The Supernatural Life: Dealing with Challenging People (Romans Sermon 97)

Well, this is our third week of looking at the supernatural life that the apostle Paul is commanding. And these very practical commands at the end of Romans 12, the application of 11 chapters of doctrine, the foundation of the supernatural life of the Christian is the shed blood of Jesus Christ. If you have trusted in Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you have come to the cross realizing that you cannot save yourselves realizing that you cannot do enough good works to ever atone for even a single sin. You have come to Christ, you’ve come to the cross and you have received in his name, forgiveness for your sins. He then enjoins on you, commands this kind of a life and His commands are not burdensome.

This is a marvelous life, this is the best kind of life to live. But we recognize and we’ve seen the last two weeks and now, this, for the third week, this is a supernatural life that Christ is calling on us to live through the Apostle Paul. And as we look today, the unifying theme of these verses that were read, Romans 12:14-21 is a life with challenging people. Now by that, I don’t mean anything negative, it’s just that people are challenging. I’m a challenging person, so are you. And I don’t mean anything by it, other than that it’s a challenge to live with other human beings in a way that honors and glorifies God.

Now, I love church history, and one of my favorite one of the most thrilling stories that I’ve ever read from church history, centers on the Anabaptists who are our forebearers as Baptists. They are the group of people in the 16th century, during the time of the reformation, who came to the conclusion that baptism was just for believers in Christ. Came to that conclusion and for that they were persecuted by just about everybody in Europe, everybody hated these people and tried to shun them from their countries. By the mid-1530s over 50,000 of them had been executed for their faith, it was a terrible time of persecution. The story I have in mind is from the year 1569 when one of these Anabaptist brothers was fleeing for his life in the middle of the winter, and he’s running, being chased by somebody who’s been deputized to bring him back to justice, which means bring him back to death. He’s running across a frozen river and as he’s running, he’s on the other side, he’s just about to get away when he hears a crack in the ice and his persecutor, the man chasing him has fallen in the frozen river and is screaming for help. Now, let me ask you a question, what would you do at that moment?

Some would look at that as a gift from God. I’m free, I can run away, I can get away. He didn’t look at it that way at all. A human being, his life was in jeopardy, and if he didn’t turn back and go back that man would drown he would die for sure. And so he went back compelled by the love of Christ as the scripture says, “The love of Christ compels us.” He went back and he saved that man’s life. And he ended up paying for that act by being executed for being an Anabaptist. The man himself, wanted to set William Dirk free, but the authorities caught up and they captured him and they brought him they condemned him to death for his heresy and they burned him at the stake. But what was at the heart of this man, William Dirk? His heart was, Love your enemies. Do good to those who persecute you. Friends, that is a supernatural calling isn’t it? It is not natural for us to seek to love those who want to kill us. It is not natural, for us to want to save somebody who’s hunting us down. It is supernatural, and that’s the kind of life that Christ is calling on us to live.

I. A Supernatural Life of Harmony with All People

Now this morning we’re going to be looking at a variety of relationships that Christ is calling on us to be supernatural in by the power of the Spirit. But first, we’ll just look in an overarching way, at every human relationship. Look at verse 16, there it says, “Live in harmony with one another.” “Live in harmony with one another.” Now, the bottom line here is that people are complex. We are a complex physical web of hormones and nerves and drives within, physically complex. We are a complex emotional web of hurts and fears, of confidence and vulnerability, of arrogance and pride, also joy and sorrow, very complex. We are a complex mental web of convictions, of opinions, of beliefs and insights, of data and facts and figures, all woven into a unique world view.

We are a complex historical web of personal history, of experiences, of cultural backgrounds, past successes and failures. That’s what each one of us are as human beings, we are complex. And human beings are so complex and potent [chuckle] that some people despair from interacting well with other people and they withdraw psychologically, even physically, become reclusive, they pull back, they don’t want to live with people, they’re just too tough. It’s too painful, it’s too difficult. So they pull back.

French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, wrote a play called “No Exit”. And in that play, one of his characters utters the most famous line that Sartre ever, ever wrote, and that is this: “Hell is other people.” Now you think about how would you live that philosophy, out? No wonder these existential philosophers were always depressed. Clearly, he’s wrong, but there’s something out of reality, something out of truth that flows into that bizarre way of looking and that is that human beings are difficult to get along with, except you, of course. You are sweet and gentle and loving and easy, to get along, but everyone else is a challenge, right? Well, you know, it’s a challenge for all of us. Human beings are challenging beings, they’re so complex that it isn’t long in the Christian life before you realize the hardest thing you will do today, is to get along well with other people in a way that glorifies God. It’s the hardest thing. Harder than anything else you’re called to do.

Now, the essence of the supernatural life is in large part dealing well in a Christ-honoring way, with other people. That’s a big part of it. Christ is calling on us to live this supernatural life, it’s a life that the Holy Spirit enables us by His power, and for his glory to deal well with people all over the map, who are in all different kinds of situations, socio-economically, physically, emotionally, spiritually, to deal well with each person, that’s what he’s calling on us to do. And the overarching command in verse 16 is “Live in harmony with one another.” Now, literally the translation here is think like each other. Think the same.

And so, I believe, at first blush, as you look at it, this is an in-house matter, this is from Christian to Christian. Because we share world view and convictions with other Christians and we’re supposed to live out of that. We’re supposed to think like other Christians and get along with other Christians. We cannot be of the same mind on ultimate matters as non-Christians. Now, this doesn’t mean we’re seeking difficulty with them, we’ll get to that in a minute, but this is first and foremost, I think an in-house principal of seeking harmony with Christians. It does extend however, in somewhat reduced way to outsiders. Look at Verse 18. “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with all people.” Do you see that? Now, you realize it isn’t always totally up to you to live at peace with others. Some people are just so angry and frustrated and alienated from God, that they will not live at peace with anyone. And so, it isn’t your fault, it is not you they are rejecting. They’re not angry at you, they’re angry at God and they’re taking it out on you, and you just need to know that. But it says, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with all people.”

