When Love Doesn't Make Sense

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Good morning Redland Hill, how are we feeling today? How are we feeling today? Good? Come on, man. We're in church, it's not a funeral. Come on, let's be excited. Super excited and honored just to bring the word in week six of Love is the Way. Hey, can we just celebrate the worship team? They set the table today, man. Come on, they set the table. Super excited and just so grateful for all those that are new, man. Welcome home. Hopefully by the end of the day you can say you found a home here at Redland Hills Church. I want to say hello to my good friend Dee Lasky in the back. I know he's going to kill me after this, but I love you, dude.

I'm so glad you're here, bro. Right now he's like, for the love of God, shut up, dude. Stop talking about me and his beautiful girlfriend. So glad you guys are here. Like I said, we're jumping into week six, and the title of today's message is When Love Doesn't Make Sense. And so that's what we're going to talk about, loving our enemies. Now, right off the bat, some of you are like, for the love of God. I didn't come in here to hear that today. I got some people in my life that I want to slap, and so I don't want to hear that I need to be loving them. But I want to tell you that in Matthew chapter 5, Jesus sets the standard how we should love people who have hurt us, and those that we call enemies. Jesus is preaching the greatest message ever preached, the Sermon on the Mountain. And he's sitting on a hillside with his disciples, and there are people that are gathered, a crowd, and they are listening. And in this message, he's not trying to, he's not talking to outsiders that are trying to figure out their faith. He's talking to believers that feel like they already have it figured out. And what he's doing is he's setting a new standard, and he's giving them, and he gave them,

and he's giving us a new command. And all throughout this section, we're going to see Jesus say, hey, you have heard it said, or maybe you were taught this way, but I'm telling you it should be this way. So really what he's saying is the way that you were taught was wrong. And what I'm teaching you is what the Father says. He's teaching us that we should love our enemies when the world says do the opposite. So when he gets to love your enemies, this is not a random moment. He's correcting a broken understanding of love. People, followers of Jesus, had reduced love down to loving people that looked like them, loving people that were easy to love, serving people that were easy to serve. And so Jesus steps in, and what does he say? He goes, this is not kingdom love. That's not what kingdom love is. Don't do that. So he sets a standard, and he gives real-life examples. So here's what he says. He says, if someone insults you, if someone takes from you, if someone forces you to do something, someone hurts you, here's how I want you to respond. So this is not just a teaching moment. He's redefining what it looks like to follow him. And so I want to read that to you today

in Matthew chapter 5. There's a few verses we're going to read through. It'll be on the screen behind me if you don't have your Bible with you or your app open. This is what it says in Matthew 5. You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say, do not resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek. If you're sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat too. If a soldier demands that you carry their gear for a mile, carry it for two miles. Give to those who ask and don't turn away for those who want to borrow. You have heard the law that says love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies. That's an exclamation point. So he's getting really pumped up. Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven, for he gives sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that?

If you love only those who love you, what good is that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that, but you are to be perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect. And so Jesus is setting the tone, okay? This is where Jesus, well, I mean, we hear what Jesus is saying, and I don't know about you, but when I hear this, I immediately have pushback. Immediately in my heart, in my head, I have pushback, because if I'm honest, when I hear that, I don't think, well, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, I love those people that hate me. Yeah, absolutely, that makes total sense. I have pushback, and I'm just being honest with you. That's all I know to do right now is immediately, I think, if they hurt me, how do I retaliate? If they hurt me and they sin against me, I'm not gonna love them. Why would I do that? That's not fair, that's not realistic. That's not real life, Jesus. Because everything in us says that we should love people who love us. We should serve people who serve us. We should be around, and we should do well for those that do well to us, but if someone hurts me, by God, I'm gonna hurt them.

If they hurt my family, they hurt my kids, they take from me, I'm gonna do the exact, I'm gonna make them feel the way that I feel. And that's what Jesus is changing, because he steps in in this moment, and he raises the standard, and he says, you're gonna pray for, if you're a follower of mine, I want you to pray for those enemies, those people that hurt you. I want you to go further than what's required, and I want you to give more than is deserved. And this is not something that he's just saying, this is gonna be hard to do, and I'm gonna give you something hard to do. He's showing us what it actually looks like to follow him and belong to him, because the world says how we feel, and they're fine with how, hey, hurt those that hurt you. Get back at those that hurt you, and that do things wrong to you. Get back at your enemies. But Jesus says, as a follower of mine, that's not how you should live your life. That's not what your heart should look like. And so I had a couple of questions when I was reading this over the last few weeks, and so all I know how to do is teach you what I asked myself, and what answers came from those questions. And so here's the first question,

