God's Commands for the Church

This should not come to a surprise to most of you. I don't read instructions. When I have something to build, like a playhouse for my children, furniture, unless it's Ikea and it's just pictures, I'm not following instructions. I don't have the patience to read through them. And really, I think instructions, they take the adventure out of it. It's about the journey, not the destination. And of course, inevitably, I end up having to take something apart and build it back together, and it's just a matter of how long it takes to get to the point where I realize I've done something wrong. Inevitably, I call Lisa in the room, and God bless me, the wife who reads instructions. I'm very thankful for that. She'll read it, explain to me what happened. I then have to rebuild. Now, I don't like reading instructions for things like that because I Well, in my arrogance, I think I can just do it, usually. But I do wish there were instructions for other things, such as, how do I decide on a job? When looking for a house, how do I choose exactly the right home for my family? When choosing a spouse, what am I supposed to look for? If I could have an instruction manual that gave me your exact name, maybe. A school. All these are significant decisions that change the trajectory of life that it'd be nice to have a very clear instruction manual for. And we don't have that. Rather, what God's given us are principles and truths that help us know what we should be valuing so we make the right decisions. God's Word, it does give us a lot of instructions. There's commandments, there's warnings, there's restrictions. This morning we're going to be looking at a lot of instructions. We're going to be looking at a how-to. How to live the Christian life. That's our text this morning. So we're in Romans chapter 12. If you're here, new with us, we've been going through the book of Romans. This is what we do. We just pick up the text wherever we left off. We pick right back up. And we're in Romans 12. If you don't have a Bible, there's a Bible in front of you. We would love for you to take that home with you. If you're using that Bible this morning, we're on page 948. We're in Romans 12, page 948. And Christians, I wanna make sure we hear, when we don't listen to God's instructions, we mess up. It means we have to go back and fix where we messed up. And the word we use for that in Christianity is repent. When we don't follow God's instructions, it leads us to repentance. It means we've got to go back and turn in a different direction. What we have to really do is want to listen. We have to see what we need instruction. We need to hear from God. We need to hear what He has said so that we know how to live this life. So will you please pray with me before we get into our text? Father, we've come, we've sung, we've heard Your Word. We've prayed, Lord. We continue, Lord, to pray and we ask You, speak. Lord, as we hear this list of instructions, I pray, Lord, as we meditate upon it, that it would show us where we do fall short. You would show us the grace that we can find in the cross of Jesus Christ to be forgiven, and we can be given the grace and the power of your Holy Spirit to seek to strive, to live according to your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Here, our text, Romans 12, Verses 9 to 21, and you're gonna hear that it's a lot of instruction. Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God. For it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink, for by doing so, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Now, I've really wrestled with this passage. Figuring out how to outline it has been difficult. There's more than 20 commands, and at one point, I just thought we're gonna have a 20-point sermon. I didn't think that'd be helpful. But as a restful, I think there is a basic structure. I understand verse nine, let love be genuine, abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good. That's kind of the general statement that I think controls everything else that follows. Genuine love looks like this. All these other commandments are how to be genuine in love. And then 10 through 16, that's one section. 17 through 21, that's another section. And what we see here is there's two ways that Christians are called to be genuine in love that's unique to Christians. They're called to be genuine in love to one another and to their enemies. See, everybody who is made in the image of God, every human being, knows how to get along with other people that get along with them. We're all friends with friends. We all are nice to those who are nice to us. There's nothing unique or spectacular about someone who's always nice to nice people. The two things that separate a Christian is that they have a unique love for people that they really have nothing in common with according to this world, but have everything in common with according to Christ. There's a unique, uniting connection with Christians that should separate Christians from the world. love with brotherly affection. People have nothing in common with us except for the fact that they also believe in Christ. The other thing that should