WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.640 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:20.480 Well, welcome if you're new. 00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:21.440 My name is Ryan. 00:00:21.519 --> 00:00:22.640 We're thrilled to have you join us. 00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:28.000 We're actually continuing or finishing up a series called Controversial Jesus. 00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:37.200 And I thought to close our time, I would start with something not so controversial, probably something that we all agree upon, or hopefully we all get or understand. 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:43.200 It's simply this idea that beautiful people in beautiful communities don't just happen, right? 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:47.119 They just don't appear, it's not just an automatic reality. 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:48.560 They don't just happen. 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:50.000 And here's the reason why. 00:00:50.320 --> 00:00:53.679 No one drifts into a better version of themselves. 00:00:53.840 --> 00:00:56.000 We understand the second law of thermodynamics. 00:00:56.079 --> 00:00:57.840 All of us have studied that intensively, right? 00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:06.640 And understand that left to our own devices, there's entropy and decay, and uh we just, you know, rot. 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:09.519 It just happens, left on our own. 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:23.519 Nobody drifts into a better version of themselves, no culture drifts into a better version of themselves, uh, no community, no society, and no church drifts into a better version of themselves. 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:30.799 Now, in our day, today, the way we try to answer or solve that problem, like, how do we become a beautiful people? 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:33.680 How do we become a beautiful community? 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:42.879 Uh, we often answer it in our culture today is like we need actually some more technology to catch up with some things and some more like education. 00:01:42.959 --> 00:01:51.439 And the more technology, the more education, eventually, at some point, we will become a beautiful people and a beautiful community. 00:01:51.680 --> 00:02:03.280 And the problem is, and you know this, we know this, we have so much technology and so much information, so much education, and yet we're actually not more beautiful today, are we? 00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:07.359 And things around us look quite ugly, don't they? 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:11.680 Um, in fact, uh Harvard uh professor Arthur C. 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:15.360 Brooks wrote this uh book called Love Your Enemies. 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:17.840 Yes, he wrote a book called Love Your Enemies. 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:35.439 Uh in it, he identified that the big division and polarization and what's happening in society is not that there's we're more angry as a society, but that we actually have contempt as the core underpinning of how we approach others in our life. 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:45.039 In it, he writes, the habit of seeing people, this is a culture of contempt, who disagree with us, not as merely incorrect, but as worthless and effective. 00:02:45.199 --> 00:03:07.199 We have now embraced and ordained to say a culture, an environment, not a beautiful culture, a culture of contempt, where I disagree, and it's not just that we disagree and we're maybe differ on that or that you're even incorrect, but then your disagreement of me or I of you, you are now worthless and defective. 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:23.199 And what we need, what we need is how do we move from this culture of contempt to becoming a culture that walks in the way of Jesus that resembles the way he would respond to others. 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:38.479 In fact, Philip Yancey in his book Vanishing Grace said this: our confused society badly needs a community of contrast, a counterculture of ordinary pilgrims who insist on living a different way. 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:52.319 What we need today is actually not more education or more technology, but we need a community of contrast that will represent and stand against the culture of contempt. 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:57.680 And today we're talking about loving your enemies. 00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:07.039 In fact, Jesus, uh Jesus, he begins and he shines forth an ethic that was the first in its day. 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:16.399 You know, most of the world religions all agree on many of the major ethical points and moral issues, like, you know, don't murder. 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:19.600 That's a really good thing for all of humanity. 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:32.480 But this is where Jesus stood completely distinct, the first to ever position this as a viable way about going, about life. 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:39.839 Where he says, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:45.199 What is this culture of contrast that walks in the way of Jesus? 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:48.319 Well, what does it mean as we wrestle with this to love our enemies? 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:50.800 To love, what does it mean to love our enemies? 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:55.360 How do we even begin to put this into practice? 