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How to Overcome the Evil Aimed at You
From the series True Spirituality
How do you love those who have hurt you? Is it even possible? Jesus said that we are to love our enemies. So, how are you doing with that one? If you, like the rest of us, struggle to live out that command from Scripture, join Chip as he explains the secret to loving our enemies and reveals God's plan for overcoming evil with good.
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About this series
True Spirituality
Becoming a Romans 12 Christian
Being a genuine disciple of Christ flows out of a relationship with Him. It's about experiencing God's grace, not earning His love through performance. A real relationship with Jesus Christ will produce a follower whose life looks progressively more like His life. Romans 12 provides a relational profile of an authentic disciple: someone who is surrendered to God, separate from the world's values, sober in self-assessment, serving in love and supernaturally responds to evil with good. Christians who live out this kind of lifestyle are what we call r12 Christians. God is willing to go deeper and grow you into a real disciple - are you ready?
More from this seriesMessage Transcript
Well, as we get started, I want to ask you to go to a place that you may not really want to go, but I’ll tell you in advance it’ll be worth it. I’d like you to lean back just a little bit, be reflective, and I want you to answer this question in your mind. Feel free to even close your eyes for just a moment if it’s helpful.
Of all the people in your life to date that you would say have hurt you the most, who comes to your mind? Who has wounded you? Who’s lied about you? Who has walked out on you? Who has taken your money? Who has gossiped about you? Who sexually or physically abused you when you were younger? Who has been ungrateful, and humiliated you in front of a group of people? Who has said things at a Bible study or even at church that produced incredible pain and disunity, and you were made to be the person who was at fault? Who has betrayed you?
Have you got it? I don’t mean to conjure up things – for many of you, some of these things are pressed down pretty deeply. I want you to follow along, and I want to read to you what I think are the most radical words that have ever come out of any person’s mouth that has walked on the earth. They’re familiar to some of you, which is unfortunate because they lose their power.
So as I read these, I want you to think about who wounded you, but I want you to think about what it would be like if you were living in an occupied country, and your possessions were being taken away from you, and you were being rejected by family members, all because you believed that this itinerant preacher was, in fact, the Messiah – the God-man who came to save the world – and you knew you needed to follow Him. And as a result of that, everything from the persecution, being walked into the coliseum, to being excommunicated from your Jewish family. This is what Jesus would say to them, and here’s what He’s saying to us.
Matthew chapter 5 in the Sermon on the Mount. “You have heard it said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy,’ but I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” And then He gives the reason why. “That you may be sons of your Father in Heaven. He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect.”
The word is teleios. That’s our word for mature. It is the idea of something or someone fulfilling its ultimate design. Be mature. “Be perfect even as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”
Now as you pull out your pen and pull out your notes, I want you to write something down because you need to really get this. It is not hard to be a Romans 12 Christian. Get that out of your mind. Some of you think it’s really, really, really hard, and you’re thinking it’s been: Surrender to God, and separate from the world’s values. It is not hard. It is impossible.
Write that word down. It’s impossible. Because if you don’t think it’s impossible, you’ll try to be one. And you’ll try to be one out of your self-effort, and your flesh, and your energy, and your personal discipline, and your willpower. And the people that get good at it are called Pharisees.
And Romans 12 was never written to help you in your power or my power to have a stronger moral code. It was a profile. It was a picture. It was a snapshot of what happens to a person when they experience the mercy and the grace of Romans chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11. It’s a faith response.
Notice in your notes, Romans 12 Christians focus on relationships, not rules or religious activity. It doesn’t mean there aren’t any rules, and it doesn’t mean as a follower of Christ there aren’t some religious activities, but the focus of any rule or any religious activity is to cultivate my relationship with God, and my relationship with people – even my relationship with myself – in a healthy, healthy way.
In fact, you could summarize Romans 12 Christians – their highest aim, our highest aim – is love. When Jesus was asked, “What’s the greatest commandment?” Do you remember what He said? “Love the Lord your God” – how? “With all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength.” And what else? What else? “And love your neighbor as yourself.
