One of our challenges for 2014 is to learn and live
all 50
commands of Jesus. Jesus told us that following his commandments
is a way to love him and a way for his love and his joy to fill our lives (John
15:9-12). In his Great Commission, Jesus tells his followers to make
disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything he commanded us
(Matthew 28:19-20). So each week in this year we are learning and living one
command of Jesus. Here is our command for this week...
Week 9:
“You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell
you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that
you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his
sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the
unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:43-45).
Application:
I know this is a hard subject and you may not want to
read on. But please do. I’ve come to learn that there is always Good
News in every command. God has something
good for us in this command.
Jesus is speaking to a common religious saying: “Love
your neighbor and hate your enemy.” It
sounds good. Makes sense. But it is not biblical. This happens a lot in religious circles. Sayings emerge that sound good and may even
make sense, but they are not biblical.
They have elements of scripture in them, but they distort the true
message of the Scripture. We have these
in our Christian circles today. Here are
a few examples:
“God works in
mysterious ways.”
“Money is the root
of all evil.”
“Pride comes
before the fall.”
“To thine own self
be true.”
“Cleanliness is
next to godliness.”
“God helps those
who help themselves.”
You have probably heard these. It may surprise you that none of them are
actually from the Bible. There are
elements of scripture in them, but they actually distort the message of the
Scriptures.
This is what Jesus was dealing with. People had come to accept the phrase, “Love
your neighbor and hate your enemy.” The
“love your neighbor” part is very clearly mentioned in Scripture. But nowhere in Scripture does it say you can
“hate your enemy.” Jesus challenges this
understanding and he raises the bar for his followers. Not only should we NOT hate our enemies. We are called to love our enemies.
At this point we might say, “Hold on. If you only knew what they did, you would not
ask me to love THEM!” I think Jesus
would have two things to say in response.
1) He might say, “If
you only knew how much I have forgiven YOU, you would not think it so
outrageous that I ask you to do this.”
God has shown us an incredible amount of mercy and forgiveness. On the cross, Jesus took all of our sins (ALL
of them) and he paid the price for them so that we could be forgiven of our
punishment and have eternal life with God.
From the cross, Jesus prayed for the people who had betrayed him, beaten
him, mocked him, abandoned him, crucified him, “Father forgive them, for they
know not what they are doing,” (Luke 23:34).
As children of God, reborn through his grace and love, we are called to offer
the same kind of forgiveness and love he has offered us to others.
2) I think Jesus might also reply, “If you only knew what bitterness does to you, you would know why I am
asking you to do this.” Hanging on
to bitterness and resentment and unforgiveness hurts us more than it does
anyone else. Here are a few wonderful
quotes that illustrate this:
“Bitterness and
resentment only hurt one person, and it’s not the person we are resenting –
it’s us,” (Alana Stewart).
“Bitterness is
like cancer. It eats upon the host,”
(Maya Angelou).
“Bitterness is the
result of clinging to negative experiences.
It serves you no good and closes the door to your future,” (Leon
Brown).
“Bitterness is
like drinking rate poison and waiting for the rat to die,” (John Ortberg).
“Holding on to a
grudge is like letting someone live rent-free in your head.”
Jesus offers two specific action steps. First, we are to love our enemies. To love someone is to seek their best
interest, to treat them with kindness and compassion, to offer the same grace
and forgiveness we have received from God.
Second, we are to pray for our enemies. I’m pretty sure it does not count to pray, “God,
kill that person and send them to hell!”
Sorry, did I just say that out loud?
That’s probably not the kind of prayer Jesus is referring to. Jesus asks us to pray good things for our
enemies . It is hard to hang on to
hatred for someone that you continually pray for.
At this point we might say, “OK, I get it. But I’m not sure I can do it.” And the truth is, we cannot … at least not on
our own. Jesus is asking us to do
something that requires more than humanly resources. Only God can love perfectly love like
this. The only way to love our enemies
is for God’s love to flow in us and through us.
Corrie ten Boom, who had lost most of her family in a
Nazi concentration camp, often lectured on grace. But one day a man who came to
shake her hand after such a talk turned out to be a former prison guard. Only by asking God to love through her did she
find the grace to take his hand and offer him Christian forgiveness.
By the power of God’s love, love your enemies and pray
for them.
Share your comments
and application ideas…
No comments:
Post a Comment