ENEMIES LIST

 

Living in this world it is impossible to not have enemies. No matter how nice or holy you are there are some people who will not like you and some that will hate you. We are always shocked by this when it happens. There are people that will hate you for the color of your skin , your sex, your national origin , your political view , your religion or just some personal reason. This eliminates the hope that we will have no enemies. Some even have an enemies list. Jesus our Lord had enemies despite living perfectly and loving perfectly. Some hated him just because he was Jewish. One such incident took place when Jesus and his followers were on the way to Jerusalem stopped in a village of the Samaritans. Luke 9:53- 56 says " 53.But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. 54.When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55.But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; 56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” And they went on to another village."

The sons of thunder, Mark 3:17, James and his brother Johns reaction was anger and holy vengeance. Jesus corrected them and there wrong kind of "spirit." there attitude was wrong for the message Jesus was preaching . Jesus says he was here to save everyone even his enemies!! Guess who is included as his enemies before they accepted him as savoir; all of US. If Jesus called down fire on every enemy; we would have been crispy. What did Jesus says while he hung dying on the cross after hours of torture and betrayal in Luke 23:34 "Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots." Yes as his enemies stole his possession and killed him, he forgave! 

  Jonah a prophet of God was called to preach a very difficult sermon. One aimed at a group of evil people who had persecuted his people and the surrounding nations. They were the Nazis and terrorist of the day. The Assyrians look them up to discover just how evil they were. they were evil and as far as Jonah was concerned and deserved " fire to come down from heaven and consume them." I guess that Jonah was shocked when God said go to them and preach a sermon of repentance! Jonah response was to run away from the job. God through a series of events made sure he delivered the message;  Read the story for yourself in his book of the bible. After being vomited out after 3 days in a fish; Jonah marched into the Assyrian city of Nineveh and declared that God would destroy the city IF they did not repent. Jonah 3 " 4. On the first day of his journey, Jonah set out into the city and proclaimed, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned!”

Jonah was disappointed and angry when the whole city repented !! Jonah reaction is found in "Jonah 4: 1 Jonah, however, was greatly displeased, and he became angry. and 2. So he prayed to the LORD, saying, “O LORD, is this not what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I was so quick to flee toward Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion—One who relents from sending disaster." Jonah knew the nature of God even in the old Testament he was a God of love. Jonah was angry because he wanted vengeance on his enemies like James and John. When we preach the truth and the Gospel we are preaching to enemies who like the Assyrian are headed for God's judgment if they do not repent! If they are unsaved harsh judgment ending in HELL, if they are fellow Christians chastisement. What are we to do is found in scripture. Luke 6:27. But to those of you who will listen, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28.bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 

  God knows we have enemies, sometime those enemies can be fellow believers becasue we are  fallen humans,1 Corinthians 1:11-12. We are commanded to try and live in peace with them, if possible, loving and praying for them! Where is justice! God's answer Proverbs "20: 22 Do not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong!” Wait for the Lord, and he will avenge you." Paul writes in Romans 12: "14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. then 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” It is not enough to just not to seek revenge or vengeance, Jesus makes the hard command to actually love them. The correct spirit is not anger "if fire is not fall down" but active love in the form of blessing. We let God handle vengeance if they do not repent. 

We have to take out list of physical enemies and turn it into a pray and blessing list. This is all only possible by the power of God through the Holy Spirit acting in our lives. We going to struggle daily with our fallen nature and incorrect "spirit." Remember Peter in  John 18:10 “Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.” But in Luke 22:51 But Jesus answered, "No more of this!" And he touched the man's ear and healed him." God works his justice through many ways one is found in  Romans 13:4 For the one in authority is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God's servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. We can call the police when a crime takes place and not violate God's command to love.  This balance with the law is being done by authorities who we hope act to provide safety and justice.

Lastly, The enemies spoken of are physical one that we encounter and may live with daily. Spiritual enemies we are told in the word demand a different approach Ephesians 6:12 . That is not a topic for a short blog post. 

Written by SSligh blog creator/moderator