A Community Of Peculiar People

Your source of blessings and love for your enemy should seem strange.

Luke 6:20-23 Then Jesus turned to His disciples and said, "God blesses you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. 21 God blesses you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied. God blesses you who weep now, for in due time you will laugh. 22 What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. 23 When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way.

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Adam and Eve had a perfect relationship with their creator and with each other but that didn't last for too long. The Bible is the story about how quickly our relationship with God was broken, the effect it had on all other relationships and the long road back to living in perfect community again.

God called out a community to be his people, he gave them a standard to live by that would govern how they related to himself and to each other. At Mount Sinai he gave the community ten simple rules that seems like an easy way to help them to live together peacefully but man has proven that we think we know better. (Exodus 19-20)

When Jesus began his ministry he also called for a community that would live by a different set of rules. From the mountain where Jesus first recorded sermon was given, he challenged us to live by a set of values that is completely opposite of normal human wisdom.

Our View Of Our Circumstances 

The people inside the community of Jesus followers have a different outlook on life and value things that the world despises. This community has a different idea of what it is to be blessed, this community realizes that sometimes our blessings are very well disguised to the point that the world is very confused by what we value and consider to be blessings.

Jesus said that his followers would be blessed at all times but especially when they are weak, poor, hungry and/or persecuted. We are not to go looking for ways to be persecuted but when we are our reaction is different. Because we know that all things work together for our good we realize that every situation is a blessing.

Pain And Suffering Have A Good Purpose
Cleanse and purify us by getting us to focus on God Cultivate our spiritual growth and strengthen our faith Certify his power to sustain us so that he gets the glory

Jesus also told us that the things that the world uses to describe blessings are things that we should be cautious about having. We usually define blessed as having power, comfort, success and recognition but Jesus tells us that we need to be cautious when we have these things and we should beware of other people that have these things.

Our View Of People Outside Our Community

When we live with the proper attitude about power, comfort, success and recognition we can live with a radical new freedom. We won't have any reason to put down other people because we won't be trying to build ourselves up. Therefore we can be generous in using our time, treasure and talents for the benefit of others instead of for our own interest.

When we realize that we are both sinners and saved by grace, we will have freedom from the values that previously defined us, and yet a regard and love for those who don't share our values.

- Tim Keller

There is a tendency to look down on people that are not on the inside, this is just as true inside the church as it is in the rest of society, very few people are drawn to befriend and seek the good of people that are not like us.

Luke 6:35-36  “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.

It isn't enough to just tolerate your enemy and decide not to harm them, Jesus wants us to truly love them and do good to them, we are supposed to treat them better than most of us treat our best friend.

Since God is kind to the unthankful and the wicked (that's us) we are obligated to do the same. We should have the same heartfelt compassion to treat the people outside of the community of believers just as awesome as God has treated us.

Your source of blessings, the things you value and your love for everybody should seem strange to the world around you. So strange that they will know that you really are his child and they will be attracted to join us.

How strange do you look to the world around you?

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God's Enemies

Whose side are you on?

1 John 2:18-21  Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come.   

19  These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.   

20  But you are not like that, for the Holy One has given you His Spirit, and all of you know the truth.  21  So I am writing to you not because you don't know the truth but because you know the difference between truth and lies.

John 10:10  The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

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Can you imagine the nicest person that ever lived? Someone that always loved the people around them, they gave away everything they owned, they had kind words for everybody they knew. Can you imagine somebody hating that person? Sounds absurd doesn't it?

That's how crazy it seems to those that love God. We can't imagine that somebody so good could have an enemy and be so despised. We cannot understand the opposition in the New Testament from the religious crowd much less comprehend the hatred that was poured out on Jesus when he was beaten and crucified.

