Introduction

“If you’re able, please stand.” Reading Matt. 5:38–48. “Thanks be to God.”

18 days ago now on September 10^th, Charlie Kirk was shot on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. He was speaking at a rally put on by his organization, Turning Point USA. The event was part of "The American Comeback Tour.” The fatal shot hit Kirk in the neck at 12:23pm local time. About 3,000 people were in attendance at the event. It had started right about noon.

Kirk was doing what he had done hundreds of times, which was debating college students on college campuses. He was seated under a tent with a microphone and invited anyone who disagreed with him to share their opinions and ask him questions.

He had no script, was not antagonistic, invited disagreement. Those who disagreed with him he invited to the front of the line of questioners.

In a strange irony, Hunter Kozak was the last one to debate Kirk that afternoon. He had asked him about transgender Americans who had been mass shooters in recent history. And about mass shootings in general. Kozak would later say, “I couldn’t have asked a worse question.”

Charlie Kirk is a controversial figure, but he was also a young man. He died at 31, having led Turning Point USA from the age of 18. He was a man who was growing in his character, his Christian faith, and his determination to model something that isn’t happening much at all—respectful disagreement and honest debate about important topics.

Many of us have learned more about him in the last 18 days and watched more of his videos than we did when he was alive.

His memorial service was last Sunday, starting at 11am local time in Glendale, AZ. It took place in the home stadium of the Arizona Cardinals. It holds 70k people but was not nearly big enough for the event. The estimates are that the those in the stadium and those in overflow seating numbered 200,000 people. This is a stunning number.

What was more stunning was how explicitly Christian it was for almost the entire four hours. Jesus Christ was worshiped, prayed to, exalted, called on, and preached. Chris Tomlin led worship. Charlie Kirk’s pastor gave a great call to faith in Christ. Even members of the Trump’s cabinet gave very convincing testimonies and references to Jesus Christ.

The shooting and the memorial service have rightfully generated a ton of conversation throughout our country. And other countries of the world, actually.

Ultimately, Charlie Kirk was killed by his enemy. Since he was killed he is not being asked what he will do about that. His race is over. He is with the Lord.

But many of us are thinking about it. The killing was a reminder that we have enemies. Enemies of Christ are our enemies. And sometimes these enemies will kill us.

We don’t need to see this as likely. Just possible. It’s part of what it means to be a Christian. We follow a Savior who was crucified for what he said and what he did. And he says to each of us, “Take up your cross and follow me.”

The Christian life is the best life, but in one sense it’s not always a safe life—humanly speaking. Hard things happen to Christians.

But since our days are numbered by the Lord and no murderer, demon, or the devil himself can touch us without God himself specifically allowing it, the Christian life is ultimately the safest life.

As Psalm 121:2 says, “My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”

And in Matthew’s gospel:

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father....Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. (Matt 10:29, 31)

The Charlie Kirk assassination does force us to think about the reality of having enemies. How should we respond to our enemies in this world? To their words, their actions, their mistreatment?

There are many sides to this issue. But Jesus in these verses in the Sermon on the Mount gives us important teaching on it.

The Series: We are back to our Sermon on the Mount series, “Living in the Kingdom.” The Sermon is the most famous sermon ever given and spans three chapters in Matthew’s gospel—Matt. 5–7.

In 5:21–48 there is a series of topics Jesus covered that all follow a similar pattern, “You have heard it said....But I say to you.” These contrasts are sometimes called “the Antitheses,” because they are a series of opposing statements. Jesus here is not opposing the Old Testament, but he is opposing a wrong interpretation of the Old Testament practiced by some in his day.

This morning we look at the last two antitheses, and these deal with how we are to love our enemies: (1) Turn the other cheek, (2) love your enemies.

Prayer

I. Turn the Other Cheek

Read Matt. 5:38–42.

In the first passage Jesus is dealing with what is sometimes called the Lex Talionis, the law of retaliation. This pops three times in the law of Moses in three different contexts.

