Overcoming Evil with Good (Part 3)

Well, let me invite you to turn in your Bibles to Romans 12 for a time of study in the word this morning, Romans chapter. 12 We are, we've been looking at this amazing chapter, learning how to unleash the power and the glories and the freedom of the gospel in our life. And in Romans 12, in our community with one another, but also in our relationships, all of our relationships. And in the last section of Romans 12, we are learning.

About how to respond to and be overcomers in the face of wrongs that are done against us. And if you want to give a title to what we're talking about today, it would be Overcoming Evil with Good Part 3. And we've looked at the first two parts over the last two Sundays. Today we come to verse 20.

We'll be looking at verse 20 and And 21, we live in a world, guys, where there is evil, where there are wrongs that are committed. Some of those wrongs are committed against us, and virtually all of us in this room have had significant wrongs done against us in our past, and we carry the wounds and the scars of those wrongs with us up to the present time. some of us in this room are right now dealing with situations where someone has wronged us recently or is wronging and hurting us, and maybe you even came in this morning just stewing over some wrong that somebody has done against you and just struggling with how do I respond to this.

This is dragging me down and defeating me.

Well, Paul gets underneath that burden in this section of Romans 12, and wants to help us and to provide us a strategy for how to not just cope with the wrongs that are done against us, how not just to tolerate The wrongs that are done against us, but actually to overcome those wrongs that, that we experience. We come to verse 20 this morning. And I just want to warn you up front that I think verses 1718, and 19, while difficult, are somewhat understandable. Verse 20 gets us into the ridiculous category.

You're going to be called to do something in verse 20 that is absolutely crazy. But it makes perfect sense in light of the gospel. It's humanly impossible to do, to execute fully and rightly. Nonetheless, it's what we're called upon to do.

And there are Christians throughout history, who have done exactly what Paul calls upon us to do in This passage that we'll be looking at today. In fact, one such example would be, Richard Wormbrand, who was a pastor of the underground church in Romania, suffered for 14 years of imprisonment, under communism, was horribly abused along with his brothers and sisters in Christ for their faith in Jesus and their involvement in the underground. church. and he, in his book, Tortured for Christ, actually, tells about the way that he and his fellow Christian prisoners responded to their torturers in a way that is very consistent with what Paul is talking about in Romans 12:20.

Look at what he says here. He says, I have seen Christians in communist prisons with 50 pounds of chains on their feet, tortured with red hot iron pokers, in whose throats spoonfuls of salt had been forced, being kept afterward without water, starving, whipped, suffering from cold, and praying with fervor for the communists. This is humanly inexplicable. It is the love of Christ, which was poured out.

In our hearts, he goes on to talk about how there were times where the prison guards that tortured them would do something to fall afoul of the communist government. And they themselves would be thrown in prison alongside of Richard Wormbrandt and his fellow Christians and other prisoners that were there to where now in the same cell sometimes there's the former torturer and the tortured that are now together both in prison and how did the Christians respond towards their former torturers that are now with them as fellow prisoners?

Look at what he says. He says while non-Christians, in other words, non-Christian prisoners showed a hatred toward their former inquisitors and beat them, Christians took their defense, even at the risk of being beaten themselves and accused of being accomplices with communism.

I have seen Christians give away their last slice of bread. We were given one slice a week. I have seen Christians give away their last slice of bread and the medicine that could save their lives to a sick communist torturer who is now a fellow prisoner. That's crazy, utterly crazy.

But it is the gospel way. And it's what Paul is going to gently push us towards in Romans chapter 12 and verse 20. Let's read the whole passage, together, beginning in verse 17. Whenever you're wrong, he says, never pay back evil for evil to anyone.

Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.

But if your enemy is hungry, feed him. And if he is thirsty, give him a drink, for in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. This morning, We come to the final two key elements in the strategy of overcoming evil done against us with good.

This is past evils that have been done against you, present evils or wrongs that are being done against you. Paul is wanting to help you and knowing how to be victorious in overcoming those evils done against you with good. We've already learned. just real quick review, when you're wrong, don't retaliate evil for evil that gives your enemy the ultimate victory because you have become just like him or her.

Number 2, premeditate the doing of what is morally good and beautiful, in the sight of all men, including the person who has wronged you. And then do that. 3, do all that you can to be at peace with everyone. Don't wait for others to take the initiative, you take the initiative.