00:04:56.079 --> 00:05:01.680 And better yet, why in the world should we love our enemies in the first place? 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:05.600 If you got your Bibles, would you open up to Matthew chapter 5, verse 43? 00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:06.879 We're in the Sermon on the Mount. 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:14.319 The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus' uh, you know, uh manifesto of what the kingdom life is. 00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:17.279 Like, what is the flourishing way of life? 00:05:17.519 --> 00:05:25.360 It's what happens when the kingdom of heaven breaks into earth and begins to take root and shine forth. 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:29.759 It's how life was intended and designed to be. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:33.600 And in it, uh, Jesus says this. 00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:38.399 You have heard it said, you shouldn't uh it has been said, sorry. 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:40.639 There we go. 00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:41.680 Ready? 00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:42.639 Verse 43. 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:46.959 You have heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:54.240 But I tell you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. 00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:59.839 He causes the Son to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:04.480 He's impartial in his common grace that he gives to all of humanity. 00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:08.160 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:10.560 Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:13.920 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? 00:06:14.079 --> 00:06:15.600 Do not even pagans do that? 00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:16.079 No. 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:21.759 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:24.000 What does it mean to love our enemies? 00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:26.079 How do we even begin to practice that? 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:27.920 And why in the world should we do that? 00:06:28.079 --> 00:06:29.279 Let's begin with this thought. 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:31.120 What does it mean to love our enemies? 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:45.439 I the very beginning place for us is we need to address and actually probably confess the sin of tribalism and the spirit of criticism in our own lives. 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:46.879 The sin of tribalism. 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:58.399 Now, you know Jesus talked about loving your enemies and uh praying for those who persecute you, but he starts, he says, you've heard it said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:02.160 Like there is this in-group and then there's this out group. 00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:04.639 Now, tribe, like you have your groups. 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:05.600 We all have our groups. 00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:06.879 That's not the sin. 00:07:07.360 --> 00:07:13.680 The sin is what how you think about and look down upon someone outside of your group. 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:18.399 It's the othering, it's the dehumanizing of another. 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:30.720 It's saying, I'm going to love you, and then that person that disagrees with me, that person that that I can't stand, you dehumanize them, and they're on the out. 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:35.519 He says, the sin of tribalism and the spirit of criticism. 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:39.839 You know, today we don't use the word enemy all too often. 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:51.199 When we think of the enemies, we do think of like what's going on in our heart's break in Gaza right now, the war that's being torn apart, and we pray for peace. 00:07:51.519 --> 00:07:57.199 We think of enemies, we think of what's happening in Ukraine and Russia and the war going on there. 00:07:57.360 --> 00:08:05.920 When we think of enemies here, we think more often of Democrats and Republicans, of liberals and conservatives. 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:16.720 Even today, the difference of those older and younger, and there's this sh like we don't have common ground anymore. 00:08:16.959 --> 00:08:19.920 But enemies is a strong word, isn't it? 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:24.639 And most of us, I think many of us wouldn't say, yeah, I got a lot of enemies. 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:30.319 Enemies in the ancient day, uh, the Jewish people, they're their enemies. 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:32.320 Well, Rome was a big time enemy. 00:08:32.399 --> 00:08:37.200 Uh the Samaritans, we'll talk about them in a little bit, but they they were considered enemies. 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:45.120 The same sort of antagonism that uh Israeli and Palestinians have towards each other was Israel and Samaritans. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:51.519 Oh, then they had tax collectors, though they were enemies, and they had just sinners, they were enemies. 00:08:51.759 --> 00:08:52.879 I mean, there's lots of enemies around. 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:56.159 Anyone who thought theologically different than you, you considered an enemy. 00:08:56.320 --> 00:09:03.360 In fact, in the ancient Near East, an enemy was one with whom you would not uh welcome into your home or share a meal. 