Loving Your Enemies - part VI

This morning we will be bringing our ‘mini-series’ on Matthew 5:43-48 to a conclusion. We have spoken on a number of different aspects of loving our enemies; and answered two very big questions. Today, we will be focusing on the last few verses; v.46-48. Before we get there, however, let's remind ourselves of the foundation of it all. 

The only way that someone can truly love their enemies, is if they acknowledge; from the depths of their heart; that they were once God’s enemy. Our sins had separated us from God to such a degree, that we had neither the desire nor even the ability to love Him.

All of us here this morning can join our voices with Christians from ages past to speak of the truth that we were dead in our sins and trespasses (Eph. 2:1), and no matter where or when we lived, and no matter how many good and kind acts of love and charity we could ever perform, they weren’t good enough to save us from Hell.

All of humanity was born into the slavery of sin (Rom. 6:20), and from the bottom of our hearts we hated God (Col. 1:21), and He hated us (Ps. 5:5).

We were His enemy…but God, acting in accordance with Himself, for His reasons alone, sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to save us from the Hell we deserved. Seeing no good actions or behaviors we could ever carry out that were capable of saving us, God provided what He required in the person and work of Christ; who died so that His enemies would live.

I have repeated this so often, because if we begin to think that we are the reason that we love God or He loves us, it will be impossible to love our enemy. At the worst, we will be aloof or apathetic. And at the best, we will show them nothing but culturally defined kindness. But loving them? Loving an enemy can only happen by accepting that we were God’s enemy, and He died to save us.

• Read → Matthew 5:43-48 & Opening Prayer

As we bring this series to an end, we must understand what it is that Christ is actually telling us in our verses. He doesn't say: “be respectful to your enemies” or “be civil and polite towards our enemies.”.

No.

He commands us to love them.

And should we want to play some manner of semantic game with the word “love”, He tells us what that kind of love looks like in v.44 → “bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” So…what does it look like to love your enemy? It's not an emotion, existing nowhere but between our ears. It looks like doing actual; literal; good towards the people who would kill you if they had the opportunity to do so.

Now, lest we think this to be unreasonable, look at what He says in v.48 → “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” If you thought doing good things towards those who hate and persecute you is unreasonable…what do you think about the command to be perfect?

Not “good enough”, not “mostly a good person who doesn't commit any kind of violent crimes or sleep around or do drugs.” No.

Christ is telling you that “being perfect” involves loving your enemy. In fact, it's the same kind of love that He Himself has towards His own children in Jn. 13:1 and the same kind of love that The Father has towards The Son in Jn. 15:9. 

My friends, we are not called to be respectfully kind, and socially pleasant to our enemies; no. You are commanded by Christ Himself to show them the same kind of love that He showed you. How can we ever do such a thing? By understanding that no matter the level to which someone hates you; before God saved you…you hated Him far worse.

Furthermore, this teaching (loving your enemy) is a distinguishing characteristic of nothing but the Christian faith. No other worldview, religion, or civilization teaches that making your enemy the object of your love is of the highest moral good. They will teach respect and kindness and even forgiveness towards an enemy, yes. But selfless, self-sacrificial, love…manifested in actual, physical, literal behaviors and actions; in the same way that their deity loves them? Enemy-love being an aspect of perfection? Christianity stands alone. 

Children of God, we are a set-apart people (1 Pet. 2:9). Wholly different from those around us. Living different lives, with different loves and different hates. We are an established “people group” born not of the flesh or the will of man, but of the will of God (Jn. 1:13). And how we treat other people, even our enemies, is fully different from everybody else.

To get just a touch deeper here (stay with me!);

While the love of your enemies stands alone as a Christian virtue; the truth of people acting and behaving differently towards others, is not unique to us.

Through all of time, people have broken themselves up into this or that group; and then acted in different ways towards them. Even saying that phrase will automatically bring up the divisions we see in America or American history. But history is far longer than America, and this practice is spread through all of it, even back to the Garden.

