Are you listening?

Would you consider yourself a loving person? What comes to your mind when you think of:

• ISIS
• the Boston Marathon Bomber
• the Colorado Theatre shooter
• the Sandy Hook Elementary shooter
• a serial killer
• a prison inmate serving life
• a rapist
• someone who has wronged you
• someone who hates you
• someone who hurt you
• Planned Parenthood
• Westboro Baptist Church

Is your first thought hate? Or maybe your first thought is prideful? Are you putting yourself above these people or entities? Most likely. But why is this our typical first response? Well, because humans like to get even. We like to wrong those who wrong us. We like to hate those who hate us. We like to be cruel to those who have been cruel. Humans like to think they are better than others based on our actions in society. I am better than a murderer because I have not murdered. I am better than the guy who is a rapist and serving life. Or are we? God says in Romans 3:10-18:

10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;

11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.

12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless;

there is no one who does good, not even one.”

13 “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.”

“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”

14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”

15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

16  ruin and misery mark their ways,

17 and the way of peace they do not know.”

18  “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Is there a reason that the word all is used in verse 12? Does each individual fall into the all category? Absolutely. Not even one person does good - not one. Is there a reason verse 17 says “and the way of peace they do not know”?  Do you consider yourself a peaceful person? I do. But, clearly I do not understand the peace God speaks about.

So, am I better than the rapist? I haven't raped anyone, but I might continue to lust, steal, lie or disobey God on a daily basis. In God’s eyes I am NOT GOOD. He’s told us that not even one person is good. On a society level (without God) you may seem “good” or better than someone who has committed a heinous crime. But, if God is in your life he does not see one sin greater than the other. No one is righteous, no one is good, not even one… So, what does God tell us to do?  In Luke 6:27-28 Jesus says:

27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28  bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

This seems like an impossible standard to follow. I’m sure there are questions running through your mind. Why should I love my enemies? How do I do good to someone who hates me? What does blessing those who curse me look like? And why in the world would I pray for someone who has wronged me? Let’s break these two verse into four parts: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.

Love your enemies.

The first lesson of the impossible standard Jesus has told us to follow. What is love? Well, love is Jesus, but let’s look at 1 Corinthians 13:1-3:

13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

What is the key component of all these things listed in verse 1-3? Love. I can speak in many tongues, have the gift of prophecy and knowledge, have faith that can move mountains and give everything to the poor. But, I have no love - I am nothing. Do we understand the significance of the word nothing? 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 says:

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

One of the most tossed around verses by some Christians today. Most of the time when I think of this passage I think of how can I love my family better. Or how can I love my neighbors better. Or how can I love my friends more. Take one of the listed people or entities above and put them into this passage. How can I be more patient with a criminal? How can I keep no records of wrongs against Planned Parenthood? How can I persevere in these actions? Take a moment to really think about this passage in that context. Re-read it again with that in mind. It’s easy to apply this to our families, our friends, our coworkers, and our church. But, are we really following what is told to us here? Because Jesus tells us if we have everything but love, we have gained nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 says:

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror;then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

There are two parts of this passage that jump out at me: “Love never fails.” and “now three things remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Love will always beat hate. The most important thing is LOVE. The beginning of this passage starts with love and ends with showing the significance and power of love. We do not fully understand the concept of love as humans and try to make it into something that fits our feelings and emotions. But, this passage tells us that love is not a feeling that we have for someone - it is much more than that.

Be patient and remove thoughts of revenge from your mind. This could include lashing out with our words or actions towards our enemies. Love is kind. Look at the life of Jesus and see how he treated his enemies with kindness. He never lashed out or used hateful words or thoughts. Ask God “how do you want me to love this person?” You cannot change someone else. God is concerned with your response to that person. What will your response be?

Do good to those who hate you.

Loving your enemies seems easier to do than the next item Jesus tells us to do. He calls us to do GOOD to those who hate us. This is the complete opposite of what our society typically does. We usually want to get back at those who hate us and we justify it even more if we think we are better than the other person. This is an action item. Meaning you actually have to do something to follow what Jesus is saying for us to do. Read Ephesians 2:10:

10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

God created you and I to do good things well before we ever existed. Do you think God has planned out the good deeds you will do to further his kingdom? Do you think it involves the personal feelings we have towards people who hate us? Once we realize we were made in Christ Jesus to do good works, the easier it is to for us to get over the concept of doing good things to those who hate us. You might be thinking: "that sounds good, and I realize I should treat my enemies better, but HOW do I do it?". Well, read Hebrews 13:20-21:

20 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

If God has the power to conquer the grave by raising Jesus from the dead, do you think he can help you overcome your hatred for someone? He has and will equip us to do these good works. 2 Peter 1:3-4:

3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

Take a moment to think about how God, the creator of the universe, who made you in his image, has already equipped you for a godly life, that we may do good works for Him. 2 Peter 1:3-4 tells us that we have everything we need to accomplish this goal. Do you think God would have not prepared us to accomplish His tasks He has set out for us to do?

God wants us to do good works whether or not the other person changes. Your job is not to change your enemy. Your job is to follow Jesus, and do what He has called us to do and he will reward you accordingly. Matthew 10:42:

42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.

