Overcome Evil with Good

Introduction

I’ve thought often about that song and why people love it so much. And as we are singing it, I think part of it is just the reality that in the midst of things that we can’t control, there’s just something amazing about the idea that we can put our faith in Jesus, and that’s what He’s called us to do. And although we want to control things, we like to try to control the things that are outside of our control. In our hearts, we know that’s not possible. And so the story of Peter walking on the water is just this amazing story where he puts himself at the mercy of Jesus, essentially, doing something he knows he can’t do on his own, and he puts his faith in the Lord.

And so what a great story, what a great example. And I think that’s why we love to sing the song. Because it reminds us that in times that are tumultuous, that in the midst of storms, in times where we really would like to have control, but we can’t, there is one who does have control. And so that song is a reminder of that reality. If you will join me in Romans chapter 12 this morning, Romans chapter 12, I want to read beginning in verse 1, and we’re going to focus our attention toward the end of this chapter, but I want to get the whole context as we get into verses 9 through 21, Romans 12, beginning in verse 1. He says, I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, 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. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them, if prophecy in proportion to our faith, if service and our serving, the one who teaches and is teaching, the one who exhorts and his exhortation, the one who contributes in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, and the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness.

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 spirit 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, repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Beloved, never revenge 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 so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. I think this is a situation in which that final phrase is kind of the ultimate point being made in the text, as Paul is kind of leading them through these ideas of what it is like and the sort of conduct you should have as a Christian. He’s really pointing them toward the nature of God Himself and who He is. So he concludes this concept with the idea that you don’t overcome evil with evil.

That’s not the way you go about it. That’s what the world attempts to do, and I think we see a good bit of that in our world today. That’s not how you overcome evil. It’s not by acting that way. You overcome evil with good. And he wants to demonstrate the way that works. First by just principles, some general principles and code of conduct, you might say, and then what that looks like in real life. And of course, all of this is tied in. That last section is, of course, tied into the previous sections. Right? We began Romans chapter 12, which is this transition text, right? Going from the message of what the gospel is and how it’s through faith in Jesus Christ and Jew and Gentile alike, we have all sinned, and God has confined us all under disobedience so that he can show mercy to everyone.

That’s an important concept from chapter 11 that then sort of conceptually is there at the end of this chapter as well, I believe. But the beginning call here, the appeal is to sacrifice body to be transformed by the renewing of mind, right? So giving your whole self to God based on what God has done for us and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in verses 1 and 2, he says, you give your whole self to him. And in doing so, then you do what you can. You figure out what you can do as an individual, and even more than that, it’s not just as an individual, but you do what you can as an individual for the benefit of the whole group. Right? That’s what that three through eight section is all about.

You work individually, you figure out the gifts that you have, and then you use them for everyone else around you. It’s sort of like maybe some sort of sports event, like maybe you’re playing baseball or basketball, and there’s different positions, right? And so you’re trying to figure out which one am I best at. Right? You can’t play them all. But you figure out your role and you fit into that role and you do that with everyone else, and when you do it well, you have a team that works together, right? That’s this idea of you have members and then you have the body, and it all works together the way it’s supposed to. Or maybe kind of in a non-sports example. We have some of you who are actors and actresses, you are in theater.

You have a role that you play, right? But you don’t play all the roles. That would be interesting. There might be a place for that sort of a comedic sort of skit. But that’s not typically how it works. And maybe you really want a certain role, but it actually fits somebody else better, and you can play another part, and so that’s what you do. And now maybe later on in a different place and a different time, you could then play that role. And it’s something that’s fit for you, but you’re working with the whole group. It’s not just about what you want. It’s using your abilities and your gifts for the good of all. That’s what verses three through eight are about. But then verses nine through 21 are really about the way that we do this.

1. Love Unhypocritically

It’s the attitude that we take into how we use our gifts. And this section is not about picking and choosing the things that seem best or that I can do best in my life. Really, it’s for everyone. This is the way everyone should act. Whatever their gifts may be, in whatever direction they go, this is a sort of attitude and conduct and nature that everyone should exhibit in their life as a Christian. And so the first concept here is not something that’s going to be tricky or difficult. Neither one of these really are. It’s kind of the basic concepts in this text. But the first idea here is one of love. Now we’ve seen a lot here about pride and arrogance, don’t be haughty, and we’re going to kind of see that through this text, and we’ll see it again in this section we just read.

But kind of the underlying nature of how all this works is the type of love that we have in our life. And this is pretty important because love is greatly misunderstood. So when we understand what it means to give ourselves to God and to find where we can work and the gifts that we have and to function in the right way, and then to do it with the right attitude, the foundation of love, much like in 1 Corinthians 13, is pivotal. I mean, nothing else really makes much of a difference if we’re not acting in the proper way. In the proper way toward God and giving ourselves to him in the proper way toward others. And so the idea here, in a kind of a very literal sense, in the wording in the original language, is to love unhypocritically.

