14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. 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. 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.20 On the contrary:
“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.”
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
We are to live by blessing people who mistreat us. To pray that God would bestow His mercy and grace on them.
That is distinctively a Christian reaction. It is not the world's reaction, it is not our natural human instinct or response. To love those who purposefully hurt us is only possible through Christ.
Rejoice with those who rejoice. Enjoy someone else's joy - without jealousy. Be truly happy for them with no thought for yourself. Allow joy to be contagious!
Mourn with those who mourn. We are to empathize with each other's pain, not to be indifferent, not to be scared to enter into someone else's pain or sorrow. We are to weep together.
We are also to live in harmony with everyone, to treat everyone the same regardless of social status, money, race, power, etc. Do not pursue those of high status above those of low status. There is no room for social classes in the life of a Christian.
Do not repay evil for evil. Yes, the Bible says an eye for an eye - but that's the public justice system (and still applicable today - we need a system of justice in order to keep evil in check, in fact our system is failing at applying justice properly and we are suffering for their lack of ability or determination to do so). But there is no room for personal revenge in the life of a Christian.
Again, not a natural human response. So, we need to train ourselves to respond that way, purposefully. It's not just going to happen. We're not just going to magically react in a godly way when faced with evil directed towards us or our loved ones. And that's why we need to be trained in self-discipline like we saw yesterday. And not just react in a godly manner, but visibly, so that it can be seen.
18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
I am thankful for the qualifier in this verse, aren't you? Sometimes it just isn't possible to live at peace with someone. We certainly can't compromise truth in order to live at peace with someone. Peace at all costs is far too costly. We need to strive to be peacemakers but we cannot violate the Word of God.
Do not seek revenge. You only need to read the story of Samson to see the disaster that comes when we pursue revenge. Don't do it, don't do it. Leave it to God. Let God, who is just, deal with sin.
Instead of pursuing revenge, help your enemy.
MacArthur:
Paul is saying when you treat an enemy with love and you feed him and quench his thirst, you put on his head a burning shame for the evil done.
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Be the victor, be the conqueror, overcome evil by doing good. Don't be a victim, be a victor.
And then MacArthur sums it all up for us.....
What is a Christian and how distinctively are we to live? Here it comes, we begin with pure love, hating evil, holding fast to what is good, humbly, affectionately being concerned with others, enthusiastically, fervently with maximum effort serving the Lord. And when the inevitable resistance to that service comes, we face it with hope and joy and believing prayer. And when we see others who are in the same kinds of trials, we reach out to them and share our possession and our homes with all who have need. And when we are opposed in our service to Christ, we bless those who oppose us and who persecute us. And we reach out to enjoy the joy of others and to endure the pain of others. We have no desire for personal prestige, we seek neither position nor office. We do not regard only those who are high people, but we love to fellowship equally with those on the lowest level and we are marked by a humility that knows no intellectual or social aristocracy. And even those who personally harm us, we do not return evil against them but we desire to overpower them with good, no matter what they have done and we assign any vengeance and any judgment and any punishment to God. And in the end, we're the overcomers. We're the winners. And that is how Paul says justification touches life.
May we so live!
Tomorrow's scripture focus: Romans 13:1-7
1 comment:
Yet another very timely post.
Post a Comment