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:07.919 Doesn't that interest like for us to think about who is our enemy? 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:09.120 We all have them. 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:14.799 Who that we would not welcome into our home or share a meal with. 00:09:15.120 --> 00:09:20.159 Uh, this word that Jesus used on enemy is the inner disposition from which hostility rises. 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:28.000 Anyone with whom we have a very difficult relationship, personally, politically, socially, or theologically. 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:38.320 The inner disposition, ooh, not the outer hostility, the inner disposition from which hostility rises. 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:42.559 Anyone, we have a very difficult relation. 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:48.000 It could be a boss, it could be a counselor, it could be a roommate, a family member, a classmate, an ex. 00:09:49.360 --> 00:09:50.480 We all have enemies. 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:51.679 We say it like this. 00:09:52.159 --> 00:09:53.759 She's the worst. 00:09:54.559 --> 00:09:54.960 Right? 00:09:55.360 --> 00:09:57.679 Gosh, man, she's the worst. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:09:59.440 He's a jerk. 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:01.759 I just can't stand. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:04.720 Fill in the blank. 00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:06.480 Who do you avoid? 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:09.120 Who avoids you? 00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:15.039 Do you go to a certain service because you're avoiding a certain person? 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:16.320 You don't want to see them? 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:18.240 It happens in the church. 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:33.600 See, the beginning and the starting place for loving our enemies, we have to address and confess the sin of tribalism, the othering of others, and the looking down upon, and then the spirit of criticism. 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:42.639 Frederick Bruner, uh theologian, writes this the problem with hatred is that it almost always sees others as the chief problem. 00:10:43.679 --> 00:10:48.240 A warped self-righteousness infects all crusades. 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:49.919 Jesus said, you know what? 00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:54.639 If you just love those who love you, everybody does that. 00:10:54.879 --> 00:10:57.039 That's not a beautiful community. 00:10:57.200 --> 00:10:59.840 That's just what humanity does. 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:03.759 If you only greet your own, everybody does that. 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:06.399 He calls us above and beyond. 00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:12.480 And he says, actually, this spirit of criticism, because this is what we do to our enemies. 00:11:12.639 --> 00:11:19.039 It's so easy to criticize and put down and dehumanize and tell them they are no good, they are worthless. 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:24.960 And a spirit of uh criticism is the natural state of our culture today. 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:30.639 It's the natural state of anything in the social media world. 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:32.960 Is we just are critical. 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:41.039 It's taken over our culture, and it's seen not even as a negative thing anything anytime anymore. 00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:46.399 It's seen as just the way we go about life. 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:51.840 And it's divisive, it's destructive. 00:11:52.960 --> 00:11:56.559 I would even suggest it's demonic. 00:11:57.279 --> 00:12:04.000 That underneath it is like you have an enemy that wants to seek to kill and steal and destroy. 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:09.919 And if he can put a wedge between you and another person made in the image of God, he will do that. 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:18.159 And especially if you feel self-righteous, self-justified, and in the right to be putting them in their place. 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:23.279 In fact, the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians wrote this. 00:12:23.679 --> 00:12:33.440 He said, Um, around the spirit of criticism, I'm afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and that you may not find me as you want me to be. 00:12:33.679 --> 00:12:42.159 Meaning, I'm gonna come and there's a spirit, there's a culture going on, and you're not, I'm not gonna be happy with it, and you're not gonna be happy with my response to it. 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:51.120 He said, I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder. 00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:55.840 These things should not be among the people of God. 00:12:56.159 --> 00:13:08.399 If we're gonna begin to love our enemy, we first have to address and confess this tribalism that that others people and this criticism that puts us in a higher position. 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:12.000 In fact, I want to give you four types of critical spirits to be aware of. 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:19.679 And here's the interesting part, as I go through this, it is so easy to think about a person that needs to hear this message. 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:20.240 Right? 