Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good. Romans 12:21(NLT)
There is a hinge that holds Romans
11 and 12 together. In Romans 1-11, you
read all about God’s gracious sacrifice of grace for our sins. The great divide between grace and duty
begins with the hinge that connects chapter 12.
Paul tells us that, as a response to all that grace he described in
chapters 1-11, we are to offer our lives to God in service.
And when that is so in the life of a
believer, what happens to us is like the life of a caterpillar as he changes to
a butterfly in a cocoon. God uses His
grace to transform a believer into a different strain of the human species – a
child of God, born from above, living a life of sacrifice – in His name.
The practical conclusion about that change
is that our theology – what we know about God – must determine and drive the
actions of our everyday lives. We follow
Jesus, not the world’s fads, customs and behaviors. So, this is all about relationships, not just
how we treat one another, but how we act and work together, so we can serve as
God’s ambassadors to the world.
Paul tells us to faithfully serve together
to transform a world steeped in anger, hostility, rage, and vengeance into a
place of peace. This peace is shalom,
not just a treaty signed, but a condition of the heart which is characterized
by everything that makes life worth living.
It’s that place where the lamb and lion can lie down together, and
everything will be just fine![2]
Commit to Being Peaceable
Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Romans 12:17-18(NLT)
There can be nothing transformative about our lives without an
intentional decision to be, and promote “peaceableness”. There must be a decision to roll against the tide of our culture’s
anger, and our own human nature’s desire to respond to evil with evil.
In short, our lives need to be bent towards peace. A decision at the altar to vote for peace
means more than just going back home, feeling good about our lofty
thoughts. After we decide for peace, we
must begin to display it for the world to see (and change).
Displaying
peace means filling your life with peace by doing
things in a peaceful way, as well as intentionally saturating your thoughts with
peace. As dangerous as a gun pointed
without forethought, is our unguarded and undisciplined possibilities for
anger. Rather we must plan to respond
peacefully in everything; we must be on guard to display peace. The life of a disciple of Jesus Christ is a peace-pointed
life.
Commit to Peace-Making
Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” Romans 12:19-20(NLT)
Peace making
is different than peace-loving; it’s hard business. Peacemaking is pro-active; it doesn’t just
sit back and not get angry. Peacemaking
means you get involved to destroy anger, violence and the destruction of
relationships. You go to war against
war!
One
afternoon, when our children were very young, there was a knock at the front
door. Elizabeth and I answered the door
together to see a very angry woman we’d never met before. It seems one of our kids had made her
daughter really unhappy with something said or done that was very unkind. Her white-hot words began: If you think I’m going to stand by while
your (&%$#@ expletive deleted) kid…. I had no idea what had happened, but I held
out my hand and said: Hi,
I’m Russell, and this is Elizabeth. I’m
sorry this has been a bad day for you and your daughter. Why don’t you come in and sit down; maybe we
can figure this out together.
Now, my
natural, human-self wanted to kick-in with:
Look, lady, just who do you think you are to come to
my door and…... But that would have fueled the fire, not put
it out. Peace-making is not possible
when everything is about “me” or “my space” or anything that doesn’t include me
caring for you. That requires sacrifice,
and that kind of sacrifice is only possible when we remember the sacrifice
Jesus made for us. Jesus came to our
door two thousand years ago, but His mission wasn’t to condemn. He didn’t knock on the door to blast an
enemy; he invited us to open the door and to sup together – to
have a meal. And that’s what we’re
celebrating this morning; it’s the meal of friends remembering the sacrificial
rescue of Calvary…how Jesus overcame evil with good.
Go to VIDEO
[1]
Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com
[2] Image courtesy of Pixabay.com
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