So this is just a general command Verse 16. In-House, Christian to Christian, think like each other. Outside of the circle of Christianity, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with all people.” That’s what it’s saying here.

Now, Christ has given us a beautiful example of this, he lived in harmony with people of many different backgrounds. He could sit at table with tax collectors and prostitutes and not in any way be dragged down by sin, but rather he lifted them up, some of them right into the kingdom of God. And he could sit down with those folks, he could sit at table equally well with Pharisees and religious leaders, he could do that. He could relate well to a rich Zacchaeus or a religious leader like Nicodemus, these are wealthy, powerful men. He could do that. He could also deal with a sinful Samaritan woman comfortably, and talk with her in a comfortable way.

As a matter of fact, it seems the only people that Christ had difficulty relating with, were those people who are so blind through their own pride and their own self-righteousness, that they felt they had no need or use for him at all. And through that blindness, they actually ascribe his works to the devil. But other than that he got along very well and lived in harmony with all different kinds of people. But praise God, Christ hasn’t come only to give us an example, amen? Suppose you just look at the example of Christ, and then you’re told without any help from him, be like him. How would you do? Christ as example actually condemns us, but Christ as Savior, saves us. And so Christ saves us from all of the ways that we’re not like him, but having saved us, then he brings us to his example and say, “Now live like this.” He gives us both the salvation and He gives us example. Now, isn’t it wonderful to know within the circle of Christianity, our future is one of absolute perfect unity in heaven.

We will be as one, it says in John 17, “as the Father and the Son are one.” There is never a shadow or shade of disagreement between the Father and the Son. There’s no disagreements in heaven, there’s no factions or divisions in heaven. We will be in perfect unity. But I think the world needs to see it now, don’t you? And the more the world sees Christians in unity, living in harmony with one another, the more powerfully the gospel can advance. Isn’t that true, when the world sees us getting over our difficulties, resolving things well doctrinal, emotional, physical, whatever the difficulties are, that we get over it by the power of the Spirit of God, the Gospel advances. Listen to this, it says in the high priestly prayer, John 17:23, Jesus prays, “I in them and you in me,” listen, “May they be brought to complete unity.” See the progress. “May they be being brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and that you have loved them even as You have loved Me.” So as we are gradually, consistently being brought more and more into unity, the world watches, and says, “I want to know the gospel, I want to know more about Jesus, if this is how you treat one another.” It’s so beautiful. So Live in harmony with one another, that is supernatural.

II. A Supernatural Life of Compassion toward Emotional People

The second thing that Paul talks about here is a supernatural life of compassion toward emotional people. Look what it says in verse 15, “Rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.” The challenge here are the extremes of emotion that we’re dealing with here. The world is full of extreme situations from one end of the spectrum to the other. Human beings created in the image of God, we are emotional beings. We don’t just react like computers, processing data. We react with feelings, we have emotions, we feel that. And so, you can respond with laughter, you can respond with tears, with great pain with great joy. It’s all over the map. But what’s so challenging [chuckle] brothers and sisters, is that this is going on all the time around you. Somebody’s greatest day could be happening on your worst day. And how in the world can we deal with that? They are so thrilled. They’re walking on cloud nine, and you’re in the depths of despair, and yet the two of you have to somehow connect and somehow relate.

This verse, verse 15 tells us how. “Rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.” Now, the call here, is to show compassion. Another word would be sympathy. They’re the same thing, we are feeling with people. We’re joining our hearts together emotionally with other people.

Now, Christ did this, I think Jesus Christ was the most compassionate man in history. Wasn’t it Christ who was moved with compassion when he saw the crowds and he saw that they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. He was moved with compassion when He wept over Jerusalem. Moved with compassion also, he reached out and touched a leper, a disgusting leper and said, “I am willing, be healed.” Moved with compassion. Inside him something moved. He wasn’t just a salvation machine without any feelings. He would see situations and he’d say, “Oh, oh.” Something would move inside him. He was connected to what he saw, moved with compassion. He wept at Lazarus’s tomb when he saw Martha and Mary weeping, it says, “Jesus wept.” “And once more deeply moved, he said, ‘Where have you laid him?'” There’s a compassion in Christ. I think he’s the perfect embodiment of the compassion of our Heavenly Father. God, Almighty God, is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in love. He has compassion.

Listen to this command in Exodus 22. This is just a minor detail, but look at the compassion of God in it. Exodus 22, it says, “If you take your neighbors cloak as a pledge, return it to him by sunset because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body. What else will be sleep in. When he cries out to me, I will hear for I am compassionate.” He cares about somebody who doesn’t have a cloak to wrap himself up in at night, God says, because of my compassion return his cloak please, before the sun goes down. Do you see the compassion of God and how much more when he heard the cries of His own people, the Israelites in Egypt and he was concerned about them because of their bondage. He was moved with compassion for them and sent Moses as their deliverer.

And how much infinitely more, when God, Almighty God moved with compassion, sees us as slaves, not to making bricks without straw but slaves to sin moved with compassion. He sends His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, our God is a compassionate God. He gets emotional about the things in your life. That’s why the Scripture says, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.” He has an emotional reaction to what’s going on in your life.

And God’s call to us here is to be compassionate, to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn, he wants you to take your heart and melt it into somebody else’s. That takes vulnerability, doesn’t it? It takes a willingness to be hurt. A willingness to connect with somebody and find out what’s going on in their situation.

Well, look at rejoice with those who rejoice. Finally they get a job after months and months of being unemployed. Do you care? Does it matter to you? They’re happy, they’re thrilled. They finally got a job. How does it hit you? And perhaps they’re celebrating the birth of their first child or their fifth child for that matter. They’re delighted, they’re rejoicing, they’re thrilled. How about you? Perhaps they’ve just become engaged to the love of their life and they’re so excited, stars in their eyes. Everything’s so bright and wonderful. And you’re thinking, “What does that have to do with me?” Well, that’s up to you, what it has to do with you. The scripture here says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice.”