If you took everything that’s in Romans 12, as we do just a quick review here – because what happens – pretty soon you forget what we talked about two or three or four sessions ago. Really, Romans 12 is a snapshot of, in my mind’s eye, it’s the apostle Paul taking the Sermon on the Mount, and the apostle Paul, out of his conversations with the resurrected Christ in Arabia.
And Jesus told them to love God, love themselves, love others, and Paul’s a very brilliant, didactic guy, writing to a Roman audience, and he knows it’s got to get real practical. And so he says, Let me show you what it looks like to love God in every day life. It means on a certain day, at a certain time, after you’ve received His grace and been born spiritually, that you say to God, “I surrender all. I’m all in.” Because that’s the spiritual service God desires, and that’s what it means to love God.
And he says there’s a competition for that love. Remember the world system that wants to seduce you, and tell you through the lust of the flesh, and the lust of eyes, and the pride of life that real significance, and real success, and real power, and real happiness is going to come? And he says you have to refuse the love for the world. “If any man love the world, the love of the Father’s not in him.”
And then in verses 3 through 8, he talked about loving yourself. Looking not just in the mirror and saying, “I’m fearfully and wonderfully made,” but looking in the mirror of your soul through the lens of God’s Word and saying, “I’m forgiven. I’m adopted. I have the Spirit of the living God inside of me. I’ve been sealed. I have spiritual gifts. I’m the object of His affection. I am in Christ. God the Father now looks at me in the same way that He looks at His Son Jesus. I am righteous in His eyes.” That’s a sober self-assessment, and yet in a fallen world.
And it goes from loving God, and not loving the world, and loving yourself, to loving the family, the body of Christ. Radically serving one another. And then finally, we’re going to talk in this session, what’s it look like practically to love your enemies?
Open your Bibles, if you will, to Romans chapter 12. He begins to clearly tell us how to respond to the evil aimed at us in verse 14. In verses 14 to 16, he’s going to give us a positive command. This is how you respond to that person that came to your mind that I started this message with and asked you to think about. And he’s going to say, Here’s how you respond to that person. Now, I’m going to warn you, it’s going to sound ridiculous and impossible.
“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; and mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud; but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.”
He’s going to say you need to bless them, and that’s how. Then he gives a negative command. The temptation when our enemies and people who’ve hurt us – there’s a temptation. And he’s going to hit it right between our eyes. Verse 17. “Do not repay evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live,” or, “be at peace with all men. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it’s written: ‘It is mine to avenge. I will repay’, says the Lord.”
On the contrary. Here’s how you’re to treat that person that is in your mind. “If your enemy’s hungry, feed him. If she’s thirsty, give her a drink. In so doing, you will heap burning coals upon their head.” And that doesn’t mean God will blow their brains out. We’ll learn in a little bit what that really means.
And then there’s this supernatural result. There’s this thing that when you act the way Jesus acted toward His enemies – because Jesus lives in you by His Spirit – and you do it in the power of His Word and authentic community, he says, “Do not be overcome by evil.” And it’s an evil world. But he says there’s something more powerful than evil. “Overcome evil with good.”
Now what I want to do in the remainder of our time is I want to break down very specifically and practically what it looks like to bless those who persecute you. That’s the first and positive command. And the command is this: “Bless them that persecute you.” That’s what you’re called to do. In verses 14, 15, and 16, He’s going to give you three specific ways to bless them.
The word bless, by the way – this is not like someone sneezes, and you go, “Oh, bless you.” This is not that, okay? This word literally means to desire the salvation of another person. It means to desire and long for God’s blessing and favor to be upon them. It’s like for that enemy – that actually their life would work out well. That if they’re married, their marriage would get deeper. If they’re a parent, their kids would do well. If they have a job, they would…It’s blessing. That’s what you’re praying.
And when it says the people who are cursing you, these aren’t people that are just using curse words at you. The idea of this word –“bless those who curse you”– it’s people who socially ostracize you because of your faith. It’s people who verbally humiliate you because of your faith. It’s people who in the first century in many places around the world, people who undercut you and actually persecute and want to kill you because you’re a follower of Christ. He’s saying, What I want you to do is bless them.
