Loving Our Enemies

David modeled what it means to love your enemy by sparing Saul’s life in 1 Samuel 24. In yesterday’s post we dug into the reality that the New Testament teaches that Christians are God’s anointed, and are anointed in a far greater sense than Saul or David. If it was right for David to treat Saul with so much mercy and restraint, how much more are we obligated to give that same grace to our Christian brothers and sisters? We are obligated in two ways:

1. We are obligated because we are the Lord’s anointed
   and are expected to act like it.

Ephesians 4:1-3 (NIV) As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Ephesians 5:1-2 (NIV) Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Colossians 3:12-15 (NIV) Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.

These passages have two things in common: they all are focused on how Christians are supposed to treat one another; and the motivation for it, because we are His chosen people.

1. We are obligated because our fellow Christians are the Lord’s anointed and are to be given the grace that Our Father has given them. Our commitment to be gracious to one another is not to be based on what people do, but in that they bear God’s Name and that they are God’s own people. Christians are God’s anointed, and God expects us to treat them—all of them—as such.

If David was so conscious stricken by merely cutting the corner of Saul’s robe who was anointed by the Lord, and saw it as such a sin to do anything to harm him, how much more should we be afraid to do harm to our Christian brothers and sisters?

Too often we think exactly the opposite. We are much more apt to be angry, critical, and harsh towards our fellow Christians because (we rationalize) they are God’s people and they should know better. As I have said before, it is a dangerous thing to hold a grudge against one of God’s sons or daughters, for they are the Lord’s anointed. David became sick with guilt and fear of the Lord’s anger because he cut the corner off of Saul’s robe. When we do not treat our fellow Christians with the same grace that we ourselves have been shown, we are forgetting our place and the great value God places on those who He sent His Son to bleed and die for that they might be His. When we bear ill will against one of God’s people, we are really bearing it against God.

Oswald Chambers reminds us,

Jesus’ instructions with regard to judging others is very simply put; He says, “Don’t.” The average Christian is the most piercingly critical individual known. Criticism is one of the ordinary activities of people, but in the spiritual realm nothing is accomplished by it. The effect of criticism is the dividing up of the strengths of the one being criticized.

The Holy Spirit is the only one in the proper position to criticize, and He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding. It is impossible to enter into fellowship with God when you are in a critical mood.

Criticism serves to make you harsh, vindictive, and cruel, and leaves you with the soothing and flattering idea that you are somehow superior to others. Jesus says that as His disciple you should cultivate a temperament that is never critical. This will not happen quickly but must be developed over a span of time. You must constantly beware of anything that causes you to think of yourself as a superior person.

There is no escaping the penetrating search of my life by Jesus. If I see the little speck in your eye, it means that I have a plank of timber in my own (see 7:3–5). Every wrong thing that I see in you, God finds in me. Every time I judge, I condemn myself (see Romans 2:17–24). Stop having a measuring stick for other people. There is always at least one more fact, which we know nothing about, in every person’s situation. The first thing God does is to give us a thorough spiritual cleaning. After that, there is no possibility of pride remaining in us. I have never met a person I could despair of, or lose all hope for, after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.

God wants us to be like David. He wants us to love our enemies and to do good to them. Like David, we should be especially gracious to one another as the Lord’s anointed. Let me close by sharing with you four common traits I have observed in gracious people that we should be working on if we are going to excel at being gracious towards one another.

1. Gracious people place a high value on being gracious because they know how much they need grace themselves. They are mindful of Jesus’ words, Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you (Matthew 7:1-2). When you know how desperate your own situation is because of your sin you can’t help but be gracious! You know that you are as guilty as the person you would be judging. This leads right to the second trait of gracious people,
2. Gracious people know there is a God, and they know it is not them. God is the only Just Judge. The gracious person is not out to show how bad or foolish someone is. James 4:12 says, There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor? God is a just God. Let Him worry about the faults in His servants. When you think like this your anger will be short-lived and the devil will not be able to take advantage of you and twist your righteous anger into something else. Don’t point out every wrong thing, every failure, and every sin of your neighbor. Let God be Judge. That’s His job, and He’s quite good at it!
3. Gracious people are quick to encourage and lift others up, and are slow to critique others. Proverbs 11:12 (ESV) says, Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent. More often than not, when you focus on finding fault and criticizing a person for this or that you end up making things worse. Defenses come up. They start to justify their actions. Just because a person has a legitimate fault, it does not mean the godly thing to do is to bring it out into the open. I hear people say, “Brother, I need to tell you something in Christian love.” But what comes next is often neither Christian nor loving. You are supposed to talk to your brother or sister not only in love, but also in kindness and compassion. When a fellow Christian brother or sister falls, and everyone does, God wants our first response to be to help that person back up onto their feet, to remind them of God’s love for them and His grace for them, and get them back into running the race.
4. Gracious people are forgiving people. Forgive each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. When I officiate at a wedding, I always mention the importance of forgiveness because forgiveness is essential to the success of a long term marriage relationship. I always say that no matter how much Mandi might hurt me, I won’t leave her. Because she can’t hurt me as much as I hurt my God every single day. And if He hasn’t given up on me, what right do I have to give up on her?

Are we as gracious towards others as Jesus is with us? The closer we get to that the further along the road to personal holiness we will be.