Alien Adventures 4 Love My Enemies
Love My Enemies?
(Alien Adventures pt 4)
1 Peter 2: 11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them; glorify God in the day of visitation
Alien adventure- Love my enemies?
That’s out of this world. I have been taught to hate my enemies, not to love them.
Luke 6:32-35 (NASB95)
32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 “If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 “If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive 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 Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.
Q. Why is a study in love important?
A. Because God is love. God is not like love, He is love. Jesus says that we are not only to love those who love us, but we are to love our enemies.
1 John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
Q. Who are my enemies?
A. Anyone that you have animosity towards. It can be a spouse, a child, a parent, a neighbor, a boss, or anyone that you have animosity towards.
“Have you lost that loving feeling?” “What’s love got to do with it?”
· What is love?-
Since a very long time ago, people have searched for the meaning of love. But even the great philosophers, with their profound definitions, could not fully touch its true essence. In a survey of 4-8 year olds, kids share their views on love. But what do little kids know about love? Read on and be
surprised that despite their young and innocent minds, kids already have a simple but deep grasp of that four-letter word.
"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other."
"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs."
"Love is when someone hurts you. And you get so mad but you don't yell at him because you know it would hurt his feelings."
"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."
"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday."
"Love is if you hold hands and sit beside each other in the cafeteria. That means you're in love. Otherwise, you can sit across from each other and be okay."
"Love is when mommy sees daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redbird."
"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones."
"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you."
"You can break love, but it won't die."
1) Love is patient
· The word patient is defined as to suffer long, be longsuffering, or to bear long.
· It is no chore for me to love the whole world. My only real problem is my neighbor next door. —The Defender
· Life is composed of waiting periods. The child must wait until he is old enough to have a bicycle, the young man until he is old enough to drive a car, the medical student must wait for his diploma, the husband for his promotion, the young couple for savings to buy a new home. The art of waiting is not learned at once. —Howard Whitman
a) Why do we need patience?
· Scripture considers patience a priority. Paul, who had dealt with more than his fair share of difficult individuals and churches, commanded the Ephesians, “. . . be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Eph. 4:2). Again, when telling Christians how to deal with potentially frustrating people (the weak, the idle, the timid) Paul urged, “. . . be patient with everyone” (1 Thess. 5:14).
· God not only commands patience, He also compels it by His example. I struggle to be patient with individuals; He shows great forbearance to nations and to the world, as well as to errant disciples.
· When dealing with the world, God delays judgment and endures our rebellion. As Peter explained: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 39).
· While I struggle to be patient with my personal pain and grievances God rebukes my self-pity with His supreme example. As the totally innocent One He was patient when despised and reviled, and He calmly endured when as the Giver of life He was crucified and rejected. Patience is a key characteristic of God, and I must grow in patience if I want to reflect His image.
2) Love is kind
If you love something, set it free.
If it comes back, it was and always will be yours.
If it never returns, it was never yours to begin with.
If it just sits in your living room and messes up your stuff, eats your food, uses your telephone, takes your money and never behaves as if you actually set it free in the first place -- you either married it or gave birth to it!
· We are to be kind because He has been kind to us.
Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
· All people are created in God’s image and should be treated accordingly, no matter how badly they have twisted and deformed that image (Jas. 3:9).
Colossians 3:12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;
· Kindness is not an apathetic response to sin, but a deliberate act to bring the sinner back to God
Romans 2:4 (GNT)
4 Or perhaps you despise his great kindness, tolerance, and patience. Surely you know that God is kind, because he is trying to lead you to repent.
Feast For Enemies-In the year 1818, Tamatoe, King of Huahine, one of the South Sea Islands, became a Christian. He discovered a plot among his fellow natives to seize him and other converts and burn them to death. He organized a band to attack the plotters, captured them unawares and then set a feast before them. This unexpected kindness surprised the savages, who burned their idols and became Christians.
3) Love is not jealous
a. Def. to be heated or to boil with envy, hatred, anger.
b. Godly jealousy seeks after God zealously .2 Corinthians 11:2 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.
c. Worldly jealousy goes against God’s love. James 3:14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.
d. Jealousy causes anger- Proverbs 6:34 For jealousy enrages a man, And he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
e. Jealousy is harsh-Song of Solomon 8:6 ... For love is as strong as death, Jealousy is as severe as Sheol; Its flashes are flashes of fire, The very flame of the Lord.
4) Love does not brag or is arrogant
Def. a self display, employing rhetorical embellishments in extolling one’s self excessively. A focus or preoccupation on self.
a. Arrogance is a heart issue
Matthew 15:19 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.
b. Arrogant and the boastful will not stand before God
Psalm 5:5 The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity.
c. Arrogant people will be put to shame
Psalm 119:78 May the arrogant be ashamed, for they subvert me with a lie; But I shall meditate on Your precepts.
d. Arrogant people put their trust in themselves and their abilities.
Psalm 12:4 Who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail; Our lips are our own; who is lord over us?”
5) Love does not act unbecomingly
Def. one who lives a wild and undisciplined life, to be rude, behave disgracefully, dishonorably
a. God calls us to be disciplined
Psalm 94:12-13 Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O Lord, And whom You teach out of Your law; 13 That You may grant him relief from the days of adversity, Until a pit is dug for the wicked.
b. God calls us to walk prudently
Proverbs 22:3 The prudent sees the evil and hides himself, But the naive go on, and are punished for it.
c. Love sets its standards upon God’s
Jeremiah 2:31 “O generation, heed the word of the Lord. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, Or a land of thick darkness? Why do My people say, ‘We are free to roam; We will no longer come to You’?
6) Love does not seek its own
(Pride)Insisting on its own rights and demanding precedence; rather (love), it is unselfish,” Jack Hayford in the Spirit Filled Bible.[1]
a. Love overlooks offenses
Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all transgressions.
b. Love demands a decision, indifference is not an option.
1 Peter 4:8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins
7) Love is not provoked
a. Love is not hot-headed
Genesis 49:6 “Let my soul not enter into their council; Let not my glory be united with their assembly; Because in their anger they slew men, And in their self-will they lamed oxen.
8) Love does not take into account a wrong suffered
Love is not blind—it sees more, not less. But because it sees more, it is willing to see less. —Rabbi Julius Gordon
9) Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness- Love doesn’t get happy about sin
10) Love rejoices in truth- Doing the right thing
11) Love bears all things- It doesn’t quit when things get tough
12) Love believes all things- It looks at the good and not the negative
13) Love hopes all things- Nothing is impossible with God
14) Love endures all things- It doesn’t get offended and quit
15) Love never fails
16) Why is this important?
Because:
· Lovelessnes is a sign of our times
Matthew 24:3,12 (NASB95)
3 As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”… lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.
· Christ’s love is the kind that loves people when they have no ability to return that love.
· The Creator’s love for us and what we can really do to repay Him is not much. He says that our love for Him is often shown when we love those who do not deserve it, those who have wronged us, and those who are unlovely.
· This kind of love separates us from the self-serving attitudes of the world.
· This is one thing that most certainly makes us different from the people of the world.[2]
· We are aliens!!
1 John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
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[1]Spirit filled life study Bible. 1997, c1991 (electronic ed.) . Thomas Nelson: Nashville
[2]Hayford, Jack W.: Spirit Filled Life Bible for Students : Learning and Living God's Word by Power of His Spirit. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publisher, 1997, c1995, S. Lk 6:31