For us today, we like to attribute and explain all the differences we see to a multitude of different things; yes; but they all have one thing in common, they all have solutions that we can carry out. Are those people your enemy? The enemy of your people, your family, or your nation? Well then, take human actions, do human things, write human laws then have humans vote on them, and all the problems will go away because of how strong and mighty we are. (I hope you hear my sarcasm!).

Just look around you, and; on the surface; you will find all of the evidence that you need to prove it. These people act that way, those people act this way, and when enough of your people all stand together, you can keep the enemies at bay.

You've seen the pattern repeated enough times; where those people and families do bad things in their communities and cultures, and these people do good things. And because you can see and touch and interact with this pattern; you think it is reliable. 

There are immense positives that come from this, of course. We can see crime statistics and not want to live in a certain neighborhood. We can read about schools that have a high graduation rate, and want our children to go there. 

But there are immense negatives as well.

Because all of humanity is connected in ways that the ancients never were, all of the various ways that you yourself are different from others, become all the more evident.

We begin to think that what we see and hear and interact with is the ultimate truth of reality, how could it not be? Those people act this way. And these people act that way. It's right in front of our faces. We see endless videos in our bottomless social media feeds of everything going on in everyone’s lives, and then use the patterns we see as justification for treating our enemies in one way, while treating those we love in a different way.

But let it be said my friends, that human patterns, no matter how old or far-reaching they may be, are ultimately unreliable. Can some good come from it? Yes, of course. Can it make you sure, without a shadow of a doubt, that your life will be safe and healthy and free? Can it make you perfect?

Human patterns are unreliable because there is a sovereign God who is currently ruling over the entire Universe, doing whatever He wants with endless strength and infinite wisdom.

We can see the pattern in the world around us; or in history; of the strong and wealthy and educated rising to the highest levels of society, leading humanity into a future they have promised to bring, and they often fulfill those promises, yes! We see leaders of industry attributing their success to levels of self-discipline and grit that us common people may never achieve; and because the pattern exists, we assume it to be undeniably reliable. "If I just work harder, I am guaranteed to have a better, safer, healthier and happier life."

But when we look at Scripture, not only is what we read in Scripture different from the pattern we see around us, it is wholly opposite!

1st Cor. 1:19 & 27-29 → “ For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” because… [27]...God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; [28] and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,”

God on purpose, according to His own reasons, chooses the weak and foolish people in this world to bring shame towards the powerful and wise. Why? So “[29] that no flesh should glory in His presence.”

When we open His long written down words, we see that our weaknesses are something to boast of (2 Cor. 12:9)!  We read that God makes people powerful so that when He humbles them, He gets all the more glory (Pharoah). That He has used an unlearned fisherman to stop the mouth of the educated (Peter); and that the all-powerful King of the universe…was born in a barn, surrounded by strangers and animals, lived a homeless itinerant life, and died a death He didn't deserve.

In Scripture is where we read of the God who makes and breaks both men and nations. It is where we read that He has called out from the sum-total of fallen humanity, gigantic men of God from broken and evil families; or has passed over people who were raised in God fearing homes. He uses the foolish to shame the wise; the weak to shame the strong; causes the meek to inherit the world (Mt. 5:5); and makes His sun to rise and rain to fall on both the wicked and the good (Mt. 5:45). If your life is unfolding in ways that others call blessed, it is because: “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (Jm. 1:17 emphasis mine).

No one can boast…of anything.

No matter the differences you see between the people you love and those you hate; no matter the differences you see between the culture created by the people you love in comparison to the people you don’t…you weren't; and aren’t; sovereign over any of it. 

The snake lied,

and you believed him.

He gives His gifts to whoever He wants, for His own reasons, and will never take your opinion into consideration, because everything He does or doesn't do, is according to His own will (Eph. 1:11), and no one can stop Him (Dan. 4:35). Period.

Every nation that rises to the top of humanity, blessing all of mankind with the social or scientific advances it creates; or those who seem to be destined to nothing but gutters and grime; have all had their rise, fall, and geographic borders established by God before time began (Acts 17:26). Every crashing avalanche or falling snowflake; every atom and every atomic bomb; every cell and every soul; every behavior and every belief; everything…is under His divine sovereignty.

