I grew up in the 60s and 70s, during the Vietnam War years, during the Jesus People movement and the hippie movement and the anti-war protests, and the anti-war songs. Perhaps some of you are as familiar as I am with the lyrics of the iconic Bob Dylan song, “Blowin’ in the Wind.” Here are some of the lines:
“Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly before they’re forever banned?Yes, and how many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?
Yes, and how many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind. The answer is blowin’ in the wind.”
We might still ask those questions: how many deaths, how many times, how much hatred, how many killings, how many years, when will it end? Bob Dylan’s only hope was “blowin’ in the wind,” but our hope, as followers of the lord Messiah Jesus-Yeshua, is in the absolute assurance of a future Kingdom of peace and love here on this earth. It is to be established in the future after the return of Jesus-Yeshua, but I believe we are called and commanded to represent Kingdom characteristics now. Wherever our “foot shall tread,” people should be able to see the light of the Gospel message about the soon coming kingdom of God shining forth in our words and deeds.
When I began writing this article, I had in mind to focus on
non-violence and loving our enemies. But as I continued to write, I realized my
thoughts were stretching in another direction, also. Yes, we are commanded to
love our enemies, but we are first commanded to love one another, love the
people in our own “tribe,” the followers of the lord Messiah Jesus-Yeshua. If
we don’t love other believers, our brothers and sisters in the lord Messiah
Jesus-Yeshua, we cannot love those not in our tribe, who are outsiders, and our
enemies.
The rise and spread of social media have created an
environment never before experienced in which people can immediately
communicate with others from one side of the globe to the other. We can also
react to posts within seconds. And given the feeling of anonymity that exists
in social media, where many of us hide behind pseudonyms, we find it far too
easy to react in a knee-jerk way and to spew whatever first springs to mind.
Unfortunately, because of our great predilection for juicy gossip or outrageous
behaviors, or weird conspiracies, the algorithms of these platforms take note
of what we click on to feed us more and more of this outrageousness. Pretty
soon, we are deep down the rabbit hole. We lose our orientation of up and down.
We seem to lose our ability to reason clearly and to control our reactions.
Before we know it, we are also posting inflammatory statements, adding to the
fires.
Sadly, I have witnessed this animosity so much in Christian
online groups that I left several. Yes, I saw those who claim to be followers
of the lord Messiah Jesus-Yeshua name-calling and “yelling” - posts in all
capital letters - at other followers of the lord Messiah Jesus-Yeshua. This
should not be!
One study I found asked the question: “Do churches and Christian’s
love people unconditionally?” Only 41% of churchgoers and 76% of pastors
surveyed replied in the affirmative. In other words, more than half of the
churchgoers surveyed do not think that Christians, their own “tribe,” are
loving, and a quarter of the pastors have that same negative view of their own
sheep! This is shocking, disturbing data.
To those of you who have ears to listen: How will the world,
the “outsiders,” know that you or I are disciples of Jesus-Yeshua if we are
judgmentally judging, backbiting, gossiping, criticizing, ignoring, dismissing,
name-calling, or screaming at fellow believers? Does that make us appear any
different from the world around us? Do we compromise and make excuses for our
un-Messiah like behavior? Do you see nonbelievers acting more lovingly than
believers? Our actions reflect our true hearts. Jesus said that it is
what comes out of our mouths, the things birthed in our hearts - the thoughts
and plans of murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony,
slander, and more - that defile us (Matthew 15:16-20). The only way that the
world will know that we are Jesus’ disciples is by our love towards our
brothers and sisters in the lord Messiah Jesus-Yeshua, and to them! It is not
by how much money we give to charities, or how much Scripture knowledge we
have, or how large our congregation is, or by whatever other measurement you
wish to use. As the old song reiterates, “And they’ll know we are Christians by
our love, by our love, yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.”
Therefore, the second order after loving God above all else is to love our
neighbors, all men and women we come in contact with, as ourselves.
