Posted on February 18, 2024 Posted By: HCCCategories: journey
Heartland Community Church
THE JOURNEY
Love Your Enemies
by Allison Antrim
I’ve known for a long time that in my approach to life, I typically focus on the law more than I do on love. By nature, I find it easier to adhere to justice and fairness in black-and-white terms rather than embracing the gray nuances of mercy and grace. But looking at Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:38-48 underscores how important it is for me to foster love in my heart for other people, a love like how God has loved me. When I was God’s enemy, I was a sinner without a relationship with him. Yet even at my worst, he loved me and died for me, restoring our relationship so that I can confidently call him my Father in heaven. If I want to be like Jesus, then I need to offer what I have received from him to others.
In all honesty, my concern with freely extending love to my enemies, especially if they are not Christians and are in sin, is that such love will water down the truth of the gospel or downplay the seriousness of humanity’s need for a Savior. But today in the verses we studied, I noticed that Jesus tells us to love our enemies and pray for them because of the good result such things bring to us. Jesus says that the result of us loving our enemies is that we will be in right relationship with God as his children. Loving our enemies is not about us trying to directly convict our enemies of their sin; it’s about inviting them to see the difference God has made in us by how we treat them. It’s about setting an example, and sharing an invitation to join the family. When we love and pray for our enemies, we are making it clear that we belong not to ourselves but to a perfectly holy, perfectly loving Father. We will be pointing the way to Jesus for people who need him. And God will handle the rest.
Consider Dan’s questions: when you are offended, do you respond in love, or retaliate with law? What right is hardest for you to relinquish? Who might God be moving in your life from enemy to family?
Here are three more ways that Jesus raises the stakes in the Sermon on the Mount. In the past, it was okay for people to swear an oath or a vow as long as it was fulfilled to the Lord. But now, Jesus says not to swear an oath at all. Next, while in the past it was acceptable to follow the famous “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” practice when someone hurt another in any way, now Jesus says not to resist an evil person. In fact, those who want to be godly need to give above and beyond to the evil person who hurts them or asks them for something. Finally, it was always understood that you should love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but now, Jesus says to love your enemy and even pray for them. Jesus finishes this part of his sermon with a stunning statement: “Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect” (v. 48). What reactions do you have when you read about the former practices regarding oaths, “eye for an eye,” and dealing with enemies versus Jesus’ “new” teachings? What do Jesus’ words reveal about the nature of God and our human nature?
There is no better example of what it looks like to fulfill Matthew 5:43-48 than Jesus’s death and resurrection. Unable to fulfill God’s laws perfectly and prone to choosing our own ways over God’s ways, all people at some point find themselves enemies of God. Yet even at our worst, God did his best by paying the price for our sin through Jesus. And not only did Jesus take care of our sin, he also healed our broken relationship with God; through belief in Jesus, we can know God as his loved and forgiven children. How do these verses refresh your understanding of what it means to be “saved?” With Jesus as your model, what would it look like for you to love your enemies this week?
On the Sabbath day, Jesus goes to the synagogue and seizes two opportunities: to provide healing and to demonstrate true righteousness. In addition to the man in obvious need of healing, there were several people there looking for any evidence that Jesus would break the Sabbath law to provide it. On the surface, their focus might appear to be a passionate pursuit of God’s ways. But Jesus is angered by them and “deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts” (v. 5). What does this passage suggest about the views of righteousness held by the Pharisees (religious rulers of that day) and Jesus? How would your life look if you were focused on Jesus’s righteousness?
What makes Jesus unique, according to this passage? Fully God, fully man, and full of humility, He alone is able to consider others’ interests above his own. He gave up his heavenly throne to be born on earth and die as the sacrifice for sin. His obedience is what causes us to recognize his name above all others and bow before him as Lord. But there’s something else required of us in addition to worship. Paul also exhorts us to follow Jesus’s example: “In your relationships with others, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” (v. 5). Think of a relationship in your life that is in need of Jesus’s influence. How can you “have the same mindset of Jesus” in your approach to this relationship?
In this message of submission directed to slaves, there is yet more to discover about what Jesus did for all people on the cross – and how we can follow his example. Peter lists two specific ways Jesus endured pain for doing what was good, without committing sin, in verse 23: when insulted, he didn’t insult back; when he suffered, he didn’t make threats against anyone. The only thing he did was “entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” In areas of your life in which you must submit to someone else, how can you apply these verses to help you follow Jesus’ example?
At the height of his suffering on the cross, Jesus prays for those responsible: “‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing’” (v. 34). In just 12 words, Jesus sums up the human condition for all of us, and emphasizes his amazing grace. Sin is so embedded within us that we don’t really fathom the depths of its depravity, even if we have some idea of what we are doing at the moment. We can’t help ourselves – we need someone else to lend a hand. The only one who could help us is Jesus, who could love us even when we were his enemies in our sin. How does Jesus’s prayer in v. 34 impact you when you think about your relationship with him? If someone has sinned against you, what might praying the same prayer do for your relationship with that person?
{extra journey resources}
CLICK HERE to visit The Bible Project site and explore their super simple, super informative Bible videos (and other resources). You can also download The Bible Project App HERE.
CLICK HERE to get the Read Scripture App, from our friends at The Bible Project.
CLICK HERE for more on how to use the observe-reflect-apply approach to getting the most out of your Bible reading.
The Bible App Get the free YouVersion Bible for your phone, tablet, or computer. Experience the Bible anywhere, with options to highlight, save notes, and share what you are reading with others.
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