Loving your enemies

Word Wednesday-Turning the other Cheek

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To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Luke 6:29 ESV

From my days in Bible college I still remember a message from Costa Deir, who was one of the more popular professors among us guys. Maybe we liked him because Costa had been a young professional boxer and grew up in the Middle East. His stories which both both intrigued and challenged us but were also sprinkled with a bit of humor. One day he related that after becoming a Christian he soon led another young boxer to faith in Jesus Christ. The story went that when their friends and fellow fighters heard of this they ridiculed them, especially about today’s verse. The day came when one of the others slapped him hard on one side of his face just to see how he would react. Quietly the young man turned his face just in time for a second blow to land. Then stepping back the newly converted boxer put his fists up and said in a calm voice, “I have no further instructions!”

Have you ever wondered what Jesus meant by this command or how to put it into practice? I sure have! And while I won’t pretend to have all the answers, I believe we might begin by how we respond to being provoked on social media. There are some things being slung around on the news, talk shows and even football games for crying out loud that really irritate me! I have become more patient as I have grown older but scratch the surface just a bit and I want to assume that boxer’s stance myself and shout, “I have no further instructions!” It’s a good thing for all of us that Jesus did not. When this manly young carpenter, was blindfolded and bound and soldiers were striking Him on the face, He stood strong and took our punishment as silently as a lamb. He knew something that His enemies did not. He knew that by laying down His life He would not only find it again but that He would be able to give life to anyone even a dying thief, if they would put their trust in Him!

Loving Our Enemies?

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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 is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Luke 6:35 ESV

I have long forgotten my professor’s name but still remember his comment that, “The Christian life isn’t hard – it is a miracle!” No verse more epitomizes this tension between our natural way of thinking and God’s than the concept of loving our enemies. Jesus wasn’t just a nice teacher teaching us nice things about how we should be sweet and polite. Not at all! The teachings of Jesus contain the most revolutionary thinking of all time! Who in the world thinks that loving enemies is a good idea? Does God really expect us to put this into practice?

Very rarely (like never!) do we hear about loving our enemies in most Christian circles. Instead we seem to think Jesus said, “Complain about your enemies to other Christians.” or “Lobby your local representative to pass laws making their behavior illegal.” Other times we take the approach of simply ignoring the whole “Love your enemy.” idea. But the pesky thing about God’s commands it that He repeats them so often that pretending that He didn’t say them requires us to ignore vast swathes of scripture.

If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, Proverbs 25:21

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Matthew 5:44

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. Romans 5:10

Now, it is not surprising that we are to love fellow Christians and maybe just a bit more difficult to love our neighbors, but loving people who don’t like us, or worse yet are shooting at us. That is not an easy concept to practice! I have had my own wrestling with putting this into practice, so I do not suggest that I have it all figured out. Are we supposed to win over evil people by just being good? After all, our goodness is just a pile of dirty rags. But God His sent His Son, “While we were still enemies.” to show us His heart and the way. God was so angry with our sin and the evil of what we have done, that instead of destroying us, He sent Jesus to die. That is the miracle. That is the Christian life. That is the only way to love our enemies and to win their hearts and minds for Him!

"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”
G. K. Chesterton

God’s mightiest weapon

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One of the most successful evangelists in Bible times was a man who needed to learn more about the most powerful weapon he could have used on the enemies of God. The man’s name was Jonah and the weapon was mercy. Our brother Jonah was indeed one conflicted guy! Forget for a moment the entire episode of Jonah, the storm, the fish and the being vomited up on the beach (Yuck!), let’s examine Jonah’s evangelism.

Jonah came to the first day of his evangelistic crusade kicking and screaming. He disept-oct-2013-068dn’t want to go to Nineveh. He didn’t want to go not because he was afraid of being attacked or because he thought he would be a failure. No, on the contrary, Jonah’s greatest fear was that the city would repent and that God would forgive them! Try with me to imagine the thoughts going through Jonah’s mind as he preached. Maybe they sounded a bit like this:

“Okay God so I know I have to obey and preach your message. Here goes: ‘Repent! God is sending destruction on this city!’ ” Then Jonah closed his eyes and prayed that no one would come to the altar! Wow, that might sound like the strangest thing but it was exactly what the Bible tells us. In fact when God chose to forgive the city because everyone was touched by Jonah’s message, he became angry. Let’s listen in on his conversation with the almighty as he is hastily exiting the city. You find this in Jonah 4:2

p1020130 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.

Before we laugh too hard at this surly prophet, maybe we need to look in the mirror to see  if we are really a lot like him.Like Jonah, we may be missing the entire point of God’s mercy. Today in New York and New Jersey the news is filled with the stories of the most recent acts of terror on American soil. Some of us are so angry and frustrated that any act of destruction by us on parts of the Middle East would suit us just fine. But instead of  bitterness, we who are Christians have the greatest opportunity to pull from God’s arsenal his most powerful weapon of all – the mercy and forgiveness of Christ. That weapon of mercy is the most powerful because it was also the most costly. Mercy cost God His only Son! As Jesus hung on the cross and became the object of shame and ridicule he could have  asked the Father for justice. But Jesus knew that there was nothing more potent that he had available to use on his enemies than grace.

Our brother Jonah’s dream was not to see Nineveh saved. Oh no! Jonah was hoping for God to do to Nineveh something like what had happened with Sodom and Gomorrah. Jesus instead looked past the jeering crowds. Jesus saw beyond his few frightened disciples huddling behind locked doors. Jesus looked all the way to heaven and saw a joy that no earthly power could take away and then He released on the world God’s mightiest weapon:

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments Luke 23:34