separate Christians apart is that we love our enemies. We love these people who are also saying they love Christ and we're called to be united with one another, but we also love our enemies. It's how do we respond to those who have done us wrong? How do we respond to enemies? These are the two spheres in which Christians should live differently. So that's our order. One, that's our outline. One, call to genuine worship, that's verse nine. A call to genuine worship, verse nine. And then simply genuine worship with brothers, with the church family, that's 10 through 16. And then genuine worship with enemies, that's 17 through 21. Now, this is a how-to, and Steve's already said it, I'm very thankful for what he has already instructed us. But I want to be very clear, because this is where most people get confused. To obey these commandments is not a how to become a Christian. You don't obey these commandments to become a Christian, or else I'm looking at a bunch of non-Christians. These aren't commandments so that you're good enough to be accepted by God and loved by God. These are instructions for those who have said, I am not good enough to please God. I have been given mercy. Now by that mercy, I'm going to seek to strive to live as holy of a life for the worship of God as I possibly can. So these instructions are for those who have called upon Christ to now know how they should live after Christ. So let me tell you how to become a Christian. Two commands. Repent and believe. It is that simple. It's repent and believe because repentance, again, that's that Christian word for recognizing I've been living my life the wrong way. I've been living my life against God. I've been ignoring him. I've been refusing him. I've really made a mess of it. And he is a just God and he's gonna have wrath and I've gotta repent. I've gotta say that was wrong. And you have to believe that God so loved the world that he sent his son to die for those sins you're repenting of, and more. You have to repent and say, I am a sinner, I need grace, and then you believe Jesus Christ is God's solution to my problem I'm repenting of. As we read in those scripture passages in James, we're guilty of murder if we have anger. We're guilty of adultery if we have lust. We're guilty of deception when we lie. These are sins, and we have to recognize they're sins, and they're gonna bring the wrath of God against us, so we have to look to Christ and say, you are the only one who ever lived that perfect life. You died as if a sinner, even though you're not a sinner, so that my sins can be punished in you. That's how to become a Christian. Recognize that all of my sins can be put on Christ and I can be forgiven. And now I submit to God's instruction. Let's turn to God's instruction. A call to genuine worship. This is the overarching call Again, I actually wanna go back to Romans 12, one and two. Let's just flip back one page if you're using the Pew Bible. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God. One through 11 has been discussing the mercies of God. So one through 11, we're sinners. Jesus Christ has come to die for our sin. We're free from sin. God has been faithful. That is the mercies of God. Now, therefore, because of the mercies of God, Present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. We're called now to discern the will of God, and that is what is going to make our love genuine. We're going to be genuine when we have the right loves in order. So how to worship is by hearing and heeding God's Word. Now, let's first look at this genuine love. Literally this says, let love not be hypocritical. The word for genuine is actually a negative. Not hypocritical. Don't be a hypocrite with your love. Now, we typically think of a hypocrite as either someone who doesn't act in accord with their beliefs, or someone who puts on an appearance. Both of those is what we usually consider a hypocrite. But Paul here says, don't be a hypocrite in your love. Be genuine in your love. I believe what Paul's saying here is, put your love in the right place. Because look what follows. Hate what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Genuine love puts love in its proper place. Love what is good. Love what is worthy. This is why Romans 12, one and two are so important. We have to discern what God has said is good so that we can love what is good. We need to be transformed so that we value what God values, so that our love is genuine. We don't always love what's most worthy of love. God's Word is very clear. Love God, love your neighbor. Love God and love your neighbor, but we are oftentimes are loving idols. We oftentimes even will say, I love Christ, but I hate my brother. That's not genuine love. To be genuine is to believe, repent, and obey. The sad reality is Christians are oftentimes just mixed in love. We love God. We have a love for God. We also, we like to protect a certain love for sin. What Paul's saying here, be genuine. Repent of all sin. Do not protect a love for sin. Resist that. Repent of it. and obey the God of love. Now, this just has to be said. Paul says, let your love be without hypocrisy. Christians are not supposed to be