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LESSON 10

*August 28 - September 3

Loving Our Enemies?

Read for This Week's Study:

Memory Text: 

The Week at a Glance:

*Study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, September 4.

Jesus and His Enemies

"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34).

Read Luke 23:1-34, reviewing the events that lead to Christ uttering these incredible words. In light of all that was happening to Jesus, how He was being treated, how He was being spoken to, how He was being mocked, how He was being lied about, what powerful lesson can we learn from this example regarding how we treat our enemies?  

Unrewarded, unaccepted, reviled, mocked, tortured, Jesus has every reason to hate those who treated Him as they did. And yet, amid His own sufferings, amid His own abasement, Jesus—forgetting self—prays for those who would, by most standards, be deemed His enemies. What an amazing testimony to God's love! What a powerful rebuke to our own pride, envy, and hateful attitudes toward others!

Some of history's cruelest and meanest characters have been able to manifest kindness and love to those who were kind and loving to them. Indeed, almost anyone can do that. But we see Jesus here living out a principle that reflects something greater: unconditional love, even to those who hate Him back. It's hard to imagine a more powerful witness to the world of the character of our God and His power to work in our lives.

This attitude, in a sense, reveals the essence of the Cross. "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life" (Rom. 5:10). In other words, despite our attitude toward God, He poured Himself out for us through the life and suffering of Jesus. And He did this even while we were sinners, even while we were alienated and estranged from Him.

With such an example before us, how could we do anything other than, through God's grace, seek to manifest that same principle ourselves?

Go back over Luke 23:1-34. In what similar ways have you been treated unfairly? How did you respond? What does your response, in contrast to Christ's, tell you about your own personal need to grow in grace?

Loving Our Enemies (Matt. 5:44, Luke 6:27-36).

Ghandi (1869-1948) once said, "It is easy enough to be friendly to one's friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion."—Non-Violence in Peace and War (New York: New Directions Pub. Corp., 1965), vol. 2, sect. 248. These words sound like an echo from the One who practiced, even more perfectly than Ghandi, what He preached.

What basic principle was given by Christ, which must govern our relationship with those who have turned against us? Matt. 5:44, Luke 6:27-36.  

Having grown up in Galilee, an area renowned for its political unrest, and living in a land under occupation by a ruthless foreign power, Christ knew about civil unrest, war, tyranny, and enemies. When He began His work and challenged the beliefs and practices of the religious elite of His days, He inevitably made many bitter enemies. But He did, indeed, love His enemies, even when He was brutally arrested, flogged, and nailed to a cross (Luke 23:34).

Review the following texts, which spell out in more detail what loving our enemies implies: Proverbs 24:17, 25:21, Matthew 5:38-42, Ephesians 4:26.  

"We are to love our enemies with the same love that Christ manifested toward His enemies by giving His life to save them. Many may say, 'This is a hard commandment; for I want to keep just as far as I can from my enemies.' But acting in accordance with your own inclination would not be carrying out the principles that our Saviour has given. 'Do good,' He says, 'to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. . . .' This scripture illustrates one phase of Christian perfection. While we were yet enemies of God, Christ gave His life for us. We are to follow His example."—Ellen G. White, Medical Ministry, pp. 253, 254.

We clearly have been told by inspiration to love our enemies Now, if someone were to ask you, "How do you love your enemies?" what would you respond?

Increase Our Faith

For the past two days, we've looked at one of the loftiest principles in Scripture: love, not for those who love us back but for our enemies. We have not only Christ's words to that effect but His example, too, manifested most clearly at the Cross, unquestionably the greatest revelation of that principle ever revealed in the universe.

It's one thing to be told what to do, to know what to do, or even to want to do it; it's another, however, to do it. Here, perhaps more than anywhere else in our lives, we need power from above.

Read Matthew 18:21, 22 and Luke 17:3-5. What question do the disciples ask Jesus? How does He answer? How do they respond to His answer?  

"Lord, increase our faith." Who of us couldn't relate to their request? Jesus here points them to a standard they are not used to, a standard that goes beyond what even many of the most forgiving people would aspire to-which is why their response is so sensible. They want to do this but realize they need something more than what they have in themselves at the moment to be able to do it. Thus, their appeal to Jesus for help.

Of course, faith is a gift (Eph. 2:8), but there's so much we can do to receive the gift, to multiply the gift, to strengthen the gift. Here's where a life of prayer, of devotion, and of meditation upon Christ all play a crucial role. Only as we surrender ourselves to the Lord, only as we reckon ourselves dead to self and sin (Rom. 6:10, 11), only as we allow the Lord to work in us (vs. 4), will we by God's grace be able to love our enemies, to pray for them, and to do good to them. Left to their own, our sinful, vengeful hearts will never allow us to love our enemies. That's why we need to surrender constantly to the Lord, and we can do that only by a conscious choice on our part to make such a surrender.

