The Power Of Radical Love | Cornerstone Church | Pastor TJ McConahay

The big idea

Jesus calls His followers to do the seemingly impossible thing of loving their enemies, because maturity means letting go of self for God's glory and the only way to truly defeat an enemy is to make them a friend.

Jesus, like a good youth pastor, puts His followers in uncomfortable situations that stretch them to do more than they think possible. His hardest teaching is to love our enemies, not with feeling but with disciplined action, because maturity means letting go of self, and because God is still on a rescue mission for the broken souls of the very people who hate us.

Point 1 of 5

Pastor TJ tells the story of his own youth pastor surprising the group with a bungee jump he was terrified to attempt but ended up loving. He connects this to Jesus taking His disciples up the mountain by the familiar Sea of Galilee and then preaching a sermon that pushed them into deeply uncomfortable territory.

Point 2 of 5

Pastor TJ notes that churchgoers have heard 'love your enemy' so many times they've become inoculated to how radical it is. He reframes it starkly: the person who would celebrate your firing, your bankruptcy, your public shame, or even your death is exactly who Jesus says to love.

Point 3 of 5

Borrowing the phrase from his own youth pastor, Pastor TJ explains that growing up in Christ requires repeatedly giving up pieces of self, whether through paying bills, marriage, or raising children, and that God will especially use an enemy to force this growth. He clarifies that biblical love, per 1 Corinthians 13, is action and discipline, not warm feelings, and points to an eternal perspective (illustrated with a long rope representing eternity versus a short marked segment representing earthly suffering) as the reason we can endure it.

Point 4 of 5

Pastor TJ shares an extended personal story from his early youth ministry career in Oregon, where a volunteer youth pastor named Sonny became a bitter rival after Pastor TJ was hired without Sonny's knowledge. After a prank involving toothpick-tipped 'gotcha darts' accidentally hurt Sonny, the two bonded through laughter, discovered they shared the same calling, and Sonny went on to become a celebrated drug and alcohol counselor using methods they had built together.

Point 5 of 5

Pastor TJ highlights Matthew 5:45, love your enemies so that you may become children of your Father in heaven, arguing that recognizing God as our enemy's creator changes how we see them. He illustrates this with a story of crying over his broken balsa wood airplane in sixth grade, telling a friend he still picked it up because it's mine and I love it, and applies that same logic to God's ongoing love for broken people, even those who call themselves God's enemies.

Take it into your week

Pastor TJ frames the charge as finding the courage to do the impossible: love your enemy.