And one such pattern that has existed here on Earth, since the Garden, we have been talking about the entire time this morning. 

As He sat and taught that day on the Mount, Christ had been correcting all of the false teachings of the Pharisees, pointing out the truth that the ways of God have not changed since the Old Testament. And in doing so, He was teaching that the ways of man haven't changed since then either.

Look at the examples He uses in v.46 & 47 →  “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? [47] And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?”

As I have been saying this morning, mankind has always broken itself into division after division (based on things they think they are in control of), and if we want to see where the division is; as bright as day…it's as simple as looking at who they love. 

People within every career, tax bracket, level of education, people group, nation, hobby, or family, have always had a special love towards those closest to themselves.

All of you here this morning have a “friend group” with members that you love more than those not in it, right? It's not that you hate other people, of course, but because of common hobbies or interests; similar tastes and personalities, you have acted upon the way that you were made, and have associated yourself with others like-minded.

The husband loves his wife more than he loves other women. The parent loves their child more than someone else’s. And siblings share a bond with one another that they don't with others. All of this is very plain to see, right? And we can even agree, though it may be a touch more in-depth, when we take anything larger than a friend group or a family and still see the same pattern. 

To be careful with this truth; we can say that ethnic groups have a special love towards one another that they don't have towards others.

Every ethnicity, over the course of thousands of years, has grouped themselves together, and shown a special sense of kinship and love towards one another. I can speak personally on this, and tell you that when I meet someone with Italian ancestry, there is some mysterious muscle in my heart and mind that gets activated.

No matter what we use to draw these boundary lines; be it nothing more than a hobby, or something as deep as DNA; we think:

“They're just like me. They have similar traditions and beliefs and customs.”

“Im not alone. They understand all the stuff going on in the world, just like I do.”

“We have the same set of values and traditions.”

“They understand life, and God, in the same way that I do.”

“They love me, so I love them.”

I used a few different phrases just now to explain that loving those who love you… isn't inherently bad. In fact, you were made this way.

Because God is trinity, and each person of the Godhead loves the other, being made in His image means that you were created; you were built, from the ground up; with “loving those who love you” as part of your very soul. It's natural.

The old puritan, John Owen, said it this way: “The sole reason why there is such a thing as love in the world among the creatures, angels or men … was, that it might shadow and represent the ineffable, eternal love that the Father had unto the Son, and the Son unto the Father, by the Spirit.”

When you love people who love you, based on whatever the ground of that love be; common ancestry, traditions, goals, customs, hobbies, lifestyles, or faith; you are acting on the manner in which you were created.

Loving people who love you is natural…but that is precisely the problem.

Human nature is broken.

Fallen humanity has used every single difference we see between us and other people as nothing more than an opportunity. Be it our intellect, bank accounts, ethnicity, hobbies, customs, or traditions; there is not a single differentiating line that separates us from others that humans haven't used as an opportunity to exploit the way He made us. And because it's part of our nature, it's easy to do! You don't need to try!

_____

To take this an even deeper degree; not only has mankind used the distinctions we see in the world around us to divide us from them; we even use the way that we sin.

In a verse we read together a few weeks ago; that fits perfectly here; we read this in 1st Cor. 6:9-10 → “...do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, [10] nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” And because human nature is broken, that is where we stop reading. We say: “See! Those people! They won't inherit the kingdom of God. It's right there in the text! I’m just going to keep loving the people that are like me. We don't sin that way!”

We look at the world around us, and make a long, long list of people whose sins disgust us, and separate them from us. And to repeat myself from a few weeks ago, and then narrow the focus...all of it falls apart when we keep reading → “[11] and such were some of you….”.

Some of you here this morning were idolaters.

You were a drunken, reviling, extortioner, given to sexual license and perversion. 

To add some grace, maybe those specific sins don't land on you. You might even be thinking “I wasn't any of those things!” And if that's the case, then praise God that He ordained your life to unfold in a different direction. But my earlier statement remains true. Humans have used every single difference between us and them, even differences in how we sin.

