Friends & Enemies: Enemies of God? & Love vs. Hate
David
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Enemies of God
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So who are His enemies? They are those who claim to be His friends, but
do not obey His commandments.[14] They claim to love Him, and even to
love one another, but the lion's share of their time and energy is
consumed in making a comfortable life for themselves in this world.
Remember, what the Bible calls "love" is not a feeling. It is the
direction of your will towards the object of your love. Your love is
measured by what captures your attention, by what you take delight in,
and by where you spend your time, money, and energy. That is the fact
of the matter, regardless of how you feel.
Whom or what do you love? What is the direction of your will?
Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1 John 2:15)
What is the world? What are the things of the world?
For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father but is of the
world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who
does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:16-17)
There are the obvious things - television, movies, sports, luxuries,
lust, pursuit of wealth and power. But these are merely the outward
manifestations of living for one's self. That is the root of the
problem. You must hate your life in this world.[15] Until you reach
that point, you remain a friend of the world and an enemy of God.[16]
If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and
children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot
be My disciple. (Luke 14:26)
Love versus Hate
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Just as "love" in the Gospels is not merely a feeling of good will
or affection towards someone or something, neither is "hate" a
feeling of animosity or malice. When the Master called His disciples to
follow Him, He was demanding nothing less than a 180° turn in the
direction of their will. That is what it means to repent, to hate
one's life in this world, and to begin serving Him where He is.[17]
Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of
Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father,
mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat
and their father, and followed Him. (Matthew 4:21-22)
Until that day all their time and energy had gone into making a living
with their father, and suddenly the direction of their will changed and
all their time and energy went into serving their new Master. Their
father might well have taken their newfound love for this Messiah as
hatred towards himself,[18] but they could not serve two masters.[19]
They had to forsake the gods of making their own living and pleasing
their parents in order to follow Messiah.[20]
It was the same with all of the disciples, as Peter declared, "See,
we have left all and followed You!"[21] The Master's reply to Peter
reveals the result of this redirection of the will, the result of
hating one's life in this world in order to love and obey Him:
So Jesus answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one
who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife
or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel's, who shall not
receive a hundredfold now in this time - houses and brothers and
sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions - and
in the age to come, eternal life." (Mark 10:29-30)
The result is the common life described in Acts 2 and 4 (quoted
previously), the community of those who were redeemed from their
lonely, futile existence in the world, and given the full-time
occupation of loving one another just as He loved them. In place of
whatever they left behind they would receive a hundredfold new brothers
and sisters, fathers and mothers, children, houses and farms - along
with persecution from those who love this world and hate the true
message of the gospel and the abundant life it produces.
[14] 1 John 2:4
[15] John 12:25
[16] James 4:4
[17] John 12:25-26
[18] Matthew 10:34-39; Luke 12:51-53
[19] Matthew 6:24
[20] Even the Master Himself had to make this choice to risk offending
His earthly mother in order to do the will of His heavenly Father (Mark
3:21,31-35).
[21] Mark 10:28
Excerpted from "The Litmus Test" found at:
http://www.thelitmustest.org/friends-enemies.html