Text:
Matthew 5:43-48
October 14, 2012.
INTRODUCTION:
1) Words of a president: During the US Civil War,
hatred became entrenched between the North and the South. In one instance,
President Abraham Lincoln was criticized for speaking of kind and benevolent
treatment for Southern rebels. The critic reminded Lincoln that there was a war
going on and the Confederates were the enemies and they should be destroyed.
But Lincoln wisely responded, ¡°I destroy my enemies when I make them my
friends.¡±
2) Words of Jesus Christ: In many ways Lincoln¡¯s
comment pretty much reflects Jesus¡¯ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. ¡°I say
to you,¡± Jesus said, ¡°love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to
those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute
you, that you may be the sons of your Father in heaven.¡± (Matt. 5:44-45) Yes,
there are enemies in life, all of our lives. But we can try to turn them, some
of them at least, into friends if we want to and know how. Life can be better
to have more friends than enemies, for sure.
LET¡¯S SEE ABOUT ENEMIES:
1) Enemy in the spiritual world: Although Christianity
doesn¡¯t buy ¡°dualism¡± (a theory of two equal but opposing spiritual powers, God
and Satan), the Bible does give us many indications that there is a spiritual
enemy against God and all that belong to God and that enemy is Satan. The Bible
did not give us the origin of this enemy but it gives us a definite end of
existence and complete destruction of this enemy. (Rev. 20:10) This spiritual
enemy of God cannot and will not repent of its sin and will not turn around to
God for any chance of redemption. In a sense, this spiritual enemy of God is
still fighting its war against God and God¡¯s children. Paul says we are at war
with the power of darkness, and we need to put on the whole armor of God to win
over this enemy. (Ephesians 6:10-17)
2) Enemies in the physical
world: You
don¡¯t have to live very long to know that there are enemies in this world to
make life very difficult or miserable. There are enemies in political world,
business world and in personal world. People become enemies against each other
for many reasons: selfish personal interests, bias racial, political and
religious differences just to list a few. Enemies exist at home, at work, in
the neighbor-hood and the society at large. Enemies can be just opponents to
begin with. But when personal interests, anger and selfish intent get into
their hearts, they become enemies. So, it is very important not to turn
opponents to become enemies by pushing selfish personal intent.
3) Enemies come in all colors: Not all enemies are the
same in terms of intensity of emotion and degrees of harm they may cause you.
When emotion is high and intent of harm is strong like wars between nations,
damage and harm will escalate. It is important to control emotion and intent of
harm to avoid escalation of warfare. If you believe in the power of evil in
some people¡¯s mindset like I do, there are some enemies you can never make
peace with no matter what you do. In cases like this, prevention and
self-defense are some of the ways to avoid or minimize damage or harm on you.
4) Enemies may turn to friends: This is true in all walks
of life at home, in school, at work or any other situation. The best examples
are the relationship between the warring parties in the WW II, the US and
Europe countries and Germany, Italy and Japan. They had turned the enemy state
into friendship state in the past 60 years. If warring nations can do that for
common benefit, I believe we all can turn some enemies in our life into
friends. I guarantee you: life is a lot easier to have more friends than to
have more enemies.
LET¡¯S TALK ABOUT FRIENDS:
1) A friend above all friends: ¡°The Lord would speak to
Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.¡± (Exodus 33:11) If you are
familiar with the Exodus story, you won¡¯t feel surprise to read about this: God
treated Moses like a friend. With all the saints in the Bible, no one is closer
to God than Moses. Since his birth, God was there to protect him. Later, God
called him, talked to him and sent him to a mission that changed the history of
a people and then the world. By His grace, God still is a friend to all who desires
a friendship with him. He invites us to his presence to tell him what is in our
hearts and to listen to him what is in his.
2) A friend died for his
friends:
¡°Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command.¡± (John 15:13-14) Jesus called his
disciples his friends that he would prove his friendship by his death. All we
need to do is to accept his offer of salvation and to do his command to be his
friends.
