Good morning.
It's good to have all of our visitors with us.
We appreciate your presence.
We're glad that you're able to be with us and we do hope that you'll get a few moments afterwards to spend some time with us and get to know us a little better.
Did want to make mention that today is Jordan and Chloe's last Sunday visiting with us.
He's graduated from MSOP and they will be headed to Middle Tennessee where he will begin preaching.
So we wish them the best.
We've enjoyed your presence and
the asset that you've been to the congregation here and your encouragement.
So we're grateful for you, but we encourage you on the work that you're about to embark in as well.
challenging the norm.
is something that as Christians we are called to do.
There's a vivid memory in my mind of uh a time when I was a teenager and I was sent to the orthodontist and they were fitting me for braces.
And I don't know how the conversation got started, but the orthodontist said something about the fact that with having braces on, uh not going to look like you've always looked.
uh he said, you know, you're
won't be normal.
said, I've never been normal.
Doesn't bother me.
But as Christians, we are called to not be normal.
We are called to move out of society's normal and into the life and the service of Christ.
And as we're going to see this morning, the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the life of Christ declare to us with clarity that the world's normal when it comes to enemies is
not how Christ lived.
It is not how godly individuals living after a pattern of the life of God
live.
We're going to notice some biblical background to this as we get into our lesson.
The first passage that I'd like you to turn to and look at is in 1st Samuel chapter 24.
In 1st Samuel chapter 24, David has been anointed as the next king in Israel and due to his
his prominence due to the reaction of the people towards David.
Saul has determined that David is a threat to his throne and has begun to chase him and seek his life.
We read in 1 Samuel chapter 24 verse 3, so he came to the sheet folds by the road and there was a cave and Saul went in and attended to his needs.
David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave.
Then the men of David said to him, This is the day of which the Lord said to you, Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.
And David arose and secretly cut off the corner of Saul's robe.
Now it happened afterward that David's heart troubled him because he had cut Saul's robe.
And he said to his men, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the
Lord.
So David restrained his servants with these words and did not allow them to rise against Saul.
And Saul got up from the cave and went on his way.
David also arose afterward, went out of the cave and called to Saul, saying, My Lord, the king.
And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth and bowed down.
And David said to Saul, Why do you listen to the words of men who say, Indeed, David seeks your harm?
Look this day your eyes have seen that the Lord delivered you today into my hand in the cave and someone urged me to kill you but my eyes spared you and I said I will not stretch
out my hand against my Lord for he is the Lord's anointed." In this passage you find David having the opportunity to get even with Saul.
having the opportunity to put an end to his running and his fleeing from Saul.
You even have those whispering in his ear saying, this is God's opportunity for you.
God has delivered him into your hand.
Surely this is what God would have you to do.
And David says, I won't raise my hand against the Lord's anointed.
As you think concerning the situation that is going on here, David is determined in his mind.
and in his actions to allow God to deal with Saul.
and rather demonstrates and exhibits both in his actions and in his speech to Saul that he is still Saul's servant.
And he has always been faithful in that service.
You turn over to 1 Samuel chapter 26.
First Samuel chapter 26, beginning in verse 7, we read, So David and Abishai came to the people by night and there Saul lay sleeping within the camp with his spear stuck in the
ground by his head and Abner and the people lay all around him.
Then Abishai said to David, God has delivered your enemy into your hand this day.
Now, therefore, please let me strike him at once with the spear right to the earth.
And I will have I will not have to strike him a second time.
Abishai says to David, you give me the word and I will stick him to the ground and he'll never get up again.
And again, Avishai reinforces, God has given you this opportunity.
There is a reminder for all of us that the circumstances that we find ourselves in may very well be of the Lord's making, but how we interpret those circumstances may have a lot
to do with whether we're actually carrying out the Lord's will.
It's the Lord's will to kill Saul.
But David, verse 9, said to Abishai, Do not destroy him, for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless?