In one of these contexts, the issue is about being a false witness in a court of law. In fact, it’s called being a “malicious witness,” where you are giving false testimony to see someone suffer.

Deuteronomy 19:16–21:

If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, ¹⁷ then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. ¹⁸ The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, ¹⁹ then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. ²⁰ And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you. ²¹ Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. (Deut 19:16–21)

This sounds harsh to our ears, but notice that it’s also a protection. It creates a limit to how far you can go in punishing someone. You are to do only what they wanted done to the one they regarded as an enemy.

This is something similar to what our 8^th amendment in the Constitution says:

Eighth Amendment
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
The Constitution of the United States of America

Laws against “cruel and unusual punishments” then are simply echoing what’s in the Law of Moses.

But the key for us is that this has to do with a LEGAL CONTEXT. A JUDICIAL CONTEXT. The government has the right to impose punishments for crimes, and these punishments should be appropriate and not unnecessarily harsh.

This isn’t a law for a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP. That’s what it appears the Pharisees were doing, taking the Lex Talionis and using it as a principle in relationships. You hurt me, I hurt you. You mistreat me, I mistreat you.

Jesus calls us to a very different way of relating—Matt. 5:39. Doesn’t mean a demon or the devil, which would be nonsense. The Bible says explicitly, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

It means a person who is treating you in a sinful manner. Do not resist them.

Now, this is a text that can be totally misapplied. One example of a total misapplication was brought up by John Stott. He discussed a work that Leo Tolstoy wrote called, What I Believe (1884). In that work he speaks of Jesus’ words in the passage we’re looking at. He said that what Jesus was teaching was absolute and categorical. “Do not resist the one who is evil” applies personally and with governments and nations. There shouldn’t be police officers or armies. He believed in a sweeping pacificism, and that if unbelievers saw such behavior they would repent and become Christians.

This is a total misapplication of Jesus’ words. The first reason is that it misses what Jesus actually says. Jesus gives four examples to illustrate what he’s talking about. Four illustrations is a lot. I’m not sure of any teaching of Jesus where we’re given four separate illustrations. Maybe it’s because he knew how much we could twist his words here.

The first one is the most famous: Matt. 5:39. “If anyone slaps you on the right cheek...” The details are important. A slap on the “right cheek” means a physical insult. Assuming most people are right-handed, a slap on the right cheek means a person strikes you with the back of his hand. Comparable to a slight shove or knocking something out of your hands. Jesus says to absorb the insult.

The second one has to do with a legal situation: Matt. 5:40. “If anyone would sue you and take your tunic...” The Old Testament law required that you could take a person’s inner garment (tunic) as a pledge, but not their out garment (Exod 22:26–27), since that was their protection and warmth. Jesus says to give even more than what is legally required.

The third illustration would be common in a situation where a foreign army was occupying your area. Their military would exercise certain freedoms: Matt. 5:41. “If anyone forces you to go one mile...” Under Roman martial law, they might have that right. Jesus says to do even more than is required.

The fourth illustration is an economic one. Matt. 5:42. “Give to the one who begs from you...” Jesus says here to help meet the financial need presented to you.

An example of what Jesus is talking about is from the life of the Methodist evangelist Billy Bray (1794–1868).[1] He was born in Cornwall, England, southwestern tip of the country. MLJ (248) describes him as a “pugilist” who found Christ. He was converted and then went back into the mine. Another who knew him as an unsaved pugilist wanted to test him and hit him. Bray said, “The Lord forgives you, and so do I.” The man was shocked. Over the next days, though, we was tormented with guilt. Eventually he gave his life to Christ. The man was saved.

What we see in these examples of Jesus is that we are to avoid any kind of PERSONAL RETALIATION. These examples are when someone does something offensive to ME. Not my wife. Not my children. Not the vulnerable in a society.