You know, your Bible probably says something like mine. Mine says, let love be genuine, sort of turns it into a command. And there is a kind of a command sort of force. I love this text. It’s super interesting to me, and I hope I don’t bore you with some of the structure because we’re going to talk about it, but it’s super interesting. But there is a command type nature to this, and it’s a code of conduct. The first section, 9 through 13 is much like, you know, here are the principles you were to follow. And we’ll talk more about that here in just a minute. Your Bible probably says love sincerely or love genuinely, but the word there is the idea of not being a hypocrite without hypocrisy.

Right? And the word itself, as you’ve probably heard before, but it is very much true, comes from the theater, right? That’s someone who would put on different masks to play different parts. We’re not we’re not gonna mix metaphors here. You can play multiple parts in a play. I understand that. And so they would have a mask and play one part, and then they might come out later and be a different part. It’s like your love should not be that way. You should not be one person one time and be a different person another time. Right? You shouldn’t be one person on Sunday morning or on Wednesdays when you’re with this group and then be a different kind of person, a different character at work or at school or wherever you might find yourself.

That’s not the way a Christian lives. That’s what Paul’s saying here. Love is unhypocritical. That’s the way it’s supposed to work. You’re supposed to be who you are, and who you are is supposed to be someone who is offered body and mind and service to the Lord. That’s verses one and two. That’s who we are to be, and we are not to change. Not to be one thing at one time and another thing at another. So love is to be unhypocritical. Now, this is a main concept. This is the main point here, but it’s actually combined here with a couple sub points which are quite interesting. This is the nature of what unhypocritical love looks like. You abhor what is evil and you hold fast to what is good.

This is what we’re going to see here. This is sort of like a no nonsense approach to discipleship, to being a saint. If you want to love unhypocritically, this seems strange. That’s not the way we would typically define love in our culture. And we might even struggle with some of this that Paul’s saying here. Like, what if I what if I really don’t like somebody and I, but I have to act. I have to act like I care about them, or I have to do things that I guess we would call loving. Isn’t that hypocritical? N. G. Wright makes a statement who’s an expert on the Apostle Paul. He says, for Paul, love is more about what people do than how they feel. And we are very caught up in our feelings in our culture, right?

We want to be authentic, and some of this is very good. I think it’s important to be authentic, and I just talked about that to some degree. You should be authentically good according to the will of God. That’s when authenticity is good. When you’re authentically, when your authenticity is bad, when it is like the world, that’s not good. So be being authentic and being evil is bad. So our culture being caught up with this idea of being real and genuine and then they’re wicked. That’s not what we want. Right? Being authentic and real and genuine and loving in an unhypocritical way is good. That’s what is good. And it should be done according to the will of God. So this is why we got to connect all these verses together here.

Loving properly is not about discovering the things that I really like or feel good to me or any of that sort of thing. That’s self-will. He’s already explained the nature of what this looks like in verses one and two. And so loving properly means we’ve given ourselves to God and we’re going to love according to God’s will, and that we are continually transforming ourselves by the renewing of our mind to do things his way. Which sometimes means in the process, I do things that I don’t really like or think I’m gonna like. Maybe it’s not what I want to do, but I know it’s the right thing to do. And in that process, here’s what I’m doing. I’m testing and I’m using discernment and figuring out what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

So, bottom line, it’s not about what I want, it’s about what he wants. And learning that and figuring that out and then living accordingly. And this is how Paul is working through this text, right? If we do this, if we give ourselves to him, body and mind, there’s gonna be plenty of times we discover that our own self-will is not aligning. It’s not right. Have you ever been there before? You know, like there’s some activity that’s gonna happen. You’re gonna go visit somebody who needs some help, or you’re gonna go work in somebody’s yard, or whatever the thing is, right? I mean, I remember this as a kid, oh, we gotta go do this, you know. Or maybe even as an adult, we felt that way, right?

If we’re honest. But you have you ever had this experience where you kind of don’t really want to do it? But then as you get there and you begin working through the process, and you already knew it was the right thing anyway, but then you begin to realize this is really good. This is exactly where I needed to be. This is exactly what I needed to do. Right? We’re being shaped and we’re being transformed according to the will of God. That we’re testing and using discernment, and we are learning to live in a way that’s pleasing to the Lord. That’s that’s all part of this process. And if we are real and authentic, we can admit that reality that there’s times that it doesn’t, it’s not what we necessarily want to do, but we have to learn and we have to understand along the way that my own self will and the desires that I have sometimes are not the right thing.