David said furthermore, As the Lord lives, the Lord shall strike him, or his day shall come to die, and he shall go out to battle and perish.
David responds to Abishai, if it's the Lord's will to deal with Saul and end his life, the Lord is capable of doing it any moment he chooses, and any way he chooses.
But to this point, the Lord had never commanded David to take Saul's life, and David knew it.
David refused to kill Saul, even while Saul was trying to kill him.
Then consider 2 Kings chapter 6.
You turn over to the life of Elisha.
2 Kings chapter 6.
Now the king of Syria, verse 8, was making war against Israel and he consulted with his servant saying, My camp will be in such and such a place.
And the man of God sent to the king of Israel saying, Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are coming down there.
Then the king of Israel sent someone to the place of which the man of God told him.
Thus he warned him that he was watchful there, not just once or twice.
Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing and he called his servants and said to them, will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?
And one of the servants said, none my lord, O king, but Elisha the prophet who is in Israel tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.
The king of Syria is here at war with the king of Israel.
and every time he puts his army in a position to do harm to the king of Israel, Elisha tells the king of Israel what the Syrian king's gonna do.
So the Syrian king has concluded he's got a traitor in his midst.
He inquires among his servants and they say, no, it's not what you think.
There's no traitor.
There's a prophet in Israel.
And the things you whisper in your bedroom, he whispers to the king of Israel.
You go down to verse 18.
and you find that the Syrians have been sent by their king to the house of Elisha and have surrounded the house of Elisha.
Elisha's servant comes out in the morning and all around them are Syrians.
And verse 15 of the chapter says, when the servant of God, the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army surrounding the city with horses and chariots,
and his servant said, Alas, my master, what shall we do?
So he answered, do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.
And Elisha prayed and said,
Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.
Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.
And he struck them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha.
Now Elisha said to them, This is not the way, nor is this the city.
Follow me.
and I will bring you to the man whom you seek." But he led them to Samaria.
So it was when they had come to Samaria that Elisha said, Lord, open the eyes of these men that they may see.
And the Lord opened their eyes and they saw and there they were inside Samaria.
Now when the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, my father, shall I kill them?
Shall I kill them?
But he answered, you shall not kill them.
Would you kill those?
whom you have taken captive with your sword and your bow, set food and water before them that they may eat and drink and go to their master.
Then he prepared a great feast for them, and after they ate and drank he sent them away.
They went to their master, so the bands of Syrian raiders came no more into the land of Israel."
Syrian King sends his army to go kill the Prophet who's such a nuisance to his military plans.
They surround the city, they surround the house where Elisha is, they're prepared and they begin to attack and at the word of Elisha they're struck blind.
During this, servant has asked Elisha, what are we going to do?
How are we, you and me, going to deal with this?
And Elisha makes it clear to the servant, you're not seeing the whole picture.
You're not understanding the real circumstance.
we challenge the norm of society when it comes to how we deal with our enemies, we must first open our eyes to the fact that they don't see the reality of life.
Imagine.
You're trying to get from point A to point B.
You've never been to point B before.
You are inhibited because you left your phone and all your devices at home, therefore you have no Google Maps, you have no Apple Maps, no GPS, nothing.
You're just trying to get from point A to point B.
You've never been to point B before.
You see a person who's coming from the direction you're going.
You stop.
and you ask them, I'm trying to get to point B.
Say, I've never been there before.
But can you tell me how to get there?
I don't even know where it is.
But can you tell me how to get there?
I'm not even aware if it exists.
But can you tell me how to get there?
Seemed like a ridiculous conversation?
Now imagine you're trying to get to point B, you pass another person coming down the road and they're blind.
And you say, can you tell me how to get to point B?
Sir, I can't even see.
How am I going to tell you how to get to point B?
But you insist.
Whether you can see or not, just tell me how to get there.
I need to get there.
seem like an absurd conversation.