God sees our actions and will reward us accordingly.
Matthew 25:31-46

Bless those who curse you.

It is hard to think about asking God to bless those who curse us and hate us. Why would Jesus tell us to do this? It seems odd to ask for God's blessing on someone who is not acting godly. These people have wronged us, they do not deserve God's blessings.

Jesus told us to bless those who curse us in order for us to achieve several things. It keeps you from turning bitter, angry, hateful and keeps your thoughts free from revenge. This turns your focus on how God wants you to respond to this individual and not on hate or revenge. If you rid your life of hate, bitterness, anger and revenge, would you be at peace? Jesus wants this for you. Look at Genesis 12:3 to see how God watches how we treat others to determine how he will treat us:

3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
God will stand back and watch how other people treat you to determine his response to that person. God will also watch me and treat me how I treat others. If we treated others how we wanted God to treat us, do you think our actions and mentalities would change? Are you scared of how God is going to treat you if you continue on the path of hate and revenge that you are following? Ask God to bless this person or entity, realizing that HE is in charge of revenge (Romans 12:19) and that your job is to act like Jesus and do good works that He created us to do.

Pray for those who mistreat you.

The final action item Jesus has called us to do is to pray for those who are mistreating us. When you pray, you focus your attention on God instead of the person who is mistreating you. This takes our focus off hate and revenge and puts it on God - the only one in charge. Imagine a little child running to his mother. Once the child reaches the arms of his mother, he begins to cry. Jesus wants us to run to his arms when someone has wronged us and restrain from acting hateful. Do not retaliate, but instead run to Jesus and tell him and pray that this person might be filled with the love of Jesus and be saved from their hateful nature.

Conclusion.

King David shows us a great example of these principles in action in 2 Samuel 16:5-14:

5 As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the same clan as Saul’s family came out from there. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and he cursed as he came out. 6 He pelted David and all the king’s officials with stones, though all the troops and the special guard were on David’s right and left. 7 As he cursed, Shimei said, “Get out, get out, you murderer, you scoundrel! 8 The Lord has repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul, in whose place you have reigned. The Lord has given the kingdom into the hands of your son Absalom. You have come to ruin because you are a murderer!”
9 Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head.”
10 But the king said, “What does this have to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the Lord said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who can ask, ‘Why do you do this?’”
11 David then said to Abishai and all his officials, “My son, my own flesh and blood, is trying to kill me. How much more, then, this Benjamite! Leave him alone; let him curse, for the Lord has told him to. 12 It may be that the Lord will look upon my misery and restore to me his covenant blessing instead of his curse today.”
13 So David and his men continued along the road while Shimei was going along the hillside opposite him, cursing as he went and throwing stones at him and showering him with dirt. 14 The king and all the people with him arrived at their destination exhausted. And there he refreshed himself.

King David shows us a great example about what Jesus meant with his four instructions. Shimei, who is clearly an enemy of King David, is cursing and throwing rocks at him. King David shows a great amount of patience and quickly intervenes when Abishai, a follower of the king, wants to go behead Shimei for cursing King David. Verse 10 shows insight that many of us lack when dealing with enemies. King David questions Abishai's motives and asks him if the LORD has sent Shimei to shame him, who is he to question it? King David continues and says that maybe one day he will be in the LORD's grace once again, for Shimei was told by the LORD to curse him.

Here is another example in the bible where someone has been wronged and was patient and not filled with anger. God used an evil action (Jesus' crucifixion) to save the whole world. What might he be doing to further your walk into His kingdom? Maybe he is preparing you for something. We read in Genesis 37:18-36 the story of Joseph who was sold into slavery by his brothers:

18 Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. 19 Then they said to one another, “Look, this dreamer is coming! 20 Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!”

21 But Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, “Let us not kill him.” 22 And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father.

23 So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. 24 Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.

25 And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt.26 So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh.” And his brothers listened. 28 Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

29 Then Reuben returned to the pit, and indeed Joseph was not in the pit; and he tore his clothes. 30 And he returned to his brothers and said, “The lad is nomore; and I, where shall I go?” 31 So they took Joseph’s tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. 32 Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?”

33 And he recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.” 34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days. 35 And all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and he said, “For I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.

36 Now the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.

What you don’t get from this passage is that God has a bigger plan for Joseph in the future. When Joseph gets to Egypt be becomes in charge of his master’s household and is quickly betrayed again by his master’s wife who wrongly accuses him of trying to sleep with her. Once Joseph’s master finds out he is sent to prison. However, when Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dream about an upcoming abundance of food followed by a severe famine, he is put as second in command to all of Egypt. Joseph stores food in the cities from all the land to prepare for the upcoming famine. God placed him there to save people’s lives. In Genesis 50:18-21 Joseph reassures his brothers after his father’s death that he will not wrong them for what they have done to him in the past:

18 His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said. 19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 21 So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

Jesus has told us what we need to do and God has equipped us with what we need to live a godly life. You are capable of loving others, especially those who are your enemies. But, what is your response? God will treat you like you treat others and is watching how you respond. At the beginning of Luke 6:27 Jesus prefaced his question with "to those who are listening". Are you listening to Jesus and following his instructions to love God and others? Love will never fail and is the greatest commandant we are told to follow.