SPEAKER_01: One of the guys said, Man, let's eat all this food.
SPEAKER_01: Don't leave him any.
SPEAKER_01: And we did.
SPEAKER_01: We all put it on our plates.
SPEAKER_01: We were scarfing it down.
SPEAKER_01: He brought the rolls.
SPEAKER_01: We grabbed all the rolls and he looked and he said, Man, you guys are hungry.
SPEAKER_01: Let me get you some more.
SPEAKER_01: And in that moment, I felt something that I would only understand later.
SPEAKER_01: We'll talk about it later in the sermon.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says that when the way you respond to your enemies, when you respond the right way, you heap burning coals on their head.
SPEAKER_01: And what that means is not that you set their head on fire, but you cause them to feel such shame that it burns.
SPEAKER_01: They feel the sense of remorse and they repent.
SPEAKER_01: Three hours later, after walking out of that dining hall, I heard the gospel and I came to faith.
SPEAKER_00: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit our website at grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, if we could just uh get our head around that and get our hearts marinated in that, that you'll never fail.
SPEAKER_01: Uh what could we not trust you with?
SPEAKER_01: You're just never gonna fail.
SPEAKER_01: It is not in your nature, it is not in your capacity.
SPEAKER_01: And that ought to make us curious about you.
SPEAKER_01: That ought to make our head and our heart kind of lean over towards you.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Lord, what we're gonna read in the Bible this morning, it's gonna feel offensive and stupid and like, are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_01: Really?
SPEAKER_01: And the reason we'll have that response initially is because we trust our violence more than we trust yours.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, I pray that we just lay down our weapons the way we've responded our entire life and just take up a different way of responding because we are a different people.
SPEAKER_01: Give us eyes to see and ears to hear, Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, we walk out today with just another thing to disagree with that we found in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: And no one is shaped by that in here, and no one is helped by that out there.
SPEAKER_01: So, Holy Spirit, do whatever you need to do in here so we represent you accurately out there.
SPEAKER_01: This is our prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Make it our experience, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We ask for it in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: When everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You can have a seat.
SPEAKER_01: If you got a Bible, I invite you to take it, open up to Matthew chapter 5.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're our guest, let me tell you what we're doing here.
SPEAKER_01: We're preaching to the gospel of Matthew.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Matthew was one of the first followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: The New Testament opens up with the books, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, four different perspectives on the life and ministry of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Matthew was writing to a very religious people, the Jews, trying to help them to understand that their religion is a vain substitute for a relationship.
SPEAKER_01: And we're at the point in the sermon called the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7.
SPEAKER_01: We're at the part where Jesus is giving what's called six antithetical statements.
SPEAKER_01: He says they start like this You have heard of old, but I say unto you, and then he says something, and then he says, You have heard of old.
SPEAKER_01: And so so far, uh in this little section of the Bible, we've talked about anger and lust and divorce and oaths.
SPEAKER_01: And today I want to talk about retaliation.
SPEAKER_01: Get back, pay back, clap back, all the things that we by nature not only like want to do, but we like to do.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: There's one honest person out there.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Mom, put your hand over that kid's mouth.
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, I want to talk to you today about how the violence of God triumphs over the violence of man.
SPEAKER_01: How the violence of God triumphs over the violence of man.
SPEAKER_01: And before I read the text, I just want to say, uh, I'll just start with myself.
SPEAKER_01: Lots of things went into my conversion, my coming uh to faith, becoming a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: But one of them that prepared my heart to hear the gospel was the fact that someone did not retaliate in my life.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I used to, I worked for a man that was a godly man, very successful businessman, but he would fire me every summer.
SPEAKER_01: His youth group would go to youth camp.
SPEAKER_01: And he, I said, dude, I gotta work, I gotta help my mom.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I know.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna pay your way to camp and I'm gonna pay your salary while you're gone to youth camp.
SPEAKER_01: Every year, starting my sophomore year in high school.
SPEAKER_01: Sophomore year, junior year, senior year is when this happened.
SPEAKER_01: I just graduated, he came to me in tears and said, Hey, I can't make you, but I'd be honored if you'd go one last time.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, Okay, sure, I'll go.
SPEAKER_01: It's a paid vacation.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so I went and went to a camp, and the camp they served family style.
SPEAKER_01: So we sat down, me and the other guys in my group, the older high school guys at our table, and a six foot five, he was a power forward at Baylor, was a counselor at the camp.
SPEAKER_01: He comes over with bowls, family-style bowls of food, puts them on the table, and he says, Hi, my name's Andy.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna be your counselor this week.
SPEAKER_01: I can't wait to serve you guys.
SPEAKER_01: And let me go get you some fresh rolls.
SPEAKER_01: And while he's gone to get the rolls, we divvy up all the food and leave him none.
SPEAKER_01: And one of the guys said, Man, let's eat all this food, don't leave him any.
SPEAKER_01: And we did.
SPEAKER_01: We we scarfed, we all put it on our plates, we were scarfing it down.
SPEAKER_01: He brought the rolls, we grabbed all the rolls and he looked and he said, Man, you guys are hungry.
SPEAKER_01: Let me get you some more.
