Love Your Enemies | Bob Hoyt

Hello. My name is Bob. I'm one of the pastors

here at Heights. And I want to start by saying

happy 4th of July weekend to everybody. I hope

you had a good 4th. And I want to welcome you

all. And for Pauldin and Baghdad and online,

welcome to you. And if it is your first time

here, thank you so much for being with us. And

if you are part of the Heights family, I want

to start with a question to ask you. How are

you liking the new collection of talks, Who You

Are? Is this good? When John was introducing

the collection to us as a staff and telling us

we're going to go through the Gospel of Luke,

what he didn't do is let us pick which section

we want to speak on. And it's funny because I

think God's got a sense of humor. And I'll tell

you why I say that. I don't know if you've experienced

this before, but it's happened more times than

I want to admit. But there's times in my life

when God gets super silent with me and I don't

hear him. And that silence can be super deafening

to me. And it might be really odd hearing that

from a pastor, but I want to be honest about

that because if you've experienced that, I want

you to know that you're not alone. If you felt

this too, it does happen. While I was going through

one of these times of silence, it was probably

about four or five months ago, and every morning,

I'm still praying, I'm still reading the Word,

but seeming not to see answers to my prayer,

and then not really hearing anything, an amazing

truth while I'm reading the Word. And I'm thinking

to myself, what is going on? Okay, is there any

unconfessed sin in my life? So I started looking

at everything, and I'm thinking, no, I think

everything's confessed. I think it's all out

there. And then I'm like, well, am I just not

listening well? And I felt like I was. Well,

this went on for a few months, and I think it

was like mid -May. I'm on my back porch in the

morning, and I'm reading and praying like usual,

and I'm like, God, just say anything to me. Speak

to me. Just say something to me. And two thoughts

seemed to... overcome my heart and my mind. And

I knew for sure that those two thoughts were

from the Holy Spirit. And the two things that

he said to me was, first of all, Bob, rid yourself

of all bitterness. And then the second thing

he said is, and it's not about you. And I'm thinking,

well, you've been silent for a few months. I'm

super glad you're speaking to me, but couldn't

you just tell me how much you love me? or that

you're pleased with something that I'm doing

right now. You know, kind of a feel good kind

of thing. And then I kind of got a bad attitude

in my heart with what I heard. And I'm like,

well, first of all, I don't have bitterness towards

anybody. And secondly, I'm married and have three

kids, so it's never about me. And so, you know,

the attitude got there. And so here's, I get

done and now I'm running late for an appointment.

So I jump in my car and I'm riding to this appointment.

And I go in and sit down and a person sitting

next to me was there that had wronged me years

ago. He wronged me and my family in a bad way.

And so I sit down there and I thought, well,

maybe I haven't let go of all bitterness yet.

And I could feel it building up. So I'm sitting

there and then a couple other names come to mind.

So I kind of look at God, I go, thank you. You

know, I know. So I'm trying to deal with the

whole thing. And then that week, Pastor John

breaks down the book of Luke and assigns us each

the passage we would be speaking on. And guess

which part I get? Jesus is a lover of enemies.

And which, by the way, last summer when I was

speaking, I was given the topic of forgiveness.

So either God's trying to teach me something.

or John's trying to say something to me. I'm

gonna go with the idea that God is trying to

teach me something. And I've felt this so many

times. When someone up here is speaking a message

that God gives them, it's usually for someone

that's here listening too. So if you're struggling

with this area, maybe it will help you as much

as it's been helping me. And I will say the passage

we're gonna look at, I do think. If I'm looking

at it, it's probably the most difficult teaching

of Jesus. So if you want to turn in your Bibles

to Luke 6, and before we jump right into the

passage, I want to explain what led up to this

passage that we're going to look at today. So

in Luke 5, there's conflicts and hate building

up in the religious leaders towards Jesus. First

of all, you heard last week in Pastor John spoke,

Jesus touched a leper. And according to the religious

leaders, you can't touch a leper because now

you're unclean. And then he forgave the sins

of a man lowered on a mat, which the religious

leaders were like, well, that's blasphemy. Who

are you to say you can forgive sins? And then

he had the nerve to drink and eat with sinners,

which was again, a big problem for them. And

then they criticized him for not observing the

Sabbath properly. Look what it says in Luke 6,

Luke 6:6

verses 6 and 7. It says, on another Sabbath,

he went into the synagogue and was teaching.

