Love Your Enemies Matthew 5:43-48 Introduction Stephen Tschiderer, an army medic, met his enemy's bullet before he met his enemy. While patrolling the dangerous streets of Baghdad, Tschiderer was shot in the chest by an enemy sniper. Although he was knocked to the ground by the impact, Tschiderer was saved by his bulletproof vest. In company with the combat team that tracked down the sniper, the soldier discovered his assailant had been wounded. At this point, loving one's enemy was no longer a theoretical concept. The enemy was directly in front Tschiderer, wounded and in need of prompt medical attention. Only moments earlier, the sniper had put Stephen Tschiderer's heart between the crosshairs on the scope of his rifle and pulled the trigger, fully intending to end Tschiderer's life. Tschiderer could have roughed him up. He could have simply walked away and justified his actions. Instead, Tschiderer treated and dressed the wounds of the man who had tried to take his life. Soldier Survives Attack; Captures, Medically Treats Sniper, USA Today Online (7-15-05) We always love stories about loving enemies, even though at times we struggle to make sense of them. Hearing stories about mothers who forgive men who killed their children, or prisoners of war who show love to their captors, moves us. But at the same time there is a part of us wants to see our enemies harmed. To see them pay for the harm they have done. But we are overwhelmed when we see people who make the choice to love their enemies instead. This kind of love is rare. We live in a culture that seems to be fractured (we struggle to even be polite to those who disagree with us), and we donʼt see this kind of love often. But if Iʼm understanding Jesus properly, we should see this more often. Matthew 5:43-48 - You have heard the law that says, ʻLove your neighborʼ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. This passage is the crescendo of the Sermon on the Mount. All before it builds up to it, and all the rest flows from it. And as you have noticed, there seems to be an escalation to Jesusʼ teaching.
Donʼt get angry at people; donʼt view others as objects for what they give to you; stay married, even when it is difficult; while we are at it, keep your word to everyone; donʼt take revenge, turn the other cheek. Now it explodes - actively love your enemy. Jesus lays out for us what love is and what love should look like... 1. THE COMMAND OF LOVE Matthew 5:43-44 - You have heard the law that says, ʻLove your neighborʼ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! Jesus begins by listing the command that we wish was there. To love our neighbors (those like us) and to hate our enemies. But you wonʼt find that law anywhere in the bible. The actual law God gave is in Leviticus 19:18 - Love your neighbor as yourself. The Pharisees (religious leaders of Jesusʼ day) took two liberties with this law: -omit ʻas yourselfʼ - makes it easier. -add ʻhate enemiesʼ - makes it self-seeking This is the same issue that prompted Jesus to tell the famous Parable of the Good Samaritan. A religious leader asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Love God, love neighbor as yourself. Wanting to justify himself he asked, Who is my neighbor? To justify himself? Because he wasnʼt loving his neighbor. So this question really is asking, Who isnʼt my neighbor? Who do I not have to love? Who can I leave out? The whole point is that people were looking for a loophole. Love my neighbor? Yeah, but what if I donʼt like them? What if they treat me poorly? The spirit of the day got it wrong. So Jesus radically clarifies and restates Godʼs intent - love your enemies. In Greek thought, there were 4 types of love:
Eros - erotic love, sexual love Storge - family love Phileo - friendly love, brotherly love Agape - unconditional love; love based on an act of the will, to seek their best When Jesus says to love your enemies, he uses agape. Love that chooses to seek their best, no matter what. Love that is an act of the will, that is still in place, even when all other motivations have been stripped away. So, Jesus isnʼt necessarily calling us to be buddy-buddy with our enemies. Not asking us to invite our enemies to dinner, or go see a movie on the weekend. But to choose to actively seek their good, instead of their harm. The whole concept of not liking but still lovingʼ someone comes from this. How do we do that? How do I choose to seek my enemyʼs best? How can I change my heart to desire their best and motivate my will to seek their best? Pray for those who persecute you. Thatʼs the answer. This is Jesus giving us the how-to of loving our enemies. Pray for them. Well, what exactly can I pray for my enemies? Because there are things Iʼd like to pray for them... -God smite them. -God put your hand on them...hard. -God, your Word says you are a consuming fire. Please be with them...as that! No, thatʼs not what Jesus is saying. By praying for them, we put ourselves in Godʼs presence, which always changes us. No man can pray for another man and still hate him. When he takes himself and the man he is tempted to hate to God, something happens. We cannot go on hating another man in the presence of God. The surest way of killing bitterness is to pray for the man we are tempted to hate. William Barclay, Matthew, 175.
