Overcoming Evil With Good 2

so we were looking last week
at the first of two four
uh of the first two of four practical
steps
paul gives us here in these concluding
verses of romans chapter 12
to help us live in relational harmony
with other people very quick review
number one we are to resist the
temptation
to get even verse 17
do not repay anyone evil for evil
be careful to do what is right in the
eyes of everybody
typically evil for evil spirals down
into a
tit for tap which quickly goes out of
control
and as we saw last week it poisons our
own souls
ingesting poison doesn't kill the other
person it kills us
the second thing that we looked at and
that paul talks about
is we are to realize
our relational limitations verse 18 if
it is possible
as far as it depends on you
live at peace
with every one
and the operative words we saw are as
far as it depends on
you
because try as we might
we're never going to get along with
everybody in the world and one of the
reasons for that we saw is that because
according to the book of proverbs the
world is divided into three groups of
people the wise
the foolish
and the evil
the wise you can engage in conversation
the foolish always think they are right
they need discipline in order to
get beyond their high opinion of
themselves
and the evil
they are the ones who come after you and
try to destroy you and the bible says
stay away from them
must say that engendered a lot of
conversations in this community after
the service i heard a lot of people
talking about this and of course as i
said last week the temptation is to try
to identify who is foolish and who is
wise and it's never me that is a fool
right
but the reality is there are aspects of
that in all of our lives at different
times but as henry cloud says
while there are elements of that in all
of our lives some people make a career
out of it
and so some people
are predominantly wise some people are
predominantly foolish and some people
are just sad to say
predominantly evil
now i got to say if you're interested in
pursuing that further
henry cloud in his book necessary ending
spends a whole chapter
on the wise the foolish and the evil
he's also got a shortened version of it
on youtube called the evil
the foolish and the wise if you search
for that on youtube or even if you just
search for henry cloud it comes up very
close to the top it is very much worth
your while to look at that brings us
then this morning to
a third
practical principle
that paul gives us for relational
harmony and that is this we are to trust
god
to vindicate us we are to trust in god
to bring about vindication verse 19
do not take revenge my friends
but leave room for god's wrath
for it is written it is mine to avenge
i will repay
says
the lord do not take
revenge
now to take revenge is to of course take
matters into your own hands
it's not just returning evil for evil
there is an element of
vindication
and justification involved in taking
vengeance if you've ever been in a
situation
where you have been treated unfairly or
where a judgment has gone against you
or you've been misrepresented or
misunderstood then then you will know
that one of of the fundamental drives of
the human heart
is that you want vindication you want
everybody to know that you're not guilty
you want everybody to know your side of
the story you want everybody to see it
your way and we expend an enormous
amount of energy trying to
justify
our position that is rooted in the image
of god where we desire
justice and righteousness even
unbelievers
really
have a sense of wanting to see
justice even people who don't believe
that there is ultimate right and wrong
in the world still recognize some things
are right and some things are wrong
so what vengeance is or what revenge is
we take matters into our own hands and
let's be honest about this for just a
moment with ourselves
planning revenge and sometimes carrying
it out
feels good to the human heart
doesn't it i love the little story
uh the lady was at the checkout counter
in the grocery store
mulling through her purse trying to find
her credit card or her checkbook and as
the cashier was waiting for her to get
this together he noticed that in her
purse she was carrying her television
remote
and that kind of intrigued him and so he
says to her
do you always carry your tv remote with
you
when you go to the store and she says no
but she said my husband refused to come
and i figured this was the most evil
thing i could do to get even with him
legally
john ardberg a
preacher who's now
stationed out in california
and tells the story of a man that he
knows who
was a recreational baseball umpire
and
one day as he is traveling along the
road
at a high rate of speed a policeman
pulls him over
gives him a ticket
he pleads with the policeman
this is going to increase my insurance
can't you please let me go
the policeman won't bend and he says
well take it up with a judge when you go
to court
roll the clock forward
it's now spring baseball season
the coach
or the um the the the man driving the
car is the umpire
and who do you think is the first to
step up to bat
but the police officer
they lock eyes
they recognize each other
and the policeman says well
you know that ticket thing how did that
go for you
and the umpire says
you better just swing
my favorite story of revenge while we're
on a roll here with this
is the story by george and mildred some
