Jesus Loves Haters - Part A

So what we do when hatred is directed toward simple, not simple to do, but the answer is simple.

We are to respond with love and in so doing we are representing where reflecting a God who loves the respondent and in so doing, we represent a God who loves the command to love your enemies makes Christianity stand out. The question is do you stand up for being today on connect with Skip Heitzigs, Skip shares how you can respond in love when he is directed toward you for we begin to use a resource that will give you fresh insight about God's extraordinary life.

People everywhere God-given need to be loved, but sadly sometimes the people who need love the most the most rejected here. Skip, I think we all crave love. We will do sometimes almost anything to get it to know that we are loved by somebody else unconditionally. No wonder that better than Jesus love the worst of sinners. You love the best of saints Jesus. So the love of God in human flesh we want to give you a glimpse of God's relentless love for all people including you by sending you the Jesus loves people for booklet collection by skip. I think all four Jesus loves people titles including Jesus loves the broken RR thanks for your gift of $25 or more today to help connect more people to God's love through his word connectwithskip.com/offer to give online securely or call 892 1888. Okay, let's get into today's stage where Matthew five as we begin our study with Skip Heitzig, is there anything you hate me name a few things and see if you resume Brussels sprouts.

I love them but I do. Some people just load them. What about peas like him. The item item repeated television commercials any television commercial.

What about when you open a bag of chips and is 80% air Jake that tax season that we all kinda hate that. Must you work in that industry that it's great season.

I thought this week of a few things that I hate. I hate traffic. I mean a real traffic jam. You really don't get much of those around here, so we invented where I'm from traffic and you know sitting on the 405 freeway in gridlock. Nothing worse when somebody is in the passing lane and they're going slow, I get in the flesh hate that bad coffee. I really hate that coffee.

I know I'm a coffee snob but rather just have water thank you pigeons. I'm sorry I'm not a fan one newspaper to the top 100 list of things that people hate the most is just a sampling of what people said when people drive too closely behind you.

People who smell people who eat with their mouths open foreign call centers.

Slow Internet connections paper cuts running out of toilet paper and mobile phone up sensors who there's always looking at those little screens now having said all that, is there someone you hate. Be careful your answer not only in your own heart and it is a much different question then is there anything you hate which is really an annoyance, but is there some one that you can think of that you have hateful feelings toward because after all we are doing a series called Jesus loves people. I think some people are confused about love and hate. One little girl was. She was sent to her room. Five-year-old and she pouted she was so angry and she wrote a note dear mom and dad I hate you, and she signed it. Love Nicole. I even found truth. I haters app for your phone.

Speak about being obsessed with mobile devices. It's an app you can download it.

I did just to see what it was. It's a free app I'm recommending you don't download it because essentially the people who decided to build this app decided that in the social network community. You only have an option usually and that is to like someone or like something you can't voice a dislike.

So it is an entire mobile community built around dissent. What you don't like it gives people who want to vent a chance to vent the makers of this app say this is an app that allows you to share the things you hate, hate on celebrities, politicians, bad service, too much traffic, classmates, or annoying Facebook friends. So I got on I looked at what people are posting in you, you see things like a line around the restaurant and it says waiting for service or I saw a post a picture of a car that took two parking spaces.

We hate that right beyond just an app, the Bible takes the idea of hating very, very seriously, so much so that the word hate or hatred or hating in all of its various forms appears 183 times in the Bible is listed by Paul in Galatians 5 is one of the works of the flash and all the way back in the law in Leviticus chapter 19 God said, you shall not hate your brother in your heart. Hatred takes on many forms in Scripture all the way from mocking, yelling, foul language, persecution all the way to avoiding and shunning people but I don't want to stand here and give you a biblical theology of hatred is much as I want to talk about loving haters. So I want to look at two forms of hatred, one that is directed to you and the other that comes from you. The first kind you can't avoid the second one you can avoid the first one really as an occupational hazard of being a believer. The second one is really all about selfishness, personal selfishness and hypocrisy supported begin with the first in Matthew chapter 5. This is the sermon on about our Lord is teaching his disciples some very important lessons, so this is if hatred is directed to you. Let's read beginning in verse 43. Our Lord says you have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemy. Bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, but you may be sons of your father in heaven, for he makes his son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust, or if you love those who love you, what reward have you do not even the tax collectors do the same. So these are people who will curse you, who will use you who will hate you and who will consider you an enemy. I know some of you are saying I don't have any enemies.

