{"id":18092,"date":"2014-02-26T06:00:26","date_gmt":"2014-02-26T11:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=18092"},"modified":"2014-02-25T19:55:54","modified_gmt":"2014-02-26T00:55:54","slug":"theyre-not-the-enemy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/02\/theyre-not-the-enemy\/","title":{"rendered":"“They’re not the enemy”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Have you noticed how Jesus fulfilled the Sermon on the Mount\u2013turning the other cheek, returning good for evil, exemplifying each of the Beatitudes?\u00a0 We don\u2019t, but He did, on our behalf.<\/p>\n

Now note how Pastor Douthwaite treats \u201clove your enemies,\u201d moving from Law to Gospel, with a bit of the Gospel-motivated Third Use of the Law.<\/p>\n

From Rev. James Douthwaite, St. Athanasius Lutheran Church: Epiphany 7 Sermon<\/a>:<\/p>\n

What\u2019s a Christian to do? The answer\u2019s the same: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.<\/strong> Do not set yourself up against them or turn away from them. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Which is the very picture of Jesus, who did not set Himself against even those who put Him on the cross, but prayed for them and even more, died for them. Yes, for Jesus didn\u2019t just die for nice people, or good people, or church people, but for all people, including those we don\u2019t like, those who hurt us, those we don\u2019t think He should have died for.<\/p>\n

\n

But He did, because Jesus knew it\u2019s not us against each other \u2013 the real enemy is satan. Or as Paul put it: we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). And as we heard from Jesus today: God makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.<\/strong> God is not the enemy of those who do not believe \u2013 He loves them and sent His Son to die for them too. Which is good because you used to be one of those folks. An unbeliever. Before God called you and set you apart and baptized you and forgave you your sins and made you His child. And so for us to set ourselves against others in this world \u2013 no matter how ornery or hurtful they may be \u2013 is to mistake the enemy and fight the wrong fight. Jesus saw what we cannot see, and so fought the right fight. On the cross. . . .<\/p>\n

And so those who hurt us and persecute us \u2013 they\u2019re not the enemy. They\u2019ve been taken in by the enemy. They need us. To love them enough to pray for them. To love them enough to stand for the truth and not let them continue merrily on their way to hell. To love them enough to be different \u2013 to show them another way.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you noticed how Jesus fulfilled the Sermon on the Mount\u2013turning the other cheek, returning good for evil, exemplifying each of the Beatitudes?\u00a0 We don\u2019t, but He did, on our behalf. Now note how Pastor Douthwaite treats \u201clove your enemies,\u201d moving from Law to Gospel, with a bit of the Gospel-motivated Third Use of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,10,11,47],"tags":[1889,3031],"class_list":["post-18092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-christ","category-church","category-theology","tag-rev-james-douthwaite","tag-sermon-on-the-mount"],"yoast_head":"\n"They're not the enemy"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Have you noticed how Jesus fulfilled the Sermon on the Mount--turning the other cheek, returning good for evil, exemplifying each of the Beatitudes?\u00a0 We\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/02\/theyre-not-the-enemy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""They're not the enemy"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Have you noticed how Jesus fulfilled the Sermon on the Mount--turning the other cheek, returning good for evil, exemplifying each of the Beatitudes?\u00a0 We\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/02\/theyre-not-the-enemy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-02-26T11:00:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-02-26T00:55:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/02\/theyre-not-the-enemy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/02\/theyre-not-the-enemy\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"They're not the enemy\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-02-26T11:00:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-02-26T00:55:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"Have you noticed how Jesus fulfilled the Sermon on the Mount--turning the other cheek, returning good for evil, exemplifying each of the Beatitudes?\u00a0 We\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/02\/theyre-not-the-enemy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/02\/theyre-not-the-enemy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/02\/theyre-not-the-enemy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“They’re not the enemy”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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