And there are three components here. The first component of blessing others is forgiving them. This is hard. Forgiving them. If you’re to pray for and blessing is for their salvation, if you want God to forgive them, guess what. You’ve got to forgive them. And you know that little section in, we call it the Lord’s Prayer? “Forgive us our sins just as we forgive others.”
See, the premise is going to be, and this is the key to loving your enemies, you and I have to come to the point where we really grasp how merciful, and God has not given us what we deserve. And there’s part of it where it’s a dark place you need to go, and you need to look at your motives, and some things that you’ve done, and some stuff that you have begged God, Oh God, please, please don’t let me get the consequences of that one. Oh God, pick me up, and cleanse me. And He has. And then what He’s going to say is, I want you to do for that person what I’ve done for you.
Now people get very confused when it comes to forgiveness because they tell me things like, “Well, my husband walked out on me. He’s not paying any child support.” Or, “My boss sexually harassed me and, I went to HR and, they glossed over it on this one, and so I’m living with this, and every time he makes some sort of comment – I’m forgiving him, but I feel very angry, and well, I’m forgiving him but – so how do you square this forgiveness?”
Or, “One of my folks sexually abused me, and I’ve forgiven them, I think, one hundred forty-four times, and then the phone rings, and it’s a certain time on Sunday afternoon, and I think it’s going to be them, and I get knots in my stomach, and this anger…”
Forgiveness has three phases. Jot these down, please. Phase number one is a choice to forgive. It is not emotional. It has nothing to do with your feelings. It is a choice. By the end of our time together, many of you will open a section in your Bible, and you will say, “I forgave blank today,” and you’ll put a date because it’s a choice.
The second is the forgiving process. So you forgive, and then it’s forgiving. That’s a journey, and that journey is where your emotions catch up with the choice that you’ve made. Because you can forgive, and you do that, and you say…and the word means to release or to loose.
In other words, I’m going to take back my desire for them to get paid back, and I’m going to release them from that like God has released it. And so I’m not going to say anything negative about them, I’m not going to wish negative for them anymore. I’m going to release them to God, and I’m going to forgive them the way God has forgiven me: freely.
And so it’s a choice. But then, when they drop off those kids, and they’ve poisoned the kids against you, and then you get this letter in the mail, and you hear about this guy who stole a bunch of money from you, and he’s vacationing in Hawaii, or you read about him in Forbes, and you just go [grunt sound]. Does it mean you haven’t forgiven? No. It means you’re on the journey. And the journey means when you bless, you begin to pray for them is the journey. You pray for them.
When I first experienced this, I got betrayed in a tremendously hurtful, painful way, and I got stuck, and I couldn’t get out of it. And I had a good friend walk me through this passage and teach me how to do this. And so I started to pray. And my prayers honestly started out like this: Dear God, give that sucker what he deserves.
I’m serious. It was like, Heavenly Father, take him out! And as I continued to pray, the Holy Spirit was making it evident that that was not exactly what blessing was all about.
But part of it, too, is you need to be real with your emotions with God. I think some people think, God has this sanitized room. I’ve got news. He can handle whatever you can bring, and what He appreciates is authenticity. And sometimes it’s painful, and it’s raw. Read the Psalms.
And then I got to where, Oh, God, would You just help him see how wrong he is, and bring him…? And I had to pray. Every time I heard something about him, the anger would come up. No, I’ve forgiven him, but I’ve got to keep processing. And it was two or three months later, God, would You bless his marriage? Would You…And I began to pray.
And then I just decided every Lord’s Supper, I would never take the Lord’s Supper until I prayed honestly and from my heart to bless this man in his life, in his marriage, in his kids. And all I can tell you is that over time, he moved out of state, he didn’t change, I don’t believe, but I did.
But see, there’s poison in your soul when there’s bitterness and you’ve been wounded. And as someone wisely said, “When we refuse to forgive, it’s like we drink poison and think the other person is going to die.” Could I just make a comment? Because I think there’s a lot of confusion about forgiveness, and emotions, and, Well, I don’t feel like I’ve forgiven him.