First of all, that's not true. Second, you have a lot more if you keep lying like that, according to Webster's dictionary, the word enemy means someone who is antagonistic toward same basic idea in the Greek, one who is antagonistic toward you do have anybody in your life that fits that description. I bet you do.

Jesus even said that your enemies could be those of your own household if you live according to the gospel is one thing that Jesus promised over and over again to his followers. And that is persecution. That is when the world vents hatred towards you. What you do in that time it's going to happen. Jesus said the whole world will hate you when our Lord was speaking to his disciples in the upper room.

He said if you were of the world the world with love its own, but you are not of the world because I've chosen you out of the world. Therefore the world hates you to think about the series were we calling it Jesus loves people and this in particular is Jesus loves haters. So just think about this. Do you mean Jesus calls me to love people and some of those very people that I love will hate me yeah it's the pits of Jesus said love your enemies, do good, pray for those who are against you. You see, it is basically an occupational hazard of being a believer to incur the hatred from a worldly system that does not share your values. That does not share your ethics that views US bigoted and narrowminded because you preach the gospel. It's sad, but it's true that you could be an atheist.

You could be an agnostic, you could drink a lot.

You could use foul language, you could be promiscuous, and the world will think you're okay, but the minute you tell them I am in love with the Lord Jesus Christ and I follow him with all of my life in a great don't expect him to go. Yeah, you're basically painting a target on you when you do that. No wonder John the apostle wrote to his audience to give them encouragement and comfort in first John chapter 3 verse one.

He said, behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God, therefore the world doesn't know you because it didn't know him Marvel not brethren, if the world hates you. That's why so often it feels so weird to hear now that you belong to happen now that you belong to a foreign country. Now that you have sworn allegiance to the King of Kings. It feels like you're an alien, sometimes walking around this world Marvel not brethren, if the world hates you. Sometimes we sort of feel like the missionary who noticed one of the cannibals staring at him. Is that what you looking at, he said I'm just the food inspector we sometimes feel when the world watches us that there is an ulterior motive. They want to gobble us up there not interested in our well-being. So what we do when hatred is directed toward you. What's simple, not simple to do, but the answer is simple. We are to respond with love and in so doing we are representing where reflecting a God who loves we respond in love and in so doing, we represent a God who loves look at what the Lord said that I said you love your enemies, and how did I do you do that practically what he tells us. Bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, let's consider those.

Bless those who curse you, we know what that means means don't retaliate. Don't think of something nice and juicy as I come back to throw their way. What is Proverbs 15 one. Tell us a soft answer turns away wrath but harsh words stir up anger. So the choice is yours. What you want you want the wrath to be turned away or do you want to be stirred up with a choose a tone of voice a comeback that is commensurate with that and result soft answer turns away wrath. Harsh words stir up anger is our natural inclination whenever we are verbally attacked to attack back. It's amazing isn't it.

We can think in a millisecond when we get attacked verbally. We can think clearly of the past come back. All this would just cut them off at the knees and it's right there right on the tip of the tongue. I just could release it.

Don't do it don't do it.

I thought a interesting study from Kenyon College and they they admitted to the fact that when somebody shouts the person who shouted at almost always respond with a shout as loud or louder than the first, and that the tone of voice. In response can be measured by the tone that was initially given to so they did all these just on little studies and they said at the end of it.

You can use this scientific knowledge to keep another person from becoming angry. Control the other person's tone of voice by your own voice. Studies have proven that if you keep your voice soft you will not become angry. Psychology is accepted as scientific. The old biblical injunction which says a soft answer turns away wrath, so I tried this a few years ago. Somebody call me on the phone very angry very irate not just attacking things.

But attacking me personally and he was. His voice was raising so I just decided I'm in a try this and I tried to speak in a very soft humble tone, apologizing the fight offended him in any way by the end of the conversation. It was absolutely amazing he said softly. You're right, you've been right all along. In this issue. You have acted honorably, and I have not. I hung up the phone and I thought Macy what the Bible says?

So you bless those who curse you, that's how you respond with love.

Notice the second thing the Lord says, do good to those who hate you know. Just think about this. Can you think of somebody who's antagonistic toward you. Just every time you're around them at work or in the family that's that person hanging what if you were to do good limits are something that what if you were to send them a gift. I know you're thinking.

Are you nuts send them a gift. I actually gave this advice to a deer woman in our church. She has her coworkers very antagonistic and says she told me what she said and I said send her a gift and she looked to me like what I said send your gift with a note that says you know we got off on the on the wrong foot. Let let's let's try this from the starlet. Let's do this again, let's do it over and I've actually made this a practice when there been people in my life where there's deep tensions that mount sometimes I would just send a gift with a note of encouragement or congratulations on thinking about you and praying for.