And as much as lies within you, seek peace with everyone, including those who are wronging you. Number 4, never take your own revenge, no matter how just it may seem to do so. Do not be your own executioner of justice for wrongs that you have suffered. Justice is good.

It is right, but it is not yours to deliver. So don't. Be the executioner of your own justice. Number 5, remember that you are profoundly loved by God.

We unpacked that last week in our message. And number 6, remember, and leave room for the wrath and the perfect justice of God. Well, this morning we come to the 7th. key element in the strategy for overcoming evil done against us with good and let's word it this way, do acts of practical kindness to the person who has made himself your enemy.

Do acts of practical kindness to the person who has made himself your enemy. Look what Paul says in verse 20, but if your enemy is hungry, you feed him, and if he is thirsty, you give him a drink, for in so doing, You will heap burning coals upon his head. Paul here in verse 20 is quoting from Proverbs chapter 25, verses 21 and 22. This is a quote from the Old Testament book of Proverbs, Proverbs 2521 and 22, and I want you to note The circumstances that one's enemy has fallen into.

By the way, the word enemy, the basic idea of it is, is that of hostility. Your enemy is anyone in any given moment who is feeling hostile against you. And you are perhaps feeling hostile against them. It's anyone in any given moment where there are hostilities.

Between the two of you. So sometimes this could be a spouse that you love, but there's a moment that occurs where the nature of your relationship and that given moment because of something that has been done or not done is one of hostility. And so don't just think of like that person in your life, that's your worst enemy, and only apply this there. This applies to anyone who in any given moment, you are experiencing hostilities.

With, and notice the circumstances. That your enemy is hungry, and he is thirsty. In other words, what's implied is that your enemy has fallen upon difficult circumstances. In fact, one writer says that the description here assumes that the enemy has already been defeated as a result of punitive action.

So maybe he's done wrong against you and you have withheld retaliation from him, and you've remembered God loves me and God is a God of perfect justice. So I'm not going to retaliate and do justice and take it into my own hands. I'm gonna leave that to God. And then maybe time goes by, and it seems like God is actually executing justice quite well, because your enemy has fallen upon hard circumstances to where now he is hungry, and he is thirsty.

What's being described here is not the hunger and thirst that we all feel, we've gone 4 hours since breakfast, and we're now hungry and thirsty. That's not really what's being described here. This is, this is someone who's hungry and thirsty, and they've fallen into difficulties such that they cannot really address their own need to be fed. And to have something to drink.

So it seems like they're falling under the justice of God. They've wronged you. You've not retaliated against them. You've left that to God.

It seems that God now is actually executing justice against them. And you may say, Wow, Lord, your justice is amazing. I praise you for your justice. And you think that's the end of the story.

And God says, no, this is where the story gets really good. Because what I want you to do now is I want you to move towards your enemy in exactly these circumstances, and do kindness to him. In Proverbs 24, Solomon says, do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles, lest the Lord see it and be displeased and turn away his anger from him. What's being described here is that our enemy has fallen into hardship, difficult circumstances as a result of the anger of God.

And Solomon says, Don't rejoice. Over that. Let the Lord see it and, and be displeased at your joy over the fact that your enemy is getting his seemingly just due. So Solomon says in Proverbs 24, don't rejoice when your enemy suffers in this way.

And then in Proverbs 25, which Paul is quoting from in Romans 12, we are told to actually now move towards our enemy and do good and do kindness to them. Sometimes we may see the person who has wronged us going through, they fall into difficult circumstances, and we may feel smug, like, well, what, it serves them right. They deserve that. In fact, Lord, can you lay it on a little thicker?

Can you really do justice to them? And our inclination is to be happy about that and to definitely not help them. But we're being told here to move towards them and help them. In verse 20, Paul says, if your enemy is hungry, literally, you feed him.

And if he is thirsty, you give him a drink. In other words, you are the one being called upon to do this. You say, Well, the person's my enemy. And Paul would say that's exactly the point.

The mere fact that he has wronged you and has been hostile towards you is the very thing that most qualifies you to be the perfect person to do this. You feed him, you do kindness to him, you give him something to drink. The verb feed and give here is present tense, so it speaks of more than just all right, I'll buy him a meal, and then I'm done. no, this, this means you get underneath his need and you be feeding him and giving him something to drink.