Who are your enemies? What makes them your enemies? If you're not loving them, what's the first step you could take in at least trying to?

The Grace of Forgiving  (Jer. 31:31-34, Matt. 6:12).

Before we can love our enemies, we must forgive them; and before we can forgive, we must first learn to accept forgiveness. This is where the Christian life begins: the certainty of having been accepted by God and the assurance of forgiveness through faith in our risen Lord.

How does the Lord's Prayer remind us that we must, in turn, be willing to forgive those who have sinned against us? Jer. 31:31-34, Matt. 6:12, Heb. 8:12.  

"If we really know Christ as our Savior our hearts are broken and cannot be hard, and we cannot refuse forgiveness. If you are refusing forgiveness to anybody I suggest that you have never been forgiven. . . . Pray to God and say, 'Forgive me 0 God as I forgive others because of what Thou hast done for me. All I ask is that Thou shouldst forgive me in the same manner; not to the same degree, because all I do is imperfect. In the same way, as it were, as Thou hast forgiven me, I am forgiving others. Forgive me as I forgive them because of what the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ has done in my heart.' "—D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount (Grand Rapids, Mich.: W B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1960), vol. 2, pp. 75, 76.

The author presents a crucial point. To truly forgive, we must understand how much we have been forgiven. Whatever others have done to us, is it worse than what our sins have done to the Lord? Hardly. The distance we have to cross in order to forgive others is almost nonexistent in contrast to the distance Christ, the eternal God, crossed in order to forgive us. This is a reality we must constantly keep before us if we are to forgive and then to love.

How does the Cross help us understand what our forgiveness cost God? Isa. 53:4-6, Phil. 2:5-8.  

By dwelling on the Cross, by dwelling on the cost of our forgiveness, we can, through God's grace, come to the point where we can learn to forgive others, even those whom we might deem, and rightly so, our enemies.

Are you having trouble forgiving, much less loving, an enemy?  Write down your understanding of what Christ suffered at the Cross in order to forgive you. Pray and meditate over just what He did in your behalf. See if it will not help open you up toward those who have earned your anger.

Why Should We Love Our Enemies?

"A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger" (Prov. 15:1).

Why should we love our enemies?  

If you answered the above question, Because God tells us to, you have given probably the best answer a Christian can give. We should love our enemies, because our God has told us to, and if we are Christians, we obey the Lord.

But the Lord doesn't ask us to do things in a vacuum; there's usually a practical reason for what He asks, because He loves us and wants what's for our good. (See Deut. 10:13.) Thus, there's an incredible amount of practical, personal good that can come not just to our enemies but to ourselves by learning to love those whom we deem enemies. Think of how much different our world would be if we learned to love our enemies. It would be the closest thing to heaven we're ever going to find on this earth, at least for now.

Read Romans 12:20, 21 and 1 Thessalonians 5:15. What is Paul saying there? How do his words fit in with the overall theme of this week's lesson?  

God has done so much for us. As Christians, we have so much reason to have hope, because we have the promise not only of all things working for good now but the promise of eternity in a whole new existence; one filled with love, peace, and prosperity, an existence we can't even begin to comprehend now. Thus, with such a promise before us, we, of all people, should be able to rise above the common hatreds that have poisoned this planet until it's a cauldron of hate, violence, and revenge. What better way to be salt, to be light, than to love our enemies, thus bearing a powerful witness to the world that we have something it desperately needs, and that, of course, is Jesus.

Further Study:  

Discussion Questions:

Dwell more on this idea of the practical good that can come from loving our enemies. Discuss what this world would be like if this principle were to take hold of the world as quickly and as firmly as does the desire for revenge.      Should the idea that in the end God will bring justice and punishment to evildoers play a role in helping us learn to love our enemies? Is it really love if we want God ultimately to punish them? How does Christ's prayer on the cross help answer that question?      Relatives of a murder or rape victim often say they will never be able to forgive the person who committed that heinous crime. How can one help someone in dealing with this very human and understandable reaction?

Summary:

Many of us have enemies or are regarded by others as their enemies. It is important to analyze our relationships and ask ourselves why some relationships have broken down and what can be done to restore them. As Christians, we are challenged to build positive relationships, even with those we do not really like. Loving our enemies does not come naturally. Yet, if we realize how God always stands ready to forgive us, we should be prepared also to forgive "our debtors."

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