God paints two scenarios for his people in the book of Exodus that we can apply to our lives today. Let’s imagine you are driving down the road and you see a person you consider your enemy. He is standing beside his car on the shoulder ahead, engine boiling over, steam rising to the clouds, desperately trying to flag someone down for help. What do you do? Well, you blow the horn of course, and wave gleefully as you scream past him, hitting a puddle of water to spray him down good while screaming at the top of your lungs, “Need some water?” That is someone you despise and you are delighted to see them suffering. Right? Or imagine another scenario where there is someone who despises you. Maybe he’s a neighbor, and his small yapper dog has somehow gotten stuck in your chain link fence that separates your property. What to do? You simply ignore the poor mutt and his cries and you mumble as if to your neighbor, “You hate my guts and you didn’t even lift a finger when I needed help last year. This is just desserts.”
That’s a picture of the way the world acts toward one another, but it is not the picture of how brothers and sisters are supposed to live together. God told his people to bring back his enemy’s lost donkey and to stop and help his enemy’s beast that has collapsed under the weight he is carrying. In other words, God says, “Love your enemies.” At the very least, we should follow the wisdom in the book of Proverbs: “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles.” More than that, we are to treat our enemies as we would our friends. Another Proverb: “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.” What may happen as a result? Your enemy becomes your friend.
If you are involved in any kind of brokenness with an unbeliever right now, it is difficult, isn’t it? You two don’t speak the same language. You don’t follow the same rules. You don’t have the same compass. But Jesus tells us plainly, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” This is a hard word, and to do this we need a righteousness apart from the law. Good news! We have that in Christ. We have everything we need to be able to love people in the world who mistreat us.
May I state the obvious? That means we also have everything we need to love our brothers and sisters in Christ who through their sin or our sin or both of our sins have become enemies to us. Are there Christ followers you don’t speak to anymore? People who love Jesus that you don’t even want to be around anymore? I remind you that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And we who were his enemies are now seated at his table. Can you honestly say to Jesus, “Hey, Lord, thank you for saving me, but if you don’t mind, can I sit somewhere else? You know, Lord…that guy beside me hurt my feelings and I don’t want to even see him right now, much less break bread with him. Ok if I just move down the table about 15 seats or so?… Lord?”
And heaven just weeps.
J. Mark Fox 