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:22.720 You're like, oh, so-and-so needs to hear this. 00:13:23.440 --> 00:13:24.960 And go ahead and share it with them. 00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:28.320 Love your enemies and you go ahead, share it with them. 00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:38.480 But what I want you to do is the first bar, uh the first um place is for us to stop. 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:41.840 God, what do you have to say to me? 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:44.159 What do you have to show me? 00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:50.720 Where is the sin of criticism, the spirit of criticism in my soul? 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:56.399 It is so easy to see where everyone else needs to fix up their lives. 00:13:57.360 --> 00:13:58.799 What is it in here? 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:03.600 The first area, for first type of a critical spirit is the gossiper. 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:10.159 Gossipers are individuals who thrive on knowing and sharing the secrets of private information of others without their consent. 00:14:10.799 --> 00:14:18.480 The gossipers, no notice, likes to appear powerful, to be a source of all knowledge, to make themselves feel important. 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:23.039 They actively seek out information and think about who they can share it with. 00:14:23.200 --> 00:14:29.120 And gossip, it just one of those, like, for some, like you just can't help but share it. 00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:30.240 Oh, did you know about? 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:32.480 I can't believe they did this. 00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:35.759 Gosh, that that huh. 00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:37.919 Let me tell you. 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:45.919 And there's something about being let into that that we just begin to go, like, oh yeah, I want to know, I want to hear. 00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:51.039 And then you realize if they're gossiping about that person, probably they're gossiping about you when you're not around. 00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:52.080 Whole other issue. 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:54.480 The gossiper, the second, the judge. 00:14:54.639 --> 00:14:59.039 Judges are highly critical individuals who have a harsh and often one-sided perspective. 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:04.480 They tend to believe their viewpoints are always correct and struggle to see things from others' perspective. 00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:08.320 They emphasize the mistakes of others while downplaying their own shortcomings. 00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:12.559 They tend to exaggerate their knowledge to defend their point of views. 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:16.159 These are the modern-day Pharisees of our day. 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:17.840 The legalist. 00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:23.279 So critical, wants to put you in your place. 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:27.360 And I was deeply, deeply convicted this week. 00:15:27.519 --> 00:15:30.240 I was reading uh Scott Saul's book, Befriend, great book. 00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:31.840 I'd encourage you to read it. 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:37.279 And he wrote, Did you know that there's such a thing as a grace Pharisee? 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:44.240 A grace Pharisee is anyone who becomes an unloving Pharisee toward unloving Pharisees. 00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:45.440 Let me read that again. 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:52.480 A grace Pharisee is anyone who becomes an unloving Pharisee towards unloving Pharisees. 00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:59.120 Because we can even feel this self-righteousness against self-righteous jerks. 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:00.559 And how could you? 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:10.159 And then all of a sudden I'm convicted because I am then being unloving or have unloving thoughts, and like, oh God, please, I am so sorry. 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:16.960 The minute I begin to other someone, it's not your heart. 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:20.000 They're made in your image. 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:23.200 The gossiper, the judge, the slanderer. 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:27.440 Slanders are people who make false statements about others to damage their reputation. 00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:34.639 They often do this out of jealousy or envy and try to divert attention away from their own errors by making unfounded claims about others. 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:38.720 This person will often make statements against those they are jealous or envious of. 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:45.039 Then the complainer or the grumbler, this is the sin of the Israelites wandering in the deserts. 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:50.320 Complainers or grumblers have consistently negative outlook on life and are perpetually dissatisfied. 00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:57.440 They tend to focus on the negative aspects of life and find something to complain about, even when others are optimistic. 00:16:57.600 --> 00:17:01.919 They often lack a sense of gratitude for the blessings and express their discontent. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:07.839 When asked if they're excited or hopefully, they'll find something negative to focus on instead. 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:17.200 If we're going to become a people that loves our enemies, first we have to address and confess the sin of tribalism and the spirit of criticism. 00:17:17.359 --> 00:17:20.480 And this is how our culture works. 00:17:20.720 --> 00:17:24.720 This has then been permeated inside the church. 00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:32.319 And honestly, I think it's part of us too. 00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:42.480 I think we, as a church, not it's not like a blanket statement all of our church, but I've just noticed that I think we have a spirit of criticism. 00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:59.119 That it's a lot easier to talk with a few friends about what's wrong, what we're annoyed with, than actually go and talk to people and to be critical hard. 00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:15.519 You know, and I think actually stepping back from my sabbatical and kind of feeling and sensing, like there's kind of a spirit that I'm trying, it took forever to kind of like identify what's going on in different conversations. 00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:24.559 But as I assess, like if you've been around, if you're brand new, you don't know, but if you've been around, like, oh this summer was a hard summer in many ways, there's a number of hard transitions. 00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:33.680 And there's things that if you that I think are fair and just to go, I got have a like a critical thinking and want to ask and know more questions. 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:45.759 And we have to guard our hearts from then it moving to a critical spirit where gossip and slander and judgment and grumbling take root. 00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:52.240 In fact, uh, you know, I it was sad that we missed uh some of the ways to process as a community. 00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:55.599 We're gonna do um just another listening session, want to create that. 00:18:55.680 --> 00:19:05.680 It's just a as an outlet um outlet to be able to like be able to kind of have this space to actually process together. 00:19:05.759 --> 00:19:07.119 That'll happen in a couple weeks. 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:10.480 And Jenny and I were like, we want to know our church in a much deeper way. 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:20.400 We're gonna just do a little small group tour of just like we want to come hang with you, but it's another space place and time for us to like really hear from one another and what's going on. 00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:37.839 If we are going to be a church that walks in the ways of Jesus and loves our enemy, it begins by addressing and confessing in our lives, in our hearts, the sin of tribalism, of othering, of putting down others, dehumanizing in the spirit of criticism. 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:42.000 Secondly, then enemy love is a communal practice. 00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:43.839 Enemy love is communal practice. 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:51.039 If we're actually going to do this, it's it's actually we as a church, remember beautiful people, uh, beautiful communities don't just happen. 00:19:51.200 --> 00:20:02.480 Uh in our Western thinking, and when we read the scriptures, we generally read it through this rugged individualistic mindset of it's like all about me and I gotta do this. 00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:08.880 And and really, this is when Jesus is preaching this, he actually uses the you plural. 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:17.759 And so when he says, but I tell you, uh, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, it's you plural, it's you folks. 00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:19.759 You all. 00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:25.200 Or some of you are from a part of the country where you'd say, Y'all, right? 00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:45.200 You you folks, but I tell you folks, I tell you community, I tell you church, that that just as the spirit of criticism it takes on a communal nature and it begins to spread, loving our enemies takes on a communal nature, and we actually need one another to love others well. 00:20:46.240 --> 00:20:48.720 Or he says, but I tell y'all, you want to read that with me? 00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:53.839 But I tell y'all, love y'all's enemy. 00:20:54.079 --> 00:20:57.599 And pray for those who persecute y'all. 00:20:57.920 --> 00:20:58.559 That was just fun. 00:20:58.640 --> 00:20:59.519 Let's do that for fun. 00:20:59.680 --> 00:21:00.000 Okay. 00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:04.720 The word for love here that Jesus uses is agape. 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:13.200 It's the unconditional, sacrificial love that Jesus has specifically expressed to you and me. 00:21:13.920 --> 00:21:17.119 A love marked by giving and not giving. 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:30.640 Efren Smith defines this love as the, when the believer has embraced it and the call to it, is the unconditional love of Jesus in us that is flowing through us to be a force of transformation around us. 00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:35.440 Like Jesus does not command us to tolerate our enemies. 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:39.519 Put up with those who bug you. 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:46.480 Don't get so bothered with those that are annoying. 