of you've heard me tell this before
mildred was the church gossip
she's a single lady and she made it her
business to stick her nose in everybody
else's business and everybody was a
little bit afraid of her
so here's george he's a new convert
and one afternoon he
parks his car in front of the only bar
in town
and mildred immediately concludes that
he's got a drinking problem
so this is the story that mildred begins
to spread around it eventually comes
back to george's ears
well george
being the kind of laid back man that he
was
he
says nothing
they just ignored it
walked away from her when she challenged
him on it
but in his heart he schemed a good way
to get even because that night
or that afternoon he parked his truck in
front of her house and he left it there
revenge
how sweet
but as we've already seen the problem
with revenge
is that it starts a cycle
i hit you you hit me i hit you harder
you hit me harder now my family gets
involved your family gets involved your
friends get involved my friends get
involved and that's how wars start and
feuds carry on for a long long time as
well it poisons our own souls because
you cannot get away
from brooding
about what that other person has done
and so scripture is very very clear when
it tells us in the words of our text do
not take revenge my friends but leave
room for god's wrath
for it is written it is mine to avenge
i
will
repay it is mine to avenge
i
will
repay
and as you all know foundational to the
biblical picture of reality
is that god keeps his eye
on all the affairs of humankind
and the message of scripture from one
end to the other
is that ultimately god is the judge
and as we'll see in a few moments if
there is no human agency to step in to
see that justice is done
god himself will step into the situation
because as paul quotes in romans 14 11
quoting from the old testament book of
isaiah i believe as surely as i live
says the lord every knee will bow before
me every tongue
will confess to god that is to say every
tongue is going to acknowledge that god
is god and that his standards are true
and in the end of time we'll talk a
little more about this later on a god is
going to judge
every nation
and every individual and so what he
wants from you and me
as his children
is to trust him
to stand up for us
and to
make sure
that justice
is done
and the primary example of that of
course
is the lord jesus himself
and we read in 1 peter chapter 2
the verses 21 to 23 these words
this is addressed to a church that's
being persecuted they lived in the roman
empire of the time of nero they were
viciously persecuted
they suffered intensely and peter says
to this you were called
because christ suffered for you
leaving and leaving you an example
that you should follow
in his steps
he committed no sin
and no deceit was found in his mouth
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
can we even begin to
imagine what injustice
jesus went through
i mean you and i when we get into
trouble you know
we may think we're as righteous as
righteous can be in his white as snow
but the reality is that almost always
there is some element of our own flesh
and our own sinfulness that gets
involved in controversy wouldn't you
agree
i mean even if it's 90 percent the other
person's fault on our estimation how
quickly
aren't there places where
where we've crossed the line
jesus never did i mean that's an amazing
thing
he always loved god the father he always
put other people first he never chose
his own well-being
and so when he gets tried he gets
rejected by the people that he came to
save i don't know if you've ever thought
about the pain of that
he was wrongfully
judged by the judicial system of his day
out of political expedience i don't know
if you've ever found yourself in that
kind of situation and then he was
rejected by the religious leaders of his
day as disowned by builders rejected
i mean
that's a little bit tough on the system
and i've often said and you've heard me
say this if i were jesus hanging on the
cross
and i could have called down ten
thousand angels to to vindicate me i
would have had a very difficult time
resisting that temptation i suspect you
would too
but he didn't did he
he let it go
he didn't threaten
he didn't say god's going to get you for
this he didn't say just you wait until
the judgment no
he allowed himself to be mistreated why
because he trusted in god
and as we said a couple of weeks ago the
resurrection of jesus was proof positive
of god's vindication
of his righteousness and that's why he
is exalted at the right hand of god
the name above every name remember at
the end of time all that matters
is are you on god's side and is god on
your side
but getting there entrusting him
especially in times of injustice
takes a lot of faith
and a lot of grace and god says to this
peter says to this
you have been called
look at who jesus is you call yourself a
follower of jesus then learn to live
the way that he calls you to leave now
if you think through that a little bit
raises a ton and a half of very
practical questions
does that mean you just let people walk
all over here
you know steve was telling us yesterday
at the men's thing
that on his i think that was you but the
bullies
uh on the way uh
girlfriend
in grade seven and eight
my
my point
is that there was a bully
that came after him every time when he
walked
what do you do
