r12 – No Revenge

Scripture – Romans 12:17-21

¹⁷ Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. ¹⁸ Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

¹⁹ Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say,

“I will take revenge;
I will pay them back,”
says the Lord.

²⁰ Instead,

“If your enemies are hungry, feed them.
If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap
burning coals of shame on their heads.”

²¹ Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

The Message

^17-19 Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”

^20-21 Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

Leonardo Da Vinci, just before he commenced work on his “last supper” painting had a violent argument with a fellow painter.  Leonardo was so bitter that he determined to paint the face of his enemy, the other artist, into the face of Judas, and thus take revenge by handing the man down in infamy and scorn to succeeding generations. The face of Judas was, therefore, one of the first he finished.  And everyone could easily recognize it as the face of the painter with whom he had quarreled.

But when it came to paint the face of Christ, he could make no progress. Something seemed to be baffling him, holding him back, frustrating his best efforts. Finally he came to the conclusion that the thing that was frustrating him was that he had painted the face of his enemy onto the face of Judas.  He painted out the face of Judas and was then able to resume his work on the face of Jesus and this time he did it with success that the ages have acclaimed. When Davinci moved past his right to take revenge and made the right response instead, he broke the power of hatred and allowed the love of Christ to have the last word.

We like revenge taking revenge or seeing revenge taking place makes us feel good. Revenge only leads to more hurt. But we love revenge. We call it justification for what they did wrong. Like when the guy goes speeding past you and a few miles down the road you see that a state trooper has pulled them over. There is this feeling of “justice served” that wells up inside of us.

Or we like the story  of the trucker who was in a restaurant  was minding his own business and a motorcycle gang began to harass him. On in particular got in his face and said “Big man in the 18 wheeler, out of your truck you’re a wimp.” And he continued to shout at him then pouring his coffee all over his food. The trucker pays his bill and walks out. The biker says to the waitress, “he’s not much of a man out of his truck” the waitress shoots back, “not much of a truck driver either he just ran over 6 motorcycles on the way out.”

Justice served! They got what they deserved. We like that kind of story. It appeals to our human nature. When we get cut down, betrayed, or hurt we like some clever way to get back.  When we do get them back. Or when something happens to them that gets them – we rejoice in that they got what they deserved.

When it comes to revenge a Christ follower has no rights. We have no entitlement to take revenge on anyone.

Look at what Romans 12:19 says, ¹⁹ Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say,

“I will take revenge;
I will pay them back,”
says the Lord.

As in the Davinci story we are to let the love of Christ have the last word.

Are you saying to me pastor that if someone hurts me, betrays me, stabs me in the back, and does all kind of evil things against me – I can’t do anything back? If you are a follower of Christ …. No …. You can’t.

Do you just have to sit and take it? No …. You don’t!

Look at what God is asking us to do?

• “if your enemies are hungry feed them.”
• “if your enemies are thirsty give them something to drink.”
• In doing this, you will heap
  burning coals of shame on their heads.”
• Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

As a follower of Christ – this is what you are entitled to do. That is impossible! You are absolutely right.  God is asking us to allow the supernatural to happen but we must be willing to give up the need for revenge. Revenge just makes us feel good about ourselves but it accomplishes absolutely nothing.

A few months ago I introduced you to Saeed Abidini.  He has been imprisoned by the Iranian government for believing in Jesus Christ.  Several months ago he wrote this letter to his wife.

Dear Naghmeh,

I have been stung so many times that I have become full of poison. This is an Iranian saying. A lot of people say that they have been stung by so many people who their whole being is full of poison like a poisonous snake. It means that we have been bitten by the snakes of this world so many times that, that all of the poison has collected in us and that we are like the poisonous snake. But if we sting anyone, we will die. This Iranian saying is full of spirit of revenge and unforgiveness and every time I would hear this in Iran, I would get very sick hearing it.

A few days ago they brought a young war veteran who was disabled in 80% of his body in my cell. He had been put in solitary confinement with his horrific condition. And this had made him very mad and he kept saying “why did they do this to me? I gave my whole life for their sake. See what they have done to me!!!” And when he would get very mad he would say “I will take my revenge!”