hypocrites, but I have to make this clear, the church is full of hypocrites. Praise God. Is there a better place for a hypocrite to be than a church? If a hypocrite is someone who's not authentic, is there a better place to be than to be where God's Word is going to be taught so that purity takes place? That's what needs to happen to a hypocrite is they need to realize, okay, I'm not being authentically true to what God has called me to, therefore I become less hypocritical. Now the truth is actually this, the church is full of hypocrites because we are all hypocrites. Some are more aware of it than others. But we all ascribe to truths and behaviors that we're not ourselves living up to yet. We all have hypocrisy because we're not all yet fully redeemed and fully purified of all our sin. I stand up here before you as the chief hypocrite this morning because I'm going to give you a very high bar of very demanding commands and I don't live up to them. If you want to only hear from somebody who lives up to the commands, you want a cult leader, and I do not intend to be that. Christ has lived up to these commands. I point you to Christ. Christ has died for all of us who fail to live up to these commands. I point you to Christ. So if we can just be honest, we're hypocrites. I agree with commands that I know I don't live up to. But once we get there, we can start saying, let's strive. Let's strive together to be obedient. Let's look at the second half of verse nine. Hate what is evil. The word here is what we get from perverse. God has created all things good and our sin corrupts it. It twists it. Hold fast to what is good. Be glued to it. Be so connected you can't get your hands off of it. Being fully committed to God means we will hate sin. Again, as sinners, we love to try to create as much grace space as possible. We don't like black and white. We don't be extremists. We want to get as close to the edge as possible. The words are very loaded here. Hate sin. Hold fast to what is good. Don't try to see how close to the middle you can get so you're still comfortable. Be an extremist. If you're afraid of people thinking you're extremist, you may be surprised, they may actually think you're just a Christian. If you obey these commandments and you hate what is sinful and you love what is good, you're going to be a witness for Christ. All things in moderation is not a rule for the Christian life. There's some things we can look at and say, okay, let's be moderate. Let's not go... Anything can be used in abuse. But the rule for the Christian is love God with all your heart, with all your strength, with all your mind. That's extreme. That it isn't trying to find the middle ground. That's not trying to get as close to the gray area as possible. That's saying, I'm going to give all I'm going to hate what is evil, and I'm going to do so by holding fast to what is good. Now we turn to specifically how we can be genuine. And I want you to notice something in verses 10 to 16, our second point, worship with the family of Christ, worship with the brothers. Verse 10, love one another. Outdo one another verse 13 contribute to the needs of the Saints verse 16 live in harmony with one another The the reason I say that 10 through 16, I believe all these commands are really focus on the church. The one another, that's a sacred language of Paul, but he talks about how we're supposed to relate to one another as Christians. So right now, we're gonna talk about how Christians are supposed to relate to one another. So let me read it, and I'm gonna go ahead and let you know, 14 kind of stands out as a little awkward. So, hear the word of the Lord. Worship with the family. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful and zeal. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Now I've already pointed out verse 14. It really stands out because we typically think of persecution as something that's happening from outside. And it could be that Paul has just stuck that one command, as you relate to those outside, in the midst of all this with the church. But I think it's possible that he could be thinking about relationships within the church. Remember, he's writing to a divided church. He's writing to Jews and Gentiles saying, be united as the one new humanity under Christ. Because the word persecutor here, it really just means someone who's opposed to you, who stands against you. And I think this is where these two different spheres, love your brothers and love your enemies, too often we think they might be the same people. Those should be two different groups. The church should not, those who are in the church are not supposed to be your enemies. It's two different categories. But sometimes we treat each other like that. Quarrels become the basis of persecution. And what Paul is saying here is bless them. If someone opposes you, bless them, don't curse them. The only way you can bless somebody who opposes you, pray for them. Pray with them. Don't oppose them in return. Seek to say, this is the Word of God, how can we live together? So I acknowledge verse 14 may not be within the church. It may be talking about the persecution from outside, but