven," he does not mean that loving our enemies earns us the right to be a child of God. You can't earn the status of a child. You can be born into it. You can be adopted into it. You can't work your way into it. Jesus means that loving our enemies shows that God has already become our Father, and that the only reason we are able to love our enemies is because he loves us and has met our needs first.
Now, tie in into our study.
Good Trees Bearing Good Fruit
Another clue in the Sermon on the Mount that this is the way Jesus is thinking is found in Matthew 7:16–17,
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
What Jesus is saying is that you cannot produce the fruit of love in order to become a good tree. You have to become a good tree in order to produce the fruit of love. Becoming a child of God and being transformed on the inside—becoming a good tree—precedes and enables love, not vice versa.
We do not earn or merit our sonship or our entrance into heaven. We receive it as a free gift and gracious promise, and then we live in a way that shows where our treasure is and who our Father is.
What the Sermon on the Mount Assumes
Loving our enemies is a proof that the power of the kingdom has entered your life, not a payment for the power of the kingdom to enter your life.
If you take the Sermon on the Mount as a whole, all the commandments assume—they presuppose—that a profound conversion has happened—a new birth—before our righteousness surpasses the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. We do not earn or merit our sonship or our entrance into heaven. We receive it as a free gift and gracious promise, and then we live in a way that shows where our treasure is and who our Father is. Loving our enemies is a proof that the power of the kingdom has entered your life, not a payment for the power of the kingdom to enter your life.
Loving your enemy doesn't earn you the reward of heaven. Treasuring the reward of heaven empowers you to love your enemy.
The Great Foundation of Grace in Jesus' Life and Ministry
The very first word of the Sermon on the Mount—and this is no mistake—is, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." We don't enter the kingdom of heaven because of the moral resources that we bring; we enter by confessing with tears our poverty of spirit.
In Mark 10:15 Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all." It is a gift to the poor in spirit who are broken and childlike and have no airs of self-sufficiency.
In Mark 2:17 Jesus said, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners." We enter the kingdom poor in spirit, helpless as a child, sick and in need of a spiritual physician.
This is what Jesus was doing when he ate with tax collectors and sinners—he was pursuing the poor and the helpless and the sick. And the self-sufficient murmured, "This man receives sinners and eats with them" (Luke 15:2). And when they said that, Jesus told them the parable of the prodigal son. And the point was: I don't eat with sinners because I like sin. I eat with sinners because I am the love of God welcoming home poor, helpless, diseased sinners—forgiving them, cleansing them, making them new, and sending them out to love in the power of God.
Which is why he could say to the priests and elders in Matthew 21:31, "Truly I say to you that the tax-gatherers and harlots are going into the kingdom of God before you."
How can this be: sinners and harlots going into the kingdom of God? The bottom line answer Jesus gave: "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). He came to die for them—for us.
The Sermon on the Mount and the command to love our enemies are not isolated ethical teachings. They grow up out of a great foundation of grace in the life and teaching of Jesus. This is where we get the power to love—that he loved us while we were poor and diseased and helpless and enemies, and gave himself for us.
Now who are our enemies? And what does loving them actually look like? That's what we will look at next week. Lord willing!
When we looked at this text last Sunday, I was most concerned to rightly understand verse 45: "Love your enemies . . . in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven." One of the reasons some Christians shy away from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) is because of conditional statements like this. "IF you love your enemies (the way God loves his enemies), THEN you will be his children."
I stressed that this does not mean we can earn our way into God's family by loving our enemies. Rather it means that when we love our enemies, we prove ourselves to be in God's family. "If you love your enemies the way God loves his enemies, then you show that you ARE a child of God. You are seen to be a child of God."
We closed that message by asking, Well, how did Jesus offer a relationship with himself and his father? How does it get started, so that we have the power to love and can prove that God is at work within us? The answer was Matthew 5:3,
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
We receive Jesus and his kingdom through bankruptcy—by admitting the poverty of spirit. The answer was Mark 10:15,
Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all.
We receive Jesus and his kingdom by admitting that we are as helpless as a little child. The answer was Mark 2:17,
It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
We receive Jesus and his kingdom by admitting that we are sick and in need of a spiritual physician—namely, Jesus.