My friend…do you assume that your sins, nowhere near as bad as their sins, of course…means that the fires of Hell weren't waiting for you? Or perhaps you think that your sins aren’t that bad, and you have a well-reasoned list of bullet points to prove it?

Your sin, regardless of any of the circumstances surrounding it…was not harmless. It separated you from God. The source and fountain of every good thing in your life. The source and fountain of truth and joy. Regardless of the way that other people sinned, the differences between theirs and yours is far, far less than the differences between you and God. 

To keep the pressure on, and take this a step deeper by rephrasing that exact same truth in a different way: before God saved you? You had more in common with the worst sinner to ever walk the earth, than you did with God.

The Scriptures teach “We all like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way” (Is. 53:6 - emphasis mine). And: “we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” (Eph. 2:3). This couldn't get any more clear.

If, here and now, the God of the Universe lives within your heart, then there was a time in your life when you were a ‘child of wrath’. You were willingly on the path to Hell, and nothing about you; your intellect, wisdom, wealth, abilities, family, ethnicity, or potential future could save you.

“And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified,

but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

1st Corinthians 6:11

I understand that this is a heavy, and possibly even over-bearing amount of theology. But when Jesus uses the examples we see in our verses, He is confronting an attitude that has existed since the Garden. The separating of us from them.

Now, it must be said that when we see Jesus confronting this mentality of division, He does so by pointing out the similarities. Even those people, He says, love those who love them. And for the first century audience that heard His words that day, the people He used were a perfect example.

The “tax collectors”, were, to use modern vernacular: race traitors and collaborators. They were ethnic Israelites, sharing a common blood, ancestry, traditions, customs, loves and hates, with the people around them. And…they worked for Rome. The empire that killed its way across the known world, imposing unfair taxes upon the people; were being helped by these “tax collectors”. They were aiding and abetting the enemy…and they loved each other.

To rephrase the words of Christ: Even those people, He says; those people you say are betraying you, your country, your people and your faith?

Even those people love those who love them…what makes you any different?

Children of Clyde-Savannah, hear clearly the words of Christ to you this day. Reject not His teaching and words. The Scriptures are as true today in a culture like ours, as they are in every culture, in every time. 

You love the people who love you? So? Everybody does that. Even the pagans!

You love the people who love your family, people, traditions, culture, and faith? 

So? Who cares? Do you think that makes you special?

Loving people who love you isn’t this lofty, spiritual ideal that God calls us to…it's normal! It's the baseline. Loving people who love you is the default. You aren't engaging in some manner of heightened spirituality, you are simply acting on your nature. 

And that is precisely the problem: human nature is broken.

Every single human, from the first to the last, has an ever-present understanding of eternity, permanently embedded in the operating system of our soul. Deep within the confines of the human heart, beneath every layer we have built our identity upon, an undying beacon chimes out from the darkness, testifying of the truth of God. And that truth, no matter how deeply we have buried it; no matter the number of layers of hurt and betrayal we place atop it…still it sings. It can be ignored at times, of course. But it can never be silenced. Day in and day out the music plays forth a forbidding and ominous melody of who we are, who God is, and the differences between us.

And because loving those who love you really is a good thing!...we latch on to it. Consider it to be the highest good; and convince ourselves it is the ultimate expression of Godliness; and therefore the gates above will open, when our bodies are laid in the dirt below.

My friends; let it be said that loving those who love you really is the highest level of love attainable…by a dead heart. In fact, a dead heart loves to love those who love them…because themselves is who they truly worship.

They are the ones who decide what is right and wrong, what is moral and immoral. They are the ones who decide how a life should or shouldn't be lived. And the only civic authority above them? They had a say in placing them in power. So when someone loves them; to say this carefully; there is a sense in which it is received as worship. 

Claiming no authority over themselves, and seeing and feeling and experiencing someone love them…causes their dead heart to inflate to dangerous proportions.

Woe to those who use God’s word for such self-worshipping idolatry.