As a Christian, I am to do nothing for personal vengeance, nothing for personal retaliation.

In facing the evil of our day, the evil treatment I might receive personally, these words are deeply challenging and have great relevance.

But these words are not the only words Jesus will speak about how to respond to evil and not the only words found in our New Testaments.

Later in Matthew 18:15–20 Jesus will speak about church discipline. That passage starts out by saying, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone” (v. 15).

If he listens, great. If not, “take one or two others” (v. 16).

If he listens, great. If not, “tell it to the church” (v. 17).

If he listens, great. If not, excommunication (v. 17).

Even if we individually are not to seek vengeance or retaliation, there is nonetheless a place for THE CHURCH to deal seriously with sins.

And then there’s the STATE. In Philippi, Paul and Silas were beaten and then jailed for preaching Christ. There is an earthquake that night and the magistrates the next day tell Paul and Silas they can go.

Paul says, No. That’s wrong:

But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out.” (Acts 16:37)

What’s going on here?

That’s part of a pattern in the book of Acts. Time after time Luke records events where Roman citizens or even Roman magistrates are presented as disordered and unjust. The Christians are presented as model Roman citizens.

But the Christians are never presented as doing anything wrong when they respond to accusations in a court of law. They are being falsely accused. But the Christians in these cases are still not responding out of personal vengeance or for personal retaliation.

They are really responding for the sake of the other Christians in the Roman Empire, wanting to establish legal precedents and demonstrate that Christianity is no threat to the Roman Empire but a blessing to it.

Also speaking of the STATE: The apostle Peter was there with Jesus when he preached the Sermon on the Mount. But several years later, he would write this:

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, ¹⁴ or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. (1 Pet 2:13–14)

Part of the role of governments is to punish evil, and that sometimes means with capital punishment.

That’s not the role of individual persons and especially not Christians. The Lex Talionis has a place in a society when exercised by proper civil authority.

But when it becomes our individual way of treating people, we’ve abandoned God’s Word. We’re no longer walking in the light of God’s truth.

When someone sins against us, there are three options we’re seeing: (1) Overlook it like Billy Bray; (2) Deal with it through church discipline; (3) Deal with it by appealinsg to civil authorities.

But the option we never have is the path of personal vengeance and retaliation. Jesus forbids it.

II. Love Your Enemies

Read Matt. 5:43–48.

In the second passage, we have another Antithesis, the last one, actually.

Now the distortion of the Old Testament is pretty blatant. There are examples of Jews around the time of Christ who said exactly this, that we are to love fellow Jews and hate all others (writings from Qumran).

With a superficial reading of the Old Testament, you might get there. The Psalms at times wish terrible things on our enemies. The command from God when it came to Canaan was to wipe out all the foreign nations in that land.

But those specific situations are also missing specific words that God wrote to his people.

A vivid example is from Leviticus 19, the same chapter where we find the command to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18). Later in the chapter is this:

“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. ³⁴ You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.” (Lev 19:33–34)

Why “love” the stranger? Because we were once strangers ourselves. Unredeemed, enslaved in Egypt. Then God saved us, delivered us, redeemed us. He extended grace to us in our captivity. We are to do the same.

We are not to hate our enemies but instead to love them and pray for them—Matt. 5:44.

This is why we have to be careful about applying the Psalms passages about enemies too hastily. God will indeed punish his enemies one day. And when he does, we will celebrate his justice for it. The saints in heaven with Christ right now are asking, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Rev 6:10). When he does judge and avenge, we will rejoice.

But while there’s still hope, we are to “love our enemies and pray for those who persecute” us.

In doing this we mirror God’s own COMMON GRACE, the grace that he pours out on both “the evil” and “the good,” “the just” and “the unjust”—Matt. 5:45.

We can’t cause it to rain, but we can pray. We can’t cause the sun to shine, but we can “love” better than “tax collectors” and “greet” better than “Gentiles” (Matt 5:46–47).

