True Spirituality - How to Overcome the Evil Aimed at You, Part 2

The true test of our genuine maturity in Jesus Christ.

Are you ready? It's how we treat our enemies. Let me ask you, how are you doing with that person or persons? Maybe it's an ex-mate, maybe it's a child, maybe it's a boss, maybe it's a supervisor. I mean the person who betrayed you.

How do you deal with that person in a way that honors God and brings about change? That's the truth. That's today.

Don't miss it. 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's 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 quote 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 he talks about identification. And so it's not just where you mentally are doing this.

I mean this gets like 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 from you, sold 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.

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 them.

You weep with those who weep. What would happen if you walked in that hospital room, said you know 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? Or when something good happens to them, rejoicing with them. You know 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 you know it's exciting to see this blessing in your life. You're sexually abused or this person hurt you or did something. There's 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 I was there but we were still his enemies. Christ died for us, Romans 5.8. And so why were 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 did 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 will 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 that don't know Christ and are very antagonistic. The apostle Paul is saying we need to be people that don't just cling to our rights in the fray of life. I mean it's a selfie dog eat dog manipulative world.

I mean 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 gonna do this. I'm gonna jot a card. I'm gonna visit them in the hospital.

I'm gonna pray for them every day. You know what I'm sort of 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?

Isn't there like 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. I mean it's just a command. Do not repay evil for evil. And then he's kind of like in a fallen world he says be careful. Circle that word above it. Literally it's take thought. New American standard says respect but it's 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 meet out justice.

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 payback 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.

No. They're really focused on them. Sometimes I hear Christians get all upset about non-Christians living like non-Christians. That guy's really greedy. She's so sexually immoral. I can't believe it.

I mean 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 life? Take thought. 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 compassion, I'm slow to anger.

But I'm just. And the word justice is rooted in a concept. You know 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 hand 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. 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's 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 reason why personal retaliation is prohibited is because there's an ineffective means of bringing about peace. I mean 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 that bring peace and we don't cling to our rights and we're the kind of employees that people say wow we'd like a hundred of them because you know everyone's you know gossiping and doing this and that and wanting that and wanting this and they're a real hassle but man a lot of these Christians and 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 helping you know run in the rec center stuff. They're just good people and when they get a little offended they're not so insecure that you know they're always causing problems.

They kind of look at people and realize you know take thought for where that guy is coming from. That's not that's not even worth the time. Probably ought to pray for him. He's gonna go home and scream at that nine year old for probably five hours because he missed one ground ball. We're not gonna mess with that stuff.

We're gonna make this a great environment. 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 you know 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 just sit in some coffee shop. Just sit in a coffee shop sometime this week.

This is sort of raw to say but and listen to other people. I mean 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 80 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 extremes and he says in fact if your enemy's hungry I mean the person who's wounded you help them. Give them give them some food. If they're thirsty give them a drink and so doing you heat 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 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 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'm have a meta 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.

Well 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's done is 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 he's trying to kill him. Know the story. And so you know he's running running dodging dodging. Well 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 him surrounded and it's like man guys this is kind of 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 I 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's put him right here.

I mean 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.

Peace. There's a ravine. Gets on the other side of the ravine.

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. 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 really he weeps and he says David you are more righteous than I. 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 him. And then maybe even anonymously doing something good for them to bless them. And even you know we tend to demonize people when they've hurt us. Have you realized that? They've really hurt us so everything they do is terrible and everything we do is good. And we kind of reframe the whole story.

Most stories aren't quite that clear. 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. Now I realize that what I've said so far. For some of you.

Is there still a little bit of a. You don't really understand. You can't possibly grasp what I've been through and you know what I don't. But some lessons you learn later in life and some early. And this lesson I learned. As a very young Christian in a powerful way that shaped my future. I came to Christ in the summer right after high school. I went away to play basketball and a basketball scholarship.

I was a freshman and if you could do pretty well you could make the traveling team. And a guy came in. It was supposed to be the big hero. Came from inner city New York. He grew up in the projects. He'd been to Vietnam. He'd been in prison some. He was supposed to be this rehabilitated drug addict and drug dealer. And the reason he came I played at a smaller school. The reason he came to our school. Was because his nervous system was kind of damaged his reflexes were just. I mean they weren't terrible but they just weren't all that good. He had a 40 inch vertical leaping it was about 6 7 6 8.

I mean it was there's times where I thought man that guy is going to just knock his head on the rim. And so something happened in his life. I don't know if it was Vietnam. I don't know if it was upbringing. But he hated Christians. I don't mean he disliked or had a.

He hated Christians. And I'm like six months old in the Lord. OK. I mean it's we're in basketball season now. I'm just brand new I'm just reading my Bible in the morning.

