Romans 12:14-21

Building a Transformed Life Part 2

Last week we looked at how we can build a transformed life by how we relate to the body of Christ. Today, we look at how to build a transformed life by how we relate to those outside the body of Christ. One of the things I remember a professor saying was this: “sinners gonna sin, so why are you shocked when they do? What should really shock you is believers who sin without remorse.” He was right. We have to remember, non-believers don’t have the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in their life. They aren’t going to have the same desires or foundation as believers in Christ have. How we interact with, and behave around non-believers should be defined by our relationship with Christ. We find an abundance of examples of how Christ acted around the sinner and how He dealt with the religious community. It was not the same. With this in mind, we will proceed with the next few verses.

Vs 14-21 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.  Be in agreement with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone. Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for His wrath. For it is written: Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay, says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head. Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse: As believers, we will face persecution from those who do not believe. There is no maybe, but a promise that this will happen. Persecution has always, and will always be a part of the culture for those who stand with God Almighty. Look at Moses, Elijah, Daniel, Jeremiah, Jesus, Peter, Paul, John… Just know. you are going to face some level of persecution from those who disagree with your stance at some point in your life. I find it surprising when believers are actually shocked by the amount of disagreement and persecution they receive. Even more surprising is how the Christian community often reacts to those who come up against them. They dig in their heels, moan and groan, talk about their rights and say ugly things about those in opposition. This passage reminds us, this isn’t how we are suppose act. Instead of curses, we are suppose to bless. Instead of moaning and groaning, we are suppose to “Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials,” James 1:2. Instead of saying ugly things and claiming our rights, Jesus reminds us in His Sermon on the Mount, “You are blessed when they insult and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of Me. Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you,” Matthew 5:11-12. Later on in that same sermon Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” Matthew 5:43-44. When Daniel was in the lion’s den, he prayed and trusted God. When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego ended up in the fiery furnace, they stood firm and had faith in God’s wisdom. When Paul and Silas found themselves in a prison cell, they sang praises to God. No, we are not to tolerate evil, but, we are to love those who come against us with the agape love of God.

Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Be in agreement with one another – As believers, we are to be considerate of other’s feelings – even more than we consider our own feelings. Remember how this passage starts? Don’t  think of yourself more highly than you should. Rejoice with those who are rejoicing – even when it means you might have lost the race, the part, the chance… Get your eyes off yourself, and look around you instead. Weep with those who are weeping. What hurts others may not make sense to us, but, if they are hurting, we should be ready to sit and weep with them. It is the time to open our ears, eyes and heart instead of our mouth. Their hurt is real to them and their fear is real for them. Instead of shrugging it off or berating their grief, we show compassion and love instead.

Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation – Pride is one of the most destructive traits there is. Not only, does “pride come before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall,” (Proverbs 16:18), pride also drains us of our compassion by putting blinders around our eyes and silence headphones on our ears. We walk around in our own little world, oblivious to anyone else. It’s so easy, these days, to shut ourselves off from the rest of the world. We only hang out with people who agree with us, we only watch one viewpoint or listen to one side and we get upset at messages that disagree with our world view. We try everything we can to take ourselves out of the world. But, Jesus never said we were to take ourselves out of the world. He asks us to remain in the world so we can be an influence. It is our minds that are to be transformed. Our bodies, on the other hand, are not to be transported. Listening to others doesn’t mean we agree with them, it only means we have opened up doors to lead them to the truth of Christ. We are to imitate Christ, who associated with the humble instead of the religious “right” group, had dinner with Zacchaeus instead of the synagogue priest and was berated as someone who came eating and drinking: “and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds,” Matthew 11:19. Did you notice what Jesus said here? And wisdom is vindicated by her deeds. Don’t be wise in your own estimation, for your deeds will show who you really are. Don’t just talk a good game, play it as well.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes – It does us no good if we act just like the world around us. Over the past couple of years, I have sadly watched the believing community follow ideals and political parties instead of following Christ. Yes, there is a level of morality that has vacated the world, but, should it surprise us that the non-believing world would act like non-believers? No it should not. What I believe we have neglected to understand is this: there is a difference between standing firm in our faith for what is right and truth, and berating those non-believers around us who do not follow that right truth. Morality is not something you can legislate, it is something believers need to speak and live out each and every day as a living example to the world. If we walk in truth and live out what is honorable in everyone’s eyes, we will then have a platform on which to speak. If our words are not followed up by right living, then they are empty words. Worse, if those words are followed up by evil deeds – we repay evil with evil – then the words become hypocritical and drive people further from the truth. The Bible is filled with this truth. Here are just a few examples: But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves, James 1:22. Then again in James 1:26: If anyone thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, then his religion is useless and he deceives himself. Ouch! Later in James 3:13 he says, Who is wise and has understanding among you? He should show his works by good conduct with wisdom’s gentleness. Another way to say “do not be wise in your own estimation”. In Titus 1:16, Paul writes, They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, and disqualified for any good work. Double Ouch!! Finally, Jesus’ words in Matthew 12:33-37 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. A good man produces good things from his storeroom of good, and an evil man produces evil things from his storeroom of evil. I tell you that on the day of judgment people will have to account for every careless word they speak. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” Don’t let your words come back to haunt you – don’t repay evil for evil, but walk honorably in everyone’s eyes. Bear good fruit!