This is also the language of hospitality. It speaks of more than just taking a meal to the person, although that would definitely be included. It speaks of opening up your home to this person and giving him your enemy a seat at your table, and dining with him. And as he is seated at your table, you serve him something to eat, and something to drink.

One of the ultimate demonstrations of relationship and friendship is to open up your home. And to dine with somebody. And Paul is saying, this is your calling now in these circumstances towards your enemy. Remember reading years ago about the Anabaptists and how they were sorely persecuted.

And there were some Anabaptist hunters that were tearing through the thatched roof of a An elderly Anabaptist couple, and it took them a few hours to get through the roof. Of the home, because they couldn't could not get through the front door. And this Anabaptist Christian couple knew, what, our fate is sealed, they're going to get through that roof eventually. And so what they did, they prepared them a meal.

And when they got through the roof, they said, hey, we knew you were coming, and we could hear you coming. We provided a meal for you. They actually sat and enjoyed the meal with this Anabaptist couple, and then got up and left the house and left the couple there. It doesn't always play out that way, but that's, that's what they did towards their enemy.

Extending hospitality to them. So this is a very costly calling that Paul is delivering upon us here. Someone has done wrong to us. And now we dream of this costly, meaningful way of showing kindness to them.

Some of you may have heard of Thomas Cramer, who was a leader, the Archbishop of Canterbury, a leader of the Church of England during the Protestant Reformation. And he was known as a merciful, gracious man. And here's, here's his reputation. Here's what was said about Thomas Cramer.

Listen to this quote, To do him any wrong was to beget a kindness from him. To do him any wrong was to beget a kindness from him. That's amazing. He was the man that everyone just knew that if you do him wrong, you pretty much just guaranteed that he's going to do some specific act of kindness towards you in retaliation.

Do you have that reputation? Would your spouse say, what, I've lived with my husband for 20 years, and I can say that to do that man wrong is to beget nothing but kindness from him. Would that be your wife's testimony? Would that be your husband's testimony?

we all fall short here, guys, but imagine just dream a little bit. Imagine here in the Cornerstone community, this is, this is the ethic that we operate by. And we're famous for this, that to do these people wrong is to, if anything, beget a kindness from them. So in the in the sequence of events, our enemy does evil against us, we refrain from retaliating.

We're trying to do what's morally good and beautiful, but peace does not come. We want to lash out with justice, but we leave room for the wrath of God. God's justice then seems to be falling upon this person. And Paul is saying that's not the end of the story.

It's now time to move towards your enemy and do kindness. To him. You may say, Pastor Milton, this is like, this is impossible. It sounds good on paper, but in some of the situations that I find myself in and the wrongs that I've been on the receiving end of this, this.

this is a real burden to put on me to be calling me to go beyond just not retaliating. I was feeling pretty good about the fact that I simply wasn't retaliating. Now you're telling me I got to go beyond that and actually do kindness. To this person who has or who is wronging me.

And you may groan under the weight of this, but guys, can I just preach the gospel to you for a moment before you groan? Under the weight of what you are called to do in Romans 12:20, can you take some time to rejoice in the fact that you are a saved person today if you believed in Jesus, and you are on your way to heaven, because somebody already lived out Romans 12:20 towards you. You see, when you read in verse 20 if your enemy is hungry, when you see that word enemy, you should go, wait a minute, enemy, enemy, enemy.

I've already read that in the book of Romans.

And it was describing me. I was an enemy of God. In Romans 5, Paul talks about how that, some may die for a good man, for a righteous man, someone would dare even to die. But God showed His love towards us and that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.

And he goes on to say in verse 10, if while we were enemies, same word. We were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. Much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Guys, we were, we were enemies of God, we were operating according to the flesh, which itself is enmity.

Same root word against or toward God. We were enemies of God. And yet God moved towards us and showed us amazing kindness in Jesus and sending His Son into the world to live the life that we were not living. And to die the death that we deserve to die, and through the amazing kindness that God has shown to us in Jesus, God has so transformed us through His kindness that we are today His friends.

We now stand side by side with God as friends of God. Why? Because we have been transformed by the kindness of God. He took the initiative towards us who were his enemies, and he has transformed us into his friends.

That's our story. We have been transformed by the kindness of God. And Paul would say, now why I waited until chapter 12 to give you this instruction. Now why I have spent chapters 1 through 11, laying out for you the glories of God's mercy, and His grace and His kindness and unpacked all of that.

for you. And after laying out all of those glories of God's love and kindness and mercy, he comes into chapter 12. And if you look at verse 1, he says, therefore, I urge you, therefore, in light of all of this gospel kindness that I have reviewed, I urge you, brethren, By literally the tender pities of God. God looked upon you in your circumstances under his just wrath, and he pitied you.

