Love Your Enemies

This sermon is based on Romans 12:17-21.

SERIES OVERVIEW:

Yogi Berra once famously said: “In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.” I think we would agree. We all love the idea of loving others. After all, love is the definitive distinctive of a disciple of Jesus; and it’s our most memorable mandate, our most important imperative, and our most dynamic and decisive decree. That’s why it is called the Greatest Commandment. So, there you have it. In theory we love it! But then there’s practice. And loving everyone, everywhere and all the time just doesn’t seem all that practical. Now, don’t get me wrong. We love it as an idea, and we love to love people who love us and who are lovable, but some people just don’t fit that description (maybe because we don’t know them or maybe because we’ve known them for years!). And yet, the entire New Testament seems to stress this as our main practice: love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Everyone is talking about it–Paul, Peter, John, whoever wrote Hebrews, James–everybody! Love: it’s great in theory, hard in practice, but essential in both. Join us for this new series on love (not the romantic kind, but the real kind!) as we look at how we are to love God, our neighbors, the stranger, one another and many others. In theory, it should be a very practical, helpful and beneficial study. But remember what Yogi Berra also said: “If you don’t know where you are going, you will end up somewhere else.” Don’t let that happen to you. Don’t miss the love. Instead, join us for this series which we have titled:“The Everyone, Everywhere and All the Time Mandate.”