Forgive is a choice, and then you bless them, you pray for them. We’re going to learn in a minute you not only pray for them, but you start doing good things for your actual enemies. Like if they’re hungry, you feed them. If they’re thirsty…and there are specific ways that you do good things for people who don’t deserve it.
But I’d like, if you would, to think about Jesus in the garden. He died to forgive you and to forgive me. And sometimes we make this: Jesus loves me, this I know. Can I let you in on a little secret? He didn’t feel like forgiving you. Did you ever think of that?
He’s in the garden, He’s sweating drops – the stress – blood coming out of His pores. And He’s fully God, but He’s fully man. He didn’t die with some “S” on His chest like, I’m going through the motions. As a man, He could die. But as God the Son, He knew that when He was going to get on that cross, your sin, and my sin, and the sin of all people of all time would be placed upon Him. He became our sin offering.
And when the moment sin came upon Him, the Father would turn away. And for the first time in eternity, the Father and the Son would be separated, and He would experience that isolation and the price of sin.
And as that was coming, let alone getting beaten within an inch of His life, and let alone being humiliated, and stripped naked, and a crown of thorns, and being publicly displayed. We think that’s the big deal. That’s the small stuff, and it’s horrendous. And do you remember what He prayed? “Father, let this cup pass.” You know what He’s saying? “I don’t want to do this. I don’t feel like doing this.”
Forgiving and loving isn’t doing what you feel like. It’s choosing to give another person what they need the most, when they deserve it the least, at great personal cost. And when God says to forgive this person, all we’re doing is we’re stepping in the same path of Jesus, and we’re doing for this person – they don’t deserve it – of course not. Neither did I. Neither did you. And so the process of forgiveness is a choice.
Second, forgive, Forgiving is a process. And then forgiven is: it’s done. And here’s how you know when it’s done. You can spontaneously rejoice at blessing in their life. I’d been praying, this was my first real battle with this. I’ve had multiple ones since. I guess the older you get the more betrayed and difficult things you get in your life.
In this particular situation, it’d been about nine months since I went through this betrayal, and I was hurt and angry, and I’m taking the Lord’s Supper, and I’m praying for this guy every – I’m praying for him more than my mom! Because the anger fantasies would come up, and every time they would I’d start praying for him, and blessing him.
And so it was right before I was supposed to speak, and a guy thought it would be a positive comment, I suppose. He goes, “Oh, did you hear about so and so? This really good thing happened to him.” And I did the good Christian thing, “Oh, wow, great.” And my insides were going, Oh, yuck.
Well, see I’m not done. Two years later I’m in church, and a guy walks up to me, “Did you hear about so and so?” I said, “No.” He said, “This, this, this, and this happened to this guy.” And before I could think, before I could process…joy! I said, “Aw, that’s great.” And I meant it. I stopped praying before the Lord’s Supper. I was done. I was done. Forgive, choice. Forgiving – the process where your emotions go up and down. As I bless and pray, forgiven. It’s done.
Some of you are going to get out of prison today. Some of you have been pushing this down, and that’s why you’re depressed. Some of you eat when you’re not hungry because you’ve been pushing this stuff down. Some of you have ulcers and migraines, and there are lots of physical causes, but a big part of why our bodies don’t work very well, and why we do stuff that doesn’t make sense, and we have “sanctified addictions,” and not so sanctified addictions. And a lot of it is rooted in this lack of forgiveness and be willing to release these people. And you can start that today.
Some of you are going to get out of prison today. Some of you have been pushing this down, and that’s why you’re depressed. Some of you eat when you’re not hungry because you’ve been pushing this stuff down. Some of you have ulcers and migraines, and there are lots of physical causes, but a big part of why our bodies don’t work very well, and why we do stuff that doesn’t make sense, and we have “sanctified addictions,” and not so sanctified addictions. And a lot of it is rooted in this lack of forgiveness and be willing to release these people. And you can start that today.
The final thing he says, not only do you forgive them, but it talks about identification. This gets from hard to crazy hard. He says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” Christians, we usually quote that, and we think it’s how we’re supposed to treat one another. You don’t need any commands to rejoice with people that you love, and you don’t need any commands to weep with people that you love that have cancer. The context here is this is how we bless or treat our enemies.