Maybe they just got an excellent grade on an exam. Or maybe they just led somebody to Christ for the first time, they finally been able to lead somebody to the Lord. Maybe they’re just happy in Jesus and they want to share that with you. There’s a challenge if you’re not, okay. The Scripture says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice.” In any case, you’re to rejoice with them as though it were happening to you.

And then there’s the flip side, “Mourn with those who mourn.” That hurts, doesn’t it? You were doing fine until you met somebody who was walking around with a burden. They’re under a cloud, and you’re thinking, “I don’t… Do I want to be dragged down into that?” But the Scripture says, “Mourn with those who mourn.” Walk with them through their suffering, maybe they’ve lost a spouse of 50 years. Maybe they’ve had a miscarriage. Maybe they just got laid off from their job or they had hopes to get a job and it didn’t work out. Perhaps a child is suffering in a hospital bed. Maybe they’ve just been diagnosed themselves with cancer, and they’re going to have to have chemotherapy, or radiation. Maybe it’s just a minor thing, struggling in some way. Maybe they’re having marital struggles or having a hard time parenting their kids. Mourn with those who mourn.

And notice what it says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn.” You have to do it together, sit next to them. Look them in the face, connect with them. It’s to be a community issue here, a interpersonal issue. Not just, “Well, I was happy in my room when I got home, I thought about it and I was… ” They don’t benefit from that at all. This is to draw us together. In order to do that, you know what, you and I, we need to get up out of ourselves don’t we? We need to get out of our immediate circumstances and start thinking about other people’s situations, what’s facing them. Philippians 2:4 says, “Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also the interests of others.” You know what the natural state that sin leaves us in is cold indifference to other human beings.

The kind of thing where in the story, the good Samaritan, people, religious people can just walk by a man laying bleeding in the gutter, just walk right by and say, “It has nothing to do with me.” Cold indifference. That’s the natural state of our sinful hearts. I don’t care, that’s where we start. And the Lord is saying here in verse 15, “Care. Be compassionate, rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. ” I sometimes ask, I hope my family knows I’m goofing around when I ask this question, but somebody asks, “Hon, could you get such and such?” I ask, “What’s in it for me? I want to know, what’s in it for me?” “Just get the thing, will ya. I need it now.” But I just play with that, because that’s kind of the state of the human heart, the natural state. What’s shameful is, what I joke about, other times, I kind of live at other times.

I want to know what’s in it for me, what do I get out of this? And what the Scripture is saying is that’s not the question you should be asking. The thing is, What can I give? How can I minister? How can I enhance somebody’s joy, who’s rejoicing? How can I minimize somebody’s grief who’s suffering? What’s in it for you is not the question. What’s in it for the brother and sister? That’s it. And how can I glorify Christ?

I find that the key to this is prayer. I can’t do this unless I pray for other people. If I invest in somebody’s lost job, situation or in their cancer or in their desire to have a child or in some situation they bring to me, if I invest in it, like buying shares of a stock, then when it comes back, my joy is greatly increased. I care. If I invest in somebody’s suffering, through prayer, I am going to care, when I see them. And if I don’t, I probably won’t. The key role of prayer.

III. A Supernatural Life of Humility toward People “Beneath You”

The third aspect here is the supernatural life of humility toward people beneath you. Look what it says in verse 16, “Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.” Now, life has kind of a pecking order. I know in the British system, it’s almost like a caste system, where everybody’s in a certain place in the stratified social order and there’s going to be people above you, they are your betters. That always bothered me as an American. Is that how to treat your betters. Saying, “Wait a minute, Aren’t all men, created equal? Oh, I’m such a colonial. I’m such an American.”

So I look at that and it kind of bothers me. It’s like, “What do you mean my betters?” But we have a pecking order here in America. It’s based on socio-economic success, how well people have done financially, what kind of job they have, where they live, how they’re doing. And so there’s always going to be people ‘above you’ and people ‘below you.’

When I was ministering, my wife and I and our kids were ministering in Japan, I came to know there was a group there called the Barakamon who are at the lowest rung of Japanese society. And I guess in previous centuries, they had been involved in the Tanning of leather and other things and at some point that became untouchable. And so the Japanese people did not want to have anything to do with the Barakamon. They’re Japanese people. You wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, but they all know who they are, has to do with their names and has to do with their breeding and other things, and they don’t want to give their sons, to their daughters or take their daughters for their sons, they don’t want to intermarry with them. And so it’s a big problem. Or again, in India, you’ve got the Dalit or the untouchable class, and again, nobody wants to deal with them. They’re at the lowest rung of society, but we have it too.

And here in this Scripture, the Lord is commanding on us to be… Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low station. The root of this is pride. And pride is the deadly enemy of what God’s calling us to do. You’re saying, well, these people can’t do anything for me. All they can do is kind of make my life disorderly and messy. And so we don’t want to associate with poor people or with people who are below us on the social rung. I think the command here is basically don’t put on airs, don’t have your nose up in the air, don’t be snooty. Don’t be conceited, but be willing to embrace, warmly embrace people who are of a low position.

Maybe you remember when you were in high school and there were different cliques and groups in high school, the jocks, you had the Chess Club nerds. I was in the Chess Club. Alright, I admit it. I was, I like to play chess. I like math and things like that. So you can call me a nerd. But anyway, I was in a definable a group. The jocks, you’ve got the… Later on came the Goths, the band geeks, the cheerleaders, the burn outs, the red-necks. Hey, listen, I didn’t make these things up, the preppies. And then there was the coveted in-crowd. These are all the most popular kids. And then at the mirror opposite were the losers. And if you wanted to be… If you were almost in the in-crowd, the last thing you wanted was to be seen with a loser or to be friends with a loser because you would be ostracized, you wouldn’t be accepted in that in-crowd, that clique.

Well, these are immature groupings in high school, but they take a different feel when you move on to adult life, and there are some people and you begin to ask that same question. I asked a minute a go, what’s in it for me in this relationship, what can they do for me? And the answer is probably nothing. They can make your life difficult, they’re going to be a drain on your resources, on your time and all that, and you decide, “I don’t want to have anything to do with them.” Woe to us if we ever do that as a church. Amen? If we will not reach out to people of low position because we’re too conceited or too successful.