I haven't even made it all the way through the New Testament but I've decided I'm going to you know this is he's my savior I'm going to walk with him. And so this guy finds out I'm a Christian and he starts he knew a little bit of the Bible and he would quiz me on that and then it got to just humiliation if you've ever been in a locker room you know what guys talk about and all that and he liked to say my name in a way that sounded like a cuss word. Chip.

Chip. Come here. That's why he talked to me. And then it was I became when you're a freshman you have to do whatever the older guys.

So I kind of became a slave. So it's like you put my bag on the bus and then I'd come back. You know what I want. I want my one shoe out of that. I'd go back get the shoe.

I don't really want that shoe. And he would just mess with me. And at the training table. Go get me a Coke. Get me a second helping him eat. And then he would just ridicule me. Like the coach would walk out the door like before he goes hey we've got a big game. I wonder if this skinny little white virgin is going to be helpful.

You know how them Christians are. And guys multiply 10x what I just said and you'll get to where we really lived. And I hated his guts. And so my answer was my hero was Pete Maravich. And so I did all those drills for years and years and years and could handle the ball. And so in warm ups and things behind the back as hard as I could because I knew his reflexes weren't very good. Bam right through his hands into his stomach. You know and then I'd be on the break and I'd slam on through my legs and I'd watch it come right up and the coach would yell at him and you know no look pass.

You know this is really fun because you know. And he was humongous. I mean I hated him so much that I mean honestly I would have done this. Like hey Jerry. Come on.

You want some of this. But it was like it would be like a three second moment. And I'm smarter than that.

I mean he'd be. So let me finish the story because there's a major point where I learned about this passage because it gets real serious. I'm coming in from the gym and here is a is a room and across the hall from mine and I just crossed to get to mine and the doors a little bit open. There's all this smoke you know greenish blue smoke coming out of it. Everyone's smoking dope and he's in there. Well if he gets caught even smoking grass he's on probation.

He'll go back to prison. And I didn't think of that but I just walked by and I got was unlocking my door and I felt this on back of me and he turned me around and he grabbed me underneath the neck and he lifted me up against the wall so I could be up where he is. And he got about this close to me said if you tell anyone what you just saw I will kill you. And I've killed a lot of people. And it's not that big a deal.

Do you understand? And you know I'm 18 years old. I just came to play basketball in college and I'm scared to death because there was no bluffing this guy. And I started getting like ulcers in my stomach and I couldn't sleep at night. And I had anger fantasies. I had you know I mean anger like really bad. You know like doing something that you would regret the rest of your life.

And it dominated my life. And I went to my there was a guy that was making disciples and I was in a Bible study and I just shared the whole story. He said do you want help. I said are you kidding.

Yeah. He says well what I'm going to tell you is really hard but I guarantee you to work. I said man I'll take anything. He grabbed a Bible. He opened to Romans 12. He read verses 14 to 21 and he explained what I just explained to you. And I looked at him like are you on drugs.

Bless this guy I want to shoot him. He said I said you said you're willing. And he says it's not a feeling it's choice. So at this table right now you need to forgive him because God wants to forgive him. I said I don't think God. OK. Yeah OK. I'm sure God really does want to forgive him.

I just don't. And I willfully chose to forgive him. And he says now you need to bless him.

So I prayed for him every day. And then Jerry for the next four months of our season never had to ask for anything because I got his back. Jerry you want this on the bus. Jerry you need anything else. Jerry you need another Coke. Hey what can I do for you Jerry.

I mean I'm here for you. When he would go in the shower he was always dirty clothes you had to put him in this mesh bag and I took all the sweaty stuff gave him to the trainer took his clothes folded and put his shoes next to it. Didn't say a word. I just blessed him and blessed him and blessed him and blessed him.

And when he said stuff to me I just by the grace of God I didn't didn't say anything back. No more behind the back passes. No more no look passes. Jerry good shot. And after you know like after a month or so he's going you trying some Christian trick on me.

I said no I'm just you know Jesus said that I'm to love everybody and I'm I'm just doing my best. Chip. Disgust. Well I'd like to say you know this is one of those stories where two and a half months in he walked in the locker room knelt down. Oh Jesus please forgive me. That story ain't gone there.

OK. Because that's not this story. Two months three months. Nothing changed. He just ridiculed me all the time except one thing. About a month into it I changed. My hate was gone. My fear was gone.

I got out of prison. I actually saw a wonder. I mean this guy was brilliant. He used to wear this skull cap. He was an amazing artist. And I actually got to where I could say I wonder what happened to this young man where he came from and where he's been. He'd take his shirt off. He had a scar that went through his nose.

From here all the way around to here. I had no idea what he'd been through. And I had no idea how other Christians treated him. All I knew was I got to the point where I actually cared about him.