And so your boss who ripped you off, who did terrible things to you, who actually stole a couple of your patents, took credit for it, launched another company, went public, got mega wealthy rich, and you lost out, and you’ve been brewing over this forever. Or your mate that walked out on you and married some little hottie, male or female, and now is on the beach while you don’t have any money, and you’re…now is this real stuff or not? Right? And then they get cancer, or they’re in an auto accident. You know what this says? You rejoice with those who rejoice, you weep with those who weep.
What would happen if you walked in that hospital room and said, “I know it’s been five years. You can’t believe how much I’ve prayed for you.” You don’t have to tell them why. “And I want you to know that I have forgiven you for what you’ve done. But when I heard about this cancer, I felt compelled by God to come tell you that Jesus really loves you, and I would love – would you allow me to pray for you right now?” Can you imagine them scratching their head?
Or when something good happens to them, rejoicing with them. Maybe they remarry. And they burnt you, but they have a kid, and they have a baby, and something happens, and you’ve completely forgiven them, and you’re praying for blessing.
What if you jotted a note and said, “I really, I praise God. I’ve been praying for your family for two years, and it’s exciting to see this blessing in your life.”
And for some, because here’s the disclaimer, if you were sexually abused, or this person hurt you or did something, there are some people you can’t get involved with. But you could send them an anonymous gift, because here’s what it does. It changes you.
And before you keep looking at me like this is the craziest stuff you’ve ever heard, isn’t this what Jesus did? Didn’t Jesus come to a planet, and those who were His own did not receive Him but rejected Him? So we are His enemies, Paul would call us, “while we were still His enemies, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8.
And so while we’re His enemies, what did He do? He went to weddings and rejoiced with us. He raised little kids from the dead. If you’re hungry, why don’t we just feed everybody right here? Or with Lazarus, what’d He do? He wept. See, Jesus wasn’t playing, Okay, when you clean up your act, and when everything gets okay, then I will love you. He rejoiced with those who were rejoicing, and He wept because it is the kindness of God that leads to repentance.
People will probably, this is so counterintuitive. This is so bizarre. When you, by His power and His grace, choose to do this, something happens, and the grace of God works through you in ways where you know what? People start to believe, Maybe this Jesus is real.
And so it begins with forgiveness. And then there’s identification. And then notice the very last part, verse 16. He says there’s an association that you need to be very careful. He says, “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing” – circle that word associate – “with people of low position.” And then as though, “Do not be conceited.”
In a fallen world, with evil people, and especially those who don’t know Christ and are very antagonistic, the apostle Paul is saying, “We need to be people who don’t just cling to our rights. In the fray of life, it’s a selfish dog-eat-dog, manipulative world. Welcome to the NFL! So how does a Christian live that out?
If possible, He says, “Live in harmony with one another.” And then here’s the deal. When you’re blessing your enemies, see, if you’re not careful, it can be like, You know what? I’m going to do this. I’m going to jot a card. I’m going to visit them in the hospital. I’m going to pray for them every day. You know what? I’m this wonderful, spiritual, amazing person, loving this scumbag of the world, who walked out on me. That’s kind of the opposite of “do not be conceited.”
See, this is hard for some of us. On a given day, the very thing that that person did to you in a moment of weakness and under pressure, you could do that to someone else.
So we come not as the superiors. We come associating with, connecting with our humanity, people of low position. And we’re not conceited, but it’s with humility that we bless them with a sense of, But for the grace of God, I would be doing those things to others.
Doesn’t this really just sound like Jesus? Doesn’t it just, isn’t there a trail being blazed that we’re to follow? And so that’s the positive side. “Bless those” – and notice – “who persecute you.” They’re after you.
The second command is a negative one: “Don’t take your own revenge,” verses 17 through 20. “Don’t take your own revenge.” It’s just a command. “Do not repay evil for evil.” And then – he’s in a fallen world. He says, “Be careful.” Circle that word above it. Literally, it’s take thought. The New American Standard says, “Respect what is right in the sight of all men. “If possible, as far as it depends on you, live with peace with everyone.”
