Loving Your Enemies, Part 2

Today on Summit Life with JD Greer. Welcome back to Summit Life with Pastor JD Greer.

As always, I'm your host, Molly Vitovich. Have you ever noticed that when you're fighting evil in the world, it seems like you're facing two battlefronts. First, there's the evil in another person, but second, there's an evil that wants to grow inside of you as you respond to what someone has done to you. In today's message, Pastor JD looks at Romans chapter 12 and shows us how we ultimately overcome evil with good. It's love that doesn't come by trying harder, but by letting the Holy Spirit love through us, it's only then that we have the power to truly conquer evil both in our hearts and around us. And remember, if you missed the beginning of this message from last week, you can catch up online at jdgreer.com. So grab your Bible and let's rejoin Pastor JD in Romans chapter 12 for our message titled, Loving Your Enemies.

Do that. Not against your spouse who was insensitive and uncaring after you had a hard day. Not against your sister who barred your favorite pair of jeans again without asking. Not against that guy at work who spread untrue gossip about you. Not against that parent who has disrespected you again or the child that has made your life unfairly difficult. Not against that person who even committed a crime against you.

Why? Because vengeance belongs to me, God says. Deuteronomy 32, 35, I will repay. And by the way, God means that. God will bring into account every single sin ever committed. Not one sin will go unrequited. Every sin ever committed will be paid for in one of two ways, by that person in hell or by Jesus on the cross where he paid for your sin. So he says, you don't have to do it. It doesn't belong to you. God will do that. You don't have to bear the burden of that.

Now, let me give another caveat here. Does that mean that we're wrong to support a civil justice system or to ever use a civil justice system? No. As I've told you, in the next chapter, Paul is going to explain that God has appointed government authorities as his instrument of justice on earth. That doesn't mean that their justice is perfect.

Far from it. Doesn't mean that theirs is the ultimate word of justice. That's not true either. Just that government is one of God's gifts to mankind to keep the peace and reveal himself. And when the governments execute justice, even if they're not Christians, because the government Paul's talking about in Romans 13 was definitely not Christian, right? They are representing God when they do that. Romans 13 is about the government. Romans 12 is about you. You as a person. And it means a couple of things, practically speaking. First, it means you never, ever take on yourself the responsibility to get personal justice.

Never. Second, he says, even when you look to the government to restore justice, you do so with love and a desire for restoration in the hearts of those who have wronged us. And again, let me tell you, that's hard. Because when somebody has wronged you, few things feel like they would be more satisfying than to see them pay. But he's saying that if you understand this, even when you're allowing the government systems that God has established to do their work, and you should allow that, there's a part of you that is weeping when they're suffering, and you want them to repent and be restored. One of the most beautiful displays that we've seen of this in modern times came in the aftermath of the terrible shooting a few years ago at Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. One of the men whose wife and son was killed by Dylann Roof, the racist gunman who walked in there and shot so many people, stood up in the courtroom on that day that Dylann Roof was being tried, and he said, I forgive you, son, and my family forgives you, but we would like for you to take this opportunity to repent and confess God has mercy.

Give your life to the one who matters the most, Jesus Christ. He will change your heart and forgive you, and he can change your attitude. I read an article just this week, which this man was asked. Now, four years later, if he regretted that, if he thought that was just an overly naive reaction, say emotionalism, I thought his answer was, I mean, just maybe almost breathtaking. He says, you know, I always get asked that, and people want to know why, why even if Dylann Roof, even if he did repent, why would I ever forgive the man who murdered my wife?

I love this. My answer, he said to them, is always the same. I choose to forgive the racist killer because I believe and trust God's word when he tells me that vengeance is his to repay, not my own. I need not avenge the vile deeds of Dylann Roof myself. It is mine to avenge. I will repay, scripture promises me, and that releases me from the burden of vengeance. So friend, you got to stay out of the judge's chair. And by the way, this is as much about your own heart as it is the other person.

Remember how we talked about the growth of evil in you? That judge's chair is too big for you, and that judge's chair is going to corrupt you if you try and sit in it. I mean, really, when you think about it, there's a number of reasons you shouldn't be in that chair. First, you don't know everything about the situation. You don't know the other person's motives. And so it's almost impossible for you to do judgment rightly.

