Message Notes
Stranger Love
9/20/2026
Anybody else have people in your life that you love, but that you love a lot more…when they're not around?
Maybe you have someone in your life that you trusted…Somebody who hurt you.
Somebody who betrayed you.
Somebody who lied to you.
Somebody who walked out.
Somebody who took advantage of you.
Somebody who gossiped about you.
Jesus doesn't just tell us, "Don't hate your enemies." Jesus says something much harder, much more difficult. Jesus commands us to: "Love your enemies."
Matthew 5:43-48: “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
Leviticus 19:18: “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”
Tribalism is = conditional love
Leviticus 19:33-34: “Do not take advantage of foreigners who live among you in your land. Treat them like native-born Israelites and love them as you love yourself. Remember that you were once foreigners living in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”
Matthew 22:34-40: But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
These two questions bring so much clarity and wisdom to any situation.
“What does it look like to love God with my everything?”
“What does it look like to love others as much as I love myself?”
Matthew 5:43-45: “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.
Jesus isn't asking us to do what comes naturally. He's teaching us to live according to a different kingdom, to live according to his upside-down kingdom. This is a stranger love Jesus is calling us to live out.
Let me ask you, who is “that person” it’s difficult for you to love?
“Stranger love is loving people that don’t love you back.”
Matthew 5:46-47: “If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.”
Matthew 5:48: “But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
Matthew 5:48: [MSG] “In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”
Romans 3:22-24: “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.”