MESSAGES
Every one of us has a desire to love and to be loved. We have a desire to show affection and to receive affection; to reach out and help people, as well as to receive help when we ourselves are in need of it. It's easy to love someone who loves us, who treats us with kindness and respect. But, what about those who don't show us love? What about those who mistreat us and abuse us, or others?
Throughout the Bible we read about the love of God, how God loves us and how He demonstrated His love towards us. Jesus Christ is the greatest demonstration of love toward another. The Bible says that He loves me and gave Himself for Me (Galatians 2:20). It is that kind of love we are to have toward others. We are to show love to others by giving of our self to others, in spite of how others treat or mistreat us.
Jesus said that we are to, "love our neighbor as ourselves" (Matthew 22:39), and He tells us that we are to, "love our enemy" (Matthew 5:44). The Bible often admonishes us to love our neighbors, and also our enemies. Why? Probably because they are generally the same people.
Jesus when asked what the greatest commandment was, replied, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart . . . and you shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37). So, who is our neighbor? Very simply, he is our fellowman. He is those we come in contact with.
He is your spouse, your children, your family, your next-door neighbor. In your professions he would be your boss and subordinates. But he would also be the arsonist, murderer, rapist, wife and child beater, drunkard and drug addict, pornographer, and a host of other bad people that you come into contact with. Everyone is our neighbor, and we're to love them.
Is that an easy thing to do? Not at all! It's easy to love a friend, but it's not so easy to love our enemies. It's easy to love the old lady who had her purse snatched, but not so easy to love the purse snatcher. It's easy to love the parent who watches over their child. It's not so easy to love the parent who abuses their child. It's easy to love the civilian who risks his lie to save someone from a burning building. It's not so easy to love the arsonist.
Some people's attitude towards their enemy is, "I don't get mad. I get even!" Perhaps lately you've been so angry towards someone you consider an enemy that you've thought to yourself, "I wish I had a glass bottom car just so I can see the look on their face as I run them over." As much as you might think, it's never easier to love our enemy after we've gotten even with them. The truth of the matter is it's never easy to love our enemy. In fact, to love our enemy is impossible unless we have the love of God in our heart.
Jesus says that we are not to resist an evil person, and that if someone slaps us on the right cheek, we're to turn to him the other also (Matthew 5:39). That sounds like pretty plain instruction. The word slap refers to insulting a person verbally or physically.
How many of you are thinking right now, "Ok Pastor, I'll turn my cheek to him, but what happens when I run out of cheeks"? Then you beat the snot out of him. Just kidding! Sort of. Seriously, if we can avoid confrontation, we want to do so! If we're threatened, then we have every right to defend our self!
How does this apply to your professions? In the field you do whatever you have to, within the law, to protect yourself and to have this person punished for his crime.
When you're in uniform, what you do with and to others is never to be personal. You simply have a job to do. "Easy for you to say pastor, but when my partner gets shot and killed I do take it personal." Believe me, I understand, but at the same time I encourage and remind you not to allow the situation to cause you to act outside the law. Don't ever allow your personal feelings to cause you to cross the line by taking revenge. God says, "Vengeance is Mine" (Deuteronomy 32:35).
I am a very firm believer in, "If you do a crime, you do the time." However, as Christian's, whether we're police officers or firefighters, we are to have a spirit of love and forgiveness in our heart. True love is caring for both the individual and society. That's your job. To see that the individual and society are both protected. We have no right to hate the person who does us personal wrong. We're to hate the sin, but we're to always love the sinner.
Some people like to think that when Jesus said we're to, "Resist not evil" (Matthew 5:39) He was referring to an absolution, a doing away with of all force. Their irrational thinking leads them to believe that you shouldn't arrest anyone. You should let them go free. You should show them mercy. Sorry, but that kind of thinking is not only unreasonable, unsound, and whacky, but it's in complete contradiction of Bible. Paul clearly states otherwise in Romans 13.
The greatest act of love and mercy we can do for a society is to remove the criminal. That's how we protect society. That's how society can sleep better at night. We need to get the criminal off the streets, into jail, and when the crime meets the criteria, use capital punishment.
Jesus never prohibited the administration of justice, but He did forbid taking the law into our own hands. He did forbid vigilantism. The "eye for an eye" principle of justice belongs to the courts, not the individual. We're to be wholly free from revenge, not only in action but in heart.
Jesus said, "If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink..." Do you not do that for those in jail? Of course you do. Paul says, "Let love be without hypocrisy. Hate what is evil, cling to what is good" (Romans 12:9). As Christians, we're to hate all acts of evil. Our hatred for evil is fired only by our love for God's honor and glory.
The Bible says, "But God demonstrated His love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Jesus gave Himself for His enemies, and we must give ourselves for our enemies. And though our enemy is seeking our harm, we as Christians, must seek his good. That good can be in the form of a fine, or jail time in the interest of the individual and society.
It has been said, "The way we react to our enemy can hurt us more than our enemy can." How true! How often have we allowed our flesh to take over, and we end up paying for it later emotionally, physically or spiritually.
Jesus said in Matthew's gospel that we're to love, bless, do good, and pray for our enemy (5:44). That statement might startle some of you just as it did His audience in His day, but it's true. It's been said, "The best way to destroy an enemy is to turn him into a friend." How can we do that? Only the power of love is capable of doing that.
I appreciate the words of E.S. Waterhouse when he said, "An enemy is a danger, but the danger is not what he can do to you. It is what he makes you do. If he fills you with envy, malice, hatred and all uncharitableness, he has done you real harm. But you can prevent that. Pray for him. If you say you cannot trust him, then watch and pray. But you cannot hate a man you pray for." When we pray for our enemies, we'll always find it easier to love them.
We must not wait to love our enemy before we pray for him, we must pray first, and then love will follow. Remember the words of Paul, "the fruit of the Spirit is love" (Galatians 5:22).
I'm mindful of the words of Jesus on the cross when He prayed, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" (Luke 23). The crucifixion did not silence the Lords prayer for His enemies, nor should our suffering silence us. No amount of pain, pride or prejudice can ever justify silencing our prayers. Prayer is the most powerful weapon we have. If anyone has reason not to forgive and pray for others, it's the Lord. And yet He did. Why? Love!
God's love is an indiscriminate love for it shows itself to all people, good people and bad people. If you and I as Christians love only fellow Christians, then we are no better than the pagans. We're to love not just to those who love us, but to those who don't. We are to love others irregardless as to whether they love us. Remember this, "Love for love is manlike, but love for hate is Christ-like."
If you can't love your enemy because of whom he is, then love him because of who God is. Only as you continue to walk with God, desiring to be obedient to His word, and falling more in love with Jesus, can you ever come to love your enemy.
God bless you,
Pastor Steve |
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