In other words the commands of the Sermon on the Mount are not the first things in the matter of our relationship to Jesus and his Father. The first things are free gospel promises that he will be the Forgiver and Healer for our sin-sickness, the Father for our helpless childlikeness, and the Supplier for our poverty stricken heart. All of that we receive by faith. Jesus said to the prostitute who wept at his feet,
This is how the Christian life starts. It doesn't start by measuring up. It starts by realizing that we don't measure up. We are poverty-stricken, helpless as a child, and sin-sick in need of a Great Physician. Then we hear the gospel news that Jesus "came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45); and we hear the free offer that by trusting him our sins we will be forgiven, God will be our Father, and the power of the kingdom will come into our lives, and we will have the help we need to live out the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said,
I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)
We are grafted into the vine by faith in the all-satisfying promises of Christ. And we abide there by faith—drawing on his power and his enabling. So the fruit we produce, like loving our enemies, is not produced in our own strength, but by the strength of the vine. "Without me you can do nothing."
Now today I want us to think about who our enemies are, and what it means to love them, and how this is possible.
Who Is Our Enemy?
In this text Jesus is responding to a misinterpretation of the Old Testament commandment to love your neighbor as your love yourself (Leviticus 19:18, 34). Verse 43:
You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies.
"Neighbor" Is Not Just Friends and Brothers
One of the reasons we know Jesus thought it was wrong to interpret "neighbor" merely as friend or brother or comrade is that in Luke 10:29, when he was asked, "Who is my neighbor?" he answered by telling the parable of the Good Samaritan. In that parable the man who loved was a Samaritan and the wounded man whom he loved was a Jew. And the Jews and Samaritans were anything but friends and brothers. They had nothing to do with each other. There were religious and racial animosities.
So Jesus doesn't just say, "I have two commands: one that you love your neighbor and one that you love your enemy." He says, "I have one command: love your neighbor and I mean, even if he is an enemy."
But what does he mean by "enemy"? What kind of enmity does he have in mind? From the context we can see that he means a wide range of feelings from very severe opposition to minor snubbing. Notice some of these. As we do, ask who in your experience comes closest, and be praying that God will use his Word, even now, to give you the heart to love them.
Those Who Persecute You
The first meaning of enemy is found in verse 44,
Followers of Jesus who freely give away and share their material goods not only obey Jesus’ teaching but demonstrate they are true followers of God by acting according to His ways. See note on Luke 6:23.
But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.
So, clearly, by "enemy" he means people who oppose you and try to hurt you. "Persecute" means to pursue with harmful intentions. It might include very severe hostility like the hostility Jesus faced. For example, last December one magazine carried this notice:
In some parts of the world Christians are still being crucified, quite literally so. News agencies report that five Christians have been crucified since July in Sudan, one being an Anglican priest. The detail is supplied that the executioners used six-inch-long nails. In Wad Medani two Catholic converts have been sentenced by an Islamic law court to be crucified. Anglican Bishop Daniel Zindo reports that widows and orphans of slain Christian men are sold into slavery in north Sudan and Libya for $15 per slave. (First Things, December 1994, p. 82)
Another report from February 1993 from David Barrett and Todd Johnson's AD 2000 Global Monitor (no. 28, Feb. 1993, p. 2) describes the situation in China:
There have been . . . reports of increased persecution, rising hostility, and government crackdowns on religion in response to the role of the church played in the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. In Beijing, up to 60 Christian meeting points were forcibly closed by authorities between January and June 1992. Many arrests have been made with charges of distribution and of receiving Bibles.
What is the definition of holiness?
Jesus says, "Yes, love them. Love them. If they kill you, love them. If they take away your father, love them. If they destroy your home, love them. Love your enemies. Be that kind of person. Be so changed on the inside that it is really possible."
Those Opposing You in Less Dramatic Ways
But Jesus also has in mind situations much less dramatic than that. Verse 45b gives another pointer to the kind of hard relationships in which we should love. It says,
He [God] causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
The evil and the unrighteous are people who defy the laws of God. They resist his will. They do not submit to his authority.
A lot of these people do not admit that they are God's enemies. They would resent being told that they are God's enemies. But Jesus mentions them to illustrate God's love for his enemies. And our love for our enemies. So another way to understand "enemies" in this passage is that they are people who are repeatedly going against your desires. They may not call themselves enemies. You may not call them enemies. But they resist your will. They are contrary and antagonistic. In this sense, the enemy might be a rebellious child. He might be an uncaring, non-listening, ill-tempered husband. He might be a cantankerous neighbor that complains about everything you do to your yard. Jesus says, "Love them. Love your enemies. Love them."