I was listening to a Christian counselor the other day talking about this problem. He was talking about it in marriage. You know, just trying to get back, he told a true story about a woman who's complained to this counselor that her husband was always playing around with her stuff. And like, he was a sort of a jokester and he was a lot of times ruining her things. And she just irritated, she talked to him about it for 20 years. She said, so I bought this new dress and it needed to zip on the back, so I asked him to zip it up. And so he comes over and he zips it up and then he starts zipping it up and down real fast, breaks the zipper. How can you wear it one time?

Take it back and get it repaired. And I was looking forward to wearing it that night. She just really made me mad. She said, I know it didn't sound like she made me mad, but he's been doing it for 20 years, made me mad. I told him to stop. She says, so I came home a couple of days later and there he is underneath the car.

You know, I can see his legs sticking out of the car and he's working on the car into there. She said, so I just felt, I went over to him and I took a hold of his zipper right there in his pants. And I went tip, tip, tip, tip, back and forth like that. She goes, I felt this great sense of satisfaction. I walked in the house, there stands my husband in the kitchen. And she's like, well, but you're under there. And she's like, no, that's our neighbor.

Our neighbor was helping me do something on the car he knew how to do. Best part of the story that she goes out there, he's knocked out cold because when she, you know, grabbed his zipper, he did what any guy would do. He sat straight up like what's going on, bam, knocks himself out in the back and bottom of the car, right? So it's never going to work out well if you try to take vengeance on yourself because you're just not equipped to be able to do it, right?

So yeah, you don't know everything that's going to happen. The other thing is you got sin of your own to deal with, and it's almost impossible for you to execute justice in a way that avoids selfish anger. And when you take upon yourself the judgment seat, it's like putting on, it's like putting on Gollum's ring in Lord of the Rings.

Remember that? My precious. You know, it feels so good. It just feels so right, but it darkens the soul of the one who takes that power unto themselves. So better to leave judgment to God, who's going to execute it perfectly. Let me tell you again, listen, every sin ever committed is either going to be paid for in full, either by that person in hell or by Jesus on the cross. That means vengeance on your half is not required.

In the meantime, friend, you can rest on the promises of a God who promises to turn all things, even the bad actions of others for good. That's so important to realize in this whole thing because, you know, one of the most beautiful stories in the Bible of forgiveness involves a man named Joseph. Most of you know the story, but Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery when he was a teenager. The best years of his life, some of the best years of relationship with his family were stolen away by brothers who were stupidly jealous.

Well, if you know the story, Joseph's life takes a crazy turn and he ends up becoming the vice regent of Egypt. And his brothers show up one day in his courtroom to beg for bread because they're starving. And now here he is, one of the most powerful people on the planet, now looking at the brothers who have betrayed him. So in this moment, he is primed to get vengeance and it's right, right? I mean, he should, in one sense, feel justified to get vengeance, but what does he do? Well, you know this, I make a long story really short. He forgives them.

What he says is so key. Here's why I'm forgiving you. You meant it for evil, but God intended what you did for good. Don't miss the connection between his ability to forgive and his belief in that statement because he's saying, I know, I know that you wronged me. And that's something that God and you are going to have to deal with between the two of you. But for me, I realized that even your bad actions, God had a purpose for them in my life. Friends, you need to come to the place where you recognize that that person that wronged you, you're not releasing them from responsibility. You're not saying that they don't have to give an account for that, but you're just saying, I recognize that even your bad actions, God used for good in my life because that's going to empower you to forgive. Sometimes one of the obstacles to forgiveness is you feel like the other person hasn't really felt the pain of what they've done to you. You ever been there?

Oh, you said it. You said you're sorry, but you don't understand how much what you said hurt me. You don't understand how all those years of what you did, you don't know the pain that I felt.

And a simple, I'm sorry, I'm going to do it. I need you to suffer the way I suffered. Think about Joseph. Do you think Joseph felt like his brothers understood all the pain that they caused him?

