“Love [of our enemies] doesn’t seem to suggest approval or a lack of accountability, but it does seem to mean we have to move out of frameworks of winners and losers and create the kinds of conditions that could be for our enemy’s good.”Taylor Straatmann continued our three-year trek through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) in a series we’re calling “Kingdom Manifesto.” This month we are looking at Matthew 5:43-48, and are wrestling with the implications of loving our enemies.

“This teaching is not a call to passivity or inaction, a rejection of justice, an endorsement of abuse or oppression, about weakness or cowardice, or a legalistic rule, but instead a heart posture. This is about a call to rise above retaliation in Kingdom-minded love, grace, and wisdom."

“Among all the dimensions of the mature person in Christ, none comes closer to the character of our Lord than the daring to make a promise and the courage to keep the promises we make. When we make and keep a promise we are acting in the power that sets people free. If to be free in Christ is to be free indeed, then to be free indeed is to be free to limit our freedom by promising to be there with people who trust us.” - Lewis B. Smedes

"What an opportunity we have during this season to sit in wonder and delight at what God has done and is still doing. The coming of Jesus is a fulfillment of a promise that the hungry will be fed, the hurting and suffering will find comfort and compassion, and justice will reign. The mighty reversal of the world has just begun, and during Advent, we are reminded to look for these promises being fulfilled, even if we only catch a glimpse." - Kate Bowler

"I learned this in my research. Ancient Israel didn't have a big problem with adultery, the physical act. And one of the things they loved about that is they hung that in pride saying, 'Look at us in comparison to our Roman counterparts. We are staying faithful.' Yet, that wasn't enough for Jesus...this is a heart problem." - Adam Oliver

“Reconciling might look like laying down the need to be right or proven right. It might mean being the first to apologize for something, even if the other person has done greater harm in your eyes. It might mean apologizing and not getting an apology in return. It might mean, if you’re unable to reconnect with this person, finding forgiveness in your heart in order to let go of that anger and contempt. Our obedience to Jesus’ command doesn’t guarantee that the brother, sister, or adversary on the other side of the equation is going to follow suit. The question is can we lay down our pride to be reconciled and peacemakers without a return on our personal investment?” - Victoria Roberts

“In this, Jesus wants to subvert their whole idea of the law and righteousness in the first place. He wants to point them to a higher understanding of God’s intent for humanity...his intent for the law was never to create shame spiral communities where everyone can try to be better than each other. The intent of the law was never to create legalism, but to point to something greater, to point to flourishing human community with God.” - Jeremy Smith & Johanna Beachy

“We are a people in the process of being shaped and being formed by God in the Kingdom and for the Kingdom.” - Damaris Taylor

"...we might say that why you do what you do, is more important than what you do. Jesus 'kingdom values' (or, 'beatitudes') turned the cultural values of his day (and ours) on their head. Jesus calls us to radically reorient our lives."

“As a network, we’ve been saying a lot that we want to become beautiful kingdom people...people rooted in Jesus’ claim on reality. I don’t know about you, but that feels hard. It’s so easy to say you want that until you’re confronted with some random hard thing on a regular Tuesday. Suddenly it doesn’t feel very good. But we want to build every aspect of our lives on what Jesus says is good, true, beautiful, and satisfying. We want to be a community that is embodying what is flourishing and whole.”