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:51.440 Oh, you know the EGRs, the extra grace required people. 00:21:54.160 --> 00:21:55.119 You know them. 00:21:58.400 --> 00:21:59.839 He says, Don't tolerate them. 00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:02.559 Love them. 00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:17.119 Jesus said a profound yes to you and to me while we're yet enemies in hostility against God Himself. 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:22.480 And he says, In your hostility, I say yes to you. 00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:28.960 And if you are the only person on the planet, I would still come for you. 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:30.720 And I died for you. 00:22:30.960 --> 00:22:32.880 I gave my life for you. 00:22:33.119 --> 00:22:46.799 And when I step into this enemy love for another, it's a communal practice where we remind ourselves of Jesus' great love and the lengths that he went, that we once were enemies and now we're not of God. 00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:50.160 We have been adopted, placed into the family of God. 00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:52.000 We've been fully forgiven. 00:22:52.079 --> 00:23:00.559 And so as a result, my view of that person is one who Jesus loves and died for and is pursuing. 00:23:03.359 --> 00:23:10.880 And if Jesus gave me a profound yes in my mass. 00:23:13.119 --> 00:23:17.440 And I want to be one who gives a profound yes. 00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:22.480 And we're called to be those who give a profound yes to our enemies. 00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:30.559 Rabbi John Sachs says it that the supreme religious challenge is to see God's image in the one who is not in our image. 00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:35.119 And it's so easy to love people who are like us. 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:39.440 And it's so hard when they're so different. 00:23:41.119 --> 00:23:46.480 I remember, you know, I've been in ministry a little over 20 years now, and I remember our first year of ministry. 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:51.920 We got done with the very first year, and our observation was ministry was easy when we didn't know people. 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:57.839 But the minute you start getting to know people, we're messy. 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:00.720 All of us are messy, and then it gets hard. 00:24:02.400 --> 00:24:07.599 The supreme religious challenge is to see the image of God and those who are not in our image. 00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:09.440 Well, how do we begin to love our enemies? 00:24:09.599 --> 00:24:12.960 Well, first, uh Jesus tells us to pray for them. 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:15.359 Just pray for them. 00:24:15.599 --> 00:24:17.920 Pray for those who persecute you. 00:24:18.640 --> 00:24:32.079 Um, there's something so powerful about prayer that not only does He, God, work and move outside into the object of where we're praying, but he actually works and moves right here. 00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:46.720 I've found it myself with those with whom I disagree, with those maybe we'd just call an enemy, with those that we have a profound disagreement that there's something, something changes in my heart towards them when I pray for them. 00:24:47.599 --> 00:24:56.240 And I find that I love them, I have an empathy for them, I have a new vision of God's heart for them. 00:24:58.319 --> 00:25:04.720 And so often we pray around needs, we pray around what's going on in our lives, and those are wonderful things. 00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:19.200 But do we take time to pray for those we disagree with, pray for those who've hurt us, pray for those that we have experienced deep pain and wounding. 00:25:19.359 --> 00:25:21.440 Loving our enemy begins with praying for them. 00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:29.839 When Jesus taught us to pray, just a few verses later, he said, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. 00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:33.920 Another way to say that is we forgive our enemies. 00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:40.559 Like that we pray for them, and God begins to change us, and then we forgive them. 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:43.839 And we don't have time to unpack like all that forgiveness is. 00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:49.519 Forgiveness ultimately is releasing my right for revenge, releasing my right for payback. 00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:55.279 It doesn't mean that you're necessarily going to be friends, and in fact, there's some situations it'd be dangerous to be friends. 00:25:56.799 --> 00:26:04.400 But where you are able to profoundly forgive and get to the point where you can honestly wish them well. 00:26:05.279 --> 00:26:16.160 John Ortberg, who we had speak a few weeks ago, right now on his daily devotional podcast, BecomeNew.com, he's doing a whole series on forgiveness. 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:17.039 It's great. 00:26:17.119 --> 00:26:19.920 I'd encourage you to go through that. 00:26:20.160 --> 00:26:24.160 But where you forgive, you release your right for revenge. 00:26:24.240 --> 00:26:30.880 And forgiveness is a process, and you know, you think of the tenses of the verb forgive, forgiving, uh, forgive in. 00:26:31.599 --> 00:26:34.400 So you make the choice, regardless of how you feel. 00:26:34.480 --> 00:26:36.000 I'm gonna choose to forgive you. 00:26:36.079 --> 00:26:38.559 I'm gonna choose to release my right for revenge. 00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:42.799 And then you take back your right for revenge. 