when you get bullied or when your kid
gets bored what do you do
when in the middle east these christian
communities get overrun by isis and
they're going to slaughter every
christian
and what what does trusting god look
like in the practical realities of the
injustices that we experience in a world
that is in the hands of the evil one i
mean isn't that a very practical
question
let me give you three very important and
i think very profound principles
that won't solve it entirely for us but
will help us to know what is our
responsibility and where does that begin
and where does that end number one first
thing we need to understand is that
every last one of us has a
responsibility to exercise
personal
boundaries
we must exercise
personal boundaries
now a boundary is a barrier that you
erect
to determine your own space
so that you decide who gets in
and who gets kept out
and boundaries are
physical
they're emotional
and they're spiritual
physically
you've got your own space your own body
your skin is an incredibly important
boundary that separates you
from everything and everybody around you
your emotional boundary
and who you don't let into your heart
you decide the nature of your
relationships
your spiritual boundary is you determine
spiritually
who gets to influence you
and who does not
get to influence you the best way to
think of it
i think is to think of it in terms of
the walls
of a city
why did in ancient times
cities have walls
well they had walls to keep the people
inside safe
and to keep the enemy
on the outside
now how did people get into cities in
and
the purpose of those gates was to fold
to let good people in and out
and to get bad people
out altogether true
so here's the important question who
decides
who controls
in the boundaries of your own personal
life who is responsible for gatekeeping
and the answer of course is it is you
and
part of our personal responsibility
before god
is that when it comes to the boundaries
of our own lives
we are responsible
for the gatekeeping that determines who
or what gets in
or
gets out now listen to me really
anybody
can fall victim
to an opposing force
doesn't matter how strong the walls of
your city are or how solidly the gates
have been constructed
if you are confronted by an overwhelming
force of the enemy and they are
determined to take your city
they will breach your walls they will
burn your gates and they will rage you
is that not true
so listen very carefully to what i'm
saying next because the reality is
that any one of us can be a victim
i can be walking along the street
somebody will come out of the bushes and
stab me or rob me and there may not be
anything that i can do about it
and innocent people are victims of
crimes
reasonably regularly
but that having been said
that having been said
how well these walls are constructed
and how strong these gates are
are a very important
determination
in how likely
i am to become a victim
if i live in a bad neighborhood never
lock my doors leave the keys in my car
parked in front of the store the chances
of me being broken into and my car being
stolen are much much higher than if i
lock my car take my keys home and i lock
my house
now remember locks are only for honest
people
or honest thieves as they say if you
want to break in you can
but they certainly discourage
the average thief is that not true
so here's the point
you and i before god have a
responsibility
to build boundaries around our lives
physically emotionally and spiritually
that are as solid and strong as they can
be
because the stronger our core identity
the less likely
we are to suffer an invasion
by other
forces does that make sense
you see one of the tragedies of modern
day life
is that because of the decline in family
and the client the decline of integrity
in life all the way around we get
increasingly a whole generation of kids
who do not have strong personal
boundaries they do not have a core
identity
they don't know who they are
and they become chameleons if you go
from
from foster home to foster home and
you're going to get thrown out every
time you throw a hissy fit then
you learn to either not care at all and
become a total rebel which is what a lot
of kids do or you swing the other way
and you become so compliant that you are
delivering whatever you think other
people want you to have you have no
personal core
and you know what happens to people who
have no personal core
they become victims
again and again because how does a
predator
choose their victim
well it's like a dog who smells your
fear
predators are experts
at reading
who you are where your weaknesses lie
and then they play on it if you know
anything at all about the sex
trafficking business the pimps are out
looking for
girls who have no solid family hall
girls who have no personal identity
girls who want to be famous or who want
to be rich and they zero in on those
needs till the gates are breached and
all of a sudden they're caught up in a
whole lifestyle
that they had never possibly imagined
our responsibility for ourselves and for
our children
is to build strong
personal boundaries
so that people cannot really nearly
make victims out of us that having been
said here's another thing we need to
understand
because society is finally catching up
to the fact that we have so many victims
we've now come to a place i believe in
society where victimhood almost get