When Christ spoke these words, He was teaching what you, and I, and every believer between His first and second appearance on Earth; are like. Every teaching in the Sermon on the Mount; those about the thoughts we have that never escape our lips, to our physical actions; Christ is explaining how citizens in the Kingdom of God live their life. 

And entrance into that Kingdom has nothing to do with anything under the sun.

No matter the circumstances of your childhood or the history of your ethnicity; no matter how strong, weak, wealthy, or poor you may be; no matter the artistic ability you may or may not have; or the friends who will stand by your side through thick and thin; The God of the Universe is well within His rights to upset every pattern we see in the world by bringing you back to life, quickening your heart from death to life, and giving you the glowing righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Have you, today! this morning! repented of your sins and believed in Him? Have you seen the superficial offerings of a fallen world? Have you, like the author of Ecclesiastes before you, seen that everything under the sun is vanity (Ecc. 1:2)? Have you tasted and seen that any dividing line humans think can define a life of comfort, peace, or freedom, can never save your eternal soul? Have you seen that no matter the height to which your people could ever build, it will never reach heaven? That no matter how well behaved your family is, they can not stand between you and God? That neither your bank account, nor your baptism can save you? Do you see that loving other people will never save you from the flames of Hell? 

If so, then repent! Today! Here and now, before the next breath can escape your weak lungs, and before your tired eyes can blink again. For who knows when your soul will be required? Plead out, in tears of terrifying anguish about the state of your soul and the Hell that awaits it!

And you will be forgiven; but not because of you, or anything on earth.

But because of Christ.

For in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, His sinless life, atoning death, bodily resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the Father; He provided the righteousness that we were unwilling, and unable to provide ourselves. 

And in doing so, Jesus Christ reached His beautiful hands down into the sludge and mire of this broken world, and lifted His children from the shackles of the sin they had once loved, and He did so from every division we had so arrogantly erected. There is no people, no group, no nation, no ethnicity, He passes over. There is no tax bracket, or level of intellect He refuses to save His children from. There is no border upon earth, be it between nations or false religions, that can “stay His hands or say to Him what have you done?” (Dan. 4:35).

Are you ok with that this morning?

You can say you are, because you know it's the right answer…right? But what happens when this very Church, this one, with the old wooden pews, and broken stained glass windows, becomes filled with those people? You know the ones I'm talking about, I know you do. The people over there. The different ones.

Every pattern we see in this broken world, is; without qualification; carried out by broken people, acting in accordance with their broken hearts. Period. That's it.

Human nature is broken. It is fallen and sinful, and from the depths of their dead hearts they want nothing more than to be God. So they only surround themselves with people who love them, and then show them vast amounts of love in return…because themselves is who they truly worship. And they are ready, willing, and able to hate anyone who threatens their god.

When; and only when; God replaces your dead heart with a living one, will you begin to show the same kind of love to others that was shown towards you.

And when that happens, when your heart is made new by nothing but the broken body and shed blood of Jesus Christ; you will be a member of something that transcends every human-born boundary that mankind could ever imagine; the Church universal. You will be a member of a brand new people group, born not from the flesh or the will of man, but by the will of God (Jn. 1:13). No matter who you used to be; you will be someone altogether new.

And from that point forward forever into the unfolding glories of eternity; you will be a child of the God who loved His enemies enough to die for them. 

The God of the Universe; Jesus Christ; and the love that He shows His enemies; not because they earned it or deserved it; washes clean all of your guilt, and makes you holy in His eyes. The brokenness of your nature? Though it will remain and rear its ugly teeth from time to time, it will have been dealt a life-giving blow. And the more you live, the more God will sanctify you. And the more He changes you, the more you will have the ability and desire to carry out the enemy-love that was shown to you…to your enemies. 

Loving people who love you is good and Godly, yes; and is the highest form of love of a dead heart…but it isn't enough to save you. You need a higher form of love, not shown by you… but shown towards you…from your enemy.

A planet-wide people group; composed of people from every tribe, tongue, and nation; who love their enemies for no other reason than the fact that our enemy loved us (1 Jn. 4:19). And oh what a world that will make…

“For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?

Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

Rev. Jacob Marchitell

September 20th 2026