One terrible example of somebody that was against God in a great way:

Around 168 B.C. a man by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes came to the fore of Jewish history. Epiphanes means "the great one." He gave himself that name. He instituted the death penalty for anyone who circumcised a child or owned a copy of the law. He erected an altar to Zeus in the courts of the Temple. He sacrificed a pig on the altar in defiance of Jewish law. He turned the Temple chambers into brothels.

-John MacArthur

This man took deliberate steps to go against God and desecrate the Temple. The things that he did give us a picture of the coming Antichrist.

“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first."

The Bible warns us that in the last days the Antichrist will come but we need to watch out because there are a lot of other smaller antichrist that are already here. Some of these antichrist were people that had been a part of the local church but they left to follow some false teaching. Some of the people that you think are backsliders may have never been true believers.

The early church had to deal with a lot of false teachers, the devil had to do everything that he could to oppose the beginning of the church, he couldn't allow the gospel to spread without protest, he was ready to infiltrate the church with false doctrine to take away from the gospel. (Acts 20:29-30)

“Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me." 

 We have to be careful about where we stand. Jesus drew a line in the sand and said you have to decide which side you are on. We need to be very cautious, anybody could step across the line and be opposed to the work that God is doing, the opposition can be so subtle.

Just look at how quick and easy it happened to Simon Peter when he opposed the idea of Jesus being crucified. Even Jesus had to decide whose side he was going to be on when he was tempted by Satan. (Matthew 4:1-11, 16:23)

God's Enemies Will Lose
Isaiah 54:17  But in that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed. You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you. These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the LORD; their vindication will come from Me. I, the LORD, have spoken!

We have been warned, the ultimate victory belongs to our God, it doesn't matter what the devil or his followers do or what weapon they use. This is another fact that is difficult to understand, doesn't he know he isn't going to win? The Bible tells us that Satan's power is inferior to God's and it shows us many examples of God's power defeating Satan but he won't stop his war against God.

I have to decide if I am going to be friends with God or if I am going to take sides with his enemy. There are way too many people that claim to be a child of God that are being way too friendly with the world. A backslider is in a dangerous situation, we must wonder if he is really a backslider or maybe he wasn't ever a true believer, only God knows for sure. (James 4:4, 1 John 2:19)

If you think this world is a battle ground, just remember the unseen world is doing battle far greater than what we can see and we don't know everything that is going on behind the scenes, Jesus told Peter, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you." Peter didn't have a clue about the battle and that Satan was after him. (Luke 22:31–32, Ephesians 6:12)

Lord help me to be aware of the devils strategy and to stand my ground.

The Hardest Prayer

Praying for the problem people can be frustrating.

Matthew 5:43-45  "You have heard the law that says, 'Love your neighbor' and hate your enemy.  44  But I say, love your enemies! [Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you.] Pray for those who persecute you!  45  In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For He gives His sunlight to both the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.

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We love to pray for the people that we love, it is so easy to pray for your parents, nana and papa, or your best friend but Jesus tells us that we need to pray for everybody. In this scripture which is part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says that we are to love everybody and then he goes on to say that not only are we to love everybody but we are to pray for them as well.

We see throughout the Gospels that Jesus broke down the barriers that prevent love from spreading. Jesus showed us how to love the unlovable, the picture of love that he gave us includes a road trip through Samaria, it includes inviting tax collectors to be his friends and it includes sharing the plan of salvation with a Pharisee but he didn't stop there.
"Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing."

-Jesus

The ultimate display of love in the Bible also includes a prayer for those that do not deserve to be loved. Jesus proved that there is a direct connection between loving your enemies and praying for them. Jesus' love gave him the ability to pray a blessing on his "enemies" while he has in agony from the pain that they had inflicted on him.

Want to retaliate?

1 Peter 3:9-10  Don't repay evil for evil. Don't retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and He will bless you for it.  10  For the Scriptures say, "If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies.

It isn't my job to get revenge and try to even out the score. The best way to have the right attitude and love the people that don't "deserve" to be loved is to bring them before the Lord in prayer. It is difficult to speak evil of them and be unloving to them after you have prayed a blessing over them. Even if somebody sees me as their enemy I still need to see them as my neighbor and pray for them.