raised to the element of sainthood
it used to be that everybody said
concerning victims what was your own
stupid fault you should have stayed out
of trouble isn't that true
now we've swung the other way and in
many cases
it's never supposedly the victim's fault
it's not that easy
because the reality is
i am still personally responsible
for whatever steps i take
that lead me into a particular situation
if i'm a young woman and i'm going to a
party and i'm getting myself drunk
the chances of something bad happening
to me are bigger
than if i don't go to the party
or i don't drink
now remember in today's society the
blame is always the other way and i make
no excuses for
for predators who prey on
helpless
people understand that
a person is always responsible for their
own actions but that said
victims
sometimes are victims because they've
opened the door
and as god's people our responsibility
is to take responsibility for our own
breaches
and to say lord
heal me there
so that i can be strong and stand
before you just
that makes sense
you know some of you heard me tell this
story before it's a true story
it's powerfully illustrative of the
principle of taking personal
responsibility
parents with the two children were at
the beach
the older girl was i think
maybe 70 years old i forget exactly her
age
her younger brother was three years of
age and for some reason the parents had
to leave for a short season
and they said to the seven-year-old i
want you to look after the
three-year-old
and be very careful that he doesn't go
out on the sand bank
because when the tide comes up
he won't be able to get back
and he could drown
well you know how it goes with kids
she got to playing she got distracted
the kid with the other little brother
was on the sandbank the tide came in and
guess what
kid drowned
terrible tragedy
you can imagine living with that
and
life
going on
uh this young girl when she grew up as a
woman lived with a constant state of
depression and she went from counselor
to counselor to counselor
and no matter where she went they all
told her the same thing
what do you think they told her
they told her look you were only seven
years old
your parents should never put you in
charge which was probably true
it wasn't your fault
forgive yourself
and go on with life
so she'd leave every office
she'd try to forgive herself
she tried to tell herself it wasn't her
fault
and she promptly dove down into
depression
again
and again and again
until finally she went to a christian
counselor and this one had the courage
to tell her the truth and he said to her
listen yes you were young
your parents shouldn't have put you in
charge
but the reality is you disobeyed
you did not do what you were supposed to
do and you have to take personal
responsibility for that choice that you
made
and he said
but here's the good news
the good news is that once you can
embrace your shortcoming in this area
and acknowledge it as your failure you
can take it to the cross you can receive
forgiveness you can get on with your
life and you no longer have to live with
the responsibility for it which is
exactly what she did and for the first
time in her life her depression lifted
permanently
that's the power
of the cross
and that's why telling each other oh
nothing was ever your fault is not very
helpful
you know i've had the privilege of
walking a lot of people through a lot of
really bad places and i will tell you
regardless of what has happened to you
the holy spirit will find out whatever
your part in it may have been and it may
have only been one percent
you cannot take responsibility for the
other 99 percent
but you've got to take responsibility
for the one percent
because all that matters
is that you know god's forgiveness
and his healing power
we are each responsible
for building
our own
boundaries
but
there's a second principle
and that is when those boundaries are
violated
as often they will be
it is the responsibility
of the authority figures in my life
to protect
defend support
and encourage me
it is
authority figures in my life
who need to protect me
i don't know if you've ever noticed it
but it's very intriguing that when paul
finishes romans chapter 12 what is the
subject that he introduces in romans
you really need to read your bibles
better
romans chapter 13 deals with the subject
of governmental
authority
listen to what he goes on to say
romans 13 1-2 everyone must submit
himself to the governing authorities
for there is no authority except that
which god has established and the
authorities that exist have been
established by
god
consequently he who rebels against the
authority is rebelling against what god
has instituted and those who do so will
bring judgment on
themselves
why does paul bring up the subject of
authority
immediately
upon what he has been telling us at the
end of romans chapter 12 well it's
really simple
god not only rules the world directly by
his own authority and power
but he rules the world
especially
through the through the authorities
that he has established beginning with
governmental
authorities that's why paul goes on to
say in romans 13 and verse 4
concerning the government now he is
god's servant to do you good
but if you do wrong be afraid for he
does not bear the sword for nothing
he is god's servant
an agent of wrath
to bring punishment
on the wrongdoer
and so
if i cannot defend myself and if i
cannot maintain