Anyone Who Doesn't Love You or Is Not Your Brother
One other illustration of the enemy is given in verses 46–47:
If you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same? 47 And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others?
Here in verse 46 the "enemy" is any one who doesn't love you. "If you (just) love those who love you, you are not loving the way I just commanded." And in verse 47 the "enemy" is anyone who is not your brother. "If you greet your brothers only, you are not loving the way I just commanded you."
So the point seems to be: don't stop loving because the person does things that offend you, or dishonor you, or hurt your feelings, or anger you, or disappoint you, or frustrate you, or threaten you, or kill you. "Love your enemies" means keep on loving them. Keep on loving them.
What Is This Love?
Now we must ask, What is this love? This time let's work backward in the text.
Something as Simple as Greeting Them
In verse 47 loving your enemy means something as simple and gracious as greeting them: "if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others?" Greeting your non-brothers is one form of the love Jesus has in mind here. That may seem utterly insignificant in the context of threatening and killing. But Jesus means for this text to apply to all of life.
Whom do you greet when you leave this service? Only those who greet you? Only your close friends? Only those you know? Jesus says, Greet not only those you don't know. Greet those who are at odds with you. Of course there may be more you should do if there is tension between you. But you have no warrant from Jesus to snub someone. "Love your enemy" means something as simple as, "Greet them."
Practically Meeting Their Physical Needs
Second, verse 45 illustrates what love is:
6:36 God’s character and actions are the ethical standards for His followers. Compare Lev 19:2; Deut 10:17–18; Matt 5:48; 1 Pet 1:15.
[God] causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
In this case love is very practical efforts to meet a person's physical needs. Sunshine and rain are the two things that things need to grow so that there will be food for human life.
To be set apart. This study is a blueprint on how Jesus expects us to do that.
This is the kind of thing Paul had in mind when he quoted Proverbs 25:21f. in Romans 12:20.
If your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head. 21 do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Loving your enemy means practical acts of helpfulness in the ordinary things of life. God gives his enemies sunshine and rain. You give your enemies food and water.
Praying for Them
Third, verse 44 gives one of the deepest meanings of love for your enemies. It says,
I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.
Prayer for your enemies is one of the deepest forms of love, because it means that you have to really want that something good happen to them. You might do nice things for your enemy without any genuine desire that things go well with them. But prayer for them is in the presence of God who knows your heart, and prayer is interceding with God on their behalf. It may be for their conversion. It may be for their repentance. It may be that they would be awakened to the enmity in their hearts. It may be that they will be stopped in their downward spiral of sin, even if it takes disease or calamity to do it. But the prayer Jesus has in mind here is always for their good.
This is what Jesus did as he hung on the cross:
Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing. (Luke 23:34)
And it's what Stephen did as he was being stoned:
The challenge for each of us
The challenge for each of us
Falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them! (Acts 7:60)
These are examples of obedience to Jesus command: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."
Jesus is calling us not just to do good things for our enemy, like greeting them and helping supply their needs; he is also calling us to WANT their best, and to express those wants in prayers when the enemy is nowhere around. Our hearts should want their salvation and want their presence in heaven and want their eternal happiness. So we pray like the apostle Paul (in Romans 10:1) for the Jewish people, many of whom made life very hard for Paul,
Think of a person in your life right now who is in some way your enemy (go back to social media for someone who constantly posts things you don’t agree with). What are you doing in that relationship to let your light shine?
My heart's desire and prayer to God is for their salvation.
Where Does Power to Love Like This Come From?
Now how can we do this? Where does power to love like this come from? Just think how astonishing this is when it appears in the real world! Could anything show the truth and power and reality of Christ more than this?
Let me just give you part of the answer from Matthew 5:11–12,
Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me. 12 Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Jesus says that not only can you endure the mistreatment of the enemy, but you can also rejoice in it. Why? Because your reward in heaven is great.
Which means that the command to love your enemy is a command to set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth. The command to love your enemy is a command to find your hope and your satisfaction in God and his great reward—not in the way people treat you. The steadfast love of the Lord is better than life (Psalm 63:3).
Loving your enemy doesn't earn you the reward of heaven. Treasuring the reward of heaven empowers you to love your enemy.