is do I really need this commandment? Why would Jesus bring this up? Do I really need this as a follower of Jesus? We're gonna answer that in a second. Do I really need this? Because I'm gonna be honest with you, if we're honest with one another, this doesn't feel optional, but I kind of want it to be. This doesn't feel optional, but I kind of want it to be, because when we read this, we think surely Jesus doesn't mean this literally. Surely there are people, he's like, yeah, but that dude, I get it, dude. Not that guy, he doesn't fit into the criteria, you can hate him. Surely he doesn't mean everyone. Surely this doesn't apply to everyone, but Jesus doesn't leave room for any of those questions. He doesn't say love your enemies if they apologize, love your enemies if they deserve it, love your enemies if they change, he just says love your enemies. Love your enemies. And then he ties our identity to it, you ready? Love your enemies, and that's how everybody in the world's gonna know that you belong to the Father in heaven. When you love, when you do the hard thing, when you do the easy thing, everybody else does that.

The world can do that, but I'm telling you to do the hard thing. The dad that destroyed your family, the mother that left you on the side of the road, the boyfriend back in the day that broke your heart, the boss that fired you and it was unjust, whatever happened to you, I'm telling you to love that person. The person who persecutes you, I'm telling you to love them, because when you love them, that's how the world's gonna know that you belong to me. Jesus is saying this is not advanced, what he's saying, it's not advanced Christianity, it's not supernatural, this is basic evidence that you and I belong to him. It's basic evidence. You're saying my DNA is God's. I am a child of God. When I love, when I do the hard thing and I love my enemy, I'm doing the hard thing. That's how everyone knows. And so what does the father say? He says that I give sunlight to both the evil. and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. So what he's saying is that God actively, and this is really hard to hear, God actively is actively good to people who reject him. He wakes them up, he feeds them,

he sustains them every single day. Even though they may hate him, he says, I'm still gonna love you. Even though you're my enemy, I'm still gonna show you that I love you. And what he's saying is that's how people will know that you belong to me. Even those that are evil, you're going to love them. And so if you wanna belong to me, you gotta start looking like me. And so bottom line here in this first thought is that loving your enemies is not how you earn your place in God's family, it's how you reveal that you're already in it. That's how you reveal that I already belong to him. I'm not proving to you that I should be in it. I'm not proving to God that I should be in it. I'm telling the world that I already belong to the father. And then Jesus says, if you love only those who love you, what reward is in that? Even a tax collector, a corrupt tax collector will do that. In other words, let me just make it clear, there is nothing distinctly Christian about loving easy people. Nothing is real easy to love people that are easy to love. I love hanging out with easy people that they got their life together. That's real easy. I'll go home and go to bed and sleep. Man, I can't wait to hang out with Wayne tomorrow.

But old Deborah, who's got her life is a mess, I don't wanna be around her. Who's hurt me and my family, I don't wanna be around them. So there's nothing distinctly easy or Christian about loving easy people. Anyone can do that, the world does that. The question becomes, what is the difference? So here's the difference. The clearest evidence that Jesus has changed your life is not how you love your friends, it's how you love your enemies. That's the clearest evidence that Jesus has changed your heart. Now let me stop really quickly, and I'm gonna explain this as I move forward. As you stand for the gospel, as a follower of Jesus, I want you to understand that you should have some enemies in your life. I don't mean like you, I hate each other and this. As a follower of Jesus, you're going to make a Christian stance against a worldly stance. That should cause you to have some friction with people. I want you to understand this. You shouldn't be, don't go out looking for enemies and fighting people, I'm not riling people, I'm not telling you to go rile somebody up. What I am telling you though, is that if everybody likes you you may not be as godly as you think you are. Because Jesus says, woe to the man, if everybody speaks highly of you, woe to that person.

If everybody's like, oh, they're the best ever, woe. That means you're not challenging anyone with the way that you live life and the way that you challenge them. And so maybe we should have some enemies when it comes to standing for the gospel, because as you are hurt, and as people talk about you, and as you take a biblical stance against a worldly stance, you're probably going to make some enemies. You're gonna make some people mad. Some people aren't gonna like you, and that's okay. And these 10 verses show us what we should be doing. We should be responding to them. And really quickly, notice this. Nowhere in there does it say get back at them. In fact, these verses are saying you should give to them, and you should love them, and you should bless them. We're talking about enemies, evil people. People that have hurt us and said rude things about us, lied about us. And Jesus is saying, no, I want you to love them, and I want you to bless them, and I want you to give, because that's how the world will know that you belong to me. Now, the next question I had is how do I actually do this? Because I gotta be honest with you, this is real powerful on Sunday morning, and I love reading it with my cup of coffee. What am I talking, I don't drink coffee. My Red Bull at 6 a.m.