SPEAKER_01: And in that moment, I felt something that I would only understand later.
SPEAKER_01: We'll talk about it later in the sermon.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says that when the way you respond to your enemies, when you respond the right way, you heap burning coals on their head.
SPEAKER_01: And what that means is not that you set their head on fire, but you cause them to feel such shame that it burns.
SPEAKER_01: They feel the sense of remorse and they repent.
SPEAKER_01: Three hours later, after walking out of that dining hall, I heard the gospel and I came to faith.
SPEAKER_01: It was July the 5th, 1982, about 9:35 at night.
SPEAKER_01: And it all started because we like, hey, hey, hey, and Andy Sears didn't clap back.
SPEAKER_01: He was a good-looking guy, strapping, fit, dark hair, dark eyes, had this olive dark complexion, and he was like, Oh, man, you guys are hungry.
SPEAKER_01: And when he came back with the seconds, we're like, man, we're so sorry.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, No, it's my pleasure to serve you guys all week long.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna be serving you.
SPEAKER_01: I had never heard those words in my life.
SPEAKER_01: And it began to soften my hard heart.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says it like this in Matthew chapter 5, verse 38 You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.
SPEAKER_01: But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil.
SPEAKER_01: But if anyone slap slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
SPEAKER_01: And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
SPEAKER_01: And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
SPEAKER_01: Give to the one who begs you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
SPEAKER_01: Now it's easy to read that and kind of go, say, what?
SPEAKER_01: Stay with me, okay?
SPEAKER_01: There's two things I want to say in the text.
SPEAKER_01: I want to point to.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, the insufficiency of proportional j of proportionate justice.
SPEAKER_01: The insufficiency of what's called proportionate justice, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
SPEAKER_01: That's what verse 38 is, okay?
SPEAKER_01: The law, which is known as the Lex Talianis, the law did three things, okay?
SPEAKER_01: This eye for an eye, and this is, I mean, the Hammurabi code was based on this.
SPEAKER_01: Uh the Noah covenant was based on this.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Old Testament Jewish law was based on this, eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth.
SPEAKER_01: And basically what Jesus is saying is an eye for an eye and a tooth for the tooth just leaves the whole world blind and toothless.
SPEAKER_01: This is what Jesus is getting at, and we miss that.
SPEAKER_01: Because we got, oh, you want me to just give to every homeless guy with a sign?
SPEAKER_01: No, that's not what he's saying.
SPEAKER_01: But he is saying, hey, don't miss the insufficiency of proportionate justice.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: The law did three things.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, it took it took punishment out of the realm of private vengeance.
SPEAKER_01: It took punishment out of the realm of private vengeance.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you sent one of mine to the hospital, I'm gonna send one of yours to the morgue.
SPEAKER_01: I grew up, it was every man for himself, basically.
SPEAKER_01: And so this is what I learned growing up.
SPEAKER_01: It's real simple.
SPEAKER_01: I don't get mad, I don't get even, I get ahead.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible comes along and says, that's not your right.
SPEAKER_01: You have a different responsibility as a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: But the law took punishment out of the realm of private vengeance.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, it gave judges a clear and just formula for punishment.
SPEAKER_01: Because it's not like, oh, let's not punish anybody.
SPEAKER_01: No, people deserve punishment.
SPEAKER_01: Like an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, the way it was uh uh applied in the law in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: If you stole someone's goat and you got caught, you had to give them two goats.
SPEAKER_01: You're like, well, I thought you said eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, but see, you have to replace the goat that you stole, and then you have to give yourself the experience you wished on your neighbor.
SPEAKER_01: You have to be missing a goat.
SPEAKER_01: People didn't steal goats anymore.
SPEAKER_01: You say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it gives a clear formula and a just formula for punishment.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the third thing the law did.
SPEAKER_01: It for it forbid vendettas and excessive retribution.
SPEAKER_01: Vendettas, payback, like I'm gonna get you.
SPEAKER_01: Because here's what happened.
SPEAKER_01: If you want to see this in action, watch middle school and high school students.
SPEAKER_01: They're the best at it.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they will click up and it's this group against this group, and it's like, oh my gosh, what?
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh man, well, really?
SPEAKER_01: I wish the people that lead these groups will just look at each other and go, hey, why are we doing this?
SPEAKER_01: I lost track.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I've said so many things about you, I've lost track of who you really are.
SPEAKER_01: But you what do you mean it forbids of indettas and excessive retribution?
SPEAKER_01: If I said the word lamech, would anybody know who I was referring to?
SPEAKER_01: L-A-M-E-C-H, Lamic, Old Testament, Genesis chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: He said this.
SPEAKER_01: This is honesty.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I have killed a man for wounding me.
SPEAKER_01: And he was bragging to some women about this.
SPEAKER_01: This is the context.
SPEAKER_01: I have killed a man for wounding me.
SPEAKER_01: Let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_01: You ever kill someone for wounding you?
SPEAKER_01: You hear the disproportionate response in that?
SPEAKER_01: Somebody wounded me and I just killed them.
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe ask yourself like this: Is there anybody that you've punished too much and you don't know how to get it back to where it should be?