God has positioned us here to minister to people who need Christ. To minister to them directly as we saw yesterday, in the health fair. It’s a beautiful thing, and to realize how is it that the Lord Jesus Christ has approached us, how does he see us? What do we look like from heaven’s perspective? And how could we ever put on airs with some other sinner who’s struggling just like we are? Jesus put it this way. He said, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers, your relatives, or your rich neighbors, if you do, they might invite you back and you’ll be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be paid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Jesus is telling you who to invite to your dinner party. He says invite the people who can’t repay you. Invite the people who need it the most. And God is calling on us to a whole different way of viewing people, seeing them as God sees them, not in terms of how they can advance your life, stoke your ego, advance your career, not at all, but who are they, created in the image of God, perhaps brothers and sisters in Christ through faith in Christ. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.

I Think about Jesus. And I mentioned earlier how Jesus reaches out to the Samaritan woman at the well. A good friend of mine told me something about this woman at the well, and I’ve never forgotten it. He said, “You know, the Jews were, in some sense, the rejects of the world. The Samaritans in some sense, the rejects of the Jews. The Samaritan women, rejected by the Samaritan men, and this woman rejected by the Samaritan women, because she had to go in the middle of the day and get her water because of the lifestyle she was leading. And Jesus opened himself up more to her than almost to anybody else. I know that Messiah is coming, she said, and he said, ‘I who speak to you, am He.'”

He said directly, I’m the Messiah. He usually didn’t do that. He usually gave some kind of words that were hard to interpret and then you’d know what he was meaning. He said directly, “I’m the Messiah,” to her. Incredible acceptance. She’s a woman that most people wouldn’t have had even a conversation with. Jesus loved her. He connected with her, even to the point of maybe scandalizing His own disciples, they were surprised that he was talking with her. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.

IV. A Supernatural Life of Loving Your Enemies

The final aspect here is a supernatural life of loving your enemies. I am amazed at the pervasiveness of revenge and vengeance in our culture. And not just in our culture, around the world. It is a big issue. Just look at geo-political situations, how much is it revenge at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? How much at the core of suicide bombings that are done in reprisal for something that was done by the Israeli occupying force or something like… Back and forth it goes. How much of our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan was motivated by some people, at least, not by everybody, some people as revenge for what happened on September 11th. Get them back, make them pay.

I read about a group of Holocaust victims from World War II that organized themselves into a group called The Avengers. And their job after World War II was to hunt down and kill, assassinate SS members, former Nazis that were involved in the executions and in the death camps. And so they would go and find these people through research and they’d pull them out of their beds in the middle of the night, pull them out into the streets and shoot them and just leave them dead in the street. The Avengers.

It was revenge that motivated a 48 year old Russian man named Vitaly Kaloyev to fulfill a two-year vendetta after his wife and daughter and son had died tragically in a mid-air collision in Europe. He systematically hunted down the Danish air traffic controller, this in July of 2002, the Danish air traffic controller, Peter Nielsen and murdered him in February 2004 for this. Personal vengeance, because this man, he feels, had ruined his life.

Revenge is a major motive in much of the ugliness surrounding divorce court proceedings as people… Two people who formerly loved each other want to take as much flesh almost out of the other person, make them hurt, make them suffer. There’s so much bitterness there.

How about gang-related violence, in city after city in America? One gang member does something to another and then they come back and kill two of them, and it escalates. It’s always with interest, the payback is always with interest, it never stays at the same level. There’s so much vengeance in gang-related violence. Revenge is behind road rage. When a driver cuts somebody else off and the other one comes in flashing their high beams and honks the horn and does all kinds of nasty things, whatever, not that you’ve ever gotten upset when somebody’s cut off and done anything like honk your horn or anything like that. There’s not even the slightest motion of revenge in you, I’m sure, but there it is. Road rage, people willing even to kill over slights that happen on the road.

Revenge is behind office politics and slander and gossip. It’s behind the strange delight that family seem to take in the punishment of somebody who hurt their family in some way. You watch it in the local news. And it’s like “they got what’s coming to them,” and all I think, “Oh, that’s not the attitude here. You should be praying for these people, even if they did something heinous and terrible, because a far greater judgment stands over them than whatever the courts can give out here in this world.”

And then there’s a more common level. Just in families, and in churches, somebody says something, somebody does something that you don’t like, and it hurt you. And then you start thinking, “Oh, I’d like to get them back a little bit. A little bit of payback.” Brother to brother, sister to sister, husband to wife, wife to husband, in the church. It happens.

And here the scripture is calling us to let it go. Let it go. Do not take revenge, it says. Do not pay back evil for evil. Try to be kind to everyone. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Now, what is the root of revenge? Well, at the root of it is pride. It isn’t just that a wrong has happened or else you’d be just as motivated when something happened to somebody else, right? You’d say, “Oh, it’s the justice of the matter. It is. This thing was wrong that was done.” I say, “Yeah, but wrongs like that happen around you all the time, and you don’t get so motivated. ”  It’s because it happened to you. And therefore pride is at the root of it. And so it’s like, “You did such and such to me, to me. Don’t you know who I am.” And so we become like little gods and goddesses hunting down the perpetrators wanting to hurt them, make them punished for what they did to you.

We become the center of the universe. It’s so dishonoring to God, to be a little god or a little goddess trying to get back the person who hurt you. And Christ gave us a perfect example in his commands and his teachings in Luke 6, He said, “I tell you who hear me, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic.” That’s his teaching, but did he live it out? Did Jesus practice what he preached? Yes, he did. He’s dying on the cross, and He says, “Father forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing.”

And at the heart of that was his trust in His Heavenly Father. In 1 Peter 2:23 it says, “When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate. When he suffered, he made no threats, instead he entrusted himself to Him who judges justly.” He just gave his case to God, just gave it to God and said, God, you deal with this. And God did. Now, look at the negative commands here. Look at verse 17. Do not repay any one evil for evil. Verse 19, Do not take revenge, my friends. Verse 21, Do not be overcome by evil.