He pitied you, and he moved towards you in kindness. And Paul says, I therefore urge you, brethren, by the tender pities of God that he has shown to you too, and then begins a series of commands, among which is, if your enemy is hungry, Move towards him and give him something to eat. I urge you by the tender pities of God that He has shown towards you in the Gospel. If your enemy is thirsty, you give him something.

To drink In other words, in living this out towards our enemies, we get to, to reflect. The kindness that God has shown to us, and now the way we are towards our enemies is shaped by, molded by, and as a mirror image of the very kindness and love that God has shown to us who were once his enemies. When you're reading verse 20 don't only think of your enemies, think of yourself. And look at verse 20 as being your story.

You are the enemy. God loved you, and has made you his friend. And now you get a chance to live this out towards others who are presently your enemy. Well, look at what else Paul says in verse 20, quoting from Proverbs 25.

He says, if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he's thirsty, give him a drink, for in so doing, you will heap burning coals upon his head. Amen. Does that excite you? Literally, this could be translated for in so doing charcoals of fire, you will overwhelm upon his head.

We go. now the question is what does that mean? There's a variety of interpretations and stabs that people take at this, and I don't know that. That I can even decide fully between all of them.

I think it'd probably be good for us to at least rally around certain things that we can observe from the text that we can know for certain, and then I'll tell you a suggested way to understand this. Whatever it means to heap burning coals upon the head of our enemy, whatever it means for Paul to say this, it's supposed to motivate us to be kind toward our enemy, right? Paul says, be kind to your enemy, because in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head. Paul expects us to hear that and go, Wow, I'm really motivated now.

Let's go do kindness to our enemy. This is designed to be motivational, to motivate us to kindness towards our enemy. Also, whatever Paul means by this expression, of heaping coals upon the head of our enemy, it seems grammatically that it's something we do. It's something we do.

He says, you will heap. You will overwhelm upon the head of your enemy charcoals. Of fire. We are the subject of this.

We're the ones doing this. We're the ones putting the burning coals upon the head of our enemy. It doesn't seem like God is the one who does this, or even that our enemy is the one who does this necessarily, but we're the one who does this. I think grammatically that's pretty clear.

Also, whatever Paul means by this, it speaks of the effect our kindness will have on our enemy. and it seems to be a powerful effect, right? Whatever way you understand this, it seems pretty powerful. This is a very strong metaphor.

If this morning at some point I literally put burning coals, charcoals of fire upon your head, that would be a powerful experience for you. You would be able to think of nothing else. You would 10 years from now, remember the Sunday in 2013 that Pastor Milton put charcoals of fire upon your head, you would bear the marks of that unforgettable moment as well. And so whatever this means, it, it's the effect of our kindness towards our enemy.

And it's a powerful effect. And tied to that, it would seem logical that am I behind? Oh, I'm sorry. OK, here we go.

that whatever is involved in this, that it involves our enemy experiencing burning pain, burning pain, that's what charcoals of fire do. It speaks of a discomfort. Obviously, us doing kindness is a surprising thing in the moment. It's an intervention.

It's an interruption. And it's uncomfortable to our enemy. It's as uncomfortable to our enemy as charcoals of fire would be on your head. You would find that to be an uncomfortable experience.

And us doing kindness to our enemy who has wronged us would be an uncomfortable experience for them. It would involve to one degree or another an experience of burning pain upon their head. I would also suggest this, I think this would bear up under scrutiny that whatever Paul means by heaping burning coals upon the head of our enemy, that it, it seems to be something in contrast to God's wrath and retributive justice. Paul is going back and forth in this passage.

And he goes from this side to this side, and then back to this side. And that's what's happening. Here, as indicated by the conjunction but that we find twice in this section. If you look at the screen, Paul says, do not take your own revenge.

Don't be the executioner of your own justice towards someone who has wronged you, but, and this word translated, but is a strong adversive. One translation says to the contrary. So don't take your own revenge to the contrary. You are to leave room for the wrath of God, for God says vengeance is mine.

I will repay. So don't execute your own justice, but greatly contrasting with that, leave room for the wrath of God over here because God says vengeance is mine to give, and I will repay. Then he uses that same. conjunction for but again, bringing us back to the other side, but greatly in contrast to God delivering his justice and his wrath.