SPEAKER_01: You should be wondering right now, what what what would motivate such behavior?
SPEAKER_01: You kill somebody just because they wounded you.
SPEAKER_01: Well, funny you should ask, but there's three motivations for retaliation.
SPEAKER_01: Number one is embarrassment.
SPEAKER_01: Embarrassment, I felt something I didn't want to feel, so you're gonna feel something you don't want to feel.
SPEAKER_01: It's just embarrassment, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, it's justice.
SPEAKER_01: We've been wronged, and we want justice.
SPEAKER_01: Now, we would never admit this, but we want justice for our enemies who have wronged us and hurt us, or if they hurt our kids, oh, we want justice for them infinitely ten times more.
SPEAKER_01: And we want justice the whole time we're praying to God for mercy for ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: We kind of skip over that part.
SPEAKER_01: And see, here's the danger in this hypocrisy because the chief casualty is the death of the God of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: The God of the Bible no longer exists, and he's just the God of your desires because you kind of construct this culturally acceptable substitute that agrees with everything you do.
SPEAKER_01: Miroslav Wolf is a teacher and theologian.
SPEAKER_01: I think you know, he teaches at Yale Divinity School, much smarter than me.
SPEAKER_01: He he writes books after read like three pages and then goes, I don't mean about that.
SPEAKER_01: But he said this about this.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Slowly and imperceptibly, the one true God begins acquiring the features of the gods of this world.
SPEAKER_01: For instance, our God simply gratifies our desires rather than reshaping them in accordance with the beauty of God's own character.
SPEAKER_01: Our God then kills enemies rather than dying on their behalf as God did in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_01: Does the God that you worship, does he kill your enemies?
SPEAKER_01: Or does he die for them as he does in the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: And does he give you permission to kill your enemies?
SPEAKER_01: Just because they wounded you.
SPEAKER_01: I was so proud of my youngest daughter.
SPEAKER_01: She came home, she's at the retreat right now, and she's probably headed back shortly on a beeline for a nap at my house.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then I stop at Trader Joe's before she heads back to Waco to go back to grad school.
SPEAKER_01: But we were talking on Thursday, she was telling me about this person she had interaction with, and then she said this.
SPEAKER_01: I thought, that's very self-aware for a 22-year-old.
SPEAKER_01: She goes, you know, Dad, I felt myself, I really wanted to wound him with my words.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Well, I can't relate, but maybe your mother can.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, yes.
SPEAKER_01: When we want justice for for those who have who have hurt us, and while we ask for mercy for ourselves, this is how you know you've kind of reshaped God into your image.
SPEAKER_01: And he kills enemies rather than dying on their behalf as he does in the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, here's the third thing that motivates uh uh uh retaliation is unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: Unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: When you insist on retaliating, eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, what you're really confessing is your unbelief in God's nature, his hatred of injustice, and his commitment to do something about it, okay?
SPEAKER_01: He isn't going to, so I must.
SPEAKER_01: There is no, now listen very carefully what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01: There is no violence in God.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, I've got to give myself permission to act violently.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to say to you, what we don't say enough in the church, there is plenty of violence in God.
SPEAKER_01: Now I say violence, I don't mean reckless lawlessness and that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_01: I mean this capacity to act in such a way that he brings force to bear on people and circumstances.
SPEAKER_01: What my daughter was saying was the violence of God got the better of me, dad, because I felt myself wanting to wound this person with my words.
SPEAKER_01: Because she said, at seminary, sometimes guys just say dumb stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Oh, they ask questions to make a point.
SPEAKER_01: They like to distinguish themselves, they like to debate with the professor.
SPEAKER_01: She goes, I just felt it rising up in me.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, What'd you do?
SPEAKER_01: And she goes, I realized that wasn't right.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, I wanted to hear a good story.
SPEAKER_01: No, I didn't think that.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Marcy said.
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean, unbelief?
SPEAKER_01: Hear this, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Jealousy is one of the motivations for retaliation, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Excuse me, embarrassment, justice, and unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean unbelief?
SPEAKER_01: You do not believe that God was going to act violently on his own behalf.
SPEAKER_01: And so you act violently on behalf of yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Again, my friend Mirislaw Falls helps us with this.
SPEAKER_01: He says this.
SPEAKER_01: He says, if God were not angry at injustice and deception and did not make the final end to violence, God would not be worthy of our worship.
SPEAKER_01: Here, however, I am less interested in arguing that God's violence is not unworthy of God than in showing that it is beneficial to us.
SPEAKER_01: Life has rightly drawn our attention to the fact that in a world of violence, we are faced with an inescapable alternative, either God's violence or human violence.
SPEAKER_01: Most people who insist on God's nonviolence cannot resist using violence themselves.
SPEAKER_01: They deem the talk of God's judgment irreverent, but think nothing of entrusting judgment into human hands, persuaded, presumably, that this is less dangerous and more humane than to believe in a God who judges.
SPEAKER_01: And so violence thrives secretly nourished by the belief in a God who refuses to wield the sword.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, that is a long quote right there.
SPEAKER_01: But I want you to understand what it comes down to is for you and me, and all of us in this room, either you trust in God's violence or you trust in your own.