2. Abhor What Is Evil, Hold Fast to What Is Good

And what is the right thing is God’s will, and I need to love in the way that God wants me to love. Now, this is where it’s hard. You have to abhor what is evil and hold fast to is good. That doesn’t sound hard, but what if somebody in your family is doing things that are evil? What if a friend is doing something that’s evil? And I don’t mean necessarily here they’re out murdering people or things like that, but we look and we realize this is not right. Do we give them a pass? Do we overlook it and not say anything about it? Or maybe on the other side of that, right? Holding fast to good. Someone that we don’t necessarily jive with, or they’re not particularly fond of, but they’re doing some good things.

Do we give them credit for what they’re doing, or do we put a negative spin? Because they’re not maybe in my circle. They don’t do things the way that I would do it. Do we maybe see how this sort of mentality can find its way? This is how the world operates. Right? We look at something and just look at around us right now. I mean, this is present in the political world, it’s it’s present in dominant religious culture as well. You know, somebody that’s doing something good, we can find a way to negatively spin that. That’s not Romans 12 9. Paul wants us to act in a way that is genuine and sincere, unhypocritical. When something is good, call it good. When something is evil, say it’s evil.

And don’t be biased by political affiliation or religious affiliation. Don’t be showing special treatment to family or friends or people with status. James talks about that in James 2. Don’t be unfairly critical and prejudiced toward those who are not within your group or with little standing. The biblical concept here is what is often called boldness in scripture. The apostles are talked about as having boldness. John the Baptist is an example of someone with boldness, right? He didn’t care that Herod had power. He said what was true and what was right. And it cost him his life. That’s boldness. That’s speaking what is true, that’s speaking what is right, no matter the consequences. This is a sort of unhypocritical type of love that Paul is calling us toward.

3. Principles All Christians Should Follow

It’s not one that’s biased and prejudiced, one that causes me to say, well, I kind of like that person, so I won’t say anything, or I don’t like them, so I’m going to point out all the problems they have. No, it’s very simple. Abhor what is evil. Cling or hold fast to what is good. Now, this is the part that I love. You may not love it, but I think it’s super cool. Now, an English translation, you don’t really see this. The tree, the English translation is totally fine. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s not really missing anything. But I just want to point out sort of a structural thing that I find interesting that maybe will help us conceptualize what’s going on here. Essentially, your English translations sort of reverse the order of how this appears, which is very common, happens all the time.

So again, it’s not really a problem. But I want you to see the structure of what Paul’s doing here. It reminds me a lot of like the sort of wall art I would see in some of your houses. You know? And going on the wall, it has this sort of pattern that’s followed, and it’s lots of really good ideas. And the reason I point this out is because this is the nature of what Paul’s doing. It’s like a code. Or these are principles or rules, right? These are principles that all Christians should follow. This is the way you should live life. And so that’s why we hang stuff like this on our walls. Right? We walk in and we see this thing, and this is something that’s good for everyone.

You know, we don’t typically hang things on our walls that say, if you’re a prophet, prophesy in proportion to your faith. I mean, that’s just not necessarily applicable to everyone. But this is. We can put this whole text, we can put it on a pillow or on a frame and put it on the wall, and it’s great for everyone. And that’s sort of the whole point here. It’s this code of conduct. And it has a poetic type of structure. Now, the whole thing does, including love without hypocrisy and these two things. There’s aspects of this that are also sort of poetic that I won’t get into. But the section that is blue, kind of the blue and then the black next to it, these are dative structure, which is an indirect object, followed by participle phrases.

And all of them are this way except for like one or two, and there’s reasons for that again I won’t go into. But this is the nature of how this works. It’s like an ongoing action, right? So and so it’s like in a manner of or by means of this item, or in the realm of or the sphere of, so there’s a little bit difference in somehow these work. So, like, in respect to honor, lead by honor or outdo one another. Right? So if we’re gonna talk about honor, outdo each other in it. Okay. When it comes to brotherly love, you should be devoted. Be devoted to one another. In the realm of the spirit, be enthusiastic. Be enthusiastic about spiritual things, about things that relate to the kingdom.

Or I think you can kind of combine that with in the Lord, in the sphere of the Lord, be serving, be someone who’s serving. Right? It doesn’t matter if you serve at the PTA or in some sports organization. I mean, those are great, and you can do that. But in the sphere of the Lord, be a servant. This is the idea. This is for everyone. So it’s not a choice. This is set up like a command structure. This is what you are to do. These are rules for people who are Christians. Right? This is the nature of how this sort of structure works. And it’s found in other places inside scripture and outside scripture. Peter does some similar things in how he structures things, but also this kind of code structure is found outside of Scripture too.

