5. Peacemaking & loving enemies
God blesses those who work for peace, for they
will be called the children of God (Matt 5:9
NLT).
But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who
persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as
true children of your Father in heaven (Matt
5:44-45 NLT).
8. Three Qs re: Love of Neighbor
Jesus’ teaching about love of neighbor in Luke
10:25-37 is structured around questions
What are the questions?
Please summarize the answer to each question and
the practical implications
9. Love Your Enemies
Read Luke 6:27-36 and answer the questions below
1. Jesus gives us numerous commands related to
our enemy. What do these commands suggest
about enemy love? What are the implications of
these commands for our obedience?
2. Jesus describes the “enemy” in many different
ways. What are the implications of this for us?
3. What if any is the motivation Jesus provides?
11. Martin Luther King Jr.
‘If any man knew the meaning of suffering, King
knew. House bombed; living day by day for
thirteen years under constant threats of death;
maliciously accused of being a Communist;
falsely accused of being insincere …; stabbed by
a member of his own race; slugged in a hotel
lobby; jailed over twenty times; occasionally
deeply hurt because friends betrayed him—and
yet this man had no bitterness in his heart, no
rancour in his soul, no revenge in his mind; and
he went up and down the length and breadth of
this world preaching non-violence and the
redemptive power of love.’
12. Martin Luther King Jr.
Develop and maintain the capacity to FORGIVE
An element of goodness may be found in even our
worst enemy
Must not seek to defeat or humiliate the enemy but
win his friendship and understanding
14. 16 Commands
1. Love your enemy
2. Love your enemy
3. Love your enemy
4. Do not resist an evil person
5. Turn the other cheek
6. Let them have your
coat/shirt
7. Go with them two miles
(the extra mile)
8. Give to those who ask/lend
9. Pray for those who persecute
you/mistreat you
10. Do good to those who hate you
11. Do good to whose who hate
you
12. Bless those who curse you
13. Do not demand back (what
someone takes)
14. Feed them
15. Give them a drink
16. Overcome evil with good
18. Imitate God, Remember the Cross
God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked … so
we are called to be merciful, just as our Father is
merciful (Luke 6:36).
Jesus loved us and laid down his life for us “while
we were enemies” (Romans 5:10, and compare
Colossians 1:21).
21. What are the new insights and practices that will be
your “take-aways” from this seminar?
22. Elisha and Love of Enemy
2 Kings 6:13-23
13-20 Accordingly, having learned that Elisha had
gone to Dothan, the Arameans surrounded the city
by night in order to take Elisha by force (vv.13-14).
Doubtless Elisha knew about all this, too, but
allowed himself to be trapped so that the
subsequent entrapment of the Arameans might
work to God's glory and for his good (v.15). When
Elisha's servant awakened and saw the great
Aramean force, he cried out in dismay to Elisha.
Elisha, however, assured him that the forces of God
outnumbered the forces of the enemy. In
23. 21-23 At Elisha's directions, rather than killing their enemies (v.21), the
Israelites treated them to a sumptuous feast (v.22) and, having given them
provisions for the journey home to Syria, sent them away (v.23). Elisha's
intercession and instructions proved ultimately to be the divine remedy for
the momentary ills of Israel: the Arameans reported Israel's kindness, and
their guerrilla raids ceased.
24. Quiz and questions
What are the Five Essential Practices of Conflict
Resolution?
Give at least one verse from Scripture supporting
each practice (open Bible quiz).
Questions: pp. 137-172?
Editor's Notes
Unconditional? The Call of Jesus to Radical Forgiveness by Brian Zahnd
Charisma House, Lake Mary Florida 2010
p. 126
The arrow begins in the church
We need to learn the basics of peacemaking
Rod Cardoza: “Angry peacemakers!”
But our focus is on peacemaking outside the church
God is on a peace mission!
The church is a peace movement
Pg 30 Study Guide
CHILDREN OF GOD CHILDREN OF YOUR FATHER
Love your neighbor as yourself
make a list of 5 ways you want to be loved
Q 1: What shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Begins with a theological question about eternal life
ends with an ethical illustration about neighbor love
What are the eternal and ethical implications of Jesus response?
Q 2: Who is my neighbor?
Question: who are the despised, hated, ignored by my church?
Q 3: Who proved to be my neighbor?
The question is not to figure out who my neighbor is
but to demonstrate neighbor love
Question: what are the needs of the people around you, the people you serve: the poor. immigrants, refugees, gay community, Muslim community?
Acts of kindness not FEELINGS of kindness
How are our enemies defined?