SPEAKER_01: And here's how you know you trust in your own.
SPEAKER_01: When anybody wounds you, you kill them.
SPEAKER_01: Most often you assassinate them and their character when they're not in the room.
SPEAKER_01: Or when you're with your besties, and he's with his besties, or she's with her besties.
SPEAKER_01: You are assassinating people's character.
SPEAKER_01: Because you say, I believe in a God that dies for people.
SPEAKER_01: In the meantime, I'm killing as many as I can.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the second thing we see in the text: the capacity of life in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: This is the rest of it.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, You've heard in verse 38 that it was said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.
SPEAKER_01: But I say to you, and here's the life in the kingdom, and this is what Jesus is calling us to.
SPEAKER_01: And let me say this, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Are you still with me?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is not saying lay down and be a doormat and just let evil run amok.
SPEAKER_01: It's not what he's saying at all.
SPEAKER_01: He is saying this your belief is most obviously seen in your response.
SPEAKER_01: Don't tell me what you believe.
SPEAKER_01: Let me see how you respond to people that violate you, that insult you.
SPEAKER_01: Here's a real practical thing.
SPEAKER_01: I want every one of us, you want practical application?
SPEAKER_01: Here it is.
SPEAKER_01: Let people make mistakes.
SPEAKER_01: Just the past couple of weeks, I've just started listening, you know, and I said to somebody the other day, hey, by the way, congratulations on getting into AM.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to AM, I'm going to Baylor.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, why are you yelling?
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's not where I'm going to school.
SPEAKER_01: And I felt myself, I didn't want to wound them with my words.
SPEAKER_01: I wanted to wound them with my fist.
SPEAKER_01: I was just like, you little punk kid, don't talk to me like this.
SPEAKER_01: Why do your parents let you talk to adults like this?
SPEAKER_01: I will slap the taste out of your mouth.
SPEAKER_01: All that went through my mind in about two seconds.
SPEAKER_01: And I just thought, okay.
SPEAKER_01: Hoffman walked off.
SPEAKER_01: Let people make mistakes.
SPEAKER_01: Let people get it wrong.
SPEAKER_01: Let them get it wrong about you and your response.
SPEAKER_01: Because here's the thing: your faith is most on display in your response to things.
SPEAKER_01: Like a lady made an appointment with me a couple weeks ago in this church.
SPEAKER_01: I've known her for years.
SPEAKER_01: Probably, I've been here almost 20 years, probably 19 years.
SPEAKER_01: And she walked in and she said, and this was hard for her.
SPEAKER_01: And I loved it.
SPEAKER_01: She walked in, she sat down, and she goes, I'm frustrated with you, and I've been frustrated with you for two months.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in that moment, my response communicated to one or two.
SPEAKER_01: I could say, Well, I'll tell you what, I'm the pastor of this church.
SPEAKER_01: Who are you to be frustrated with me, woman?
SPEAKER_01: Instead, I said, Sounds like we're about to have an interesting conversation.
SPEAKER_01: I can't wait.
SPEAKER_01: She just smiled and was like, Okay, here we go.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I'm so proud of you.
SPEAKER_01: And somebody I walked by later and they said, Hey, I saw Sosa in your office.
SPEAKER_01: What was that about?
SPEAKER_01: She's frustrated with me and she's been frustrated for two months.
SPEAKER_01: And he looked at me and said, What did you do?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Oh man, sounds like we could have an interesting conversation because the worst that could happen is I could I have to repent or say I'm sorry, and I'm willing to do either one.
SPEAKER_01: Or both.
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm not going to kill people that wound me.
SPEAKER_01: And then get up and talk about a God that died for them.
SPEAKER_01: That's the height of hypocrisy, beloved.
SPEAKER_01: See, what do you mean the capacity of life in the kingdom?
SPEAKER_01: This is what it's all about.
SPEAKER_01: We'll get to Matthew 11 here in about two years.
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, in Matthew 11, verse 12, Jesus says this from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.
SPEAKER_01: This is not, you know, macho man brandy savage men, let's all get all testosterone up.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus, he commends a way of life that is contrary to human nature, and because of that, it is violent.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus here in Matthew 5 is commending a way of life that is contrary to human nature.
SPEAKER_01: And therefore it is violent.
SPEAKER_01: It's violent because it forces its way on our preferences and it displaces them, okay?
SPEAKER_01: It has more to do with creative resistance and Christ-like responses than passive, fatalistic acceptance of the status quo.
SPEAKER_01: And as Christians, we have the capacity to demonstrate this, to demonstrate four things, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Our response.
SPEAKER_01: It communicates whose violence we trust.
SPEAKER_01: Either we trust the violence of God or we trust our own.
SPEAKER_01: And as Christians, I think what the text is saying is you have to demonstrate four things.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, you have to demonstrate a different response to evil.
SPEAKER_01: That's verse 39.
SPEAKER_01: Hear it again.
SPEAKER_01: But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil.
SPEAKER_01: But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
SPEAKER_01: Now I get more questions about this one verse in the Bible from strangers at weddings, at funerals, in restaurants, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what he got.
SPEAKER_01: Now picture this.