And a man was there whose right hand was shriveled.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were

looking for a reason to accuse Jesus. So they

watched him closely to see if he would heal on

the Sabbath. Can you feel the hate? It says they're

looking for a reason to accuse him. And then

after he did heal someone on that Sabbath day

in Luke 6, 11, it says this, but the Pharisees

and the teachers of the law were furious and

began to discuss with one another what they might

do to Jesus. So the hate keeps building in their

hearts and minds. And now they want to attack

the enemy in some way because he didn't follow

their rules. Little did they know this is God

himself. So Jesus is for sure now their enemy.

So Jesus wants them to see it's not about the

rule, but the heart behind the rule. And in the

Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, Jesus uses the

phrase a lot. You've heard it said, but I say.

And the same thing, it's like, it's not about

the law or the rule, it's about the heart behind

it. So now Jesus is gonna uproot their entire

value system about what really is. important

and what matters to God. So look in verse 20,

it says this, looking at his disciples, he said,

blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the

kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry,

for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who

weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you

when people hate you, when they exclude you and

insult you and reject your name as evil. because

of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap

for joy, because great is your reward in heaven,

for that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

But woe to you who are rich, for you have already

received your comfort. Woe to you who are well

fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who

laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to

you when everyone speaks well of you, for that

is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

There's so much here, but understand, this would

go against everything that the Jews believed.

For starters, really, rejoice. Be happy when

people hate you. Why? It's a blessing. All of

this would have made no sense. to the Jewish

audience that Jesus was speaking to. Because

the Jews of that day equated blessing and prosperity

and everything with coming from God. They assumed

the blessed life was free of pain, full of prosperity,

and everything you wanted, you got. And I do

think, and I'm gonna include myself in this,

sometimes we fall into that. We feel when things

are going really well, God must be pleased with

us and he must be happy. And then when things

aren't going the way we want, we're like, oh,

what did I do wrong? He must be mad at me. There's

gotta be something wrong right now. But Jesus

wanted them to see what God really values. He

wanted them to see that he is the blessing. It's

not about the things. God himself is the blessing.

And by the way, the passage we just read, that

piece of scripture, scholars refer to that as

the upside down kingdom. because it's opposite

of what people and culture thinks really mattered.

So who Jesus is goes against every natural instinct

and flips the world's values upside down, thus

the upside down kingdom. So now he wants them

to see clearly who he is and also get a glimpse

of who we are in the process. So in verse 27,

it says, but to you who are listening, I say,

love your enemies. And we can stop right there.

Wow. What thoughts, when you hear that, what

thoughts go through your heart and mind? Not

possible. You don't know my hurts. You don't

know what's been done to me. And it's a really

nice thought, but really only Jesus can do that.

But that's not true. Because the way Jesus says

it here, it's a commandment. And Jesus wouldn't

command you or I to do something if it's not

possible. So forgiving your enemies is possible.

Maybe not easy, but for sure possible. And I

want to talk through this idea of loving your

enemies because Jesus is a lover of enemies.

And I think it's fair to say this. You are never

more like God than when you forgive your enemies.

Let me word it different. You are never more

like God than when you love your enemies. And

the reason I say that is this, because you and

I were at one point enemies of God. I want you

to look at Romans 5, 10 we'll put up there. I'm

gonna read it in the New Living Translation because

I think it's so clear. It says, for since our

friendship with God was restored by the death

of his son, while we were still his enemies,

we will certainly be saved through the life of

his son. Did you catch it? We were enemies of

God. Think about it. At one point, you and I

were enemies of God and lucky for us, Jesus is

a lover of enemies. And what did he do while

we're still enemies? He died for us. He did it

before we even turned or asked for it. Because

the world of enemies, was God's mission field.

So don't hate the enemy. Love the enemy like

God did, who allowed his son to die for them.

And I really do think our enemies need to be

our mission field too. Because Jesus died for

your enemies just as much as he did for you.

And I would say this to you, according to the

scriptures, we're supposed to be transformed

to look more and more like Jesus all the time.

So we should look more like him the longer we've

been following him. And loving your enemies is

part of that. So after he says, love your enemies,

now he describes what that looks like. So he

says this, but to you who are listening, I say,

love your enemies, do good to those who hate

you, bless those who curse you, pray for those

who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one

cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone

takes your coat, Do not withhold your shirt from

them. Give to everyone who asks you. And if anyone

takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Now, I'm not gonna speak for you, but I'll speak

for myself. That doesn't usually come naturally

to me. And I would even say this, sometimes it's

way easier to hate than it is to love. Think

about that. We love to hate sometimes. I mean,

we love to hate. We're so proud to hate sometimes.