the walls around my heart and my life
and somebody
invades
and i am overcome by that
then it is the responsibility of the
authorities in my life
to look after me and to make sure that
justice
is exercised
that's why we have police that's why we
have courts that why we that's why we
have parents that's why we have bosses
that's why we have people
who look that that's why children have
parents that look
we have that responsibility
whatever our area of authority is that
god has entrusted to us
our responsibility
is to make sure that we provide space
where people are safe
where justice is
exercised
we carry the sword of god
evil doers to make it possible for
people to live
safely
now why do i make a point of that
because all you have to do
is look at the nations of the world
where central governmental authority
has gone by the wayside
we've all heard about the arab spring
and how you know the nations of north
africa were supposed to come into this
wonderful experience of liberation we
bombed the snot out of gaddafi in libya
and
you know we we had that whole revolution
in egypt and in a lot of those countries
and what happens
what happens when central authority
even bad authority
gets removed
well it's like
in israel in the days of the judges
every man does what is right in his own
eyes
what do you think would happen
if we had no stoplights
at significant intersections
or if people weren't responsible for
stopping at a red light there's lots of
cultures where you don't stop at a red
light the policeman catches you you pay
him off and you keep on going we call
that grafton corruption
but a civilization gets bogged down
because what happens in every one of
those instances is the people with the
greatest amount of money the biggest
people with the loudest mounds and the
strongest swords or sticks they are the
ones who end up dominating and everybody
else becomes subject to their control
what happens
if you have parents who do not stand up
for their children when they're fighting
and aren't able to arbitrate the
difference between right and wrong
or you're teaching them to fight for
themselves
and whoever is the biggest and the
strongest and the smartest and the most
deceitful
is going to get away with it and you
create a culture
that is wrong
so the point is this
not only are we to submit to authority
even when we don't like it or agree with
that
but in the positions of authority that
god has placed us in whether it's at the
home or in business or a church or in
school you better do your job
because you're responsible before god
for doing it and doing it
well
the well-being
of the people under you
is determined by your ability
to do the job that god has entrusted to
you
are you hear me
you show me
a business that is chaos
or church that is chaos or a country
that is chaos
and it will almost always be a
reflection
of
corruption at some level
of leadership and that doesn't mean
leadership has to be perfect
but the more
christ-like we are in character
the safer it becomes for people
thank you
third principle first principle is
you're responsible for your own
boundaries
don't blame anybody else
you take responsibility what you can
take responsibility for
second responsibility second principle
the authority figures in your life
are to be there for you
in the places where you are violated
and they are to see to it that justice
gets done for you
but number three
sometimes
authorities
fail
and when authorities fail
our ultimate hope
is in god
god the bible says is the god of widows
and orphans
why is he the god of widows and orphans
because widows and orphans historically
in biblical cultures are the most
vulnerable of the most vulnerable
it'll be like single moms today or
you know people who live out on the
street or people who have nobody
to support encourage and stand up for
their rights historically those are the
children get sold off into slavery those
are the people who get oppressed by
those who are powerful and mean and
wicked
and so when there's nobody there
to take up your cause
and you are at the mercy of forces
greater and stronger than you
then god himself
will step in biblically
and he will provide for you
and you might recall the story in luke
chapter 18
the story of the unrighteous judge where
this widow is looking for justice the
unjust judge doesn't care about her but
she goes crying after him everywhere he
goes until at last he's been worn down
and he says even if i don't care about
justice or righteousness or this woman
to get her off my case
i'm going to hear her case and judge in
her favor and then jesus concludes with
this incredibly powerful verse luke
chapter 18 verse 7
and will not god
bring about justice for his chosen ones
who cry out to him day and night will he
keep putting them off and i tell you he
will see that they get justice and
quickly
however
when the son of man comes will he find
faith
on the earth you know why he adds that
because sometimes it takes a long long
time
for god to do
justice
but though
the mills of heaven grind slowly they
grind surely
and one of the most profound teachings
of scripture
is that when there is nobody there for
you
when nobody believes you when nobody
will fight for you when nobody will
stand up for you when everybody thinks
it's all your fault god in heaven is
keeping track
and he wants you to put your trust in
him rather than take matters into your