So you’re in the office and you find out that somebody’s been slandering you, telling something that just isn’t even true, making you look bad, what do you want to do? What do you want to do? Not only do you want to vindicate yourself, you want to go beyond that, don’t you? You want to hurt them back. You want to come up with some scheme, but it’s going to take some cleverness on your part now. You can’t do it in an obvious way that everybody can see that it’s revenge. So you have to be some creative and all that. God’s saying, stop all the meditation. Stop all the planning. Stop all of it. Get rid of it, and give the whole matter up to God. Do not, do not, do not.

But he also gives us some positives here too. Look at verse 14, “Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse.” Verse 17 and 18, “Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Verse 19, “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath.” Verse 20, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him, if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you’ll heap burning coals on his head.” In verse 21, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” So it’s not just do not, do not, do not, he’s saying actively love these people. Actively bless them. William Dirk goes back and leans down with his hand and grabs the cold hand of his persecutor and pulls him up out of the water. He loves him actively. He blessed him by saving his life. Make your life, your heart filled with activity toward people who are being wrong toward you. That’s what he’s commanding here. Does this sound easy to you? This is supernatural. This is something only God could work in sinners like you and me.

Now, what are the reasons for it? Well, God says, “Do not take revenge, my friends.” It says, it is mine to avenge. Verse 19, “It is mine to avenge, I will repay.” That is powerful, God is basically staking out a claim here. You can take these three words “I will repay.” And depending how you emphasize them you can look at each one of them, each aspect. First of all, I will repay, not you. Or you could say “I will repay.” It’s a promise. Doesn’t it say in Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived, for a man reaps whatever he sows.” He’s not going to get away with it, nobody’s getting away with anything. Every sin there is in this world will be judged either at the cross by Jesus’ death or on judgment day, by that individual going to hell, that’s it.

And He’s saying I will repay… And then I will repay. There is justice with God. So, don’t take revenge, let God do it. It’s his job, his role. And he will do it in God’s perfect time.

Now, it’s a very stirring thing when he says, leave room for the wrath of God. Is that surprising to you? How would you like to heap burning coals on somebody? I want to heap burning coals on somebody. Woo, that’s ugly, that’s unpleasant. I read this and I said, “You know, I would have an easier time preaching it if it were written like this. ‘Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for the grace of God.” Do you see it? And this is a valid theme, isn’t it? Because God’s grace can take any bitter hateful enemy and turn them around and make them a Christian brother or sister in Christ.

Look what he did to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, he converted him and he became a Christian. And those who used to be afraid of him and maybe even tempted to hate him, then loved him as a brother in Christ. So, don’t take revenge because God’s grace can be at work in their life. That is true but it’s not what it says.

There’s another aspect too. Because, frankly, many of these persecutors are not going to come to Christ, and they’re goanna keep on persecuting and keep on opposing their whole lives. Still, bless them. Still, love them. Still, pray for them. Because, yeah, they might someday come to Christ, but even if they don’t, the ultimate wrath from God is far greater than anything you could ever do. Far greater. And so with every kind act, you’re stepping aside and letting the justice of God work. And in so doing, you’re heaping burning coals of judgment on their head.

Matthew Henry wrestled with this and he said, “Okay, the burning coals, either it’s going to melt their hard hearts into a liquid state, so that they will become Christians and your friend, or it’s going to be wrath on Judgment Day. But either way, don’t take revenge.” Basically, the bottom line here is this, look at verse 21, only good can conquer evil. You can’t conquer evil with evil. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Stephen, as he was finishing up his sermon in Acts 7, cries out by the power of God, says, “You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears, you’re just like your fathers: you always resist the Holy Spirit. Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute?” Now you have betrayed and murdered the Righteous One, the Messiah.” And when they heard that, they were filled with rage and they flooded out and grabbed hold of Stephen and moved into a place and began to kill him. They poured stones on him and they were murdering him. And while they are murdering him, they laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul who was approving of what was going on. But Saul watched something that day. He watched Stephen sink down and look up and see heaven open. He said, “Look, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” And then as he was dying, he said, “Lord do not hold this sin against them.” And when He had said this, He fell asleep.

Years later, I don’t know how many years later, but Saul of Tarsus was on route to Damascus, the story is told in Acts 26, when a blinding light came around him, and he fell to the ground and a voice came from heaven. And someone who is better at loving enemies than anyone ever in this world, Jesus, said, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” And then out of compassion, he adds this, “It’s hard for you to kick against the goads…” Isn’t it? It’s hard for you. Out of compassion. What are the goads? Stephen was a goad. The way he died, the way he said “do not hold this sin against them.” You want to be a Christian, don’t you Saul? Yes, I do. And he was ready.

And so the love and the compassion of Stephen toward an enemy, toward a bunch of enemies converted, in part, converted Saul of Tarsus. What about you? How are you going to deal with it the next time your husband, your wife says something unkind to you? Are you going to try to repay them? Or are you going to just give it up to God? How about here in the church, the next time somebody does something, says something, doesn’t notice a good thing and you think they should thank you and they didn’t notice, are you going to try to work out a little bit of revenge or are you going to give it up to God?

What about to the non-Christians around who don’t have the same values you do, but they try to hurt you, to attack you in the office, on the road, out in public, because they don’t know Jesus and they don’t know any better. Are you going to give it up to God, or are you going to try to seek revenge? And how about if it’s even worse than that, if somebody kills a family member, can you be like some Christian brothers and sisters that I’ve seen on the local news, say, “I forgive them, I’m praying for them, that they would come to know the Lord” or are you going to be a more vindictive sort, and say, “they got what they deserved?” I pray, God, that by the power of the Holy Spirit, we will live the supernatural life that God has for us to live. Close with me in prayer.

These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.

Introduction

The year was 1569. Facing arrest as an Anabaptist, Dirck Willems was running, fleeing for his life. Anabaptists were the courageous Christians who came to believe that baptism was for believers. They got the name because they were rebaptized as adults. Anabaptists believed that baptism apart from faith was meaningless. For their commitment to this belief they were branded as heretics and by 1535 an estimated 50,000 of them were killed for their faith. This of course was at a time when there was no separation of church and state. The guilt of their crime was nothing more than discrediting the practice of infant baptism.