Why. I blessed him. I prayed for him.

I did good. And when you do that God does something in you. We close the season and we always closed at the big tournament in a major city and had a big Coliseum and all the teams in our conference would come and you'd play a bunch of games and we were eliminated. And I mean you got to remember this is like mid 70s. And so it's. Jerry and I you know I'm only six foot tall so I've got my platforms and my blue leather jacket my apple hat and you know I'm sort of strutting and Jerry is you know he's like 6 7 6 8 so he's got his platforms and his fro and his hat so he's like 7 2 you know. So this is just the world we lived in and it was real windy and I remember him. I just you know those images in your mind sometimes.

I remember him taking his leather coat because it was windy and put it up here. He turned to me and he goes yep. I said yeah. He said you know there's only two people I respect in this whole team.

I've been messing with these guys minds they are so punks. He said me because I am evil and I know it. And if there's a hell I'm going there and you because I disagree with everything you stand for but you actually live it. And I would never ever want to be a Christian.

But if I ever even thought about it I'd be one like you. And he said you know what I'm done with you. It's no fun to diss you anymore. So you're done kid. Get out of here.

Yeah. Here's what I want to tell you. God wants you to love your enemies for your good for his glory. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and the message you just heard how to overcome the evil aimed at you is from our series True Spirituality. Well Chip will join us in studio to share some insights from today's talk in just a minute. Does your relationship with God often feel like working for a perfect report card?

Do you believe if you don't get straight A's in life God will be disappointed or even mad at you. Well in this 12 part study Chip challenged us to let go of that performance driven attitude and embrace the grace based love filled life God has for us. As he walked through Romans chapter 12 we hope you learned what a genuine follower of Jesus should look like and how to get there.

Let me encourage you to go back and revisit any part of this series. You can do that by going to livingontheedge.org that's livingontheedge.org Well our Bible teacher Chip Ingram is with me in studio now and Chip I've been around Living on the Edge for a long time and it feels like over the past year the ministry has just exploded. I remember when we just had a radio program. Now we're developing resources training pastors all over the globe and creating tools to minister to the next generation. It's just so exciting to see how this ministry is making an impact. Dave I have to tell you I am absolutely astonished by what God is doing through Living on the Edge and he doesn't seem to be slowing that momentum down at all. He continues to provide us with amazing opportunities for discipleship here in the United States and then all around the world.

I just got back from the Philippines. I was in Africa recently and there is a spiritual hunger. There's a hunger for Bible teaching that's truthful that's expositional that's practical. I see Christians like never before with all that's happening in the world saying I need an anchor. I need God's word.

I need people who believe it and teach with moral authority that comes from God. And so what I want to say to the Living on the Edge family is we really need your help. Would you really pray and ask God what part he wants you to play financially. We need partners like you to meet the growing needs. Is he calling you to go on mission with us to help us disciple God's people to train those pastors and to reach the next generation. And by the way every dollar that you give by July 7th will be matched dollar for dollar. So pray about it and then do what the Lord shows you today.

Thanks so much. Well if you're already supporting us we appreciate you. Your gifts are helping us in profound ways all around the world. But if you're not yet a part of that team and want to be part of how God is using this ministry let me encourage you to become a financial partner. And right now thanks to a handful of donors every gift we receive until midnight on July 7th will be doubled. To send a gift call us at 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003 or go to livingontheedge.org.

App listeners tap donate. Well Chip as we wrap up this series you know the application for this message overcoming evil with good might be more relevant today than ever. Explain what giving good for evil looks like in this increasingly hostile society.

Well Dave the pinnacle of maturity. I mean that moment of when it is the supernatural power of the Spirit. It is when we are facing evil and instead of retaliating we're an agent of healing instead of hostility. And I think if there's anything the way the world has changed in the last just few years we as the church need to be not doormats but we have to give good for evil. We have to follow what Jesus commanded us what Paul tells us here and by giving people what they don't deserve and the power of the Holy Spirit to bless them to pray for them to actually do good for those that persecute who hurt us.

That's how injustice gets solved. My prayer is that literally tens of thousands of the Living on the Edge family will dig into this series if not for the first time again share it with others. Do it as a small group and say we are going to be the kind of people that are just like Jesus. Father forgive them they know not what they do and we will do good in his power because good is more powerful than evil. Amen. Let's do it together. Really great word Chip. Thanks. And as we close out this teaching from Romans 12 let me remind you again that all the resources for this series can be found at TrueSpiritualityOnline.org.

Get Chip's book, the small group study or peruse our library of free videos. We're committing to helping Christians live like Christians and this series is the pathway to make that happen. Check out TrueSpiritualityOnline.org today. Again that's TrueSpiritualityOnline.org. Well from all of us here this is Dave Druey thanking you for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge. .