It is amazing what that does the Bible and thought Proverbs 18 says a man's gift makes room for him. I love how one person thought he said love your enemies, it'll drive them crazy. It will and you also turn them around. The final thing Jesus said is pray for them, pray for them. He says pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you is what I've discovered is very very hard to keep someone on your hit list. Once you place them on your prayer list. You just can't harbor ill feelings when you're praying for them on a regular basis. You may not change them.

You may not change their attitude towards you, but it will change the way you feel about them. It'll change the way you feel if you don't do this if you don't love. If you don't forgive, if you don't bless your enemies if you don't pray for them. What you'll find is you have an enemy now inside of you worse than the enemy outside enemies like anger, resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness, and those things will grow and you'll find that the enemy on the outside is nothing compared to the enemy on the inside and then here are filled with all of this bitterness and hatred and anger because you been hated on now, you become just like them.

No difference. So Jesus response is respond with love when hatred is directed to you respond with love and in so doing, you represent the God of love verse 45 that you may be the sons of your father in heaven, for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good he sends rain on the just and on the unjust. You know when you are the hater you are showing what family you belong to you for the old adage, like father like son. Sometime ago I was talking to a young man in our church. I watch them grow grow up, but not talking to him as a grown-up, and what struck me is how much like his father. He was in a good way tone of voice when he gave eye contact, body, mannerisms are that he's like a spitting image, almost maybe not physically but in other ways personality.

I can see the resemblance. I love the idea that we could be around people and they could say you must be a believer in Christ item and tell me that last night is that I'm walking to my work in a couple people stop me and said are you a Christian, they could just tell he said by the way I've acted. I suppose all my demeanor. I suppose I've always loved the story about a woman who was walking in the downtown section of a large city, and she noticed a little boy peering through the window. He is obviously very poor, ill clad shoes all beat up so she took the young man inside. She got a bucket of water and a towel and washed his feet and brought him not one but six pairs of shoes with socks was about to send him on his way when she was about to leave, she felt the tug at her coat and it was a little boy looking up saying are you God's wife, but this is gotta be some relation between you and God. The way you have acted. Love gives you away. It lets people know it tells people. You are related to God. Jesus said by this shall all men know that you are my disciples by the love you have for another. I know this is not new information to you. I know I'm Capt. obvious right now you have heard all of this stuff before but sometimes in Bible study is not just about heard that before.

I want some new information. Sometimes we need transformation by just doing the old stuff. And Jesus said by this shall all men know you are my disciples by the love you have one for another. See the world doesn't care what bumper stickers you have. I've never yet ridden in a car with an unbeliever who said, look at that Christian bumper sticker. I'm impressed.

Never had that happen every market but never had them like wow see those things are frosts.

They tell us that believers driving the car. Nothing wrong with bumper stickers, but they don't impress the world and are cool, clever sayings are Christian T-shirts don't impress them either, but it's a what will impress them is want to let them know your disciple and you show genuine love to them see even the unbeliever understands enough of the Bible. The Christians are to love and one of the biggest complaints toward Christians is that we don't always live out our faith. We are to live it out by love. So if hatred is directed toward you respond with love and thereby represent the God of love. Now let's turn the page. Now let's look at Luke's gospel chapter 9. Now we look at a whole different kind of hatred is not at you.

It's not toward you.

It's from within the you you are developing attitudes toward others that are unhealthy and hateful. If hatred is developed in you.

Luke chapter 9 beginning at verse 51. Now it came to pass, when the time to come for him to be received up, he Jesus steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before his face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for him, but they did not receive him, because his face was set for the journey to Jerusalem when the disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did. But he turned and rebuked them, and said you do not know what manner of spirit you are of the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them the message from the series Jesus loves you script to share how you can keep these messages going strong to connect more people to God. Jesus gives us the ultimate example of how to love people and as we read and study the Scriptures, the Lord moves in our hearts to love others like Jesus did.

That's why we share these messages full of God's truth when you give a gift today you help more people know about his incredible love. Here's how you can give today to share the good news of Christ should connectwithskip.com/donate to give a gift that's connectwithskip.com/donate: 800-922-1880 800 922. Thank you for your generosity and come back tomorrow Skip shares how you can break free from any hate that maybe built up inside you script Turner had no love in your heart that every set of some of us give the Scripture in your head. You know that Bible read it you even though the original language as their love in your heart to companies that knowledge exceeded Jesus attitudes are more important than Skip presentation of connection communication through