SPEAKER_01: He says, if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, and what they would do, the right hand was the dominant hand in Jewish culture.
SPEAKER_01: And to slap you on the right cheek, they have to backhand you.
SPEAKER_01: So it's more of an insult.
SPEAKER_01: You ever been backhanded?
SPEAKER_01: Y'all like, uh, no, not if not if you're under 30, you probably haven't.
SPEAKER_01: But if you're over 30, your parents might have popped you in the mouth.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_01: Like you talk to your mother like that.
SPEAKER_01: And so what they would do, they would to hit somebody on the right cheek, you have to backhand them.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: That's more of an insult than an injury.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says, when you're insulted, how did you respond the last time you were insulted?
SPEAKER_01: Like I insulted the kid because I just heard, hey, I'm not going, I'm going to bail.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, okay, spend more money.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care.
SPEAKER_01: My kid went to Baylor.
SPEAKER_01: My wife went to Baylor.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not against Baylor.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just like, what are you?
SPEAKER_01: Really?
SPEAKER_01: Is this the best response you got?
SPEAKER_01: A different response to evil.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: This is on the personal level, not the public level.
SPEAKER_01: Again, he's not saying just lay down and do nothing about evil.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, he's saying have a different response to evil.
SPEAKER_01: Let it demonstrate to everybody that there's something in this world that triumphs over evil.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: The world is not going to believe Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, just because you take better vacations than them.
SPEAKER_01: The world's only going to believe this if we have a different response to the same circumstance.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says it like this in Romans chapter 12, starting in verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Bless those who persecute you.
SPEAKER_01: Just stop right there.
SPEAKER_01: Bless those who persecute you.
SPEAKER_01: So you want some more practical application?
SPEAKER_01: Here it is.
SPEAKER_01: If you're sideways with somebody right now, text them this afternoon and say, Hey, what would bless you?
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm tired of cursing you.
SPEAKER_01: And if it's me, let me give you my sale.
SPEAKER_01: It's 281 7.
SPEAKER_01: I'm open to all the blessing you got.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: Bless those.
SPEAKER_01: See, this is the violence of God.
SPEAKER_01: The violence of God is not that God comes riding in on a horse and slaughters everybody.
SPEAKER_01: That's in Revelation 19.
SPEAKER_01: We'll get to that later.
SPEAKER_01: The violence of God, look at me, is He doesn't allow you and forgive you for always preferring your way over His way.
SPEAKER_01: That is the violence of God.
SPEAKER_01: It is the ultimate form of violence.
SPEAKER_01: Romans 12, bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them.
SPEAKER_01: Rejoice with those that rejoice and weep with those that weep.
SPEAKER_01: One of the hardest things to do in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Because you don't envy people when they're weeping.
SPEAKER_01: You envy them when they're rejoicing.
SPEAKER_01: You envy them when they got the new Chevy, shined up, and it's a little newer than yours.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, you envy them when they got their promotion.
SPEAKER_01: He goes on and says, Live in harmony with one another.
SPEAKER_01: Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.
SPEAKER_01: Never be wise in your own sight.
SPEAKER_01: Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all men.
SPEAKER_01: If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
SPEAKER_01: Beloved, never avenge yourself, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: My violence is better than your violence.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody asked me what I was preaching on today, and I told them, they said, Man, the violence of God, I've never heard about that.
SPEAKER_01: That's why there's so much violence in our culture.
SPEAKER_01: Right here, God says, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him.
SPEAKER_01: Andy Sears, my camp counselor, slayed me with this.
SPEAKER_01: If your enemy is hungry, feed him.
SPEAKER_01: If he's thirsty, give him something to drink.
SPEAKER_01: For by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.
SPEAKER_01: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
SPEAKER_01: You know you're being overcome by evil when your response to evil is more evil.
SPEAKER_01: You know you're being overcome by evil.
SPEAKER_01: I know I'm being overcome by evil.
SPEAKER_01: When my response to evil, you don't know how petulant I can be?
SPEAKER_01: Anybody in this section over here want to know how petulant your pastor can be?
SPEAKER_01: Right down here at Highway 90, where it goes.
SPEAKER_01: I know y'all never think like this when you drive, where you're going down 1464 and you're fixing a guy, you know, you're you everyone's coming on 99, and then and there's three lanes.
SPEAKER_01: Two of them go under 99 and go left, and one's a turn lane.
SPEAKER_01: Well, one guy was in the turn lane and he was gonna gun it and get in front of everybody.
SPEAKER_01: I'm about four cars back going, oh no, you didn't, you better not.
SPEAKER_01: No, don't let him in.
SPEAKER_01: Don't let him, don't let him in.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: Let's punish him.
SPEAKER_01: You're trying to get over on us.
SPEAKER_01: I know y'all never do this.
SPEAKER_01: Pray for me.
SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes I trust my violence more than God's.
SPEAKER_01: And he has blinker, and then he rolls his window down, put his hand out like and I and I'm having conversations with someone who can't hear me.
SPEAKER_01: I know y'all never do that either.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh, we see you.
SPEAKER_01: You ain't got to roll your window down and do like this.
SPEAKER_01: And I was praying to God he had a fish on the back of that collar.