It's just as absurd to expect and to ask the world to know the proper way to treat your enemies as to ask the person who's never been to a location how to get there.
servant.
His eyes are open and he now sees the actual circumstance.
And yes, there's horses and chariots surrounding him filled with Syrians and surrounding them are chariots and horsemen of fire.
Elisha's point to his servant.
is that they do not understand the power nor the authority of God.
David's point to his servants who desire to kill Saul is you do not understand the power and the authority of God.
Moses.
in Exodus chapter 32.
We'll pray for God's mercy.
because Israel has committed a sin.
And God is preparing to judge them and to wipe them from the earth and start over.
Moses pleads with the Lord and says, essentially, if you're to kill them, you're going to have to kill me too.
and he stands as a mediator and an intercessor between this people who had repeatedly rebelled, murmured, and groaned against Moses and who would ultimately say that they would
just kill Moses and go back to Egypt.
this group of people of which Moses had earlier said because of their rebellion and because of their murmuring and because of their complaining, Lord will you kill me now?
I am so sick of dealing with this people.
And yet Moses tells the Lord,
to have mercy on this people.
three examples from the Old Testament.
that show us.
God's character lived out in human form when it comes to dealing with our enemies.
but now consider Jesus.
Three examples from the life of Jesus.
This first one is where the thought for the sermon came from.
We were in North Carolina a few weeks ago, and one of the young men was presenting a lesson, and he made his statement, just made me think about something differently.
I don't know that I had ever really thought about the fact that when Jesus there in John chapter 13 is washing the disciples' feet.
He's washing the feet of Judas who will that same night betray him.
He's washing the feet of the one who as they sit and sup at the table, he sends around the cup and says, the one who drinks of this cup will betray.
He's washing the feet of the disciple who's lived with Him, who's sat at His table, who's journeyed with Him, who's watched Him and heard Him speak and calm the Galilean sea and
feed 5,000 with seven loaves and two fish, and who is willing to sell Him for the price of a slave.
And in John chapter 13, you read about Jesus washing this man's feet.
Take your Bibles, if you will, and open to John chapter 13.
Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come, that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world,
He loved them to the end.
consider that the text makes it clear that what Jesus will do from this point forward is not out of animosity, not out of judgment, not out of condemnation, but out of love.
supper being ended.
The devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hand and that he had come
from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside his garment, took a towel and girded himself.
After that he poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which he uh was girded.
Then he came to Simon Peter and Peter said to him, Lord, are you washing my feet?
Jesus answered and said to him, what I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.
Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet.
Jesus answered him, if I do not wash you, you have no part with me.
Simon Peter said to him, not only my feet only, or not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
Jesus said to him, he who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean.
And you are clean, but not all of you.
For he knew who would betray him.
Therefore he said, you are not all clean.
So when he had washed their feet, taken his garment and sat down again, he said to them, do you know what I have done to you?
You call me teacher and Lord, and you say, well, for so I am.
If I then your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet.
For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you."
When you come to this text and when you read of this example and when you observe what Jesus has done, it is easy to look at it and go, we ought to serve one another.
And mean by that, we ought to serve those who love us.
but that is not the example that Jesus said.
for the text is incredibly clear as it notates multiple times the presence of Judas Iscariot.
that Jesus did not bow down and wash the feet of those who loved Him.
He also washed the feet of the one who would betray him.
who was secretly the one who would turn him over to the chief priests to die.
later that night.
Luke chapter 22.
we find Jesus in the garden.
He's prayed three times that this cup pass from him.
But as always prayed, not my will, but yours be done.
And as that third prayer concludes...
They're there in the midst of the garden and the sound of soldiers and those with armaments begin to come forward.
and there's one who's ahead of those who are coming.
And it's Judas.
And Judas has already told those who are with him that he would identify the one who is Jesus with a kiss.
In Luke chapter 22.
We read beginning in verse 50, and one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.
What's going on?