I love reading it in my little prayer closet, but I'm gonna tell you what, on Monday morning, when my boss walks up, not this boss, I'm making an example. For you, when your boss walks up. When somebody in your life, hey, I saw them at Walmart, and they hurt me, I'm gonna be honest with you, this whole 10 verses, it seems impossible. When that person, you inevitably come in connection with them, or face to face with that moment, it seems impossible to love that person. But Jesus, what he does, is he gives you some guidelines, and some handles. Here's how you're gonna do that. Here's how you show other people what you look like, what I look like. like he says first you're gonna refuse retaliation because you have heard the law and I for an eye but I say do this see what Jesus is doing is he's in addressing that instinct in all of us to get even and I don't mean in a courtroom there are moments in your life where you got to go to a real courtroom because something was done to you and I got to have a judge who is by it doesn't have a dog in the fight make a decision right so I'm not talking about that but I'm talking about that that personal revenge that shows up in your heart the need to get back at them the need to settle the score the need to make them feel the way that I have felt and Jesus says stop doing that not because it doesn't matter and I need you to really lean in and hear what I'm saying to you it's not because what they did to you doesn't matter it's because you aren't the judge you don't get to say what happens to them and that's really hard for us to swallow because I'm be honest with you sometimes it feels like those people are getting away with murder yeah but they hurt me and they slap me and I just got

to turn the other cheek and they lied about me and they they've just they've wrecked my family in my life and you're saying I got to love them and let them go free here's what you have to understand no one will ever get away with anything because the Bible says that in Romans 12 19 and 20 says dear friends never take revenge leave that to the righteous anger of God for the scripture says I will take revenge and I will pay them back says the Lord verse 20 is for us instead if your enemies are hungry feed them if they're thirsty give them something to drink and what he's saying is that look I'm gonna get revenge in two ways or one of two ways hopefully they'll come to me my son Jesus and I will nail that sin to the cross and that's how I'll get revenge I will just I will take that sin and nail it to the cross or if they don't accept me if they don't ask for forgiveness if they don't follow me and give their life to my son they will spend eternity separated from me you don't have to do anything but you're gonna feed them and you're gonna love them and you're gonna treat them with respect because the way you should respond is give to them bless them and love them because you don't need to get revenge why because I have Jesus I have Jesus who loves me and I have Jesus who's fighting for me and at Jesus who has the ultimate say second he says go beyond so how do I do this I'm gonna go beyond what is required if someone slaps you turn the other cheek if say someone sues you give them more if they force you to go one mile go a second mile and here's the deal there are guys in the room or watching online like this week dude I ain't doing that bro I don't know why I am so tiny why did I do that I don't know what to do for real though like there's some guys like that's weak that's weak to act that way but I need you to understand this is not about being weak this is about being free in Jesus this is about being free from the need to protect your pride free from the need to win every moment free from the need to prove yourself here's what I want you to understand our desire shouldn't be to keep score but to love and forgive this should be our default button this should be our default button is to love those that hurt us and persecute us here's the third thing you're gonna pray for them this is where

it all gets really hard and it gets really real pray for those who persecute you is what Jesus said don't avoid them don't just tolerate them pray for them because I could tell you this you can fake kindness but you can't fake a prayer you can't fake prayer for them and showing them love genuinely through your prayer life it forces your heart to move and so you're no longer here's what you're doing you're giving that situation to God and you're no longer replaying it in your life and keeping you up at night you're bringing them before the Father and it begins to change the posture of your heart so can I just give you something practical here maybe you're dealing with the situation in your life right now and it's been going on for years or maybe it's brand new here's what I would challenge you to do maybe you're not at the place where you feel like I can love them yet and I can forgive them yet but you can start praying for them you can start praying for them and it may at first be short, and you may be doing it in a begrudging way. You kind of want to do it, but I hope he wakes up maybe today. But as you pray, and as you pray, and as you pray, it changes the posture of your heart. Anger begins to lose grip in your life, and your heart starts to align with the Father. And here's the truth. It's real hard to hate someone that you're consistently praying for. Let me say something. That's the best thing I ever learned in my marriage. When we were going through a rocky time, a counselor said, do you pray for each other? Well, we don't pray for each other. Guess what happens? I can't stay mad at her when I'm praying for her.