And then he goes on to say, Just wait a second. “Don’t take your own revenge, but leave room for God’s wrath. He’s the one who’s going to be the judge. He’s going to mete out justice.” But here’s the point. Personal retaliation is a prohibited response for God’s people. Personal retaliation.
In other words, they did evil to you, you get them back. They did evil to you, you get them back. They did this to you, you say bad things about them. And if you’re a Christian, and you have some experience, you can do it in such passive aggressive ways, and you add a verse to it. Throw in, “It’s a prayer request.” It works, believe me.
And you just go left-handed like this, and you whack them, because your real goal is revenge. It’s payback. You use your power, you use your intellect, you use your relationships, you use nuances, and you go like this, “One more drink of poison, please. It’s going to kill him sooner or later.” But it doesn’t. “Never pay back evil for evil.”
Instead, take thought and consider how people think, respect and realize that they don’t have your values, they’re not going to act the same way, so the field is not level. They’re really focused on them.
Sometimes I hear Christians get all upset about non-Christians living like non-Christians. That guy is really greedy! She is so sexually immoral! I can’t believe that! He just drained the whole company and all the employees! Oh my! So what were we like before Jesus was controlling the interior of our lives? Take thought for how people think. It will help you live in harmony with them.
Personal retaliation is prohibited for two very important reasons. One, it usurps God’s role as judge. “Vengeance is Mine.” God says, Look, I’m just. Yes, I’m holy, I’m compassionate, I’m slow to anger, but I’m just. And the word justice is rooted in a concept. The scales of justice. Justice is rooted in a very clear concept of retribution. Retribution is simply this: When you do evil stuff – evil consequences. When you do good stuff – reward. Every man will get what they deserve.
So you just need to say, I need to take the ball of judgment, hand it to God, and say, I’m tired of trying to figure out all the ways – in my anger fantasies and different ways – to get back at my boss, or my ex, or one of my kids, or the person who abused me. And I’m going to put that ball in Your hands from now throughout eternity, and I’m going to trust that since You are just that You will do what’s right. I will never get a raw deal. But I’m stepping out. You own it, God. I release it to You. You’re fair, You’re just. And either on this side of heaven, or on this side of after death, the scales will be absolutely and perfectly balanced.
[Sigh] You can release that wound, and that hurt, and your desire for payback, because He knows all things. He knows all the whys. He knows all the circumstances, and you don’t, and you can give that to Him. But there are a lot of us, if you demand to be the judge, then God doesn’t get to be the judge. And when you judge people, and you decide you’re going to pay them back, you reap what you sow.
The second reason that personal retaliation is prohibited is because it’s an ineffective means of bringing about peace. Look at this passage and how many times it was about oneness, and one another, and live in harmony. God wants us to live in a very fallen, evil world where we’re the kind of people who bring peace, and we don’t cling to our rights.
And we’re the kind of employees who people say, “Wow, we’d like a hundred of them because everyone’s gossiping, and doing this and that, and wanting that, and wanting this, and they‘re a real hassle. But, man alive, these Christians. They make the company smooth. They’re loving, they’re selfless, they’re caring. They’re not doormats. This isn’t peace at any price. They take a stand on principle. They take a stand on values. You don’t ever run over them. But, man, they’re people of integrity. They bring about peace.” You want these on your softball team. You want them in the city league. You want them running the rec center stuff.
They’re just good people. And when they get a little offended, they’re not so insecure that they’re always causing problems. They look at people and realize, take thought for where that guy’s coming from. That’s not even worth the time. I probably ought of pray for him. He’s going to go home and scream at that nine-year-old for probably five hours because he missed one ground ball. We’re not going to mess with that stuff. We’re going to make this a great environment.
Do you get it? See, when you tit for tat, evil for evil, evil for evil, you know what it’s like? It’s like there’s a little fire brewing. It’s like taking, one of those big fireman hoses and instead of water coming out of it, you fill it with gasoline. And that’s what people do. They do it in their families, they do it in their marriages, they do it with their in-laws, they do it at work. They did this, I did this. We did this.