own hands which is what jesus did he
trusted in the father and when the time
is right
god
will judge
and he will do that in one of two ways
he will do that at the end of history
because at the end of history when jesus
has returned all the nations are going
to be gathered before god
all the books are going to be opened
and god will hold everybody accountable
for every idle word they've spoken
i don't know if we've ever
concerned enough about the judgment day
to understand that when god applies his
yardstick of righteousness
and measures us by that were it not for
the grace of god in christ jesus
nobody would stand the snowballs chants
in you know where
because it is serious business to be
measured by the standards of god
and so
today a judgment for god's people
throughout history
is a day of hope and a day of
encouragement because that is the day
when everything that has been hidden is
going to be exposed and god himself is
going to say well done good and faithful
servant and every injustice will be cast
into hell and everything hidden will be
revealed
and the chosen of god
will inherit god's eternal kingdom
even
while those who are not righteous in
christ
are going to experience his wrath
we're going to wind up just shortly with
this
but paul writing to the thessalonians
puts it this way
second thessalonians
chapter 1
6-9 he says god is just
he will pay back trouble
to those who trouble you
and give relief
to you who are troubled
and to us as well
and he goes on to say this will happen
when the lord jesus is revealed from
heaven in blazing fire with his powerful
angels he will punish those who do not
know god
and do not obey the gospel of our lord
jesus
they will be punished with everlasting
destruction and shut out from the
presence of the lord and from the
majesty
of his power
on the final day
god
will level
the scores
and so we hear these stories coming out
of the middle east whole villages being
executed christians having their heads
cut off or being
shot and killed in the most gruesome
fashion
and i'm so reminded of that verse in
revelation chapter 6 where the souls of
the martyrs are under the altar of god
crying out how long
can you imagine to cry in these nations
how long
and the souls are told wait a little
longer
but just remember the time is coming
god's going to straighten out
every crooked thing
and everybody that's been on the wrong
side of god that hasn't been made
righteous through faith in christ is
going to feel the fury of his wrath
and they will be excluded from his
presence with everlasting
destruction you don't hear a lot of
preaching about hell these days
but i'll tell you hell is reserved for
those
who have in an evil fashion
walked away from god
and touched the apple of god's eye
and that's been the hope and the
encouragement of every suffering
christian throughout the course of
history
but there's a second way in which god
judges
it isn't all going to wait until the
final day
because if god just stands idly by while
evil goes from bad to worse
it would be only a matter of time before
evil runs the whole world and it all
falls apart and so god also judges in
history
and he will allow evil to prosper
and he will allow them to shed the blood
of his saints as did not see germany as
did soviet russia as did communist china
as did the khmer rouge in cambodia as is
isis doing in the middle east today
and you know it always
amazes me but all of these folks they
never think it's going to catch up to
them
but it does
because even in history
there comes a time when god says your
time has run its course
the cries of the oppressed have reached
out to god and god says if i don't stop
this this cancer is going to destroy the
whole earth
and so he steps in
and
nazi germany gets overthrown
the soviet union communism goes out the
window
the khmer rouge get dragged before court
even now there's a trial taking place so
a 93 year old
former ss
soldier from the auschwitz camp who is
being tried
on charges of having been instrumental
in the deaths of 300 000 people you
might have followed the story in the
news
justice might be slow
but god's justice grinds surely
and that ought to do two things for each
one of us
number one
it ought to make us aware
of the importance
of walking with god
with integrity and obedience
it's only in christ
that we're righteous
it also means
that in those places where
our boundaries have been violated
where we have been treated so unjustly
where there is so much temptation to
take matters into our own hands
where there's been nobody around to come
to our aid and to support us
and like the widow we're left to cry out
to god our job is to say lord here is
here is my cause
here is my plea
my hope is in you
and whether it takes until the day of
eternity or whether we will experience
it in history
jesus says if the unrighteous judge
hears the cause of the woman
how quickly will god answer the cause of
the righteous who cry out to him for
vindication day by day
and how our lives would change
instead of being overcome by evil
we could overcome evil
with good
and maybe lord willing next time when we
come back to it we'll look at that in
more detail because it isn't enough not
to do the negative
he wants us to do the positive
and if you think this has been hard
wait till we get to that
and then we'll really need jesus
but thank god
he's been made available to us to live
you