it makes sense to me how it could be. Now let's start from the top because I want to go through an order. Let love be genuine. Love one another with a brotherly affection. Brotherly love is a call to live according to the reality that's already given to us. If we believe in Christ, we've all been adopted into the family of God, we're all actually brothers and sisters. He's simply saying, live according to the relationship you have. God has already given you the spirit of adoption. We're all united by the same spirit in Christ, in adoption, and now we're called to love one another just simply according to that reality. But here's what we have to remember. We have been given a foreign love. If you're a Christian, God loves you with a foreign love, a love that we do not deserve, a love that is unnatural to us, because the Father loves us humans, who are sinners, with the same love that he loves his forever son, Jesus Christ. It's a foreign love. It's a great love. It's a love greater than we should ever imagine. So we've received a foreign love, and that's why God can say, you now show those who may feel foreign to you the same kind of love because you're united in me. Let's face it, God calls all different kinds of people to himself in a church. There's all kinds of different diversity within a church, or rather, there should be. And so God is saying, you have to love another according to my reality rather than the way you may feel about one another. One of the ways to love is let love cover a multitude of sin. To have a brotherly affection is to not hold accounts, to be eager to show grace, to be quick, to be slow to show offense. Seek others good. Notice the other commandment that goes along with this. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Now, there's two ways we can think about this. One, you can think about it as outdoing one another in honor by showing honor first. So if you're waiting to show others honor until they show you honor, you're probably going to be waiting. But I think the goal here is to say, be the initiator. Don't wait. Be the proactive one who's going to show honor. And he's not saying, honor those who are worthy of honor. He's calling all Christians to show honor to all Christians. In many ways, this is like the command that Paul gives to the wife, I think. Submit to him as to the Lord, not as he's worthy to be submitted to, but as to the Lord, or the employee. Work as unto the Lord. Don't work as your boss is worthy of being served. Work as if you're working for Christ himself. Show one another honor. This takes a lot of humility. One of the ways we can do this is simply by complimenting and encouraging one another. pointing out to one another, this is how I have seen God working in you lately. This is how God has used you to bless me. Another way of showing honor, when someone acts or someone hasn't spoken or someone's words seem a little off, interpret what they have or have not done, assuming the best of intentions. Don't immediately jump to this is how bad he is, think about what he said, think about what he did, think about what he did not do. No, assume the best, unless you have a reason to really interpret negatively. When you're talking to someone, I'm fearful of sounding like Reader's Digest here, but here's a little helpful way of honoring somebody. When talking to someone, ask more questions about them than you make statements about yourself. That's a way of honoring them. Let them know you want to know them. The next group of commands in verse 11, I think they're all grouped together and they all relate to a work ethic. This is a kingdom work ethic, a Christian work ethic in house, a kingdom work ethic for Christians. Verse 11, do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Now, the last one is actually, I think, the controlling declaration, serve the Lord. Whenever you're serving, you're not serving the elders. You're not really even serving the deacons. You kind of are serving one another, but more than anybody, you're serving Christ. Elders and deacons, we're just here to facilitate and equip. The service you give, the service you're called to, it's serving the Lord who has saved you. So as you think about service, don't think about, all right, I'm going to serve the elders this time, I'm going to serve the deacons this time, or this is the way I'm... No, it ultimately comes down to, are you serving Christ? Are you using the gifts He's given you to build up the body as a way of serving Christ? Serve the Lord. Be committed to serving the God who's shown you mercy. The other two commandments, don't be slothful. Be diligent. Being lazy is not a spiritual gift. Don't be late. Don't think the mundane is meaningless. That's where true worship happens. Be fervent in the spirit. Now, I believe this is referring to your own spirit, because any spirit who has the Holy Spirit indwelling them has a diligence, has a consistency, has a constant desire to work and to serve. Let me just pinpoint two things. If you're serving in the nursing the children Sunday school, this is a great investment. This is valuable work that you're serving the Lord, you're serving the families, you're serving these children. This is extremely important as we teach our children to trust God's word, to love God's word, to believe in Jesus, to acknowledge sin, to know who he is, to know what's expected of them. This is valuable work. You're serving the Lord. Do not grow discouraged. If there's some way you want to serve the Lord that we're not currently facilitating, please come talk to an elder or deacon. We would love to know what those are. Verse 12, I believe, has another connection of three. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. I think Paul here is just calling us to endure suffering. He knows that suffering is going to take place, and the church has to be ready to rejoice in hope, to be patient in tribulation. And prayer is the key again, I think, the third one. Prayer is our power to endure. Prayer is where hope comes from so that we can rejoice. The problem with our American lifestyle is that we believe the lie that comfort should be expected. Find the easy way out. Get out from underneath trials as quickly as possible. God says trials are good. That refining pressure, it reveals sins that we repented of and pressure is good. Too many Christians aren't growing in maturity because they find a way to get out of pressure as quickly as possible. Get away from her as quickly as possible. Get away from that church as quickly as possible. I'm gonna take my ball and go home. No, Christian. Don't retreat. Endure. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Notice in Pacifica verse 13. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. The early church had many poor. Poverty was a major problem and there wasn't a middle class. It was rich and poor. And so he's calling here, as we saw earlier, that gift of contribution. Be generous. Contribute to the needs of others. Do not let other brothers and sisters go without. When a real need arises, church, we're called to meet it. And I want to thank you, church, because I believe you do this well. When a need arises, I see a church that says, I'm eager to help. We need to make sure we're helping and caring for those who have true needs. Verse 15. I'm gonna, I've already discussed verse 14. Verse 15, rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Now, whenever you see a commandment in scripture, you should ask, why does that need to be there? It's kind of like the warning on a, you know, an item that you buy, like on the box, there's a warning, you have to ask yourself, all right, that was kind of obvious, I have to stick that in your ear, like why did that have to be written? Why are the warnings there? Why does Paul need to tell us something that really is obvious? Rejoice with those who are rejoicing, weep with those who are weeping? I believe it's because we rarely actually want to do this. We usually want to weep when others are rejoicing and rejoice when other people are weeping. Coveting causes us to weep at someone else's blessing rather than rejoicing. Coveting causes us to weep at someone else's blessing rather than rejoice. Self-righteousness causes us to rejoice at someone else's pain rather than weeping. So we're identifying two sins there. Because we covet, we don't rejoice with other people's blessing. We pout. Why didn't I get that? Self-righteousness is why we can't weep with others. You know, there's nothing Like getting a blessing and running to a friend and saying, look, look what God gave me. Will you rejoice with me? Look, I've got something in my cup. And that person turns and says, well, it's not overflowing. It's only half full. Where's the other half? Did you spill that on the way over here? Bill, he got a full cup. I don't know why you only have a half cup. That's not gonna satisfy you. You need more. You see what that person did? Instead of rejoicing with a brother who was excited about what he actually had, he pointed out everything wrong with it. He pointed out everything he didn't have. That is not Christian. Rejoice. There's plenty of people who's going to be critical. The church needs to be somewhere where we're hopeful and rejoicing. At my previous church in Louisville, our prayer meetings, there was regularly a pregnancy announcement. We were a very young church. There was normally an announcement, someone was pregnant. And I had friends who were trying to have children and could not. And one of the most moving things I've ever seen is the Christian commitment to pull back tears that they weren't having children so that they could go and rejoice with the one who just got good news. This is what brothers and sisters do. We set aside our wants and rejoice with those who have received from God and rejoice. Our church covenant reads, we will watch over each other in brotherly love, we will pray for each other, we will participate in each other's joys and endeavor with tenderness and sympathy to bear each other's burdens and sorrows. This is my favorite covenant commitment and my most intimidating covenant commitment. It's my favorite because rejoicing keeps life pretty exciting. We all get to rejoice with one another with all the different blessings God's given the entire church. There's great blessings and