Judas has come.
Judas has identified Jesus, verse 48.
Jesus said to him, Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?
when those around him saw what was going to happen that's the other disciples they said to him Lord shall we strike with the sword
And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.
Jesus answered and said, permit even this.
And he touched his ear and healed him.
We know from the other text it's Peter who draws his sword.
Peter was a fisherman.
He was great with a net.
think his aim was a little off.
I don't think he was going for the ear.
he was going for the head.
But Jesus tells Peter to put his sword away.
Not only does he tell Peter to put his sword away, he takes the ear of the one who has arrived, who is the servant, the high priest, who is there to take him and imprison him
and puts his ear back on.
Jesus served those who were His enemies.
Luke chapter 23.
as Jesus is on the cross.
We read verse 33, and when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.
And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.
Not only did Jesus wash the feet of the disciple who betrayed him, not only did Jesus restore the ear of the one of them who came to imprison him.
But Jesus prayed for the forgiveness of all those who murdered.
From that, I would like to suggest that we need to change the norm on how we deal with enemies.
Number one, the example of the Old Testament and the example of Christ teaches us that we ought to love without, there's supposed to be an out there, without exclusion.
We are to love without exclusion.
Matthew chapter 5, Jesus would say, love your enemies.
Do good to those who curse you, who persecute you.
Pray for those who despitefully use you.
He says, if you love those who love you, what good are you?
Even the Gentiles do that.
Even the Pharisees do that.
Jesus called us to something different.
Jesus called us rather to the love of God, who sends His rain and His sunshine on the just and on the unjust, who does good to those who love Him and those who hate Him.
Luke chapter 6.
Jesus will tell his disciples to do good, to love their enemies, to do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return.
Jesus will tell them, not only do you do good for them, not only do you do what is in their best interest, you ask for nothing back.
Romans chapter 12, Paul will write, if your enemy is hungry, feed him.
all these passages teach us a principle that we as Christians are to love without exclusion.
We do not say to someone, you've done me wrong, you fix it first, then I'll love you.
You've done me harm, you fix it first, then I'll do good to you.
You're in need, but you've done me bad before, so when you fix that, then I'll help you.
That's not the picture of the love of God.
Then consider number two.
We learn that service is our weapon.
Jesus would stand before Pilate.
and he would tell Pilate, my kingdom is not of this world.
If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight?
Jesus emphasizes to this one who says, you not know that I have the power to kill you, that I have the power to release you?
Jesus says, you would have no power at all except it were given you from above.
Jesus emphasizes that the warfare that we are embattled in, the warfare that we are involved in, is not the way the world thinks about war.
and that the tools in our armaments are not the weapons that this world uses.
when you consider the armament that Paul describes in Ephesians chapter 6 when he says to put on the whole armor of God.
He describes our one offensive weapon.
It's the Word of God.
And that very word tells us that we are to love and that we are to do good to and that we are to serve our enemies.
there in John chapter 13.
after Jesus has washed those disciples' feet.
He reminds them, if I then your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you.
In Romans chapter 5, Paul, as he is writing to the church at Rome, as he is encouraging them,
to understand what Christ has done, writes beginning in verse six, for when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.
But God demonstrated His love towards us in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.
much more than, he says.
Having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."
What if God had said, I'll save you when you fix your sin problem?
What if God had said, I'll grant you eternal life?
Fix the problem between me and you first.
Reconcile yourself to me first.
Then I'll grant you eternal
What if God had said, I will be willing to adopt you as my children and demonstrate my great love for you.
I just need you to fix yourself first.
that would never have happened.
But that's not what he said.
God demonstrates in the very life and coming of Christ to this earth to die on the cross that the weapon of our warfare is service to our enemies.
but then consider as well that it is the test of genuine discipleship.
As Jesus exhibited back in the book of Matthew, as He compares the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, He says, if your righteousness does not exceed the righteousness of
the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.
and begins to describe those who do and live out God's actual law.