It was in such a climate that Dirck Willems found himself running across a frozen lake. He was running from a pursuer hot on his trail to arrest him. His pursuer broke through the ice. Willems gave up his chance to escape by turning to save his persecutor. Though his pursuer wanted to release him, he was held by the authorities under his contract to catch them. The captured Willems was imprisoned, and then burned at the stake in 1569.

Why did Dirck do it? No mere common decency could have motivated Willems’ action that day by the frozen stream. He knew the risk in this act of compassion. Many others would have interpreted this unfortunate turn of events as designed by God to aid his escape. But in that moment of decision he acted from something deep within him that transcended self-interest or fear. He acted from the love he had for Christ. He knew his Lord’s words, “Love your enemies.”

Willems was living a supernatural life… a life only explainable by the supernatural power of Christ in a human soul

Revenge is a natural response to the intense pain that enemies can cause us in this life. Opportunities for revenge are as numerous as the insults and offenses and slights we experience. But Christ calls us to a supernatural life

Love for Enemies… the most clearly supernatural response in the chapter

The fruit of our supernatural life shows itself most clearly in how we treat the challenging people of our lives… today we’ll look at some of the most challenging scenarios we can face: persecutors, joyful and sorrowful people, enemies and all people

Only by the supernatural work of Christ in our hearts will we be godly with the challenge of needy people that surround us every day

I.   A Supernatural Life of Harmony with All People

Romans 12:16 Live in harmony with one another.

A.  The Challenge: People Are Complex

1.  Human beings are the most complex elements of God’s creation

a.  We are a complex physical web of bodily systems, hormones, drives, motives, and yearnings mixed with physical pain

b.  We are a complex emotional web of hurts, fears, confidence, vulnerability, arrogance, pride, joy, sorrow

c.  We are a complex mental web of convictions, opinions, beliefs, insights, data, facts, figures… all woven into a unique worldview

d.  We are also a complex historical web of personal history, experiences, cultural background, and past successes and sufferings

2.  Human beings are so complex and potent than some people despair from interacting well with other people and withdraw into psychological shells or withdraw from daily life altogether

Jean Paul Sartre, French existentialist philosopher wrote a play called No Exit… one of the characters in the play uttered the most famous line Sartre ever wrote:

“Hell is other people.”

Of course, he was wrong… but interactions with complex people can be so painful, so damaging, so devastating that it seems like Sartre was right

3.  Human beings are so complex that it isn’t long before you realize the hardest part of a Christian’s life is dealing well with the wide array of other human beings on this small planet

B.  The Essence of the Supernatural Life: In Large Part Dealing with Challenging People

1.  Christ calls us to the supernatural life

2.  A life in which His Spirit enables us to love people as He does

3.  A life in which His Spirit enables us to live at peace with people no matter how they treat us, no matter what challenges they bring to us

C.  Living in Harmony with Others

Romans 12:16 Live in harmony with one another.

1.  Literally: Think the same way as each other

2.  This is essentially an in-house matter… for Christians only

a.  We cannot be of the same mind as non-Christians

b.  This doesn’t mean we seek difficulty with others

c.  The in-house principle of seeking harmony with Christians extends in a reduced way to outsiders

Romans 12:18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

d.  Obviously, some people will not permit you to live at peace with them

e.  They will attack you, persecute you, oppose you

f.  Why? Because they themselves are at war with God… and they will take it out on you

D.  Christ’s Example and Power

1.  Christ lived in harmony with people of many different social backgrounds

a.  He could sit at table with tax collectors and prostitutes

b.  He could sit at table equally well with Pharisees and religious leaders

c.  He could relate well to a rich Zaccheaus, a religious leader like Nicodemas

d.  He could also talk easily and comfortably with a sinful Samaritan woman who was rejected by her own rejected people

e.  The only people Christ had difficulty relating well to were those whose arrogance blinded them to their need for His saving work… people who were self-sufficient and thought themselves healthy

2.  BUT Christ didn’t just come to give us an example…

a.  Then would we be in despair

b.  For none of us can imitate Him perfectly

3.  Rather Christ came to save us from all the ways we fail to meet His example

E.  The Future of Our Human Relationships: Perfect Unity

John 17:21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us

As the Church of Jesus Christ more and more learns to live well with others, living in harmony with other Christians and learning to live at peace with other people will our preaching of the saving gospel have the most impact in this disunited world

John 17:23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

II.   A Supernatural Life of Compassion toward Emotional People

Romans 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

A.  The Challenge: The Extremes of Emotion

1.  This world is full of extreme situations… from one end of the spectrum to the other

2.  Human beings, created in the image of God, are EMOTIONAL beings… we respond with laughter and with tears to the constantly changing circumstances of life

3.  What’s so challenging is that all of it is going on at once… the ups and the downs… and when you may be down, someone else may be up—and vice versa

4.  Paul here commands us to show compassion

B.  Christ’s Infinite Compassion

1.  Jesus Christ was the most compassionate man in history

■      We see it when Jesus had compassion on the crowds because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd

■      We see it when Jesus, moved with compassion, reached out and healed a leper

■      We see it when Jesus, moved with compassion at Martha and Mary’s agony wept in front of Lazarus’s tomb

2.  He was the perfect embodiment of His Heavenly Father’s compassion on our wretched sin-cursed human race

Exodus 22:26-27 If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it to him by sunset, 27 because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body. What else will he sleep in? When he cries out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.

