A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to participate in a pretty cool service at our church. It was the New Year's Eve service, and the senior minister was out of town, so we decided to do something different. We took the theme "Love God. Love Others." and developed a service based on the theme. We had the four people besides the senior minister who are on the leadership team each take one of the areas we are to love God with: our heart, our soul, our strength and our mind. And at the end, I talked about loving our neighbor as ourselves. I thought it was a great way to look at Luke 10 - we interspersed each devotional with music and video stuff.
But we didn't cover another area of love - one I didn't think about until the next day.
Loving God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind is a tough thing to do. To consciously devote our time to loving God in these ways is tough! And then, to realize that we are not to exist for ourselves, that we (both individually and the church) are called to exist for others - well, in the culture we live in today, that's a really really tough thing to do.
Jesus takes it even further, however. (As he's known to do) In Matthew 5, he tells us this:
43"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? (NIV)
We are commanded to love our enemies. What does that mean? And is it even possible in today's time? Who are our enemies? I guess you could make a case that Muslims are our enemies, at least the jihadist Muslims, because they want to wipe Christianity off the face of the earth. But what does it mean to love them? Does it mean I'm supposed to go to Libya and try to hug all the Muslims I can find?
And what about enemies here in America? Who are my enemies? Is an enemy someone who disagrees with me? Is it someone at church who rubs me the wrong way whenever I come into contact with them?
Chuck Swindoll, in his book Simple Faith, talks about this passage of Scripture: “In my opinion, Jesus’ words recorded in Matt.
5:38-48, are among the most unusual He ever uttered. The strange-sounding advice not only cuts cross-grain against our human nature, it also represents the antithesis of the advice most Americans are given. Nevertheless, His words are wise and His way is right. If we will only give them a chance, we will discover how true and – yes, once again – how simple His advice really is.”
Again, what does it mean to love an enemy? Does it mean I agree with their behavior towards me? Do I allow them to continue to trample on me?
As you can see, I bring up more questions than answers right now. My next post will be a feeble attempt to try and answer some of these questions.
2 comments:
I dunno if you listen to Rob Bell's messages from the Mars Hill site, but he did one a few weeks back that talks about these and the following passages. Give it a listen.
http://www.mhbcmi.org/listen/index.php
it's from December 17.
Week 412: Calling all Peacemakers III: A Brief History of Non-Violence
I really liked how that sermon was set up with the different speakers and of course I always like "From the Inside Out" by Hillsong United.
You ask good questions. I have a hard time seeing someone I don't even know as an enemy. When I think of enemy I think of someone who has purposely done something to hurt or harm me or those I love. Loving them doesn't mean you have to agree with them or let them trample on you . I think you need to be honest but not hurtful.
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