If you don't agree with the other political party,

ooh, hate comes real easy. And I don't know if

any of you have been downtown on a Tuesday afternoon

when the two political parties are cussing each

other out from one side to the other, pretty

proud of their hate. And then we got the sports

teams. It's really easy to hate some other teams.

And when I'm thinking of when it's easy to hate

for me, I will say, driving comes to mind sometimes.

I struggle sometimes. I think sometimes it's

easier for me to hate when I'm driving. It's,

I'm not proud to say it, but I get so mad and

hateful sometimes that all the cars on the 17

are enemies at this point. And Pastor Ben was

driving with me one time and he said, you know,

you become agnostic when you drive. And I go,

what? And he goes, it's like you don't, You're

not sure if there's a God. And once you get behind

the wheel, you really don't care. And so I want

to say this to you, like, I want to apologize

before I say this, but this happened here. If

you're in here, super sorry, but someone from

church gave me one of those heights crosses to

put on my car. No, I know that I struggle loving

when I drive and it's not good. I just gave it

to someone else. And I think I've gotten way

better, but not like good enough to put a sticker

on or anything like that. So as I say all that,

I want to be really clear. I'm not coming to

you as the expert in loving my enemies. I'm coming

beside you as someone who struggles, but wants

to be transformed to love like Jesus. And it's

obvious that God is continually laying this in

front of me. So it's something I have to deal

with. And as I studied the passage, God showed

me a few things that are helping me and might

help you. And one of the things he did was remind

me clearly in that to sincerely pray for the

person that has attacked me. And it's almost

impossible to hate the person that you're praying

for. I really do believe that it's almost impossible

to hate someone when you're praying for them.

And I think sometimes, and probably most of the

time, the prayer changes me. more than it does

them. For some, it's taken months of praying

to change my heart and mind. But I would say

it eventually does happen. And I have seen what

God does through praying for your enemies. I

want to tell you the story of a young man that

was an enemy that I prayed for. He was funny.

He hated Pastor Ben and me so much. And it was

really obvious. from the way his body language

was and the way he would stare me down. I was

running a men's recovery Bible study at my house.

And so the group would come from a local treatment

center and they would bring a couple of vans

and the guys that came didn't have a choice.

They have to come to this thing. So I think at

this point of the Bible study, there was probably

about 25 or 30 guys and I would make them dinner

and then we'd do a Bible study. The one young

man, I think, well, he was a hell's angel and

I think he just got out of prison, but he would

sit there when he came in and he would just like

this and look at me with such hate. Like if looks

could kill, John would be preaching here today.

I wouldn't be here. But you know what it said

we read earlier? Consider it pure joy when someone

hates you. So it was joyous occasion every Wednesday

at my house. So, well, at the end of each group,

Pastor Ben and I would go around each guy and

go, hey, is there anything you want prayer for?

And so every time we would get to him, same answer,

I don't want you to pray anything for me. And

every time I'd be, well, I'm going to be praying

for you anyway. And he told me later, he goes,

I wanted to punch you in the face every time

you said that, which was fine because I wanted

to punch him in the face too. But I really did.

I sincerely prayed for him with all my heart.

And through those prayers, both of our hearts

were changed. He is an amazing young man of God

right now. He's in full -time ministry, and he

is impacting for the kingdom beyond what you

can imagine. So I saw what praying for my enemy

can do, and yet praying for my enemy is still

not natural, and it's often not my first thought.

I can honestly say the person I said that I ran

into going to that appointment, I'm praying for,

and I know. God will change my heart and my mind

on it. And understand, I'm not saying what he

did to me was okay. It was nasty. It was hateful.

There's no excusing it. It did hurt my family.

But I'm choosing to follow the example of Jesus,

who is a lover of enemies. Because I want to

be like that too. And again, not because they

deserve it, but because I didn't deserve it.

and I was given love. So I want to look at the

last verse we read in that passage. In verse

31, a lot of people call it the golden rule,

which is do to others as you would have them

do to you. Now our world and our natural self

operate by what I heard called the iron rule,

which is do unto others as they have done to

you, or I'm going to treat you like you treated

me. And yet here we're called treat others the

way you want them to treat you. And that's regardless

of how they treat you or I. And again, not because

they deserve it, but because of who we follow.

And then the last part of that passage, Jesus

continues to show who he is. So in verse 32,

it says, if you love those who love you, what

credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.

They love others. And if you do good to those

who are good to you, what credit is that to you?

Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those

from whom you expect repayment, what credit is

that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners expecting

to be repaid in full. And then he says it again,

but love your enemies. Do good to them and lend

to them without expecting to get anything back.