This is a beautiful picture of love. It warms my heart when I see it and read about it. Why? Because Iʼm not involved. When itʼs me that is hurt, I want to exempt myself and say, I canʼt love my enemy because you donʼt know my situation. You donʼt know what they did to me. This hurts. I need strong motivation when Iʼm involved. Thankfully, Jesus gives it. 2. THE CAUSE OF LOVE Matthew 5:45-47 - In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. Jesus gives two motivations to love this way: 1) God loves like this. Even those who arenʼt in a relationship with him, not loving him, who are in rebellion against him - he still seeks their good (sun, rain). And if we are being honest, this irritates us a little bit about God. We want God to love like we love. To love those who are like us and that we like. But to get even when necessary, to withhold affection when it is necessary. In fact, this is one of the philosophical arguments against Christianity. Why do bad things happen to good people, and why do good things happen to bad people? We want God to discriminate with his love. But God doesnʼt love like us, he wants us to love like him. He loves those who have stripped away every other motivation to love them. In fact, agape is the only word ever used in the bible referring to Godʼs love toward us. So we shouldnʼt be irritated by this...we should be grateful. We will come back to that. 2) The world doesnʼt love like this. Our world suffers from a lack of agape love. Our tendency is to love those who love us in return. Who give us reason to love them. But if you donʼt give me a reason to love you...then itʼs gone. That view of love is dictating that a lot of marriage dissolve. That parents and kids donʼt speak. That friendships that were once vibrant are nasty and painful.
Here is one example - In Tim Kellerʼs book The Meaning of Marriage, he cites a Yahoo forum where a 24-year old man anecdotally declares that he is not going to get married because all of his married friends are miserable. A young woman responded to his statement with this - Iʼm getting married next year because I love my fiancé. However, if things change, I wonʼt hesitate to divorce him. (page 16) The love we are used to says that my love is based on circumstances. And if the circumstances change, then so does my love. What has Jesus been saying throughout all of Matthew 5 that we have been in for about 4 months? Donʼt be like the world! Be salt. Be light. Live differently. Jesus says here that even corrupt tax collectors and pagans (those who do not know God) love that way. But not you! Love better than that. A few weeks ago when we were talking about honor God with our words and being people of our word, I said that you are never more like Satan than when you lie. Here is the opposite of that - you are never more like Jesus than when you love your enemies. You want to stand out for Jesus? You want to live counter-cultural? You want to be missional? You want to live attractively? You want to honor Jesus? You want to make a difference? Then love your enemies. 3. THE CONCLUSION OF LOVE Matthew 5:48 - But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Where does love for enemies land? At perfection. Be perfect...that is the call from God on us. Word for perfect is ʻtelios.ʼ Literally means mature or complete. An adult is telios by comparison to a teenager. A PhD is telios by comparison to an elementary student. They are mature. They are complete in their growth or knowledge. Perfect. This kind of perfection, maturity is functional perfection. Meaning that a thing is telios, a thing is perfect, when it realizes and fulfills its purpose. Telios comes from the word telos, meaning purpose or goal. So you are telios when you understand your telos and fulfill it. Here is what Jesus is saying - the call from God on your life is to be perfect, mature, complete. The only way for that to happen is for you to realize and fulfill the reason for your design. And what is that reason? To be like him. And how does God want you to be like him? By loving your enemies.
Even as your heavenly father is perfect. Loving your enemies is not just about becoming who God wants you to be...but about become who God himself is. Conclusion I said earlier that we should be grateful that God is like this, not irritated that he loves his enemies. Want to know why? Because Iʼm his enemy. You are his enemy. We are the one who have, by our attitudes and actions, stripped away all motivations for him to love us. But he loves us anyway. He chose to seek our best, even though we did not deserve it. Romans 5:8 - But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. While we were still sinners, while still in active rebellion against God, while still his enemies, his love drove him to seek our best. At the cross. And he didnʼt just send the sun or the rain. He sent a Savior. Believe/Repent/Confess/Baptize