I doubt it. But Joseph was able to forgive because why? Because he knew that even their actions were being used by God for good in his life.

I'm not saying there's not a time for them to be accountable. I'm just saying that you can be freed to forgive, being freed from bitterness by believing first in the ultimate vengeance of God, secondly, in the good sovereignty of God. I love John Perkins as an African-American who was one of the leaders of the civil rights movement, has actually preached from right here in our church. John Perkins has wrote a book called One Blood.

Our staff is reading together. And one of the things in there he talks about, he talks about how forgiveness actually is something for your own soul. He says this, until forgiveness is given, the victim is literally tethered to their abusers.

You're tethered to them, right? Because you've got bitterness and rage just coming up in you. And he's like, this isn't as much about you as it is about them.

You've got to release that person by saying, God, you'll get vengeance. And I'm trusting your good sovereignty in my life. It's the second part of Pastor Tim Keller's devotional study through the book of Romans called In View of God's Mercy. It'll take you through the second half of Romans, highlighting chapters 8 through 16. And it features seven studies that are perfect for either your own Bible study or for use in a small group or with someone that you're discipling. Don't miss part two of Pastor Tim's Roman study. And if you missed part one, just let us know and we can get that out to you as well. We'll send it your way with your gift of $35 or more to this ministry.

To give, call us now at 866-335-5220, or visit jdgrier.com today. Now let's jump back into today's teaching. Once again, here's Pastor JD. There's more.

We got to move. Number three, repay evil with good. Bless those who persecute you. He said, bless and do not curse.

When somebody persecutes you, what are you supposed to do? You bless them in response. And when somebody curses you, rather than curse them back, you speak a word of blessing over them.

Oh, no, friend, this just comes so natural, doesn't it? I'm just thinking about when you're driving around and somebody cuts you off and does something rude to you in traffic and then has the audacity to act like it's your fault. Does that ever happen to you?

Right? And then they did me the wrong. Now they're driving by and honking the horn and they're yelling at me and they're giving me the one finger salute. And I'm like, shall I roll down the window? I'm like, shall I roll down the window? I'm like, bless you, friend.

Bless you, friend. Do I? No, I don't say that. Sometimes I do, but I'm being sarcastic. But you just, it's just not, it's not natural.

Watch what he says next. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.

Now you may not see how that connects to forgiveness, but what's your usual attitude toward your enemy? You rejoice when they weep and you weep when they rejoice, right? I mean, nothing thrills the heart of the NC State fan more than to see those pictures on ESPN of the Carolina cheerleader with tears coming down her face, smearing the little tar heel that's painted on her cheek with a little image in the background of Wofford 79 UNC 75. That did not help NC State's record at all, right?

It didn't help it at all. But hey, my enemy is weeping and that makes me rejoice. In fact, some of our Blue Ridge campus is right now getting a smile, a corrupt little smile on their face.

Bless your corrupt little hearts, okay? That's not because NC States are especially mean, it's because that's what you do to an enemy. And that's all play of course, but in real life for the believer, the way that you know that you've really been released from bitterness is you weep in your enemy's pain and you rejoice and they're rejoicing, right? Even when they experience some of the painful consequences of their sin, your heart breaks for them and it weeps with them and the pain of their actions and you pray that God will use this pain to bring them to forgiveness.

You don't sit back with a sense of satisfaction and say, well, serve them right. I guess they got what was coming to them because you're thanking God that you didn't get what was coming to you. And you realize that how did Jesus save you? How did he change you? Did he change you by giving you what you deserve? No, he gave you by taking what you deserved and forgiving you. And he prayed for you and praying for your forgiveness when we were crucified among the cross. Paul goes on in Proverbs 25, look at this, Paul goes on, excuse me, to quote Proverbs 25, verse 20 here. If your enemy's hungry, feed him.

If he's thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head. All right, fiery coals, that's more like it. That's what I've been wanting to do the whole time. Where can we get these sanctified hot coals?

I'm ready to put them into practice. But that just, it kind of seems out of character with the rest of the passage, right? Like all of a sudden we're talking about dumping hot coals on each other's head.