Paul says, Here's what I'm telling you to do. If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him drink, for in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head. With those observations, I would suggest that I think primarily in Paul's mind and most commentators would suggest that this is the way that we should understand it, that primarily Paul is thinking of something positive.

Yes, it's painful. Yes, it's arresting. Yes, it involves burning, but ultimately, it is a positive thing that we are wanting to see accomplished in the life of our enemy. let me give you a few quotes.

One commentator, Hendrickson, says the burning pangs of shame and contrition resulting from the unexpected kindness received. That's how he would understand the burning coals upon the head. John Murray says in heaping coals of fire on the head. Refers To the burning sense of shame and remorse constrained in our enemy by the kindness we shower upon him.

The burning shame or the softening Of repentance, John Stott says, our personal responsibility is to love and serve our enemy according to his needs and genuinely to seek his highest good. The coals of fire this may heap on him are intended ultimately to heal, not to hurt, to win, not to alienate, in fact, to shame him into repentance. And what? To do kindness with the goal of shaming someone and repentance, that's not a vindictive thing.

That's what God did to us. He showed us love and kindness, and His kindness brought us to repentance. To feel shame over our sin and our hostilities is a good redemptive thing if we do the right thing with that, and we want our enemy to see the evil of his ways for his good, that he might feel in his own person. The burning shame.

over his evil, and that God might use that to lead him to repentance. to use another metaphor that might capture the idea, we don't really talk today about raining coals of fire on someone's head. But we do use an expression sometimes and it goes like this, raining on his parade. And that metaphor captures something of what Paul is saying here in the way that we would normally speak today.

Your enemy, let's say is hostile against you. He's ready for a fight. He actually wants you to retaliate against him because he is, he is itching for a fight. But for you to respond in kindness, kindness rains on his hostility parade.

You're not going to fight back. In fact, you want to keep doing wrong to me, you're just going to beget more kindness from me. And Paul says, so doing, you are heaping coals of fire upon his head. Have you ever been on the other side of this?

You ever been itching for a fight? And maybe you're saying something, doing something, you're just ready for a response, and the other person just responds with kindness. There are people in this church today. who know the Lord, and have put their trust in Jesus and are in the service right now, because they had a spouse who actually lived out Romans 12:20 towards them.

They just Gave up and said, what? OK, I lose. It doesn't matter. I'm going to be kind to you.

And I am going to love you. You may want to fight. Go ahead and fight. I'm gonna love you and be kind to you.

And God used that to bring them to repentance. Let me give you this word of wisdom from one commentator. This is not me quoting myself. This is MR Vincent, no relation to me.

But look at, look at this. I love this. Kindness is as effectual as coals of fire. Do you believe that kindness is as effectual as coals of fire.

You see, guys, we, we often sell kindness short. Someone wrongs us, and we're evaluating how to respond. And we go to our tool shed, and we look at all these options, all these tools on the shelf, and we're trying to decide what to pull off the shelf and to use against that person. And we're thinking about, well, what, here's what they did to me.

Maybe I can do the same thing against them. I can retaliate, I can say this, I can do this, and that'll really show them. And then we look on the shelf, and here's this thing sitting there called kindness. And we look at that and say, well, I don't want to do that.

That's lame. That's weak. Paul is saying, no, no, no, no, take another look at this kindness. This is as effectual as coals of fire upon the head of your enemy.

Don't sell kindness short. Doing kindness toward those who wrong you is the most powerful and the most devastating thing that you can do. that will wield enormous might In their life, in their heart, and in your relationship. With them.

Another writer says this, he says, in accepting violence without retaliation, and in repaying hatred with kindness, the victim reveals the extent of the persecutor's crime, thereby hoping to shame him or her into repentance. See, when someone's doing evil against you, if all they get back from you is is the same evil and retaliation. They're never going to be awakened to see the evil of their evil. You have to show them something different.

That's when someone becomes dissatisfied with where their heart is, and with their evil when you show them something that looks different than the evil that is in Their own heart Martin Luther said foolishness only becomes dissatisfied with itself when it sees something that has no resemblance to it at all. Someone's behaving foolishly towards them and all you give is foolishness back. then the foolishness in them will never be dissatis dissatisfied. But if you show them something different, that will awaken in them perhaps, in God's gracious providence, and awareness, Of the depth of their sin.