Jesus, help me to see the world around me through your eyes, I need to see how sin has affected this world and how it has tried to destroy our ability to relate with each other. Thank you for showing us that we can have loving relationships even if we don't get anything back as a reward.

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The Believer's Survival Guide

How to live in this world while you are looking forward to eternity.

1 Peter 2:12  Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when He judges the world.

1 Peter 3:13-18 Now, who will want to harm you if you are eager to do good?

14 But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats.

15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. 16 But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ.

17 Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong!

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It is important for God's children to behave differently than the rest of the world, Peter tells us to live "properly" in front of our unbelieving neighbors, they are watching you and you need to be concerned about what they see.

Peter has been telling the recipients of his letter that they will suffer, as an alien in an ungodly culture, there will be attacks. The ungodly will harass and persecute believers and so we need to be ready for it and know how to defend ourselves and we need to know how to cope with not fitting in.

Be Careful How You Live

Survival Guide Tip #1

There is a pretty good chance that if you do the right thing then very few people will try and harm you or give you a difficult time. Being passionate about living with the fruit of the spirit will silence most of your critics.

This isn't always true, your passion for goodness will be more than some people can take, sometimes a righteous person will suffer at the hand of godless men because your virtuous life will irritate them.

Worship God Constantly

Survival Guide Tip #2

Instead of worrying about it we should be worshiping and honoring God. Our concern should be with God and his desire for my life but instead we take our eyes off of him and worry about what man can do and what they may think about us.

Jesus is Lord and we need to remember that is sovereign and he is in control. It takes a total surrender to God to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord in the midst of your pain and suffering. If God's plan and purpose is to work through you in your suffering then you should rejoice that he is working his plan out through you.

Be Ready To Explain

Survival Guide Tip #3

Your godly living will make a stir and people will probably have some questions for you. After you have their attention you should be ready to tell them why you are so strange. We should be able to give a polite, biblical answer to explain the motivation for our lifestyle and the reason that we are a Christian.

You may think, "How will that help me?" The fact is if you don't fully understand what you believe and why then there is the possibility that you will doubt what you believe when the pressure is on.

A Pure Conscience

Survival Guide Tip #4

You have to rely on your conscience when the accusations and insults are flying at you, your conscience is a device that God gave you to keep you out of trouble, it is a source of conviction or affirmation.

If the conscience knows that we are in sin, it will nag at us. If the conscience knows that we are living in obedience, it will affirm us and help us realize that our accusers are wrong.

It is up to us to decide why we are suffering. Are you suffering for doing good? Are you suffering because God is trying to correct you?

Thank you Lord for giving me hope and encouraging me with the wisdom found in your word.

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Love Your Enemies

Pray that God will bless them

 Matthew 5:44  But I say, love your enemies! Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for those who persecute you!

1 Peter 3:9  Don't repay evil for evil. Don't retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and He will bless you for it.

Romans 12:14, 17  Bless those who persecute you. Don't curse them; pray that God will bless them. Never pay back evil with more evil.

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How crazy is that!?! Of course I want to be blessed and sure I can see praying for my friends to be blessed but praying a blessing for my enemies is a bizarre idea.

Human nature tells me that I need to get back at those people that don't do nice things for me or to me but the same God that gave me all of the grace that i could ever need is telling me to extend that same grace to everybody else.

It is impossible to love the conduct of the person that treats us so bad or lives in opposition to the laws of God but our dislike for the conduct must be separated from our dislike for the person. I need to wish him well, I need to speak kindly of him, I need to help him in his hour of need and I need to pray that God will bless him.

I need to be careful to never have a black list, people to even up the score with, I need to do good to everybody just as Jesus did (1 Peter 2:23).

Help me Lord to treat people the way that you would, thank you that you refuse to treat me the way that I deserve because I am your child.