I spoke to this young man until 4 in the morning. I spent time with him and spoke to him to forgive. When we don’t forgive, we drink the poison ourselves and then wait for the other person to die. And we take the knife that has hurt us and we stab ourselves with it again! And this is the will of the evil one who wants to destroy us.

But when we forgive, we pour out the poison of the enemy and of the devil and we don’t let the poison stay in us and we don’t let the poison make us into poisonous snakes! So that we don’t become like the person we despised and who persecuted and tortured us.

If we don’t forgive we take revenge. We might not run over motorcycles or physically hurt someone. We can also be silent or give someone the cold shoulder. We can talk about them behind their back. We can throw knives at them in our dreams. We can wish they would have justice serve to them.

We can’t change what people have done to us. We can’t change their attitude toward us. We can’t change what our enemies think of us. What we can do when people do evil against us is love them sacrificially.

It would be much easier to give them the cold shoulder, hurt them physically or emotionally, or just talk about how awful they are behind their back. As Christ followers – we are called to love them sacrificially.

Look at the evil things they did Jesus. Did Jesus just sit around and do nothing?  NO! He loved them sacrificially. He said, “Father forgive them because they don’t  know what they are doing.”

Look at Joseph in the OT. They threw him a sewage pit. They sold him as a slave. He was framed for rape. He was thrown into prison and forgotten about.  He had every reason to grow bitter. He had every reason to retaliate. When he was put into power he could have easily destroyed his brothers.  What he decided to do was love them sacrificially.

Look at what he says to his brothers in Genesis 50:19

¹⁹ But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? ²⁰ You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.

Did  you see what Joseph did? He repaid good for evil!

What is the major stumbling block that keeps us from being able repay good for evil? Not being able to forgive!

Forgiving others opens the door for God to do a work in them. Forgiving others soften their heart toward God. We want Christ NOT US to have the last word!

When you forgive you are giving Christ the last word.

Look at what these scriptures say;

Matthew 5

⁴³ “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. ⁴⁴ But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! ⁴⁵ In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.

Matthew 6:12-13

¹² and forgive us our sins,
    as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
¹³ And don’t let us yield to temptation,
    but rescue us from the evil one.

The scriptures continue to remind us in Ephesians 4:32

³² Instead, be kind to each other, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

How do you heap burning coals on someone’s head. Forgive them!

Jesus makes forgiveness a pretty big deal.

How do you forgive those who have betrayed you, abused you, or done you wrong in some way!

To forgive is a willful choice. It is a point in time decision.

• To forgive isn’t a feeling. It is a willful decision you have to make in your mind. Forgiveness is not going to happen just because you say “I forgive you.” It is a decision you make.

Forgiveness is a process. It is a journey of aligning  our will and emotions.

• We might have made the conscious decision to forgive but our emotions don’t always go with our decision. Past memories  still hurt. When  you see them or have to deal with them or the issue – emotions are going to come.
• How do you align your emotions up with what you have decided to do?
  • Pray for them
  • Pray for yourself
  • Then Bless them (do good to them for the evil they have done to you.)

There comes a point when you will be able to rejoice with them when something good happens to them and mourn with them when something bad happens to them. When
your emotions have caught up with your decision the process is over.

You have forgiven them.  You have given up your need for revenge. As followers of Christ we want Christ – not us – to have the last word in someone’ s life. When we forgive,  (like Saeed said earlier) we pour out the poison of the enemy and of the devil and we don’t let the poison stay in us and we don’t let the poison make us into poisonous snakes! So that we don’t become like the person we despised and who persecuted and tortured us.

Forgiveness releases the poison in us that is destroying us. Forgiveness conquerors evil with good. Forgiveness allows Christ to have the last word.

Make a willful choice to forgive  (write down their name, what they did, you’re feeling towards them)

Begin praying for them/yourself  (father forgive them for they don’ t know what they are doing or did.

Bless them  – genuinely do something that allows Christ to have the last word.