Evil Slaps/hits you Sues you
Takes your clothes Forces you to go one mile
Persecutes you Hates you
Curses you Mistreats you
What is my point? There are different types of enemies
Someone who mistreats you and persecutes you may be a family member!
Luke 6:35 your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High,
Stott, J. R. W., & Stott, J. R. W. (1985). The message of the Sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7): Christian counter-culture (p. 114). Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
King, Martin Luther Jr.
1963 Strength To Love
Fortress Press Gift Edition 2010: Minneapolis
How do we love our enemies? THREE WAYS:
First, we must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive.
Forgiveness does not mean ignoring what has been done or putting a false label on an evil act. It means, rather, that the evil act no longer remains as a barrier to relationship. Forgiveness is a catalyst creating the atmosphere necessary for a fresh start and a new beginning.
Second, we must recognize that the evil deed of the enemy-neighbor, the thing that hurts, never quite expresses all that he is. An element of goodness may be found even in our worst enemy.
A persistent civil war rages within all of our lives.
Ovid, Plato, Paul
This simply means that there is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us.
We see within our enemy-neighbor a measure of goodness
p. 46 Third, we must not seek to defeat or humiliate the enemy but to win his friendship and understanding.
Jesus does not say…
engage in a peace process with your enemy negotiate peace I suggest you love your enemy But LOVE your enemy
Jesus gives ten practical commands concerning love for enemies.
If we add Paul’s three commands listed in Romans 12:20-21 (feed him, give him a drink, overcome evil with good) there are at least 13 commands related to love of enemy!
The number and diversity of these commands underscore their importance.
Love your enemy (3x)
Do not resist an evil person
Turn the other cheek
Let him have your coat/shirt
Go with him two miles (the extra mile)
Give to him who asks/lend
Pray for those who persecute you/mistreat you
Do good to those who hate you (2x)
Bless those who curse you
Do not demand back (what someone takes)
Feed him
Give him a drink
Overcome evil with good
Martin Luther King … does not say “like” your enemy
I find it hard to like someone who bombs my house,
imprisons me and threatens my children!
Three responses to evil:
Passivity
Violent opposition
Militant non violence – the 3rd Way, taught by Jesus
Neither .. passive submission = doormat for Jesus
nor violent response
Neither Fight nor flight
In 1989 alone, thirteen nations comprising 1.7 billion people—over thirty-two percent of humanity—experienced nonviolent revolutions. They succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest expectations in every case but China. And they were completely peaceful (on the part of the protestors) in every case but Romania and parts of the southern U.S.S.R. If we add all the countries touched by major nonviolent actions in this century, the figure reaches almost 3 billion—a staggering sixty-four percent of humanity! (p 116)
If we are to make nonviolence effective, we will have to be as willing to suffer and be killed as soldiers in a battle. Nonviolence is not a way of avoiding personal sacrifice (p 118)
Nonviolence should not be misconstrued as a way of avoiding conflict. (p121)
In fact, nonviolence seeks out conflict, elicits conflict, even initiates conflict, in order to bring it out into the open and lance its poisonous sores.
1998 The Powers That Be: Theology For A New Millennium by Walter Wink
2003 Jesus and Nonviolence: A Third Way by Walter Wink
Love of Enemy as a Political Strategy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolent_resistance
1998 serious conflict in SOLO … formed an INTERRELIGIOUS PEACE COMMITTEE
Paulus visits Hizbullah: “You are a Christian & an infidel, therefore I can kill you!”
Unfazed, the pastor RETURNED again and again to drink tea
TSUNAMI in Aceh … Invited him to work together
SLEPT in the same room. BECAME FRIENDS
Christians are GOOD INFIDELS!!
Met again for peacemaking with David Shenk.
A Muslim and a Christian in Dialogue (1997).
Commander broke down weeping.
another way, the way of peacefully sharing
instead of violently confronting one another.”
Peacemaking and evangelism???
Church has grown from 40 to 250 in 12 years
with advocacy of Hizbullah, planning to build a second church building
What about CENTRALITY OF THE CROSS?
Scandal of the cross and peacemaking…
In peacemaking, like evangelism you usually don’t start with the cross
Meet people were they are at …
Great illus of the cross: love our enemies
Modeling enemy love demonstrates the meaning of the cross
Peacemakers/love of enemy = children of God
Expositor's Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM:2 Kings/Exposition of Second Kings/6. The eras of Jehoram of the northern kingdom and Jehoram and Ahaziah of the southern kingdom (2:1-9:37)/d. Elisha's ministry (6:8-8:15)/(1) Prelude to war: the Aramean incursion (6:8-23), Book Version: 4.0.2