Sit in some coffee shop. Just sit in a coffee shop sometime this week – this is sort of raw to say – and listen to other people. You can’t help it because they’re so close, because usually you try and concentrate.
And see how many conversations – I bet it’s in the eightieth percentile – of when people are talking, that they’re talking about someone that’s not at the table, about, “Your mom did that, and she did that, I can’t believe your sister, and she did that, and you know Bob who’s the supervisor? Can you believe they’re doing that at work?” Right?
And then they carry this attitude, and they poison their own soul. And I would say it’s really true of a lot of us. And Paul says, “Don’t do that. It’s ineffective.” In fact, he goes to the other extreme, and he says, “In fact, if your enemy’s hungry – the person who’s wounded you – help them. Give them some food. If they’re thirsty, give them a drink. In so doing, you heap burning coals on their head.”
This picture of burning coals is not, as I said, it blows out their brains. It was an Egyptian ritual in the time. Ancient Near East. If a person in Egypt in this culture realized that they had offended someone, there was an argument and they were wrong, then they would build a fire, and they’d take the coals out of the fire, and put it in a pan. And then they would take a towel, and put it underneath the pan, and they would put it on their head, and they would walk through the village, symbolizing, “I’m burning the bad thoughts out of my mind. I was wrong.” We would use the word: I repent. I’ve had a metanoia. I’ve had a change of mind.
And see, this is what you see happen in Scripture. This is when you do good for people, and they know deep in their heart and their psyche that they don’t deserve it. It brings about a shame, even in evil people. This is a picture of David, and David’s running for his life. And all he’d done was won battles, and cared for Saul, and cared for the King of Israel who was Saul. And Saul really went off the deep end, and he was chasing David, and he’s trying to kill him. You know the story?
And so, he’s running, running, dodging, dodging. Finally he gets surrounded, and he finds himself, and there’s this cave. So he and his men are all the way in the back of this cave, and Saul’s got them surrounded, and it’s like, “Guys, this is it. We’re done if they find us.” And lo and behold, Saul comes into the cave, and the Bible’s pretty graphic. He relieves himself. And I don’t know, maybe he took a nap afterwards. I don’t know exactly how it all happens. The text doesn’t say. But David’s buddies, they go, “Hey, God’s delivered him. This is it. Nail him!”
And David says, see, David gets this. I’m not the judge. “I will not touch the Lord’s anointed.” His buddies were saying, “God has put him right here. This is an answer to prayer. Knock him out.” David says, “No, no.” But he gets close to Saul, gets out his knife, and he cuts a little section off the bottom of his robe.
Saul leaves the cave, goes down a piece, there’s a ravine, gets on the other side of the ravine, and David steps out from the mouth of the cave. “Saul, Saul, why? What have I done? God brought you in this cave.” And he holds up…
“Look at your robe. I could have killed you.” And then he makes this very interesting statement. He says, “Let God be the judge between us. If you are more righteous than I, then I accept full responsibility. May God take me out. But what have I ever done?”
See, he gave good for evil. And then, very interestingly, Saul begins to weep. It’s like in this flash, in this moment, he realizes the truth. See, when people do evil things, they repress it, and then they go into denial. And there’s demonic stuff that happens with people that do progressively evil things to where they don’t think they’re doing anything evil, and it’s addictive. And in this moment of grace, Saul, he weeps, and he says, “David, you are more righteous than I.” And unfortunately, it’s a very short repentance, and a temporary repentance.
But can you imagine if we said, You know what, God? I’m going to forgive so and so, and then you started on the journey of praying for them? And then maybe even anonymously doing something good for them to bless them. And even, we tend to demonize people when they’ve hurt us. Have you realized that? Because they’ve really hurt us, so everything they do is terrible, and everything we do is good, and we reframe the whole story.
Most stories aren’t quite that clear. It doesn’t mean they didn’t do something terrible. But what would happen, what would happen just where we live, if we loved our enemies? If we blessed them? If we said “God, you be the judge.” If we were free. Well, here’s the supernatural result, is good will overcome evil.
And here’s what I want to tell you. God wants you to love your enemies for your good, and for His glory.