I have just finished reading the book UnChristian by David
Kinnaman. Based on hundreds of studies, data collections, and one-on-one
conversations, he has learned that nonbelievers, or “outsiders” as he calls
them, view Christians as hypocritical, judgmental, and overly involved in
politics. In every chapter, the solution proposed was love. We followers of the
lord Messiah Jesus-Yeshua need to love our neighbors – all men and women, as we
love ourselves. Instead of turning our noses up at their tattoos and piercings,
their lifestyle choices, their colorful language, their “otherness,” we must remember
to love them as we love ourselves. Treat others as we want them to treat us.
Matthew 9:36 states that “When Jesus saw the crowds, he had
compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without
a shepherd” (NLT). Other versions describe the people as harassed, wearied, and
cast away, distressed and downcast, dispirited and dejected.
Likely, not all, or maybe not many of the nonbelievers that
you regularly encounter appear to be helpless or distressed or downcast. It is possible,
they are happily enjoying their families, their jobs, their friends, their
cabin at the lake, their lives. Even so, they need us to love them, not
negatively judge them.
Whether they know it or not, they are “enemies of God,” just
as we once were. According to Romans 5:10, it was “while we were enemies of
God - Yehovah that the Son died for us.” So how do we dare judge others for
doing the things we once did? And if God - Yehovah can love His enemies, how
dare we do less? How dare we hold anger and bitterness in our hearts, hold on
to decades-long grudges, and recall the injustices that others have done to us?
None of that will draw anyone closer to salvation. Remember: it is God’s –
Yehovah’s love, His patience, tolerance, and kindness that lead to repentance
(Romans 2:4).
However, in our welcoming and loving and listening and
caring, by no means do we compromise or dilute the Truth. God’s – Yehovah’s
expectations are true and timeless. We love, as Jesus did, while still being
honest with the unsaved. Jesus extended compassion towards the woman caught in
adultery, but he also delivered truth: “Go and sin no more” (John 8:1-11). We
do nonbelievers no good if we show them love without also giving them truth.
Patiently showing our love to them may entice them towards salvation (as just
quoted from Romans 2:4), but it is the confession of sins, the profession of Jesus-Yeshua
as lord, and following God’s – Yehovah’s commandments that grant entrance into
the future Kingdom of God that we all look forward to. Would any of us want to
be standing nearby during the Great White Throne Judgment and have a
nonbeliever point at us accusingly, saying, “You never told me!”
Loving Our Enemies
Now, I will enter perhaps more controversial territory. Up
to this point, I have had in mind our not-yet-saved family, friends, neighbors,
co-workers, and people we are in regular contact with. Let me now widen that
group. What about people we consider to be our enemies? What about the
evildoers in our community? What about the people who hate us? What about the
people on the other side of the political divide? What about those terrorist
groups and those countries they came from? What about those people “over there”
who don’t hold our American values? Is it okay to negatively judge them, shun
them, hate them? No!
Let me tell you two significant events that changed and
solidified my thinking on this subject. First of all, I was with a missionary
team ministering in Nicaragua in July of 1986 during the Sandinista-Contra war.
As Americans, we not only represented the lord Messiah Jesus-Yeshua to them; we
also represented America. Believers there said to us, “Please tell your
government to stop supporting the war here that is killing us.”
The second event occurred only a few months later when I was
attending Atlanta Bible College. Anthony Buzzard posed the question of whether
Christians should be involved in the military and in war. The answer should be
obvious. You cannot love your neighbor, all men and women, as you love yourself,
and be involved in killing them. Can you imagine the lord Messiah Jesus-Yeshua
in the military? The answer is obvious: NO.
As Bible-believing, Scripture-quoting, followers of the lord
Messiah Jesus-Yeshua, we cannot pick and choose which of his words to obey and
which ones to ignore. If Jesus is truly our “Commander-in-Chief,” we have no
other choice but to abide by every word that he spoke, even if it goes against
our broken human nature or against society or against our own government.
According to Matthew 28:20, shortly before his ascension to heaven, Jesus told
the disciples to go out into the world to make more disciples in every nation
by teaching them to obey all the commands he had given them. The word “all”
does not leave room for any exception. We are to obey all his commands.
