Jesus came and preached a message that is counter-intuitive. We want to hate those that hate us. In fact, we want to put our hate to action and retaliate against those that hate us. But Jesus came with a teaching that was altogether different. Hear His words from Matthew 5,
"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." (vv.38-39).
Jesus went still further in describing how sons of God should treat those that hate us:
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven." (vv.43-45a).
If you're a Christian, a "son of your Father who is in heaven," then you've heard these words before. You haven't mastered them, but as a new creature with new desires to honor God, you're no doubt growing in your ability to apply them. We must, however, see that we draw strength to love our enemies from the God who reminds us that "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." While we were His enemies, rebels against Him, Jesus came to be humiliated, rejected, scoffed at, beaten, and murdered. He did all of that in order to buy us back from our hatred of Him.
God loved His enemies. That is why we need to reflect Jesus Christ by loving our enemies. When we don't love our enemies, when we hate them back, we need to repent from our opposition to the gospel. We need ask God to forgive us for not acting like sons that were bought by the supreme demonstration of Someone loving His enemies.
As I said, you've heard these words before, but they are new to some. My non-Christian friend (we'll call her Sue) called me last night asking me if Jesus really said we should love those that don't love us. I've been praying for 12 years for an open door so that I might share with Sue how Jesus loves his enemies. It was a glorious time of sharing this good new with Sue. Pray for her, for conviction and repentance and new life.
Men's Conference on Pursuing Genuine Biblical Revival
May 5 & 6, 2017
Theme: "Capture Our Hearts Again!"
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Ray Ortlund
Pastor of Immanuel Church (Acts 29 plant in Nashville, TN)
President of Renewal Ministries
Regional Director of Acts 29 Network
Formerly Assoc. Prof. of OT & Semitic Languages @ Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Deerfield, IL)
Council Member & regular blogger at The Gospel Coalition
Author of commentaries and many books including Isaiah: God Saves Sinners in the Preaching the Word Series Commentary Series, When God Comes to Church: A Biblical Model for Revival Today, The Gospel: How the Church Portrays the Beauty of Christ in the 9 Marks Building Healthy Churches Series and most recently Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel.
Pre-Conference Workshop - 2 Sessions (Content to be released soon)
Special Guest Speaker: Dr. Tom Schreiner
James Buchanan Harrison Prof of New Testament Interpretation, Professor of Biblical Theology and Associate Dean of the School of Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY)
James Buchanan Harrison Prof of New Testament Interpretation, Professor of Biblical Theology and Associate Dean of the School of Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY)
Author of many commentaries and books including The Law and Its Fulfillment: A Pauline Theology of Law, The Race Set Before Us: A Biblical Theology of Perseverance and Assurance; The King in His Beauty, and Romans in the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament Series.
Registration opens soon at www.FGCon.org
Registration opens soon at www.FGCon.org
Hosted by:
Union Lake Baptist Church
8390 Commerce Road
Commerce, MI 48382
248.363.9600
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