I just can't do it. I can't hate somebody that I'm openly praying for. Align your heart with the Father. Here's the last question I ask. How do I get to a place where my heart actually wants to bless them? I actually want to love them. This is the real question. This is the real question, because this is not about behavior. This is about your heart. Because I can do the right thing on the outside and fool every single person in the room. But on the inside, still harbor anger and hate. And so what changes that? How do I change that? Here's the most difficult part for me. If I want to change my anger for someone else, if I want to love my enemies, I gotta stop starting with them, and I have to start with myself. You have to remember, here's the problem. We've accepted Jesus. I accepted Jesus 31 years ago this year, and often I will forget who I was before Jesus. The scripture does not say, hey, even if you didn't have a relationship with Jesus, you guys were cool, you were best buddies, BFF. The scripture actually says that you and I were his enemies before I accepted Jesus as my Savior,

that I was not aligned with his heart, that I was evil and nasty, and yet I'm holding these people that hurt me who don't belong to Christ, I'm holding them to a higher standard. I have this standard for everybody. How dare you hurt me? How dare you live your life like this? Don't you see what you're doing to God and how you're hurting the people around you? How dare I say that? Who do I think I am? Before Christ Jesus, I was just as bad. There's still moments, even in a relationship with Jesus, I still screw up. Scripture teaches that before Jesus, we were opposed to him, we were running from him, we were living in sins. We were enemies. Romans 5.10 says, for since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his sons, while we were still his what? Enemies. And what did God do? He didn't crush us, he pursued us. He didn't wait for you to deserve his love, he gave it anyhow. Romans 5.8 says, but God showed his great love, his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we are his sinners, while we were still enemies of his.

Jesus lived that command on the cross, surrounded by enemies, being made fun of, being mocked by these enemies, being crucified by the enemies, and I want you to understand, while all that is happening, he says, Father, forgive them. He is dying on a cross. Father, forgive them. And no one is perfect, no one is Jesus, but Jesus is saying, if you wanna tell the world that you belong to me, then you are gonna say, Father, forgive them. They have mocked me, they have beaten me, they have pushed every button, but my default button is not gonna be to get even, my default button is to love them the way that Christ loved me, because that changes everything. Because it's no longer, why should I love them? It becomes, how could I not love them? When I recognize what Jesus has done for me, that he went to a cross for me, and nailed my sins to the cross for me, and I deserve that death, I deserve that beating, and he did it for me, oh, he did it for them too, how can I not love them? We're just the, I've made mistakes, how can I not love them? I know we don't get along,

and I know that, how can I not love them? Because when you remember who you were before Christ Jesus, you recognize, hey, we all got problems, we all make mistakes, and my job is not to settle the score, that is Jesus who will do that, the Father in heaven will get the ultimate say, job is to reflect Christ in every action that I can. As a disciple of Jesus, people should know it before I even open my mouth. How I treat other people. Here's the shift. When you really begin to see how much grace you've received, it's harder and harder to withhold grace from someone else. So if your heart isn't there yet, please don't fake it. If it's not there yet, just be truthful. I'm not there yet. But God, I'm going to bring it to you, and I'm going to be honest. And I would just be honest with God, because He already knows how you feel. God, I don't like them. And I'm real angry with them. And so I'm having a real difficult time praying for them to have a good life. And I'm having a really difficult time forgiving them. But I want my heart to align with yours. And so I will slowly but surely work towards forgiveness, and I will do everything that I can to reflect to you, Jesus. And I'm asking you, Holy Spirit, in my weakness, your power is made perfect. So Father, give me the strength today to forgive them and love them and bless them the way that you would. So one of my favorite pastors, his name is Craig Groeschel of Life Church in Oklahoma. Incredible. And he has an incredible story that when he was younger, he has siblings, and his 13-year-old sibling was raped. And he said, it wrecked my family. It destroyed my sister. And at the age of 18 years old, I wanted to kill this man. I wanted him dead in front of me. He said, and now I'm a pastor of a church, and I'm harboring this. Every day, this guy had this hold on me. What he did to my sister, he destroyed our family, man. But I know that the Scripture tells me to love my enemy, and he is definitely an enemy now. And so one day, he says, I'm just going to start praying for him. And so he sat down, or he kneeled down at his bed, and he began to pray, God, I hope he doesn't have a heart attack. I hope he destroyed my family. I want to forgive him, but I don't know that I'm going to be able to do this. And he said, for 24 years, he prayed for that man every single day. And slowly, his prayers would become greater. His love would become greater. The anger in his life, the anger