And he concludes with, if you want to be perfect, if you want to be like God, love your enemies.
Do good to those who do evil to you.
Matthew chapter 26, there in the garden, as Judas
is approaching.
We read in that text.
Matthew chapter 26 and in verse 50.
Jesus said to him, friend.
Why have you come?
Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took him.
in the midst of the very act of betrayal.
Jesus still calls Judas.
m
1 John chapter 2 and in verse 6 we read, who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk as he walks.
when we look at our lives, when we look at our world, when we look at all the problems that stem from sin.
Do we remember?
Do we recall that Christ called us to love those who are not yet lovable?
that He calls us to love those who will seek our very life.
that he calls us to do good and not evil to our enemies.
But then consider this last point because this entire lesson has a context that we need to remember.
And that is that God does not believe in letting those who oppose His will, His actions, and His people get off scot-free.
God does not hold the position that those who oppose that which is good and enjoy and promote that which is evil, who hold on to that which is wrong and deny that which is
right,
that they will live on and everything will be okay.
No.
That is not the message of Scripture, not even a little bit.
but rather that we can live our lives in service to those who are our enemies because there is one who will judge.
Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 35, God says, vengeance is mine.
I will repay, says the Lord.
In Hebrews chapter 10.
when the Hebrew writer is reminding those Christians, you don't turn back against God.
You don't turn back and go the other direction.
Rather, you remain faithful to Him because it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God.
You shouldn't really be all terribly concerned.
if what all the humanists say is true, what many in our society believe is true, that you know what, you live this life, you live it, you're born, you die, that's it.
then by all means live however you want to.
Because if that's all there is, why not?
Eat, drink, tomorrow we die.
But that's not all there is.
And it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a God who is not dead, who is not imaginary, who is not powerless, but is alive.
1 Peter chapter 2.
Peter as he describes the suffering of Christ.
as he exhorts Christians to carry on and live like Christ, even in suffering, because he showed us the example of how to do it.
We'll write, beginning in verse 18, servants be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and the gentle, but also to the harsh.
For this is commendable if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, wrongfully."
For what credit is it when you are beaten for your faults you take it patiently and when you do good and suffer if you take it patiently this is commendable before God.
For to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps who committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth who
when he was reviled did not revile in return when he suffered he did not threaten but committed himself.
to him who judges righteously.
who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we having died to sin might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed.
For you were like sheep going astray, but now have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your soul.
Peter reminds the Christians.
When you suffer, do good in return.
When you suffer, do so patiently.
When you're wronged, you remember that so was He, and He was wronged for you.
He was wronged that your stripes, that your sins,
that your punishment might be absolved.
So you take it patient.
our world.
has some positive things that happen in it every day.
but overall is not headed in a positive direction.
And there is one group of people above all others who must be committed to challenging the norm when it comes to enemies.
and it is the church that belongs to Jesus Christ.
If you're here this morning and you're outside the body of Christ, unfortunately, as one outside the body of Christ, you are an enemy of God.
You say, but I love God.
I don't feel like His enemy, but you are.
because you won't obey him.
But don't worry, because it was His enemies that He said in the Son to die for.
So you're not without hope yet.
But there is coming a day.
where the opportunity for salvation will be over and where the only thing left will be the judgment of God.
and it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of living God.
you're here this morning and you're outside the body of Christ, do not stay there because that is the place where salvation is found.
That is the place where God spent four thousand years putting things in order in humanity's history so that the church could exist, so that you could have salvation, so
the blood of Christ could atone for your sins.
and he spent 2,000 years proclaiming the message so you wouldn't have to be lost.
If you're here and you're outside the body of Christ, why not change that?
If you're here and you're inside the body of Christ, why not remember?
that we are not called to judge our enemies.
We are called to serve them.
If you're here this morning and you have need of the invitation, why not come forward now as we stand?