I told you guys not too long ago about during high school. I'm ashamed to admit this, but my younger brother and I shared a room and during our high school years, and there was a season of about a year and a half years where I just couldn't stand to be around them. Some things that happened and I just grew resentful of him. And you could have filled up on one notebook size piece of paper, the volume of words I spoke to him in a whole year.

My attitude was terrible in resenting him, and I've repeatedly apologized to him for my sin. from during that, that season. But what God used to help me to see the evil of my heart. I'd go down in the morning, I'd take a shower and I'd come up and my brother made my bed.

He frequently made my bed for me. And what, when I would come upstairs and see my bed made, knowing how I had treated my brother, I didn't look at that and say, Oh great, I don't have to do that. Wow, I'm glad he did that. No, it made me so angry.

It literally was burning coals upon my head. It infuriated me. But in that fury, I was awakened to see the depth of evil that was actually at work in my heart, and God used that over time. to awaken me to my need for repentance.

And when that season came to an end, and I'd given my life to the Lord, one of the first orders of business for me was to go to my brother and ask his forgiveness for my anger and my resentment. He was kind. Toward me and his kindness was as effectual as burning coals of fire. I think primarily Paul is saying do kindness to your enemy because it very well might have this profoundly redemptive impact upon him or her and your relationship with them.

Having said that, I think the metaphor is large enough to include even those occasions when it goes the other way. Maybe the person is not. brought to a point of repentance as a result of your kindness, they hate you all the more they do even greater evils against you, and they never repent and they die in their sins. Even still, the kindness you did towards them, actually, in the providence of God, serves to intensify the justice that they will fall under, under the hand of God.

They stumbled to their spiritual ruin over the kindness. that you showed them. But nonetheless, the kindness you showed, powerfully figures into their ultimate destiny. We see this balance even in Romans 2.

Paul is saying, do you think lightly of the riches of God's kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? The primary intent of the kindness of God is to lead you to a place of repentance. that it would be coals of fire upon your head, leading you to repentance. But if you don't repent, because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, in the face of God's kindness, you are storing up wrath for yourself and the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

Their experience of wrath will be all the greater because they persisted in sinned despite the kindness of God, but nonetheless, the kindness that God showed them figures powerfully. In their destiny. So either way, we don't know the outcome. We do kindness to our enemy.

God may use that to change them and transform them and bring them to repentance, or they may become even more hardened in their sin. Either way, doing kindness to them is the single most powerful thing. That we can do. John Calvin.

I love his approach. He says there's two ways of understanding this metaphor. You can take it to mean burning coals on the head will soften them to repentance. or you can take it to mean you do kindness to them, and that will only double their suffering because they persist in sin.

In spite of your kindness, he gives those two views, and then he says, I take the simpler view. That his, the enemy's mind, shall be turned to one side or another, for doubtless our enemy shall either be softened by our benefits, or if he be so savage that nothing can tame him, he shall yet be burnt and tormented by the testimony of his own conscience on finding himself overwhelmed with our kindness. Either way, Either way, showing kindness is the most powerful thing that we can do.

It packs the punch and wields the power equivalent to coals of fire upon the head.

Perhaps many of you in recent months have seen the movie Les Mis that came out or you've seen the plays or you've read the book by Victor Hugo. One of the ways of looking at that story is that It's a story that demonstrates the power of grace and kindness that is shown to the undeserving. And you see the power of that gracious kindness played out with two very different outcomes. The Valjean character is hardened with hate, hating the world, and his heart is hard as stone.

He gets out of prison full of hate. A bishop shows kindness to him, gives him a meal to eat, and gives him a place to sleep at night. But in the face of that kindness, Valjean awakens during the night and grabs some valuable cutlery and steals off into the night with it. he's captured by the police.

He's arrested, he's getting his just due, right? And he's now brought back before the bishop and the bishop has a choice to make. This man is getting what he deserves. Am I going to accuse him or will I do kindness to him?

And the bishop does not accuse him of theft. In fact, he gives him the candlesticks, says, here, you forgot to take these. He calls him a friend. And then he says, from now on, you don't have to come through the garden, you can come through the front door.

shows him unbelievable kindness. And Victor Hugo's novel, He records Valjean's thoughts in this way as he processed this kindness. said he could not. Valjean could not have said whether he was touched or humiliated.

