Thread by @CAHutch1990

From my sermon yesterday on Luke 6:27-29a:

"But I say to you that hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also." ~ Jesus

🧵 1/15

Five commands re. our enemies:
1) Love (ἀγαπᾶτε)
2) Do good
3) Bless
4) Pray
5) Turn the other cheek

One important caveat: this is not to those who are in physically abusive situations. In this case, do not seek revenge, but do call the police. 2/

But for most of us, this is a clear command, one we can't qualify away because we want to defend gun rights or something.

Nor is it just about our political or national enemies, though it includes them. 3/

Yes, the Romans were a problem. But Jesus spoke this to His disciples: "you who hear," those right there.

Matthew the tax-collector and Simon the Zealot. James and John, brother rivals. Judas Iscariot.

Because sometimes, if we are honest w/ our own 💕, our enemies are close. 4/

So it's not enough to get our international politics or views on social justice right. We must start at home, and only then go from there.

They must know we are Christians by our love. 5/

This is the pattern that Christ set. First He gathered a group of disciples that learned to love one another: the Sermon on the Mount.

Then after His death and resurrection, He took them to another Mount and said: "Go, make disciples of the Gentiles." 6/

And so One church was formed from Jews and Gentiles, enemies sitting together at the Table of grace.

In this the NT Church has a great advantage over OT Israel. For although Israel also had this Law of Love (cf. Lev. 19), they also had borders to defend. 7/

The Church has no such burden. Israel was burdened by the shadows of borders, armies and political fortunes.

But now that the Kingdom of God is here, the Gospel of grace is free to spread, freed from such temporal concerns.

We are free to fully love. Even our enemies. 8/

Further, it's important that our love be not partisan. We should not just love those in our camp. We should not just stand up for the rights of fellow Xns (vv. 32-35).

Rather, we should be the one group on 🌍 which exists most for the benefit of others, those not yet saved. 9/

So what if we struggle loving our enemies, especially those who are close at hand, even in the Church?

Remember two principles from the text:

First, the motivating principle of the Gospel. We love because God first loved us. 10/

"Love your enemies... and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful" (vv. 35-36).

We do not deserve God's mercy, and yet have it in Christ. So must we show mercy to others. 11/

Believers are going to heaven. We are going to be fine. Therefore, act like it. Don't just live for this world and its rewards.

Live as though God's mercy is the realest thing there is. That will help you love your enemies. 12/

Secondly, to steal from CS Lewis, if you don't feel like loving someone in your life, then first act like you love them, and the feelings will follow.

The verb Luke wrote is agape - a deep love, an act of the will, not mere sentimentality. 13/

So then, perhaps put these commands in reverse, when you struggle loving someone close to you:

1) First, pray for them
2) Then, wish them well, sincerely
3) Then serve them, perhaps something small
4) And then, maybe, just maybe, you will begin to love them

FIN 14/15

Addendum:

I began the sermon with this incredible story of a Dutch couple I knew who lived through the Nazi occupation, and how they did their best to love their enemies:

https://twitter.com/CAHutch1990/status/1250222909311909888