Then your reward will be great. and you will

be children of the Most High because he is kind

to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful just

as your Father is merciful. Again, this is written

as a command. So it's not an option. It's a command.

Jesus is saying to treat others the way our Heavenly

Father treated us. And from what Jesus is saying

here, he's telling us to respond to those enemies

just the way God responded to us as enemies.

So I keep looking at that thing and I think maybe

the real rule should be do unto others as Jesus

has done for you. And that's the kind of love

that gets people's attention. That's what got

my attention when I looked at Jesus. As nasty

and broken as I was and sometimes still is, am.

He loves me. And that kind of love to me is captivating.

It really is. That's the one, one of the things

that Jesus said from the cross, one of the very

last things. This is why it's so remembered.

With his last breaths, he says, forgive them,

Father, for they don't know what they are doing.

That kind of love makes no sense. That kind of

undeserved Love grabs your attention and it demands

a response. That love changed the thief that

was crucified next to Jesus. In one of the gospels,

it says both thieves were cursing Jesus and criticizing

him and insulting him. And then that one thief

watched Jesus' love in the face of hate. Because

of what Jesus said, That love changed that thief,

and that thief is now in heaven with Jesus Christ.

My younger daughter, Malia, she is married. She

lives in New York City. She was telling me about

a woman she met that they had been out a few

times, and the woman had a super bad experience

with church. So Malia said, through a mutual

friend that was talking to this woman, she goes,

oh, she goes, I told her you were a Christian.

She said she didn't get that from your conversation

together. We was like, well, I don't really know

what that means, but okay. And then after that,

my daughter said she was at a dinner with this

woman with a bunch of people. And she said the

woman was pretty rude to the waiter, to some

of the people at the dinner party, and even to

her and her husband. And the waiter comes by.

She sent everything back to the kitchen complaining.

She then wanted to cheap tip the waiter. And

so my daughter's telling me this story and she's

like, dad, I'm really trying to love her, but

I don't know what to do. And then she said like

maybe three or four days later, the lady called

her up and said, hey, could we go out and get

coffee? And so she goes, dad, I'm gonna go out

there, but I don't know what to do. And I go,

well, you gotta go. And I said, just keep loving

her. She goes, well, no, I know I'm gonna go

and I'll do that. But she goes, it just makes

me super uncomfortable. Well, then the woman

met her for coffee and she goes. you are nicer

to me than everyone else. She goes, everyone's

been rude to me and you are always nice. And

I don't know, like maybe she's never been loved

well before and undeserved love, I think does

catch attention. And I don't know if this woman

will ever turn to Jesus Christ, but I will tell

you that my daughter and I are praying for her

every day because when we love the undeserving,

it gets attention. Like the passage we just read

said, anyone can love people who love them. Anyone

can repay good for good. Even the worst of people

and the worst of sinners will love those who

love them. It's loving when treated poorly that

stands out. That love draws people in to say,

how? How could they do that? Like looking at

Jesus from the cross, how can he say, forgive

them? And again, I'm saying, I'm speaking as

not an expert of a lover of enemies, but I'm

also not content to live in hate anymore. And

I wanna change. The last verse we read in that

last passage in verse 36, it says, be merciful

even as your father is merciful. I wanna be merciful

to others the way God has been to me. But really

get this, understand this, you can't be merciful.

unless you've been wronged. There has to be a

wrong done to you in order to extend mercy. So

I know for myself, and maybe we need to have

a change of heart and mind and say, look at the

enemies as opportunities. So again, it's a really

hard subject to talk about, but I want to encourage

you with a couple things to take away to be a

lover of enemies. First of all, I would say this.

I was reminded, and it's really gonna stay with

me, to pray for my enemies. Because I really

do believe that it's hard to hate the person

you're praying for. And remember, you and I were

both enemies of God, so do unto others as Jesus

has done for you. And lastly, what stood out

to me is loving your enemy is a command. You

have a choice to love or hate. So choose love.

Don't be content or proud to stay in your hate.

Let me pray. Heavenly Father, I just come before

you and I thank you. Fathers, I joke that you

spoke to me and I'm so grateful. And Father,

I think for all of us in here, we all wanna be

more like you. We wanna love like you. And if

loving enemies was your mission field, Father,

help us to do the same. Father, I lift everyone

up in here and there might be certain names that

came to mind. I pray that you would help each

of us to deal with those things, to come to you

in prayer, lifting them up. Father, you've been

so gracious and so merciful to us. Help us to

do that and be that to others, Lord. We love

you and thank you. In Jesus' name, amen.