00:26:42.880 --> 00:26:46.720 You know, we all do it, and so you have to be, I'm in process forgiving you. 00:26:47.039 --> 00:26:52.400 And eventually, as you're in process, you will come to the place they're forgiven. 00:26:52.640 --> 00:26:53.680 They're forgiven. 00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:57.440 Pray for them, forgive them, and then make cross-shaped decisions. 00:26:57.680 --> 00:26:59.759 Make cross-shaped decisions. 00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:10.079 Tim Keller uh writes this the gospel gives us the resource to love people who rejected uh both our beliefs and us personally. 00:27:10.319 --> 00:27:12.960 Christians should think of how God rescued them. 00:27:13.200 --> 00:27:21.440 He did not uh did it not by taking power, but by coming to earth, losing glory and power, serving and dying on the cross. 00:27:21.599 --> 00:27:22.799 How did Jesus save? 00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:25.519 Not with a sword, but with nails in his hand. 00:27:25.680 --> 00:27:31.119 We are saved by a man who died loving his enemies. 00:27:31.680 --> 00:27:35.200 And so the question is like, what is the cross-shaped decision? 00:27:36.960 --> 00:27:39.279 What is the cross-shaped decision before me? 00:27:39.440 --> 00:27:47.519 I mean, I remember many, many years ago, just had this moment where I felt deeply, deeply betrayed by somebody. 00:27:49.680 --> 00:27:55.279 And everything within me just wanted to go down the spirit of criticism. 00:27:55.519 --> 00:28:10.000 To get a band of people that would listen to me whine, to just talk about how bad he is, and to brew and stew in it, and just to grumble and just go, like, oh, and and play the pictures out in my mind of how awful they are. 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:14.720 The Spirit of God's like, no, you need to pray for them. 00:28:15.599 --> 00:28:16.640 You need to forgive them. 00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:18.000 It was a process. 00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:22.720 But the cross-shaped decision wasn't, it was so small. 00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:28.720 I remember just this prompting, like, you need to go and invite him out to coffee. 00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:32.400 Like, I don't want to be around him. 00:28:35.279 --> 00:28:40.480 And I remember texting him and go, hey man, could we grab a cup of coffee? 00:28:40.960 --> 00:28:46.000 And we met early one Tuesday morning at a Pete's coffee shop. 00:28:46.640 --> 00:28:59.599 And it wasn't this great kumbaya moment, but I will tell you, a decade plus later, by God's grace today, he's healed and mended that relationship, and we're close friends. 00:29:01.440 --> 00:29:05.519 Jesus calls us to say a profound yes. 00:29:06.079 --> 00:29:11.680 And in that, pray for them, forgive them, and make cross-shaped decisions. 00:29:12.079 --> 00:29:13.359 How do we love our enemy? 00:29:13.519 --> 00:29:17.200 Well, we have to address the sin of tribalism, the spirit of criticism. 00:29:17.359 --> 00:29:19.279 Enemy love is a communal practice. 00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:20.480 We need each other. 00:29:20.640 --> 00:29:23.839 This is what the church, the body of Christ, is to be. 00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:27.279 Well, why in the world should we love our enemies? 00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:33.200 Jesus said it, that perfectly mature people imitate their heavenly father. 00:29:33.680 --> 00:29:37.359 Perfectly mature people imitate their heavenly father. 00:29:37.839 --> 00:29:42.000 Another way to say it, beautiful people imitate their heavenly father. 00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:45.039 That you may be children of your father in heaven. 00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:49.920 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect. 00:29:50.160 --> 00:29:51.119 Isn't it interesting? 00:29:51.279 --> 00:29:57.359 You know, we see these movies, these revenge movies, they're fun, they're entertaining, they're like, yeah, get back at them. 00:29:57.839 --> 00:30:01.039 But but they don't evoke anything deeper. 00:30:01.920 --> 00:30:10.319 And then you read stories like about Nelson Mandela or Gandhi or Dr. 00:30:10.480 --> 00:30:11.119 King. 00:30:11.440 --> 00:30:14.559 And it evokes something deeper, doesn't it? 00:30:15.200 --> 00:30:24.559 It moves you to a way of the beauty and the capacity of what humanity could be and should be. 00:30:25.599 --> 00:30:38.640 Because immature people are mean-spirited, immature people are gossipers, immature people are slanderers, immature people are grumblers and complainers, and want to get a group around them to just listen to them. 00:30:38.880 --> 00:30:41.359 We're tribalists at our core. 00:30:42.559 --> 00:30:44.079 It's childish. 00:30:45.359 --> 00:30:46.960 It's not maturity. 00:30:47.839 --> 00:30:52.319 Jesus says, be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect. 00:30:52.480 --> 00:30:57.119 That word is teleos, it's realizing the purpose for which something was designed. 00:30:57.359 --> 00:31:03.359 It's used to describe a person's come of age, that a mature person is distinguished from a child person. 00:31:04.160 --> 00:31:06.240 Translation is just perfectly mature. 00:31:06.480 --> 00:31:10.240 Be perfectly mature, therefore, as your heavenly father is. 00:31:11.279 --> 00:31:17.839 Like you just begin to resemble and reflect the heart of your heavenly father. 00:31:18.079 --> 00:31:28.480 The Apostle Paul would say in Ephesians 5, be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children, and live a life of love just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. 