3) A friend for love and
adversity:
¡°A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.¡± (Proverbs
17:17) King Solomon gave us the best formula to make real friends: to love and
to stand by your friends, particularly in adverse times. Friendship is built,
not demanded. Besides our family, friends are the most important companions we
may have through our life sometimes they are more important and ready to hold
us up than family if they are far away from us. All of us are blessed to have
good friends who are there for us both in good days and bad days.
4) Be wise in choosing friends: ¡°A man of many friends may
come to ruin.¡± (Proverbs 18:24) Solomon gives advice to us to be cautious in
choosing friends. We all know the pressure of peers or so-called friends on us
when we choose life style and things to do. It is advisable to be cautious in
choosing friends so your life will be beneficial to each other for better not
worse.
CHANGE ENEMIES INTO FRIENDS: (Matt. 5:43-48)
1) Break away from old mindset: ¡°You have heard that it
was said: Love your neighbor and hate you enemies.¡± (5:43)This is exactly the
same saying as in v. 38, about the traditional and acceptable mindset of the
Jewish people on how to treat enemies. Most of us if not all of us will do
things like everyone else will do: Treating enemies like others do. But Jesus
brought us a new mindset: don¡¯t do as everyone else will do, do things in a
different way. It is easy to follow the tradition: love those who love us and
hate those who hate us. But Jesus wants to see us do things on a higher level,
a breakthrough. We are not children of this world but children of God, so, we
need to do things with a new mindset, God¡¯s mindset.
2) Follow mandate of the Lord: ¡°But I tell you: Love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you.¡± (5:44) When the Bible says ¡°If
anyone who is in Christ, he is a new creation,¡± (2 Cor. 5:17) it is about death
to the old and life to the new. In how to deal with enemies, Jesus has
commanded us NOT to hate them but to love them, not to retaliate them but to pray
for them. This is not merely a suggestion but a command, an order all of us
need to obey. Yes, this is against our old nature, but we have a new nature,
the nature of a loving God to love our enemies and pray for them. Obedience is
a major sign of real new life. How do people know you are a new creation? May
be the first thing you can show them is the way you treat your enemies. Jesus
continued to say: ¡°So that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.¡±
(6:45)Give them some proof of your new identity.
3) Demonstrating God¡¯s mercy: ¡°For God causes the sun to
rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the
unrighteous. For if you (only) love those who love you, what reward will you
have? Don¡¯t even the tax collectors do the same? And if you (only) greet your
brothers, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don¡¯t the Gentiles do the
same?¡± (5:45-47) Because God is merciful that he gives everyone the same
blessing, the sun and the rain. Shouldn¡¯t we as children of God do the same:
Not just love those who love us but also those who hate us and greet not just
our brothers but also those who persecuted us? How do people know the mercy of
God if we do not show it in our everyday life?
4) The pursuit of perfection: ¡°Therefore, be perfect as
your Father in heaven is perfect.¡± (5:48) No one can be as perfect as our
heavenly Father for sure. But the standard Jesus set for us is the goal all of
us need to remember and pursue. Turning enemies to friends is never easy or
natural to human beings like us, but we are not ordinary human beings. We are
children of God who is supernatural. To be saved is a ¡°one shot¡± experience; to
be like God is a life long pursuit. From our heart to our head, from our mouth
to our acts, we need to do better each and everyday to be more like Jesus to
others.
CONCLUSION:
1) More friends, less enemies: No one needs to be
reminded that it is better to have more friends than enemies. But in real life,
to have enemies is inevitable for various reasons. Some of them come to us for
no reason, at least we don¡¯t know; others who become our enemies because of our
own fault. Either way, it is good to try harder to turn enemies into friends by
forgiving, being gracious and humble, taking the first step to reconcile, to
admit wrong and ask for forgiveness. We need the godly mindset only God can
give. So, ask God to help you in this worthy pursuit.
2) Making more friends of God: People who do not believe
in God and their sins have not been forgiving may not be our personal enemies,
but unbelievers are enemies of God in the spiritual sense. These enemies need
to find a way to become friends of God. We are in this world as agents to bring
them to become God¡¯s friends. Let us do our part to share the love of God
through our words and deeds so they too may become God¡¯s friends.