SPEAKER_01: So I can just walk, I just drive by and go, hey, repent, sinner.
SPEAKER_01: But instead, I'm easing up.
SPEAKER_01: We're all on each other's bumper.
SPEAKER_01: We're drafting like NASCAR.
SPEAKER_01: There ain't no room to get in here, buddy.
SPEAKER_01: And about that time I got up, about from here to that front row from him just sitting there, kind of doing this, and the Holy Spirit said, Hey, what are you trusting in right now?
SPEAKER_01: Your violence or mine.
SPEAKER_01: You're repaying evil for evil.
SPEAKER_01: And then the Holy Spirit's just like, let me just knock you out.
SPEAKER_01: You've done the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, it's that same intersection.
SPEAKER_01: I got over in the right lane and I was faking like I was gonna go right.
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, hey, somebody's gonna see the preacher and let him in, right?
SPEAKER_01: I know y'all never think that.
SPEAKER_01: Pray for me today.
SPEAKER_01: It's what a wicked sinner I am.
SPEAKER_01: And I found myself without my own participation, just putting on the brake, honking, and waving him in.
SPEAKER_01: And the guy behind me, sinner, was honking and telling me heaven was that way.
SPEAKER_01: And then I'm so falsely noble, I looked in the review mirror and I thought, Lord, there's so much violence in this world.
SPEAKER_01: And I just sense the Holy Spirit just chuckling and just saying, shut up and drive, Neil.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_01: Here's another thing: a different response to guilt.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 40.
SPEAKER_01: A different response to guilt.
SPEAKER_01: And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
SPEAKER_01: What?
SPEAKER_01: Where'd you get guilt?
SPEAKER_01: He's been sued.
SPEAKER_01: People sue you because they think you're guilty.
SPEAKER_01: Or they don't think you've got enough money to survive the legal fees, but I digress.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: If anybody sues you, it's a different response to guilt.
SPEAKER_01: He's been sued.
SPEAKER_01: And many times people would put up their shirt as interest.
SPEAKER_01: He's talked about the cloak and the tunic.
SPEAKER_01: Basically, it's a shirt and a coat.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: It's the shirt and then the overcoat.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, the Old Testament law forbids you from taking someone's overcoat because they use it as a blanket at night to keep themselves warm.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible is very considerate of things like that.
SPEAKER_01: And so Jesus comes along and says, hey man, if someone sues you, okay, and uh if they sue you and they take your tunic, your shirt, let them have your cloak, your outer garment as well.
SPEAKER_01: What in the world are you talking about?
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever heard this phrase in business?
SPEAKER_01: Somebody said, Man, I lost my shirt on that deal.
SPEAKER_01: This is where it comes from.
SPEAKER_01: People would put up their, but they would borrow money and they would put up their tunic, their shirt, usually a nice garment.
SPEAKER_01: It's interesting, it's collateral.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, this is gonna be collateral on this 20 bucks I'm borrowing until two paydays from now.
SPEAKER_01: Well, he said, hey, if they sue you and they come for your, if you want to not go back on your word anymore, give them your coat as well.
SPEAKER_01: See, Jesus is not talking about what he's really trying to get at, the heart of the matter is why he said, You have heard of old, but I say unto you, hey folks, here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta have a different response because how does anybody know we're different if we have the same responses as everybody else?
SPEAKER_01: How do they know about life in the kingdom?
SPEAKER_01: How do they know about gospel capacity if we aren't demonstrating it?
SPEAKER_01: And so he says, hey, if they sue you, and by the way, that's a different response to guilt.
SPEAKER_01: How do you treat people who are guilty who are guilty in relation to you?
SPEAKER_01: Do you lord it over them?
SPEAKER_01: Do you just feel morally superior?
SPEAKER_01: Like, oh man, I didn't need dessert.
SPEAKER_01: I just ate this slow.
SPEAKER_01: Mm-mm.
SPEAKER_01: Here's another different response.
SPEAKER_01: Thirdly, a different response to authority.
SPEAKER_01: That's verse 41.
SPEAKER_01: He says, this, and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
SPEAKER_01: You're like, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: I I it's this, ladies.
SPEAKER_01: It's you and telling your daughter, clean your room.
SPEAKER_01: And then finally you just say, hey, give me your, you don't ask, you just get the car keys.
SPEAKER_01: Mom, where are my car keys?
SPEAKER_01: I'm tired of asking you to clean your room.
SPEAKER_01: Clean your room.
SPEAKER_01: You're not getting your car back.
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine telling your daughter once to clean her room or your son to clean the room, Dad?
SPEAKER_01: And he goes and cleans his room first time, comes back out and says, after about 45 minutes, hey, mom, I'm done.
SPEAKER_01: Is there anything else I can do?
SPEAKER_01: You ain't got an extra mile kid.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: They're doing the bare minimum.
SPEAKER_01: What's the minimum monthly payroll on the credit card?
SPEAKER_01: Well, you owe$47,629, but they said$29 this month.
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't even touch the interest.
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's all they had, that's all they said.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: This is a different response to authority.