Okay, all right. Another Jewish metaphor. All right, we misunderstand a lot of the Bible because you don't know Jewish metaphor. Jewish metaphor here is fiery coals on somebody's head is going to do one or two things to them. The first thing is it's going to wake them up. It's going to wake them up to the injustice of what they're doing to you. Your kindness to them is going to like rouse them, like what am I doing?

It's like, and the way we would say it in our culture is throwing cold water on something. You suddenly wake them up. The other thing that your kindness will do, here's the other use of it, is it could increase God's judgment on them and the day that God brings vengeance. Because on judgment day, God's going to say to them, after all the kindness that they showed to you, kindness, kindness, kindness, kindness, you kept doing evil to them. And God's judgment will be worse on them. Your kindness literally heaps hot coals on them.

Your preference of those two options is of course for your kindness to wake them up. But either way, your response to their evil is to bless. And so doing Paul says, you will conquer evil. For sure you will conquer it in yourself, but you're also going to conquer it in the heart of the person.

I'd say you got at least a 50-50 chance. It's not guaranteed, but you got a 50-50 chance of curing it in the offender. What changes somebody's heart is not an eye for an eye, it's grace. Isn't that how Jesus woke you up? It's like Martin Luther King famously said, darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.

So where do you get the power to do this? We'll see that brings us to the last point. Number four, Paul says, remember the gospel. Verse 16, look at this. Do not be proud, instead associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Now you're like, well, I don't see the word gospel in there. This is not a random command to be humble. This is how you live in harmony with each other.

Here's what he's saying. Approach every situation in which you are wrong with the awareness of what the gospel teaches you about you. If God gave you what you deserve, you'd be condemned. You got no right to be in the chair of justice.

It's too big for you. Your primary identity is not righteous judge. Your primary identity is forgiven sinner, deeply grateful for the mercy that's shown to you. So be humble.

Be humble and admit that you got a lot more in common with the sinner that's harming you than you might want to acknowledge. Miroslav Volf, who is a great leader from this past century where he was part of the, he was in Croatia when the Serbian genocide. Miroslav Volf watched a lot of his family and friends imprisoned, beaten, some of them murdered.

He had a lot to deal with, right? I love his statement here. Forgiveness flounders when I exclude the enemy from the community of humans, even as I exclude myself from the community of sinners. Let me break that down for you.

What he means is this. I recognize that this person who has sinned against me is human like me and I'm a sinner like them. Human like me means nobody's all good or all bad. We're all kind of mixed, aren't we?

Aren't we mixed, good and bad? And oftentimes those who hurt others do so because they were deeply hurt in their past. Some of the people that are hurting me are hurting me because they've been hurt. And I stopped to think that maybe if I've been hurt the way that they were hurt maybe I would act like they're acting now. I realize more and more so much of my life is dependent on graces that God put in my life that I had no part of. The kind of family that I was blessed to be a part of, the kind of relationships and blessings God given me, I didn't deserve that.

God gave it to me as a gift. That doesn't excuse the actions of the other person and it doesn't release them from their personal responsibility. See y'all, it just gives me a profound sense of humility and compassion as I approach that person. Above all, Paul says you've got to remember Jesus. Remember the greatness of God's mercy to you. Think about in light of God's mercies what you should be like to others. You should remember Jesus, the only one who had the right to sit in judgment, actually came down to sit under it for you. Remember his patience toward you, how he suffered silently in your behalf and he always returned blessing for cursing.

When you were the one that was cursing him, remember his good plan for you, remember him because that's what gives you the ability to forgive. Friend, you don't learn to love by trying. Now think about a baby. Does a baby learn to love by reading books about love or being taught about love? No, a baby learns to love because they experience love. The love that they experience from the parent is replicated in them toward others. And the same way, the way that you continue to grow in love is you experience it from some other place. In fact, you ought to say it like this, before forgiveness is something you do.

It's somebody you meet. Meeting the embodiment of God's mercy towards you will produce it in you toward others. Tim Keller says the greatness of God's mercy means that there is no persecution so great that Paul sees an exception to this rule.

No hurt so deep that Paul excuses us from living this way. Let's just think about God's mercy. Think about his sovereignty. Remember Jesus' sovereignty over all things.

