When we come together on Sunday morning, if the Lord wills, we will discuss what Jesus says in Matthew 5:43–47 about loving our enemies. Thinking about that command, I would like to give two examples in this article. One example is disobedient to this command; the other is obedient to it. By looking at these examples, I pray that we will all be encouraged to love our enemies, as difficult as that might be.
In the book bearing his name, Jonah, a prophet of God, was told by God, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” Nineveh was one of the greatest cities in the Assyrian Empire, which was the world-dominating power at the time. Assyria was an enemy of the people of Israel. This call from God is unique in the Old Testament Scriptures. Up to this point in history, God had never called an Israelite prophet to go to a foreign nation to preach against its sin. Jonah was disobedient; he fled in the opposite direction on a ship. When he was cast into the sea, swallowed by a great fish for three days and nights (which was God’s grace in saving him from drowning), vomited onto dry land, and given a second chance by God to go to Nineveh, he went. He preached a very short sermon, and the entire city responded with belief in God and repentance. God relented from the disaster He was going to bring upon them. This displeased Jonah. Jonah became angry. He reveals that this is why he fled in the first place; he knew that God was gracious and that if the people of Nineveh turned from their wicked ways, God would not destroy them. He was happy to claim the grace of God for himself, but he viewed his enemies as undeserving of the grace of God. Jonah failed to love his enemies. He wanted his enemies to be destroyed by God. He was not comfortable with the thought that God loved the people of Nineveh just as He loved the people of Israel. That is why one of the main points of the book of Jonah is that it was right for God to have pity on these people. God wanted them to be saved. God also wanted Jonah to want them to be saved.
What about us? As 1 Timothy 2:3–4 says, “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Do we realize that this includes even our worst enemies? God loves our enemies, and He wants us to love our enemies. God wants our enemies to be saved, and He wants to use us to bring that about. God wants to be gracious to our enemies just as He is gracious to us. Are we comfortable with that thought? Are we aligned with God? Do we want what God wants for our enemies? Are we willing to be used by Him with that ultimate goal in mind?
In contrast to Jonah, we see Stephen in Acts 7. After preaching a powerful message about how the Old Testament ultimately leads us to faith in Christ and how the Jews of the first century killed the Son of God to whom the Old Testament bears witness, he ended up being cast out of the city and stoned. Do you remember Stephen’s last words? After looking up into heaven and seeing the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God, and after asking the Lord Jesus to receive his spirit, right before he died he said, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” Stephen did exactly what Jesus taught in Matthew 5:44: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” He also did exactly what Jesus did. When Jesus was hanging on the cross, He prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Stephen loved the people who were killing him so much that he prayed for them, asking God not to hold this sin against them.
Do we love our enemies that much? Do we regularly pray for them? Do we seek what is best for them spiritually? Even when they are in the midst of hurting us, do we love them enough to tell them the truth about Jesus? Do we love them enough to bring their names before the throne of God? Instead of being like Jonah, let’s choose to be like Stephen. When we choose to be like Stephen, we are ultimately choosing to be like Jesus.
Tyler Alverson
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