Look up Jesus’ – Yeshua’s words in Matthew 5:43-46: “You
have heard that the Law said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I
tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you… For if
you love only those who love you, what reward do you get for that? Even the tax
collectors [evildoers] do that!”
These words were also recorded by Luke: “But I say to
anyone who is listening: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you.
Bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you. If someone hits you
on one cheek, turn the other cheek… Do to others what you want them to do to
you. If you love only those who love you, why should you deserve any credit
for that? Sinners do that as well. But I tell you to love your enemies, do
good to them, and lend without expecting to be repaid anything. Then you will
receive a great reward, and you will be children of the Most High God, for He
is kind to ungrateful and wicked people. Be compassionate, just as your Father
is compassionate” (Luke 6:23-25).
So, are you listening? Do you want to be children of the
Most High God? Are you as compassionate as your God and Father - Yehovah is
compassionate?
During the last days before his death, Jesus spoke
repeatedly and emphatically about love as the right way for a disciple of God.
John, whose letters to churches are full of talk of love, surely took to heart Jesus-Yeshua’s
words. In chapter 13 of John’s Gospel, he quotes Jesus: “A new commandment I
give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”
(John 13:34-35). Notice that he said three times to love one another. Love
in the same way as I loved you. Thus, the world will recognize you as belonging
to me. Amen!
How will the world,
the “outsiders,” know that you and I are disciples of Jesus? By our love, that
is, if we are actually loving one another. If we are backbiting, gossiping,
criticizing, ignoring, or dismissing fellow believers, will the world see the
love? If we are sneering at the followers of the lord Messiah Jesus-Yeshua who
don’t believe exactly as we do, are we showing love? If we are turning our
backs on the followers of the lord Messiah Jesus-Yeshua, fleeing desperate
situations, do they feel the love? Loving one another is not just a
suggestion from Jesus; it is an order, an edict, a mandate, a requirement for
entrance into the kingdom of God!
In John 14:24-25, Jesus says, “Anyone who loves me will
obey my teaching… Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching.”
What teachings was he referring to? Remember Matthew 28:20: “Teach them to
obey everything I have commanded you.” We don’t get to pick and choose what
we like and what we don’t like about Jesus-Yeshua’s commands. Either he is our lord,
our Master, or he is not. No amount of hemming and hawing, no number of excuses
can exempt you or me or any other professing follower of the lord Messiah
Jesus-Yeshua from Jesus-Yeshua’s order to love one another and to love our
enemies. Remember we are bought with a price, the shed the blog Jesus’-Yeshua
shed on the cross when he gave himself up as a sin-offering sacrifice to
reconcile humanity to his God and Father Yehovah. That makes us the slaves of
the lord Messiah Jesus-Yeshua, and slaves must follow the orders of their
Master or suffer grave consequences.
Some ask this question: What if someone breaks into your
home, attacks your family, assaults your spouse and your children, what then? I
will not say that I will know beforehand exactly how I would react in such a
desperate situation. I will say that I will have no desire to hurt or kill that
person. I will do what I can to protect my family up to the point that I might
have to die for what I believe, and I pray God to give me the strength to deal
with it. I will do all I can to avoid hurting or taking an attacker’s life, for
that would not only be not loving him/her, but it would also be taking from him/her
any chance of his/her ever repenting and turning to God - Yehovah for
salvation. I may lose my life in an attack situation, but I know my future
destination; I will have my promised future in the Kingdom of God.
Remember that it was while we were God-Yehovah’s enemies,
not good believers, that Jesus-Yeshua died for all of us. Romans 5:6-8 again: “For
at just the right time, while we were still powerless, the Messiah died for the
ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man,
someone might dare to die. God - Yehovah proves His love for us in this: While
we were still sinners, the Messiah died for us.”
Jesus Our Example
Jesus-Yeshua is our lord, and he is the one we should
always be looking to as an example of how to act in every given circumstance.