If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone – It really isn’t possible to always live in peace with everyone. There will be those people in our lives who will hate us because we are believers in Christ. We can’t change them, only God can do this. This is why Paul gave us this caveat. We are to try to live in peace with everyone, but there will be those times when nothing we say or do, will bring peace to the situation. It is in those times we stand firm in our faith and walk away. We do not engage in heated words or heated actions. We do not belittle the person or allow our better knowledge to puff ourselves up. In Luke 6:27-28 Jesus says, “But I say to you who listen: Love your enemies, do what is good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” This is counter to most, if not almost all, cultures, but that is what living as a believer is all about. We are to be counter-cultural in many ways. We are a set apart people walking a path leading to eternal life. If we want others to turn to our path, we must lead them there, not only by what we say, but by how we live out those words. While it may not be totally possible to live in peace with those of this world, it should be possible to live in peace with other believers. And this is what the world is watching. When we fight amongst ourselves, allowing our pride to reign, then the non-believing world watches and walks away. And can you blame them? If we can’t come to an understanding amongst those we call our family, how can we influence the world to a life following Christ?

Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for His wrath for it is written: Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay, says the Lord. – The vigilante character has been one of the more popular characters in the movies. Think Batman, Bryan Mills from the Taken series, the Bride from Kill Bill, and, of course, The Avengers! There’s something about one person (or several in The Avengers) seeking justice for a wrong committed that just brings out our inner self righteousness. We root for the character(s), wanting them to somehow exact justice. The definition of a vigilante is a person who doesn’t have faith in the current system of justice, so they feel they have to take matters into their own hands. For believers, we have no need to become an avenger. To do so, means we lack faith in God’s ability to take care of things. We lack trust in the One who promises: “Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay. In time their foot will slip, for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly. The Lord will indeed vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one is left—slave or free… See now that I alone am He; there is no God but Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal. No one can rescue anyone from My hand. I raise My hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever, when I sharpen My flashing sword, and My hand takes hold of judgment, I will take vengeance on My adversaries and repay those who hate Me.” Deuteronomy 32:35-36; 39-41 There is no need for us to become the next superhero, avenging all the evil done to us. There is only a need to trust in the One who holds all in His hand. He will bring justice in His time.

But if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head – The picture depicted above is one of a celebration between friends. But, what I want us to envision for a moment, is a dinner for our enemies. Instead of avenging, we throw them a party. Instead of starving them out, we give them dinner. We have compassion on them, giving them the same grace and love God has given us. This means all that pride we have must go out the window. All thoughts of revenge must be vanquished. We humbling come and serve our enemy a grand dinner. And what will happen? It will be as if fiery coals are raining down on their head. They are nasty to us, but we are loving to them. They only have words of hate, but we have words of love and peace. They want to stir up trouble, but we respond in grace. This will either cause them to leave us alone or want what we have.

Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good – Finally, make sure evil doesn’t overtake you. How do we do this? By blessing those who persecute and curse us. By rejoicing when they rejoice and weeping with them when they are in need. By doing away with our pride and humbly walk with those in need of salvation knowing we are not transported out of the world, but transformed into new creations through the power of the Holy Spirit. By seeing others as God sees them and hearing their needs as God hears them. By making sure our speech and deeds are the same so we are like Christ. By trying our best to live in peace with everyone around us, knowing this is not always possible. By not being an avenger of wrongs, instead, walking the way Jesus walked, allowing God to bring justice to the world. And, finally, by loving others as God loves them. If we do these things, evil will not conquer us, it will be conquered by good. I actually have a wonderful example from the Avenger Winter Soldier. In the movie, the enemy (and bad guy) ended up being a former best friend of Steve Rogers (Captain America), but he’s been brainwashed and doesn’t remember their friendship. Steve Rogers finally comes to a place where he has to trust their friendship would win the day so his now enemy, would once again be his friend – and, of course, it works. The evil was conquered by good. That’s a simple example of a very hard truth. In this world, we must be the people of God who will not let the evil of this world dictate our words or deeds. We must allow God to transform our minds and lives to be like Him. We must walk the walk and talk the talk – and both must agree with one another! When we do this, then we will be on our way to building a transformed life – becoming a New Creation in Christ Jesus.