3.  It was God the Father’s great compassion that led Him to hear the cry of His people when they were slaves in Egypt and He sent Moses to be their deliverer

4.  It was God the Father’s even greater compassion that led Him to hear the cry of His people in bondage to sin and He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to save us from sin and death and hell

C.  God’s Call to Us: Be Compassionate

1.  Compassion means to feel what someone else is feeling

Romans 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

2.  God calls on us to melt our emotional life into that of others… to care deeply about what’s going on with them

3.  Rejoice with someone when they get good news

a.  Perhaps they finally got a job after months of unemployment

b.  Perhaps they are celebrating the birth of their first child

c.  Perhaps they have just become engaged to the love of their life

d.  Perhaps they got an excellent grade on an exam

e.  Perhaps they just led someone to Christ or got accepted to go on a mission trip

f.  Maybe they are just happy in Jesus, and have a deep sense of His love

g.  In any case… rejoice with them as though it were happening to you

4.  OR Mourn with someone who is mourning

a.  Walk with them through their suffering

b.  Perhaps they have lost a spouse of fifty years or had a miscarriage

c.  Perhaps they have just heard they have cancer…

d.  Or a child is suffering in a hospital bed

e.  Or perhaps they have lost their job

f.  Maybe they are having marital struggles or a hard time with their teenager

g.  Maybe it’s just as simple as this: they are discouraged in life, having a hard time in their walk with Christ

h.  God is calling us here to mourn genuinely with them

5.  Note: it is rejoice WITH those who rejoice, and mourn WITH those who mourn

a.  It is done together

b.  A shared experience… a communicated experience… not from afar

D.  Learning to Get Out of Yourself

Philippians 2:4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

1.  In order to do this, you have to get up out of yourself

2.  The base line of the human race is cold, selfish, indifference

3.  “What’s in it for me?” sinners ask

4.  “I don’t want to get involved” sinners say

5.  “I must get dragged down or burned out” we are worried

6.  God is calling us to join our hearts together with people around us… to get out of our situations

E.  The Key Role of Prayer

1.  It is in prayer more than any other way that we work on our hearts

2.  It is prayer that we heat ourselves up to care about someone else

III.   A Supernatural Life of Humility toward People “Beneath You”

vs. 16 Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

A.  Life’s Pecking Order

1.  British caste system… knowing where you fit in “society”

2.  Japanese had a lower class people known as the Burakumin

3.  American social order based on money… personal wealth

a.  God doesn’t equally gift everybody with intelligence or talent or opportunities

b.  God doesn’t equally gift everybody with money or strong family backing or business connections or providential help

4.  Providence ordains that there will be some people who are of lower position in the ladder of success

a.  You will always be able to meet people above you on that ladder

b.  You will also always be able to meet people down the scale as well… people who have nothing to offer of worldly wealth or prestige or honor;

c.  To worldly people, they are nothings… people who can only mess up their perfect, orderly, wealthy, successful world

B.  Pride: The Deadly Enemy of the Christian Life

1.  Paul is calling on Christians to live a supernatural life… a life of supernatural humility

2.  Pride is the core sin… the root of almost every sin

3.  The Greek word here is “Don’t think of yourself in a high manner”; perhaps it is don’t be snooty, or put on airs, or have your nose in the air

Illus. High school breaks into cliques… the jocks, the chess club nerds, the Goths, the band geeks, the cheerleaders, the burnouts, the rednecks, the preppies… then there’s the coveted “in-crowd”—made up of the most popular and attractive kids in school; and their clique opposite: “the losers”—the kids that nobody wanted to associate with

If your ambition was to be in the in-crowd, the last thing you could ever let yourself do was to be seen with a chess nerd or a band geek or, worst of all, a loser.

These immature clique groupings take on a different feel once we move on into adulthood… but there’s still the basic concept… there are some people who can help you achieve your worldly, ladder-climbing goals, and those who can’t

4.  God calls on us, as an act of faith, humility, and love, specifically to reach out to the lowly and the rejected and the spurned and the isolated people… the ones no one will love

Luke 14:12-14 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

5.  God is calling us to a whole different way of viewing people… seeing them as God sees them, not in terms of how they can stoke your ego

C.  Christ’s Example of Humility

1.  The basic lesson of faith: Christ delights to associate with the lowly and the rejects… around the world he has MOSTLY built His church out of people that no one wants

2.  Samaritan woman, John 4

John 4:7-9 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”… 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Ronnie Stevens:

a.  The Jews were the rejects of the world

b.  The Samaritans were the rejects of the Jews

c.  The Samaritan women were the rejects of the Samaritan men

d.  This woman was the reject of the Samaritan women

e.  She was one of the lowliest people on the face of the earth at that time

f.  She was also chosen by Christ to be one of His prized disciples

D.  Practical Ministry to the Lowly

1.  What does that mean to us at FBC?

2.  Does it mean being willing to get involved with the Durham Rescue Mission?

3.  Does it mean bringing people to church who don’t have it all together yet? Who still smell like the sin the Lord is trying to save them from?

4.  Does it mean being willing to get dirty and nasty and pulling a precious human being out of the Prodigal Son’s pig sty so he can become an adopted child of God?

5.  Does it mean pro-life ministry to unwed mothers? Does it mean mission trips to places like Haiti and India where the standard of living is so low?

IV.   A Supernatural Life of Loving Your Enemies

A.  The Pervasiveness of Revenge

1.  Revenge is one of the major forces shaping the world we live in

a.  It was revenge that led the Chechen terrorists to seize hundreds of children as hostages in a school in Beslan, North Ossetia on September 1, 2004; they were taking vengeance for the recent political election of a Kremlin backed politician

b.  It was revenge that has fueled the relationship between Hamas and Israel and Islamic Jihad and Israel over the issue of the Gaza Strip or the assassination of militant leader Abu Ghanem Nihad; the radical Islamic groups vow vengeance and bomb Israeli citizens as a reprisal

c.  It was revenge (among other things) that led American troops into Afghanistan and Iraq to find Osama bin Laden after the September 11, 2001 attacks

d.  It was revenge that led a group of Holocaust victims to form themselves into a vigilante group called the Avengers and to hunt down Nazi SS officers, finding them in their homes after the way, pulling them out into the street and executing them

e.  It was revenge that motivated a 48 year old Russian man, Vitaly Kaloyev to fulfill a two-year vendetta after his wife, daughter and son died in a mid- air collision in July, 2002. Kayolev systematically hunted down the Danish air traffic controller, Peter Nielsen, and murder him in February of 2004.