we have to know more about them so we can rejoice together. It's also most intimidating to endeavor with tenderness and sympathy to bear each other's burdens and sorrows. That last phrase is capturing this rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. We have to learn to do this well so that we're a fully functioning church. Whenever someone comes weeping, we need to weep. We need to make sure that we weep with them and show them that we love them and care for them and hate that they're in pain. Something that stands out from the book of Job, his bad friends, they're not good friends, they're bad advisors. They're clearly seen as someone not to follow, but at least they got this right. They waited two weeks to start talking. They didn't immediately try to start giving them a to-do list of how to fix the problem. We need to be careful, church. When someone's weeping, weep with them. Let them know you love them and care for them. There's time to try to give fix it advice. There's time to apply the gospel, but to give flippant faith statements or to give a quick fix advice, these things are not what Scripture prescribes. Weep with them. Rejoice with them. Verse 16, the last verse of the brothers, for the brothers and sisters. Live in harmony with one another. And I believe everything that follows is explaining what that means. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. So how to be in harmony, we must associate with the lowly. We must not be wise in our own sight. I was just teaching through the book of Judges with the youth, and what stands out in the book of Judges is that everybody did what was right in their own eyes because there was no king. The good news I have to tell you, church, is that we have a king. His name is Jesus Christ. He rules with perfect justice and wisdom and power When he rules us, we stop seeing ourselves as wise in our own eyes. We come and submit to his word together. The way to not be wise in your own eyes, according to what Paul's warning us of, is I believe to say, we have a king, and if we all submit to him together, we will live in harmony. Do not be haughty. Humility has been all over this chapter 12 so far. In the application of the gospel, humility is demanded over and over again. In the qualification, again, there's no middle class. There's rich and there's poor. What separates human beings outside of the church walls should not separate Christians within the church. Rich, poor, how much power you have, how much wealth you have, how much prestige you have, what kind of job you have, where you live, those things are supposed to separate us inside. You're not supposed to avoid people because they're different than you, or what you might think are less than you based upon the world's standards. No, the church standard is this. We are all filthy sinners and none of us belong apart from the grace of Christ. The playing field is level within the church. Now when I think about being in harmony together, there's nothing more awkward than seeing somebody trying to dance and the dance doesn't fit the music, nor are they moving in any way with rhythm. It's humorous, but awkward. The church is called to be a body made up of many members, moving in sync with one another, moving in a way that matches what they're hearing, moving in a way that's united with one another. Think about this. To be in harmony means we all hear the same song and we're all moving accordingly. For that song is the gospel of Jesus Christ and what he has commanded us. We will be in harmony when we all move according to that great declaration, that sweet sound of what Christ has said. Now I want to be careful. This is a metaphor. We neither condemn nor condone dancing. I know some of you got a little excited. But think about it. All the members loving one another, serving one another, caring for one another, praying for one another, that's harmoniously obeying the word of Christ. That's harmoniously seeking to build him up and to serve him for the purpose of making the church what Christ has called it to be. Our last point, the last main section, real, Genuine worship with our enemies. Genuine worship with our enemies. Notice the change in focus. It went from one another's to, verse 17, no one, verse 18, all those who have offended you. He's broadened the scope from one another's to all and no one or everyone and never. There's a change of focus. Let me read our passage, and I'll just break down the five basic statements. