Scripture:
Romans 12:14-21 NKJV
[14] Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. [15] Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. [16] Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. [17] Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. [18] If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. [19] Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. [20] Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” [21] Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Observation:
GOD is so good to us, I know it’s hard to see when we are going through it, but it’s just absolutely true. I started my morning as I always do, with a short conversation with HIM of gratitude for bringing light to my eyes as they opened, and breath to my lungs, asking HIM to use me in this ministry. Then after grabbing a cup of coffee and my bible I began to search for what HE wanted me to know this morning, and after all the things I have had going through my brain. I felt like a quick look at Romans chapter 12 was in order, more specifically the first two verses, but something inside of me said to keep on reading, and honestly I love the book of Romans so I didn’t see an issue with it. The information given to us in this letter is important. As I had the opportunity to read it over again, my eyes landed on the scripture that we will be looking at this morning. It’s a scripture that is easy to read, yet hard to put into practice. So let’s see what the LORD has in store for us, and how we can transform the way we think, because ultimately that’s our goal. As I looked at the beginning of this chapter that’s what I was focused on, renewing my mind, that’s my desire. But that comes with not only changing the way we think but the way we react as well. That’s the point that Paul brings this chapter to a close with. So let’s see what he has for us this morning. Although he starts the chapter off with a soft request to present our body’s as a living sacrifice and transformation of our thinking. As he begins to paint a picture of what that looks like he dives right into the hard stuff. Looking at verse 14 and explaining might be easy but putting it into practice can be rather difficult. You see Paul knows the level of difficulty that is held in putting it into action as well, but what he also knows is that you can not defeat evil with more evil, and honestly what we are facing is not what has been done, but the spiritual influence behind it, and as he wrote in the letter to the Ephesians, we do not fight against flesh and blood. Refusing evil by refusing to feed it is like a spiritual fire extinguisher. Blessing those who have persecuted you takes all the power away from the enemy. Now as we move on to the next verse what we see is the heart of Jesus Christ the spiritual gift of mercy rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep. Sharing the burdens and celebrations with those who are placed around you. Not looking down on them or looking up at them, but staying right sized, these three verses carry so much power and authority that it’s hard to cover it all in the amount of time that we have. It’s a total disarmament of the enemy. Humility is the weapon to use against pride. Knowing that not one person is above spiritual attack. Knowing that wisdom comes from GOD and staying focused on that allows us to see ourselves the way we are. Back to some of the difficult stuff. We see Paul going right back to the topic of how we react. Not repaying evil with more evil. Having regard for good things in the sight of all men. What Paul is saying in the next few verses is simple to read and I’m sure we all like to think that it’s easy to put into practice until the blood in your heart starts to run hot due to how someone has just done you. Leaving room for GOD’S vengeance is the key. We looked at that a little bit in what was brought to our attention yesterday when David said in psalms chapter 34 verse, “Keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from speaking deceit. What I would like to zero in on here is what Paul knew due to his past life. Going back to the day Stephen was stoned to death at the gate. Paul was overcome with anger. The blood inside him was boiling. The word said he was seething with murderous threats. In his mind his behavior was justified. Those who were of “THE WAY” had come against his GOD. Taking matters into his own hand only left him flat on his back in the middle of the road on the way to drag GOD’S people into prison. His emotions didn’t leave room for GOD to do what HE was doing. But HE quickly found out that GOD’S plan was bigger than him. 3 days in a bed blinded by anger left him with a new spiritual vision. It wasn’t up to him. You just don’t know what GOD is going to do with it. Paul’s purpose changed that day. It went from repaying evil in his mind with more evil to the spiritual fire extinguisher of love to combat what you might think is evil.
Application:
I have said it a few times in this SOAP already. It’s not easy to just be wronged and smile returning nothing but love. Our emotions get in the way. We feel like we didn’t deserve what has happened, and again I want to be honest we probably don’t. But if we all got what we deserved there would be a lot more than 3 crosses on the hill where our SAVIOR died. What I have noticed about this walk is that it’s easy to think that we deserve grace but those who have wronged us deserve GOD’S wrath. That’s not a problem with them, that’s a problem in us our hearts are not good. The bible tells us that they are deceitfully wicked and will mislead us. We are never going to defeat the enemy by using his tactics against him. That’s what he wants, at some point we are going to have to love others the way we love ourselves. I know its not easy and I’m going to be honest the reason these scriptures were chosen this morning is because it’s something that I struggle with. I am guilty of needing grace but hoping others get what they deserve. But here is the deal that we can not afford to be deceived about. GOD will not be mocked, what you sow you will reap. You are not going to plant a weed and reap an apple. If you sow unforgiveness that’s what you will reap. If you sow love that’s what you will reap. Here is the thing when we love our enemy it makes it difficult for them to continue in their attack. When you don’t give them the reaction they are desiring it disarms them. They will more than likely continue to do evil but they will at some point choose another target because they can’t get the reaction they want for you. Jesus Christ went willingly to the cross. Not saying a word, HE didn’t defend HIMSELF, HE didn’t explain HIMSELF, HE did condemn anyone, HE only spoke forgiveness and freedom over those who were murdering HIM, knowing HE was innocent. That’s a love for what looked like HIS enemy that brought those who saw the display and came to salvation. Now that’s something to aspire to. In this world if you choose to live a godly life, you will be persecuted, you are not responsible for what they do, you are however, responsible for how you react to it. No it’s not easy, but the example has been set. We have to leave it up to GOD, HE knows way more than we do and we don’t know how HE is going to use the situations we face. It’s HIS will that we need to be praying for. We can’t be asking HIM to give them what they deserve and asking for grace for ourselves. No one deserves grace. We all deserve the cross, but Jesus took our place on it. Pray for those who persecute you and have done you wrong pray that the LORD blesses them. Listen, I have been done wrong in many ways. I have been used and thrown away by people. My prayer for them is that the LORD forgive them because they know not what they do.
Prayer:
Father, our hearts are not always where they should be, we see the hurt, and you see your people, we see what happened to us and you see what you have done for us. We do not want to be seen as conformed to the world. So we are asking that you transform us. We want to think the way that you think. We want love to be what leads every decision we make, and we know that’s not the way it is most of the time. We see our hurt and want to react from that. We see the one who hurt us and want them to pay. But you see someone you have created for a purpose and how what has happened can be used to bring them to you. We know that hell is a horrible place and we don’t want anyone to go there. Father forgive them for they know not what they do, and if they do know what they are doing i pray the you use it to bring them to you. Today we release our pain for your purpose. This is all about what you are going to do with it. All we want to do is react in love. That may not have been where we were yesterday, but it’s where we are today… Today we pray for those we see as enemies but you see as your chosen. We pray blessings over them, we pray for sanctification for them, we pray that you take the love that we show in the process to bring them to whole hearted surrender to you, and as we release this to you we ask that you forgive us for where we were wrong. We want to be used by you. Even in our hurt. We know that you will waste nothing, and you have a purpose for the way our heart is broken. Our lives do not belong to us. You have bought them with a price that is beyond anything we can comprehend. So who are we to question what you are doing? It’s all yours with our hands in the air and white flag raised. We surrender. It’s in the mighty name of Jesus we pray amen.