We are to act like God himself in how we treat people—act like God in this particular way. God extends COMMON GRACE to all. We are to do the same.

Doing that you are “sons of your Father who is in heaven.” That makes sense, doesn’t it? Children resemble their parents. As children of God, we are to resemble our Father in heaven.

A good summary of what Jesus is teaching is from Alfred Plummer:

“To return evil for good is devilish; to return good for good is human; to return good for evil is divine.”
Alfred Plummer[2]

I want to go back to Charlie Kirk. Erika Kirk’s comments at the Memorial Service.

These are a vivid example of Jesus is teaching in the Sermon on the Mount:

Charlie passionately wanted to reach and save the lost boys of the West. The young men who feel like they have no direction, no purpose, no faith and no reason to live. The men wasting their lives on distractions, and the men consumed with resentment, anger, and hate. Charlie wanted to help them. He wanted them to have a home with Turning Point USA. And when he went onto campus, he was looking to show them a better path and a better life that was right there for the taking. He wanted to show them that.

My husband, Charlie, he wanted to save young men just like the one who took his life. That young man. That young man on the cross, our Savior said, "Father, forgive them for they not know what they do." That man, that young man, I forgive him. I forgive him, because … because it was what Christ did, and is what Charlie would do. The answer to hate is not hate. The answer we know from the gospel is love, and always love. Love for our enemies and love for those who persecute us.
Erika Kirk, Charlie Kirk Memorial[3]

People notice this kind of Christian love. It isn’t explainable by the normal ways people treat each other.

It affects others. Van Jones from CNN is a good testimony of this.

On the Morning Wire podcast from Sep 22, 2025, they reported on Van Jones’ response to Charlie Kirk pattern of respectful disagreement.

MW said: Former Obama official and CNN contributor Van Jones talked about how his team actually received a note from Kirk that they did not find until after he had been killed. And I think what Jones talked about really highlights Charlie Kirk's character.

Van Jones from CNN clip: We were beefing,..., we were going at it online, on air. And then after he died, after he was murdered, my team called and said, Van, he was trying to reach you, man. He says, “Let's disagree agreeably.” So I'm sitting on this and I'm watching the whole country talk about civil war, censorship, justifying murder about this guy. This guy is reaching out to his mortal enemy saying, “We need to be gentlemen, sit down together and disagree agreeably.” And the next day he's killed. Everybody knows we were not friends, okay, at all.

But you praised the good when it's time to memorialize somebody. And what he did... He was not for censorship, he was not for civil war, he was not for violence, he was for dialogue, open debate, and dialogue even with me.[4]
Morning Wire podcast, Sep 22, 2025

One last illustration of how this passage can be applied might be unexpected. From Andrew Peterson’s song, “Be Kind to Yourself.”

Andrew Peterson, “Be Kind to Yourself”:

How does it end when the war that you’re in
is just you against you against you?
You’ve got to learn to love, learn to love,
Learn to love your enemies, too.
Andrew Peterson, “Be Kind to Yourself”

Conclusion

“Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:48).

God commands it, so we know it’s possible. But we also know it’s impossible apart from Christ.

We need to remember the bookends of the Sermon on the Mount:

At the beginning,

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 5:3)

And right near the end,

So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. (Matt 7:17–18)

You need to be a “healthy tree,” “poor in spirit.” You need to be born again. A new creature.

May God help us to love our enemies and pray for them and live a life explainable only as the result of the work of Christ in our lives!

Prayer and closing song (“Jesus, What a Friend of Sinners”)

[1] This illustration from Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 248.

[2] Alfred Plummer, An Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Matthew (London: E. Stock, 1909), 89.

[3]https://www.rev.com/transcripts/erika-kirk-speaks-at-memorial.

[4] Transcript available at https://app.podscribe.com/episode/137973439?transcriptVersionReqId=77928038-c675-4f91-8db0-1306a9bdf212.