SPEAKER_01: Because here's what was at Roman soldiers were allowed, backstory, Roman soldiers were allowed to conscript people to say, hey, to a Jewish guy, hey, hey, carry my burden, carry my pack, carry my armor, whatever.
SPEAKER_01: And they had to carry it for a thousand steps, which was almost a mile.
SPEAKER_01: Hence, Jesus says, if they compel you to go one mile, go with them two.
SPEAKER_01: It's your kid coming out and saying, hey, I'm done.
SPEAKER_01: I'll just layer it on since y'all feel a little sleepy today.
SPEAKER_01: It's your kid coming out and saying, Hey, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I'm done?
SPEAKER_01: That felt kind of cathartic.
SPEAKER_01: What else can I do?
SPEAKER_01: Y'all are like, say it as many times as you want.
SPEAKER_01: I'm never going to believe that.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but yet this is what Jesus calls of us a different response to authority.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the last one: a different response to need.
SPEAKER_01: A different response to need.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 42.
SPEAKER_01: Give to the one who begs from you and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
SPEAKER_01: The needy become invisible around us when we refuse when we refuse them.
SPEAKER_01: Notice that we aren't refusing their request, we're refusing them.
SPEAKER_01: Big difference.
SPEAKER_01: Refusing, we're not refusing their request.
SPEAKER_01: We're refusing them.
SPEAKER_01: Hear it again.
SPEAKER_01: Give to the one who begs from you and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
SPEAKER_01: You refuse these people because you already know in your mind what they're going to do.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you have friends that you know when they call you, they need something, they want something, they want to borrow something.
SPEAKER_01: Hey man, can I borrow your boat?
SPEAKER_01: Can I borrow your truck?
SPEAKER_01: Can I borrow your shotgun?
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to the Deer Lease.
SPEAKER_01: Can I borrow your AR?
SPEAKER_01: Can I you're just like, ah, you brace when you see them coming.
SPEAKER_01: You're refusing them.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what you're refusing, not what they want.
SPEAKER_01: You ain't got to give every request.
SPEAKER_01: You're refusing to see them as human.
SPEAKER_01: And when you refuse them, you turn them away because you've come to know what they would do, what they would ask, what they would want.
SPEAKER_01: We know they want to borrow from us, so we have to cut them off and simply refuse them as people.
SPEAKER_01: Like someone recently, this is the kind of people you go to church with, which is beautiful.
SPEAKER_01: I love this.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody came up to me and said, Hey, I saw that we're going to partner with the Star of Hope in Mission.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that in Houston?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Yeah, not a lot of homeless people come to Sugarland.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a thriving hub of homelessness.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure we've got some.
SPEAKER_01: We got a lady that walks around in my neighborhood right over here, hangs out by the convenience store I go to to buy my Powerball ticket.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_01: Just see if y'all are paying attention.
SPEAKER_01: I know her name.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna say her name.
SPEAKER_01: And I gave her a couple bucks one time, and every time she's like, hey, sir, you got a couple dollars?
SPEAKER_01: I do, but I ain't breaking loose of it today.
SPEAKER_01: What else can I do for you?
SPEAKER_01: Can I pray for you?
SPEAKER_01: Get out of here.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want you to pray for me.
SPEAKER_01: And I said to her one time, I said, Listen, I'm knocking a woman out.
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh, it ain't no crime to whack a Shirley bartender.
SPEAKER_01: There's a guy walking in, he went, I love want some dove.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Even when I hear this, and we're almost done.
SPEAKER_01: Even when I don't give her money, I don't refuse her.
SPEAKER_01: I say, I see you.
SPEAKER_01: You're a human being.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think when she was in the third grade, her teacher said, get out your big chief tablet and write a paragraph about what you want to be when you grow up.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think she wrote this.
SPEAKER_01: Her mind is not right.
SPEAKER_01: Well, she probably did drugs.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, could you just be less white and stupid and affluent?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, I said that to a church member.
SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to figure out how she got this way.
SPEAKER_01: Her mind doesn't work.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just like, sometimes I break her off a little something, and I don't go, hey, don't buy drugs or alcohol with this.
SPEAKER_01: You think she's day trading?
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna refuse her.
SPEAKER_01: So I said, and the person said, Well, Star of Hope's wrong well.
SPEAKER_01: I was just questioning.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the thing: we don't have to reinvent every everything that needs to be done.
SPEAKER_01: What we've decided to do as elders to look and find people that are doing things that the gospel commands us to do, the poor and the needy, and we help out here, and we're just doing it.
SPEAKER_01: We're just like, hey, who's doing this really well?
SPEAKER_01: Star of Hope Mission.
SPEAKER_01: We want to take some of the money that you give and say, here, Star of Hope, keep doing well what you're doing.
SPEAKER_01: And when you need volunteers, call us.
SPEAKER_01: And the guy was like, I just checking.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I don't mind any question as long as you don't mind my answer.
SPEAKER_01: He said, sometimes your answer is a bit much.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, sometimes your questions, church people, are a bit much.
SPEAKER_01: Keep them coming.
SPEAKER_01: I don't mind at all.
SPEAKER_01: He's walking off, and I said, Hey, remember this.
SPEAKER_01: This is like a buffet.