loosened its grip on his heart. His hard heart towards this situation, this man, began to soften. And he began to pray, Father, I pray that he would come to know you. I pray that that he would find it in his heart to forgive himself. I pray, God, that you would give him a good life. And then one day, Pastor Craig finds out that he has muscular dystrophy. And he's in hospice care. And so what he does is he writes a letter telling him, I forgive you. And I love you. I'm praying for you to be healed. And at the end of that, he says, and if you're not healed, I pray that you know Jesus, because I believe we go to heaven or hell. And the determining factor on that is whether I belong to Jesus, because there's only one way to God, and it's through his son, Jesus. And so I'm going to write Romans 10, verses 9 through 10. And then if you don't know that verse, go read it later. It tells you to declare in your heart, declare it with your mouth, believe in your heart, and you'll be saved by Christ. He says, and I just want to lead you in that prayer. And at the bottom of it, he leads this man in prayer that raped his sister 24 years before that. And a few weeks go by, and a letter comes back to him, and it was the hospice care worker. And she said, I want you to know that I read this to him. He's having a really difficult time at the moment speaking. And so I read it to him. And at the end of it, I asked him, because she was a believer, she said, do you know Jesus as your savior? And he shook his head, no. And she said, today, do you want to accept him as your savior? And he said, yes. And that day, that man who raped Craig's sister... 24 years before that, received Christ in a hospice bed, and died a day later. And now, he's in heaven with Jesus. He was an evil person that made an evil mistake that destroyed a family, and Pastor Craig worked for 24 years to forgive him. Why? Because that's what happens. If we work to forgive those that have broken us, and hurt us, and have put us through pain, because God, by the way, you've done it to somebody else. So stop thinking you're better than everybody else. We're not. We need Jesus just like them. But there is somebody in your life that has hurt you, and you're seeking revenge, and

I pray today that you would recognize that you would be challenged today by the gospel. That maybe that's not how I'm supposed to be living my life. Maybe I'm supposed to love those that hate me, and persecute me, and turn the other cheek, and go the extra mile. Maybe that's what I'm supposed to be doing. If Jesus said it's the right thing to do, maybe, and that's how people will know me as a follower of Jesus. They'll know I'm a follower of Christ. Maybe I should be doing that. This is not easy. It is not natural, but this is what it looks like to follow Jesus. So my question for you is, who is that person? What is the situation? I'm not asking in theory. I'm asking reality. Who is it? Who has hurt you? Who's the enemy? Who has persecuted you? Who's the evil one that you cannot forgive? Who is that person that you avoid, that you have written off? Jesus is not asking you to feel something at all. He is asking you to act first. Pray for them. Do good when you can. To get back at them, bitterness, refuse retaliation, because you can trust this. As you move in obedience, God will begin to reshape your heart. We don't follow Jesus' teachings just to do that. We follow it to become an example of his. We're not just following his teachings.

We're following his example, and he loved us when we were his enemies, and so now it's our time to love those that are our enemies. And it's hard, but Tony, I have been hurt, and I have been abused, and I have been mocked, and it is hard. It's just so hard. Let me tell you what Matthew 5, 10 through 12 says. God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. God blesses you when people mock you, and persecute you, and lie about you, and say all sort of evil things against you, because you are my followers. 12, be happy about it. Be very glad. Why? Because there is a great reward that awaits you in heaven. There is a reward in heaven for us greater than anything we've ever lost here on earth. So my prayer for you today is this, that you would slowly take the steps to love those that have hurt you, and who have persecuted you. They deserve love too. I get it. They hurt you. They are sorry, but they deserve to be loved by you. They should get a chance to be loved by you, and be forgiven. They should get that opportunity, because you and I were given that opportunity. What a great day. What a great chance. I'm going to end just a little bit different, if that's okay. I'm going to ask you to bow your head, because I want to pray for you, and then our worship team is going to lead us in worship. Father, man, I am so grateful for those in the room and watching online that has heard the word today.

God, that heard your words in Matthew chapter 5, that may be dealing with that bitterness and that anger that is wrecking their life. And so God, I pray Jesus, in Jesus' name today, that we heard that message, that we heard your message, your sermon on the mount, that it would penetrate our hearts. Those in the room and watching online, if there's somebody in the room today that doesn't know Jesus, I pray that by the end of today, that they would come to you and ask for forgiveness and repent, and turn their life over to you and become a child of God. Thank you, Father, for your words. Thank you for your encouragement. Thank you for your challenge today. I pray, Jesus, that we would take that challenge seriously, that we would let it wreck us. And God, we would focus on you, and focus on loving those that have hurt us, Jesus, and persecute us, God. Because that's how people will know we are your followers, and you will be glorified. In your name we pray, everyone said, Amen.