00:31:28.720 --> 00:31:31.920 A fragrant sacrifice and a sacrifice to God. 00:31:32.079 --> 00:31:33.599 Be imitators of God. 00:31:33.759 --> 00:31:35.279 Like perfectly, why? 00:31:35.519 --> 00:31:42.240 Because your heavenly Father, this is his disposition towards you and me. 00:31:43.440 --> 00:31:47.039 This is his response to all of humanity. 00:31:47.599 --> 00:31:52.480 This is what it means to be a beautiful community. 00:31:53.599 --> 00:31:58.079 It's simply to love the way Jesus loved. 00:31:58.400 --> 00:32:00.000 Well, how did he do it? 00:32:00.319 --> 00:32:06.240 I mean, you can just look through all of the Gospels and to see how Jesus loved. 00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:17.359 But he loved the other, he loved the outcast, he loved the mistreated, he loved those that were despised in his days, who were categorized as enemies. 00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:22.000 He loved the Roman Saturnian and he even healed his son. 00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:29.839 He loved the Samaritan woman, he loved the prostitute, and he loved the Pharisee. 00:32:30.079 --> 00:32:35.119 And he loved the tax collector, he loved the sinner, he loved everyone. 00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:41.279 And he showed his love in such demonstratable ways. 00:32:41.519 --> 00:32:45.440 I just think of the Samaritan woman, the woman at the well, John chapter 4. 00:32:45.680 --> 00:32:52.640 Now, in the ancient day, the hostility was so great, and Samaria was kind of in the middle of Israel. 00:32:52.720 --> 00:32:58.240 And so if you're going from Jerusalem to Galilee, uh you would have to go a direct line through Samaria. 00:32:58.559 --> 00:33:03.039 And so, not even just like a religious Jew, just a respectable Jew. 00:33:03.440 --> 00:33:10.400 They would make a day's journey plus out to go out of the way to not go through Samaria. 00:33:10.559 --> 00:33:12.160 And I love the line in John chapter 4. 00:33:12.319 --> 00:33:14.640 Jesus says, we must go through Samaria. 00:33:15.359 --> 00:33:16.880 I don't have an option. 00:33:17.039 --> 00:33:24.480 Like the way to be a follower of Jesus is not to go around people, but to go, and you know what, we're gonna go through this direction. 00:33:25.440 --> 00:33:26.640 There's an appointment. 00:33:26.720 --> 00:33:41.519 And he comes to the swell, and there's this woman, which another thing a respectable rabbi wouldn't have in that day a conversation with a woman in that context. 00:33:43.920 --> 00:33:46.880 And then she's not even a respectable woman. 00:33:47.519 --> 00:33:49.680 We find out that she's an immoral woman. 00:33:49.839 --> 00:33:57.359 She's had five husbands living with a guy who's not, and she's there in the heat of the day, and that the reason is because no one else is there. 00:33:57.519 --> 00:33:59.519 She's not even welcome in her community. 00:33:59.599 --> 00:34:07.359 So she's a Samaritan who's an enemy of the Jew woman, where there's this kind of dividing line, and then even in her own community, she's ostracized. 00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:13.360 She's sitting at the well to get water, and Jesus has a conversation and brings such dignity and hope. 00:34:13.440 --> 00:34:17.519 And he says, Actually, I have living water that quenches the deepest thirst. 00:34:17.679 --> 00:34:20.400 If you would like it, I'd love to give it to you. 00:34:22.800 --> 00:34:28.159 This is the first person he reveals that he is actually the Messiah to. 00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:31.039 It's powerful, it's amazing. 00:34:31.599 --> 00:34:44.000 And this woman who experiences the radical welcome, the radical yes of love of Jesus, she goes back. 00:34:45.039 --> 00:34:49.599 And we see revival break out where no one thought revival could break out. 00:34:51.760 --> 00:34:54.480 It's a profound yes. 00:34:58.800 --> 00:35:03.840 Perfectly mature people imitate their Heavenly Father. 00:35:04.239 --> 00:35:04.960 Think about this. 00:35:05.199 --> 00:35:18.159 Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, one of the twelve that he invested the three plus years of his life into, handpicked, is going to betray him. 00:35:18.320 --> 00:35:21.199 He knows it, and he's sitting at the table. 00:35:24.320 --> 00:35:31.840 And Jesus stoops low and he washes Judas' feet along with everyone else's feet. 00:35:34.719 --> 00:35:41.280 That is the call of a follower of Jesus. 00:35:43.519 --> 00:35:52.880 The one who said a profound yes to us, and so that we say a profound yes to every single person. 00:35:54.239 --> 00:35:56.559 Like how Henry Nowen said it. 00:35:56.960 --> 00:36:04.000 God help me see the others not as my enemies or as ungodly, but rather as thirsty people. 00:36:04.880 --> 00:36:11.119 And give me the courage and compassion to offer your living water, which alone quenches deep thirst. 00:36:11.599 --> 00:36:24.559 God, would you help me to see others, not as my enemies, not as my adversaries, and not even as ungodly, like I'm on this moral high ground, but rather as thirsty people. 00:36:24.719 --> 00:36:28.320 They're longing for you, the living water. 00:36:28.559 --> 00:36:35.039 Would you give me the courage and compassion to offer every single person Jesus? 00:36:36.079 --> 00:36:40.239 Beautiful people, beautiful communities, don't just happen. 00:36:40.480 --> 00:36:41.920 We never drift. 00:36:42.800 --> 00:36:45.760 We never drift into a better version of ourselves. 00:36:45.840 --> 00:36:47.599 And Jesus is calling us. 00:36:47.920 --> 00:36:49.360 Love your enemy. 00:36:49.679 --> 00:36:52.400 Pray for those who persecute you. 00:36:52.559 --> 00:36:56.880 And in that way, you imitate the heart of the Father. 00:36:57.440 --> 00:36:59.760 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:36:59.920 --> 00:37:04.400 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:37:04.559 --> 00:37:06.639 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:37:06.800 --> 00:37:12.719 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at 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