Remember his sacrifice for you and remember his sufficiency in your life. And in so doing, friend, you're going to conquer evil. You'll conquer evil both in yourself and you'll conquer it perhaps in the person that is offending you and wronging you. Friend, it's time to let bitterness go.

Some of you seethe with it. I read an article recently that talked about, it was a dieting article and it was trying to encourage me not to drink carbonated drinks. It's like, if you keep carbonated drinks in your stomach for 36 hours, it will eat away the lining at your stomach. I'm like, well, I don't plan on keeping it in there for 36 hours. This is not how I do it.

All right. But I thought the point was, well-taken, that kind of acid in there would just eat away the lining if you hold it in there. I thought, well, that's a pretty good illustration of bitterness. Bitterness and unforgiveness. You think, it's like trying to punish somebody else by holding poison. You think, it's like trying to punish somebody else by holding poison in your own heart.

It's just eating away at your heart and destroying you. It's time for you to release that. The only way you can do that is through the gospel. Remember his sovereignty. Remember his sacrifice for you.

Remember his sufficiency in all things. You need to let this go and you need to lean on Jesus. Why don't you bow your heads at all of our campuses. Bow your heads with me if you would. Hey, I'm talking to a lot of people who need to surrender. A lot of people who need to surrender.

He's going to ask you right now to sit and soak for a minute. Remember the three. Start with S. His sovereignty. He's using all things for good, even the bad things. His sacrifice for you. You're a sinner that is deeply forgiven. His sufficiency for you in all things. And would you just rest in him until forgiveness and love begin to flow out of your heart toward that person.

By the way, you might be able to do it fully in this service. You may need to go home today and just sit in it for a while until love and forgiveness flow out of you. Father, I pray in Jesus' name. She would make us tender to the gospel so that we, God, will become tender toward each other. God, I know people here are struggling.

Someone with deep years of hurt and unforgiveness. I know just simple words aren't going to fix that, but teach them God to trust in the gospel and be released from this. I pray in Jesus' name. In the heat of the moment, it can be so difficult to recall the goodness and sacrifice of Jesus.

But that's how we do it. That's how we conquer evil. We remember Christ.

Loving your enemies. That's the title of our message today from Pastor JD Greer on Summit Life. A little while ago, we introduced part two of Pastor Tim Keller's Romans Bible Study as our featured resource this month. So, JD, can our listeners still get the first volume if they missed it earlier this year? I mean, what we're offering right now is the second part of the study guide, and we'll do that when you donate. When you go to jdgreer.com and you give some gift that enables us to stay on the air and to take the gospel to new places, we'll send you that immediately. But if you missed the first part of this, we'd love to make sure that you get that as well.

So just let us know when you donate, if you missed that, and we'll make sure you get both parts. Each of these studies walks you through about a dozen questions that really help you, just you with the Holy Spirit and your Bible, get into the meat of the scripture, in addition to giving you some application and some prayer prompts. And it's a great study. I think you'll get even more out of Romans if you use it. You can use it as an individual.

You can use it with a group. You can listen to the messages I'm preaching and then use the study guide to take you back through the same verses so that you can continue to soak in them. There's even a leader guide included if you're planning to lead a group.

The second volume is going to cover chapters 8 through 16 of Romans and take us all the way to the end. Visit jdgreer.com today to reserve your copy. We'll send you a copy of Pastor Tim Keller's study through Romans chapters 8 through 16 as a way to say thank you for your financial gift of $35 or more to this ministry.

And if you missed out on part one when it was offered a few months ago, you can request it too for an additional gift. We are always so grateful for the support of our listeners because really they're the ones who make summit life possible. We wouldn't be on the air today without friends like you who have partnered with us in the past, and we'd be honored if you would consider doing the same today. To give, call us now at 866-335-5220.

That's 866-335-5220. Or give online right now at jdgreer.com. I'm Molly Vidovitch inviting you to join us tomorrow when Pastor JD gleans Paul's wisdom from Romans 13 and shares an important message about honoring our political leaders. Listen Tuesday to Summit Life with JD Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by JD Greer Ministries.