Acts 7:51-60, 8:1-3
The definition of hate covers a large range of feelings. Hate is to dislike intensely or passionately. Hate is to feel extreme aversion for, or extreme hostility and to detest. Hate is to have intense dislike. Hate is to loathe or abhor.
In our human history hate has been one of the most destructive viruses in the human family. Hate has produced murders, wars, divisions and broken lives. What has caused this death-dealing virus in our human family? It grows out of empty lives and hearts that do not know our creator God.
The Bible is filled with stories and events that grew out of hearts filled with hate. In today’s scripture we read about Stephen’s address to the Council after he had been arrested for sharing God’s message with the people. Hate had produced his arrest. “Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people. But one day some men from the Synagogue of Freed Slaves, as it was called, started to debate with him. They were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia. None of them could stand against the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen spoke.”
In their hate for Stephen and his message, they “persuaded some men to lie about Stephen, saying, ‘We heard him blaspheme Moses and even God.’ This roused the people, the elders and teachers of religious law. So they arrested Stephen and brought him before the high court. The lying witnesses said, ‘This man is always speaking against the holy temple and against the law of Moses. We have heard him say this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the temple and change the customs Moses handed down to us.’ Then the high priest asked Stephen, ‘Are these accusations true?’”
In Stephen’s reply he walked them through the history of their nation. The reply was the truth about what kind of people they had become and they hated Stephen for telling them the truth about themselves.
“You stubborn people. You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you! Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous one, the Messiah whom you destroyed and murdered. You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of angels.”
Hate showed up in what took place next in the response to Stephen’s message. “The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation and they shook their fists at him in rage. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. And he told them, ‘Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!’”
Hate took control of the mob that day as hate takes control of the mob’s actions that we are seeing in our nation today. “Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit’. He fell to his knees shouting, ‘Lord don’t charge them with this sin.’ and with that, he died.”
Hate was on display in the mob’s actions and even in those standing around to see what was going to happen to Stephen. “Saul was one of the witnesses and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen.” Hate caused Saul to be there and agree to the killing of Stephen.
Hate was one of the driving forces of the Nazi regime. They used propaganda effectively to mobilize the German population to support its wars of conquest until the very end of the regime. Nazi propaganda was likewise essential to motivating those who implemented the mass murder of the European Jews and of other victims of the Nazi regime. It also served to secure the acquiescence of millions of others as bystanders to racially targeted persecution and mass murder. The Nazi regime used a message of hate to successfully communicate through art, music, theater, films, books, radio, educational materials and the press.
In our nation we are seeing people that hate the freedoms we have under our Constitution. This hate is found in the Halls of Congress and this hate is found in our FBI. This hate is found in our CIA. This hate is found in our State Department. This hate is found in our Justice Department. This hate is found in the Courts in our land. This hate is alive and well in our colleges and university systems. The media is filled with hate for our nation. Our media uses their hate for our Constitution the same way the Nazi regime used propaganda to mobilize the population. The right to protest a true wrong is part of our freedom under our Constitution. The mob action today is burning, stealing and killing and this is not about a wrong done by a cop. It is about the hate these people have in their heart.
What is the only cure for the hate virus in the human family? “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them on your hands, wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house, and on your gate.”
Jesus was asked what the most important commandment was. “Jesus replied, ‘What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?’” The man that asked the question answered, ‘You must love the Lord, your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, ad all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself.’ ‘Right’, Jesus told him. ‘Do this and you will live.’”
This is the only cure for hate. We must live in faith and the forgiveness of God’s love seen in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. If we are to live as a nation of free people, believe in God’s plan and in His plan we find our cure for our hate.
In the movie, ‘My Fair Lady’ there is a song called ‘Show me’, which says “Words, words, words. I’m sick of words. Sing me no songs. Read me no rhymes. Don’t waste my time. Show me.” Jesus put it this way when he said, “Not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom, but he who does my will.”