f.  AND it was revenge that led an Australian man, Michael Skehan to cut down over 1000 trees with a chainsaw to punish the trees for a brushfire that destroyed his property

2.  Revenge is a major motive in much of the ugliness surrounding divorce settlements and gang-related violence

3.  Revenge is behind road rage… when the driver of a car that’s cut off from passing speeds up and puts its high beam on and honks and makes life miserable for the offending driver

4.  Revenge is behind office politics and slander and gossip

5.  Revenge is behind the strange delight families of victims get at watching a murderer be executed for his crimes

6.  Revenge is a major theme in famous stories like The Count of Monte Cristo and Ben Hur

a.  In the Count of Monte Cristo, Edmund Dantes uses his immense, newly found wealth to destroy the three men who put him in prison… crafting a cold-hearted revenge suitable for each of them

b.  In Ben Hur, the lead character is wrongfully arrested by a former friend, a Roman commander, and sent to the slave galleys; the whole story focuses on the hatred Judah ben Hur feels first for Messala, then for the Roman Empire itself…

c.  IT IS ONLY WHEN JUDAH sees CHRIST ON THE CROSS that his desire for vengeance is healed

When he hears Christ utter the words, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing” that Judah ben Hur at last is free… he says “I felt His voice take the sword from my hand.”

Christ’s gracious love for His enemies is meant to take the sword of vengeance from every Christian’s hand

B.  The Root of Revenge: Pride

1.  What fuels the passionate anger, the rage behind revenge?

2.  Certainly there is pain involved… the pain of the loss of something precious and dear

3.  But many people feel the pain of loss without wanting to take vengeance

4.  What really drives vengeance is PRIDE… in which the offended person becomes like a little deity, exercising all his strength and creativity and resources to the destruction of another human being? Why? “Because that human being has WRONGED me! He has HURT me! And he must pay the price!!”

C.  Christ’s Perfect Example

1.  Teaching against revenge

Luke 6:27-29 “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic.

2.  Dying on the cross

Luke 23:34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

3.  His heart of trust in His Father

1 Peter 2:23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.

D.  Paul’s Commands

1.  Negative: Do Not

Romans 12:17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Romans 12:19 Do not take revenge, my friends

Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil

Example: someone cuts you down with office gossip and slander; for two weeks, you have to suffer the embarrassing whispers of co-workers who spread the malicious story about you; the heart of vengeance moves in you to find some way to get back at the person who caused you such pain. Take it to the Lord in prayer… pray specifically for a way to bless them and put Christ on display

2.  Positive: Do

Romans 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

Romans 12:17-18 Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

Romans 12:19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath Romans 12:20 “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome  evil with good.

Summary: Paul commands a life of self-restraint in the area of vengeance…

In its place, he commands a life of active blessing for enemies… a life of seeking to pray for and feed, and minister to and heal and hope for your enemy

E.  God’s Unique Role: Vengeance is Mine

Romans 12:19 it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

1.  God stakes out His claim

2.  Vengeance is HIS prerogative… not ours

3.  Vengeance is part if His role as judge of all the earth

4.  It is not given to us to execute wrath on evildoers

5.  God here makes a promise… HE will execute judgment on the evildoer on behalf of the righteous

Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.

6.  Those suffering persecution always ask the mournful question: WHEN, O LORD? HOW LONG UNTIL YOU AVENGE US?

Revelation 6:10 The martyrs called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”

The Book of Revelation is the future story of God keeping this promise!!

Revelation 16:4-6 The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. 5 Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: “You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were, the Holy One, because you have so judged; 6 for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.”

The history of the gospel advance is soaked with the blood of martyrs in every generation

Some of the most sadistic murderous tyrants in history have set their power against God’s humble, lowly, sheeplike people… they have been tortured by having hot pokers shoved in their flesh, having their limbs ripped from their bodies, having their bodies burned slowly with smoky sap-laden wood

Their blood screams from the ground for vengeance… yet God still waits Waits for what? For the proper time for eternal and prefect vengeance:

Deuteronomy 32:35 It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.”

This was the text of Jonathan Edward’s terrifying sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

God alone knows when the “due time” is that the enemies of God will fall into their wrath- filled eternal doom

But it will happen… in God’s perfect time

F.  Paul’s Surprising Motive: Leave Room for the Wrath of God

Romans 12:19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath

Romans 12:20 “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

1.  This means that, if you act on your behalf, why should God also act?

2.  God does not delight in watching you delight in someone else’s downfall

Proverbs 24:17-18 Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice, 18 or the LORD will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from him.

3.  Leaving room for the wrath of God means letting God take up your case

4.  The more good you do to a persecutor who in the end never comes to Christ, the greater will be His judgment in the end

G.  Biblical Corollary: Leave Room for the Grace of God

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.

He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Acts 26:14-15 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15 “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied.

1 Timothy 1:15-16 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners– of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.

H.  Permanent Ethics: Only Good Can Conquer Evil

Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

1.  If we take vengeance, how are we any different than the enemy we seek to destroy

2.  How can human vengeance be any more than one more evil thing in this universe?

3.  How can two wrongs make a right?

4.  The example of the apostle Paul’s conversion shows one powerful thing: Evil people can be transformed to become good by the gospel… but it only by the “goads” of kindness and tenderness and compassion and a supernatural life

5.  It was the example of Stephen the martyr that was the most powerful goad in Saul’s conscience: As Stephen died, he cried out

Acts 7:59-60 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

This is the supernatural, Spirit-filled life… and it alone has the power to put the Gospel on display for all the world to see

V.   Application

By God’s grace, are you leading a supernatural life?

A.  A Supernatural Life of Harmony with Everyone

B.  A Supernatural Life of Compassion with the Joyful and the Sorrowful

C.  A Supernatural Life of Humility toward the Lowly

D.  A Supernatural Life of Love and Patience toward Enemies

E.  Christ Is Our Savior

1.  Only Christ can save us from the sins that are connected by dealing poorly with challenging people

2.  Christ is FIRST AND FOREMOST SAVIOR… then He is example

3.  Come to Christ

4.  Then, by His power you can live the supernatural life!!