SPEAKER_01: Take all you want, but be prepared to eat all you take.
SPEAKER_01: He's backing up and he's like, I love that you're my pastor.
SPEAKER_01: I love you're one of my parishioners.
SPEAKER_01: Keep asking it.
SPEAKER_01: Here's why we do not want to not, we do not want to refuse people.
SPEAKER_01: We don't want to act like you don't exist because I don't know how to respond to you.
SPEAKER_01: And this is what Jesus was saying.
SPEAKER_01: Last question, and we're done.
SPEAKER_01: Who are you currently refusing?
SPEAKER_01: You got a brother or sister you hadn't called in a long time?
SPEAKER_01: You're just refusing them, my God.
SPEAKER_01: I just can't deal with that.
SPEAKER_01: He's too dramatic.
SPEAKER_01: You got a parent that you're refusing?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's easy to poor people.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody that you're just like, I'm I'm not gonna I'm not gonna see that.
SPEAKER_01: I gotta call a brother.
SPEAKER_01: Today.
SPEAKER_01: I'm out of myself.
SPEAKER_01: Every time I almost I talk to my mom, oh, have you called your brother?
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how many times, hundreds.
SPEAKER_01: I said, ask me how many times he's called me.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you know he's different.
SPEAKER_01: My mom has always made allowungers for him.
SPEAKER_01: And I love her, and I'll call, and I won't get nothing back.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna refuse him, though.
SPEAKER_01: See, here's the thing when you refuse people, when you refuse, when you refuse them, you you cease to see them, that they exist, that they're human beings created by God in the image of God, you are withholding from them an experience God created them to have.
SPEAKER_01: It's not hard.
SPEAKER_01: But when you leave, just walk out today and just go, God, I want to see people.
SPEAKER_01: I want to see people clearly as you see them.
SPEAKER_01: And as you have opportunity, by the way, I love this time of year.
SPEAKER_01: I'm already in full bore Christmas mode.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, sir, it was in a store not long ago.
SPEAKER_01: And the lady was talking about layway and hee ha and meh, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Hey ma'am.
SPEAKER_01: And she said, I said, is there a problem?
SPEAKER_01: She says, Well, I'm just trying to put some things on layaway for my kids.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna come back and pay for them a little bit every week to get ready for Christmas.
SPEAKER_01: I said, What if the kingdom of God got set down right here?
SPEAKER_01: She said, I don't know what that means, sir.
SPEAKER_01: Would you like to find out?
SPEAKER_01: The lady that worked there is like, do you know her?
SPEAKER_01: No, but I know me.
SPEAKER_01: And I need this, so I don't love the wrong things too much.
SPEAKER_01: And she's like, Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Do you have an idea?
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
SPEAKER_01: See, here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: When you don't refuse people and you see them, look at me and we're done.
SPEAKER_01: God involves you in what he's doing to change the world.
SPEAKER_01: That's all.
SPEAKER_01: That's all Jesus is saying.
SPEAKER_01: He's not saying, hey, you got to be a doormat, let everybody get over on you, just stick it to you.
SPEAKER_01: Just, I mean, just expect violation and pray and thank God for it.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, listen, whose violence you trust, yours or God's, is on display in every response you give.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: If you're our guests, just relax, we'd like to teach the Bible, and then we give you some soul space to think about it.
SPEAKER_01: So questions come up on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: That's just for your consideration.
SPEAKER_01: We talk about these in our community groups that meet all over our city, different homes.
SPEAKER_01: But just take a moment right now and just ask God, hey God, what where are you pinching me today?
SPEAKER_01: Where are you kind of goading the brontosaurus saying, hello?
SPEAKER_01: That had your name on it.
SPEAKER_01: Now ask the Lord, what do I do with that?
SPEAKER_01: God, it's kind of flat and kind of thick in here this morning.
SPEAKER_01: And that's because we are a retaliatory people.
SPEAKER_01: You come at me, I'm gonna come at you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna play relational Red Rover.
SPEAKER_01: Red Rover, Red Rover.
SPEAKER_01: Let all the other 12th grade, seventh grade, fourth grade girls come over.
SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna lock arms and it's us against you.
SPEAKER_01: What a pathetic waste of a life.
SPEAKER_01: And what's even more pathetic is we got adults that do the same thing, God.
SPEAKER_01: It's just red wine involved.
SPEAKER_01: God, we're so sick and tired of retaliating, of killing people who wound us.
SPEAKER_01: And then wanting to talk about how God died for them as well.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, I pray today we choke on our own hypocrisy and find some different responses.
SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, we have to go back and really look at what we call our conversion experience, our salvation experience.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's not how Christians treat each other.
SPEAKER_01: That's not how Christians treat our enemies, it's not how we treat unbelievers, it's not how we treat the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: There's not a lot of wiggle room today.
SPEAKER_01: And for that, Lord, we should be grateful.
SPEAKER_01: So we say thank you in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: And all God's people said.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to this message.
SPEAKER_00: Be sure to give us a five star rating in review and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts.
SPEAKER_00: If you'd like to go deeper with our sermon content, you can hear more on our circling back with Neil McClendon podcast at Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you listen to podcasts.