By this gracious kindness that had been shown him, what do I do with this? It was a blow to him. But should I be touched by this, blessed by this, or is this the most humiliating thing that's ever happened to me? He goes on to say this, he, Valjean, dimly felt that the priest's pardon was the hardest assault, the most formidable attack he had ever sustained.

That's an understanding there reflected. In this piece of literature of the power of gracious kindness. He received that as the hardest assault. The most formidable attack.

That he had ever sustained. Now this is fiction. But you get the point. It's true to life, guys, when we show kindness, undeserved kindness, it's an assault.

It is a formidable attack upon the evil in other people. If all we do is respond with evil for evil, that is weak. That will do nothing. You do evil against someone who does evil against you.

When have you ever seen it happen that they have responded by saying, wow, I really see the evil of what I have done. Thank you for being an instrument of God in my life. I want to repent now. That never happens.

It never works that way. And yet we keep pulling evil off the shelf and wielding that against those who have wronged us. How about kindness? Which is the hardest assault, the most formidable attack that we can wield against the evil that is done against us.

Valjean ended up being transformed by that kindness, and he lived a life showing that same kindness and grace to other people. However, throughout his life, he is hounded by Russell Crowe, right? Javert, who is all law, no grace, no mercy, and near the end of of the movie, Valjean has Javert's life in his hands, and he could take his life. That's what he deserved.

But instead, He gives him the gift of life. And lets him go free. Javert doesn't know what to do with that. He resents it.

He hates this grace and kindness, and basically decides, I don't even want to live in a world where this undeserved kindness exists. And he plunges to his death in the swollen river below. In both cases, gracious kindness is shown. And in both cases, gracious kindness shown contributes powerfully to the destiny of these two men with two very different outcomes.

Guys, if you take nothing away from this message, believe, according to passages like this, in the power of gracious kindness, grace shown. It is devastating. It is powerful. It is as effectual as coals of fire upon the head.

And whatever the outcome, however people respond, it will be mightily used of God and shaping the destiny of those that we show kindness to. We'll close with this the 8th and final. element in the strategy for overcoming evil with good is settle for nothing less than overcoming evil with good. Guys, don't.

Don't just try to cope with evil. My husband's doing this, my wife is doing this, and I just got to cope with it. Don't cope with evil. Don't tolerate it.

Overcome that evil, settle for nothing less than overcoming. Some you talk to them and they're always complaining about the wrong someone else is doing. They, they clothe themselves with the wrongs that other people have done against them. And they find their identity and being a victim of those wrongs.

Such people have been overcome by evil. Don't be overcome by evil. And don't even make it your goal to not be overcome by evil. You go on the offense.

And you overcome evil with good. We'll unpack this in the weeks to come because we're gonna, we're going to be talking on the subject of forgiveness. In the weeks to come after Easter. But I'll just say this, guys, if someone has wronged you, and all you're doing is fighting a defensive battle, like, what, I can't retaliate.

I got to bite my tongue. I got to suck it up. I can't retaliate against them. And I really want to lash out, but no, I can't do that.

You're not overcoming anything. All you're doing is holding evil at bay. And that evil that's being held at bay is still very much alive, and it will hound you, and you will be fighting the fight of your life to just keep that evil at bay. You got to do something different than just choose not to retaliate.

And Paul's telling you what to do. You go on offense, and you do real and practical acts of kindness toward the person who has wronged you. And in so doing, you not only overcome their evil, but you also overcome the evil that's rising up in your own heart, that you're wishing to visit upon them. We'll talk more about this in weeks to come.

But let's pray together and ask God to help us to live this out. Father, you are a good God, and you have spoken to us so richly in your word. Thank you, Lord, for your goodness to us. Help us to be a congregation that is famous for the kindness and the grace that we show.

And we're not just doing it because we're commanded to, we show kindness to those who are undeserving because we have been shown a kindness that we did not deserve. We are being shown a kindness every day. That we do not deserve. How can we withhold kindness?

From others Help us to do these things and thereby to mirror the gospel. May the world around us know what the gospel looks like, because they see it displayed in us. They don't just hear it from our lips, they see what it looks like. In our actions, especially in the way that we respond to those have wronged us Lord, we thank you for this opportunity also to give of our offerings to you, receive these funds and do much with them for the glory of Jesus, for the advance of this amazing message of grace.

We give ourselves to you in the name of Jesus. And all God's people said, Amen.