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it is dependent on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For so by doing, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Now there's five primary statements. First, do not repay evil. Turn to the cheek, as Jesus says. Second, be thoughtful to do what is honorable in the sight of all. Third, live peaceably as much as it depends upon you. Don't go out and try to create controversy. Fourth, do not seek revenge. And fifth, conquer evil with good. I believe these first three are very united. Don't repay evil. Do what's honorable. Live peaceably. That's an ideal for all of the world. That's world peace right there. If everyone would do those three things, we would not have wars, we would not have tribulation, we would not have crime. Christians should be living this way because they are the new humanity of Jesus Christ. There's a lot of culture wars raging. There's a lot of Christians really angry about what's happening in our culture. I'm gonna be careful about what kind of wars we, Yeah, there's some really disturbing things happening in our culture. We have to remember, we have to remember that our enemy is sin and Satan. Our enemy isn't the rest of the culture. Our enemy is sin and Satan. And the victory, the war call of Christ is to go and proclaim the gospel because you're not gonna convince people of sin. That sin is wrong unless they actually believe in Jesus Christ. I find it confusing that we want to go and make sure the world is conformed to Christ's image without actually knowing Christ. No, no, church, be committed to proclaiming Christ so they will believe in Him and then desire to be conformed to Him. The battle cry is to go out and be heralds of grace, of the gospel. Now the fourth primary point is difficult. Let's just be clear. Verse 19, never avenge yourselves. The word never means at no time, at any point, in any place should you avenge yourself. Never avenge yourself. How much we actually believe this to be true really demonstrates the kind of faith we have and the kind of God we believe in. Is he faithful? Is he righteous? Is he just? Now, if we just left it at, never avenge yourself, we would be left wanting. Because we want justice. And justice is a good thing. That's why the second half of verse 18 is so important. Never avenge yourself, leave it to God. Never avenge yourself. Leave it to God. He is for us. He is perfect in justice. We can trust him. Now, we do love revenge sometimes. We've been hurt. We want them to know how much they hurt us, how they hurt us. We even wanna put a hurtin' on them ourselves. We're sinners. Justice leads us to vengeance. And God is saying, that's my job. Trust me. I am the God who's for you. You know I'm the God who's just. Trust me. So Christians, I ask you, how do you respond to those who hurt you? And what does it reveal about your faith in the God of justice? Do we go seek to get them? Do we pray for them? Do we endure? Do we trust? Now, we're probably all thinking of somebody who's hurt us. And if your response to this is, you want me to do good to them? Right? Because he doesn't just say, leave it to God. He will repay. He says, be good to them. Give them food. Give them water. Help them. You want me to be good to them? Do you have any idea how bad they are? If your response is to immediately think, do you don't know what kind of person this is? You see, the reason this rule is here is that God, He's already told us. You actually have no idea how bad you've been. God says, you don't know how offensive your sin has been, and I have decided to send my son to die so that I can take away that offense so that I can know you. I'm calling you to forgive a lesser offense than the one I've forgiven you of. Trust me. I am the trust God. Do not believe the lie that revenge will make it better. No, we always overreact. Do not trust a lie that revenge will make it better. Rather, believe the promise. Believe the promise. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. The final verse, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Spurgeon called this the Christian proverb. It's worthy of memory. And there's two basic points. There's one passive, one active. Evil will overcome you if you don't do anything. If you do nothing, if you just decide that you're going to live the life however you want to and not heed all these instructions, evil will simply overcome you. Or you will overcome evil with good. If you're passive, you're overcome. If you're active, seeking the good, holding tight to what is good, being glued to that which is good, you will overcome. The same word here for conqueror is what we got from Romans 8. You are more than conquerors. You have the good. You have God's Word. You have Christ as a new head. You have the Holy Spirit. You can overcome. And I believe the specific overcoming he's talking about is overcoming harboring hate when it comes to being mistreated. That's the context. You don't have to harbor hate. You don't have to let it fester. You can overcome by trusting God who is good. The context is personal injury. Intentionally let love cover a multitude of sins. Intentionally trust God, I do not have to repay, I trust God who repays. Christians, these are high callings. This is what God has called us to in response to his great grace. We need to encourage one of these things We need to challenge one another in these things. We need to stir one another up to believe Christ and obey him. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you for your grace. We thank you, Lord, that we can trust you. We thank you that you are the just God who loves us, and I pray, Lord, that you would lead us to repentance and faith. I pray, Lord, that you would lead us to a more fervent desire to follow you and to serve you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.