“Strength to Love” (1 Cor 13:1-13) - 4th Sunday after the Epiphany -

Who Is Your Enemy?

Do you have enemies? Sometimes there’s a thin line between enemy and friend. Once I heard a story about a man who was standing in the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge, admiring the view, when another tourist walked up alongside him to do the same. He heard the tourist say as he took in the beauty of the view: “What an awesome God!” He turned to him and said, “Oh, are you a Christian?” The tourist said, “Yes, I am a Christian.” He said, “So am I,” and they shook hands. The man said, “Are you a liberal or a fundamental Christian?” The tourist said, “I'm a fundamental Christian.” He said, “So am I,” and they smiled and nodded to each other. The man said, “Are you a covenant or dispensational fundamental Christian?” The tourist said, “I'm a dispensational fundamental Christian.” The man said, “So am I,” and they hugged one another and agreed to exchange their kids for the summer. The man said, “Are you an early Acts, mid Acts, or late Acts dispensational fundamental Christian?” The tourist said, “I'm a mid Acts dispensational fundamental Christian.” The man said, “You heretic!” and he pushed the tourist off the bridge.

Do you have enemies? I do. To be honest, I know I had and have and will have enemies. God knows we would have enemies through our lives. That is why Jesus did not say, “Don’t make any enemies,” but “Love your enemies.” Then, who is your enemy? The enemy is anyone who hates you and despises you for some reason – for either racial, political, religious, or personal reasons. We must admit the fact that some people will not like us, not because of something we have done to them, but they just won’t like us. Some people aren’t going to like the way you walk. Some people aren’t going to like the way you talk. Some people aren’t going to like you because your hair is a little shorter than theirs or your hair is a little longer than theirs. Some people aren’t going to like you, not because of something that you’ve done to them, but because of various other reactions in human nature. In other words, no matter who you are, no matter what you do you will have enemies through your lives.

How to Love Your Enemy?

Basically, our enemies can be a family member, church member, neighbor, co-worker, fellow-citizen, or government representative. In other words, just about anyone who does not like us. In fact, the Bible says that there was a time when we were God’s enemies (Romans 5:10). But by the death of Jesus Christ we were reconciled to God. And now our Lord Jesus Christ commands us, “Love your enemies.” This is an extremely difficult command. Jesus knew that it’s hard to love those who speak ill about us or falsely accuse us. He knew that it’s hard to love those who hate us, seek to harm us. But still, Jesus was very serious when he gave this command. How can we live out this command? And why should we live by this command?

Do No Harm

The first step to love our enemies is this: “Do no harm.” Hate begets hate, evil begets evil, revenge begets revenge. The only way to break this vicious cycle is to stop fighting back and to do no harm. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “One of the ways that you love your enemy is this: When the opportunity presents itself for you to defeat enemy, that is the time which you must not do it.” Probably, you remember the story of Shimei in 2 Samuel 16. When David fled from his son Absalom, Shimei cursed David, falsely accused, and said evil things to him. Shimei was David’s enemy. Later, the opportunity came for David to pay Shimei back. As David was returning to his palace, one of David’s men, Abishai, said to him, “Shouldn’t Shimei be put to death for this? He cursed the Lord’s anointed.” But David cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil by doing no harm to his enemy. He did forgive Simei and said, “You shall not die.”  

If we are to do no harm our enemies, we can on longer gossip about them. I can no longer speak ill about them or judge them. We can no longer diminish or ignore them but must honor and respect them as children of God. To do no harm is the act of disarming. It is to lay aside our weapons and trust God – his presence, power, guidance, leadership. In his book, The Imitation of Christ, Thomas a Kempis said, “We are quick enough to feel it when others hurt us, but we do not notice how much we hurt others. A person who honestly examines his or her own behavior would never judge other people harshly.” The first step to love our enemies is to resolve to do no harm. In order to do no harm our enemies, we must diligently examine ourselves – our motive, our conscience, our behavior.

Do Good

The second step to love our enemies is more proactive. It is to do good to our enemies. In Luke 6:27, our Lord Jesus said, “Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you!” What does it mean to do good to enemies? It means to bless them. The word “bless” here means to “speak well of” or “speak well to.” Yes, it is to speak well of and to those who say hurtful things to us. To do good to enemies also means to pray for them. It is to pray for those who seek to harm us, attack us, and mistreat us. This proactive love has a redemptive and transforming power.

We all remember the great present of this United States, Abraham Lincoln. When he was running for president of the United States, there was a man who ran all around the country talking about Lincoln. He said a lot of bad things about Lincoln, a lot of unkind things. He would talk about Lincoln’s looks, saying, "You don’t want a tall, lanky, ignorant man like this as the president of the United States." He went on and on and on and went around with that type of attitude and wrote about it. Finally, one day Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States. The time came for Lincoln to choose a Cabinet. And the time came for him to choose a Secretary of War. He decided to choose a man by the name of Mr. Stanton. All his people said to him, "Mr. Lincoln, are you a fool? Do you know what Mr. Stanton has been saying about you? Do you know what he has done, tried to do to you? Do you know that, Mr. Lincoln?” Abraham Lincoln said: "Oh yes, I know about it; I read about it; I’ve heard him myself. But after looking over the country, I find that he is the best man for the job." Mr. Stanton did become Secretary of War, and a few months later, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. And now we know that one of the greatest statements ever made about Abraham Lincoln was made by this man Stanton. Through the power of love Abraham Lincoln was able to transform and redeem Stanton. Only love can turn an enemy into a friend. Romans 12:21 says, “Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.” Dr. King also said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

Love Prevails

In the Greek language there are several different words for love: Eros is a sort of romantic love between couples. Phileo is a sort of intimate affection between friends. Storge is something that is experienced in families. All of these have one thing in common: We love these people with affection in our hearts. But there is another word for love. It is the word agape. Agape is more than eros, more than phileo, more than storge. Agape love is unconditional love. It is an overflowing love. It is a love that displays active good will toward everyone, including enemies. And it has to do with an act of the will. We are not commanded to love our enemies with affection in our hearts. We are commanded to love them with an act of the will. In Titus 3:3-7, Paul says that once we ourselves were foolish and disobedient. We were God’s enemies. But through Jesus Christ our Savior, God poured out the Holy Spirit on us abundantly, that we may live as his children and heirs. So now we have the power and strength to love our enemies. Today’s Scripture, 1 Corinthians 13, is all about agape love. It is not about emotions and affections, but about character and an act of the will. We have the power to be patient, kind, and to bless those who curse us. We have the power to do good to those who hate us. We have the power to pray for those who ignore and despise us. So let us keep loving our enemies. Let us keep doing no harm. Let us keep blessing them, doing good to them, and praying for them. And the time will come by the power of Christ’s agape love both our enemies and we ourselves will be transformed and become more like Christ. Amen.