When in doubt, ask yourself: What would Jesus do? How did Jesus treat the
despised persons of his society - the tax collectors, for instance? He invited
himself to supper at Zacchaeus’ home, and it transformed that man’s life! How
did Jesus treat the prostitutes? He admonished them to go and sin no more. How
did Jesus treat others who were accusing him? He answered them with wisdom and
truth; he did not spread lies about them on social media. How did Jesus treat
those who were instrumental in his death? Did he call down legions of angels,
as he had the power to do? Or did he order his disciples to attack? Or did he
scream obscenities at them and cancel them on X and Instagram, and Facebook?
Not my Jesus. While in deepest agony on the cross, my Jesus proclaimed, “Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do!”
We have seen what Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John have
written. What did that prolific writer and devoted disciple, Paul, have to say
on this subject? Quite a lot, in fact.
Romans 13:10: “Love does no wrong to a neighbor.”
Romans 12:17-21: “As far as it depends on you, be at
peace with all people [not just the ones you like]. Never repay evil for evil
to anyone. Never take your own revenge. Instead, let God deal with them. But if
your enemy is hungry, you should feed them and give them something to drink. Do
not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.”
Galatians 5:14: “The whole law in one phrase is: Love
your neighbor [all men/women] as yourself.”
That word “neighbor” means anybody around me, including next-door
neighbors, friends, strangers on the street, and enemies. Just consider the
ancient story of the Good Samaritan as told by Jesus in Luke 10:30-37. It
wasn’t the religious people who helped the badly injured man; it was his
“enemy.” The hated Samaritan man, the person who was supposed to hate the Jew
in return, chose to act in love instead.
Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthian church, gives a
detailed description of God’s love working through those who are His, in
chapter 13. God’s love in those who are His is patient, kind, does not envy,
does not boast, is not proud, does not dishonor others, is not self-seeking, is
not easily angered, does not keep records of wrongs, and does not delight in
evil. Instead, they rejoices with the truth, always protect, always trust,
always persevere, and never fail. Love wins! Later in that letter, Paul urges
the Corinthian Christians, “Let all that you do be done in love” (1
Corinthians 16:14).
As people who claim to be followers of the lord Messiah
Jesus-Yeshua, who claim to love God - Yehovah and His Son and the truth about
the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, we must strive to represent, enabled to do so
by the Spirit of Jesus-Yeshua. We cannot do it by our own strength. We can only
live out the life of the lord Messiah Jesus-Yeshua by the enabling power of his
indwelling Spirit. We can do nothing righteous without his enabling spirit
working through us. “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by
the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:1-2). We must realize that in the
lord Messiah Jesus-Yeshua, we are in this world but are not of this world. (John
15:19) In that future Kingdom, there will no longer be fighting, nor war, nor
sadness, nor weeping, nor hatred, nor killing. We must now, in this life, love with
a Messiah like sacrificial love. We must live out the love of God that works in
us and through us by the enabling power of His Spirit, if we want to make any
kind of impact in this world. Jesus has given us our marching orders to take
his message of the soon-coming kingdom of God to the nations.
The writer of the epistles of John, one of Jesus’ beloved followers,
states unequivocally that if we are not loving our fellow brethren, we are
liars still living in darkness. In 1 John 2:3-9, he wrote: “We know that we
have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, ‘I know him,’ but
does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person… Anyone
who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the
darkness.” John repeats this admonishment to live and love as Jesus-Yeshua did
throughout the rest of that letter. We ignore these words at our own peril.
We can be almost perfect in our teaching, but without love towards others, our teachings
are worthless, and we are considered liars. We must love in truth and speak God’s
– Yehovah’s truth in love.
In conclusion, as John said in 1 John 2:7, “Dear friends, I
am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the
beginning.” We have known “from the beginning” that we are to “love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love
your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two
commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40, Luke 12:28-32). Jesus added on to this instruction
to include loving and praying for our enemies. As can now be clearly seen, we
are to first and foremost love God. Secondly, love our neighbors – all men and
women. And thirdly, love our enemies. Thus, we have the one commandment to rule
them all: LOVE.
Written by Alane Rozelle, Michigan, from the 2025 online
Theological Conference: youtube.com/focusonthekingdom,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1zH5AM2-zw
Edited by Bruce Lyon