It’s just this is the way you do it. Right? And so it’s it’s giving the sphere or it’s giving the means by which you do it, followed by the action. So there’s this list of things here, right? That we are to be honorable and we’re to be focused on things that have to do with the spirit and serving the Lord. We are to rejoice in hope, is the way it’s said in your Bible. But in the sphere of hope, there is rejoicing. What does that mean? I think it’s helpful sometimes to slow down and think about what some of these phrases are talking about. You know, there’s not always rejoicing or joy found in the moment itself. You experience the death of a loved one, or you go through some difficulty or some trial or a sickness or financial loss or whatever.

You don’t say, I’m so joyful about that. That’s that’s not how this works. But you can rejoice and hope in the sphere of hope. And the sphere of hope is something that looks to the future. It looks at what’s happening now and says, Yeah, this is bad. I mean, this is this world, this life, and bad things happen here, things that are negative, things that hurt, things that cause sorrow and grieving and suffering. But when we rejoice in hope, we’re looking to the future and wondering what is on the horizon. What is God going to do next? And we can rejoice in that. And so we can understand the difficulties of the present, but someone who is a Christian, a saint, a disciple of Jesus Christ, does not live without the rejoicing and hope of what is to come.

That’s one aspect of who we are that sets us apart completely from those who are not in Christ. That we can rejoice in hope. And Paul has a lot to say about that, even within the book of Romans. Connected with that, in distress, we endure. So in affliction or in trial, all those are great translations of that word. In that situation, when things are difficult, we are the kind of people who persevere or who endure. Now, Paul’s saying this to people who are in pretty difficult environment. All of this text is kind of a unitive rhetoric. He’s trying to work to get Jews and Gentiles together. Part of that is because the Jews were kicked out of Rome. And now some of them are starting to come back.

This is not a great environment. This is a pretty toxic culture that these Christians live in. And he’s wanting to make sure they are living it together, that they’re unified in the midst of this. And that’s part of this message. Hey, in distress, when things are bad, and you know what that’s like, because you’ve been facing that, and now you, a Jew and Gentile, have to come together and do this together and love each other and live in harmony, which we’ll talk about in the next section. But in distress, you persevere. In trials, you rejoice in hope, and you can do this together as a group. Be enthusiastic, be eager about the things of the Lord. Be someone who’s serving. And so these principles are just general ideas, right?

They’re reminders. When it comes to what’s happening around us, I look to honor you, not myself. Right? That’s what I should be doing. That’s the message here. When I walk in your house and I see this sign, it’s a reminder. It’s not about me, it’s about the other people. Because as a Christian, this is how we operate. I’m seeking to honor the people who are around me. I am seeking to contribute, right? To the needs of the saints. People who are in need, people who are going through difficulty. I’m the sort of person I want to have fellowship with them. I want to partner with them. That’s the idea of contributing there. It’s a form of the word koinonia, right? It’s we do this together.

That’s part of what Paul’s trying to do. He’s trying to establish a commonality between these people and see themselves as having lives that intersect and that work together. When it comes to eagerness or diligence, or as it’s said here, zeal, don’t hesitate. You have something you want to do, and it’s a good thing to do it. Don’t hesitate. Someone needs help and you realize it, go help them. If there’s something that needs to happen, don’t hesitate to do it. Go get on it and do it. Now here’s another thing about these lists that’s interesting. You know, when we look at a list like this, or these general principles, the idea is for me to follow it. The temptation is for me to judge other people based on it.

And instead of being zealous and not hesitating myself, saying, well, something needs to happen. Somebody should be doing that. Right? Rather than me looking toward the idea of brotherly love and devotion, saying, I wish people would be more devoted to me and help me out more. Right? See, lists don’t work well that way. I mean, when that’s the attitude we have, and we come to this text and we’re trying to monitor the things that other people are doing and trying to hold other people to this list. That’s not the sort of thing that leads to living in harmony, right? Which is where Paul’s heading here in the text. These are principles for me as an individual to follow myself. Now, I’m not saying there’s never a time where we can’t ever point some of these things out, right?

Love unhypocritically, abhor evil, hold fast to good. And when someone’s doing some things, even specifically, things that Paul says not to do in this text, there may be times where we have to point some of that out just by nature of being unhypocritical in our love, speaking the truth in love. But my main motivation, my primary focus is this thing on the wall or on the pillow or whatever it is, it’s a message to me about how I need to live. And if I can do that, and if everyone else can do that, and our focus is on ourselves, imagine the sort of world we would live in. I mean, it’s not the world we see around us where people don’t care about these kinds of things, but imagine the difference that we can make as God’s people if each of us were focused on doing this as self.

I’m the kind of person I’m going to be devoted to my brethren. Right? Not to what I want and to my concerns and to my consideration, but I’m going to be devoted to my brethren, and I’m going to outdo them. I’m going to lead in honor. I’m going to hold them up. Right? And I’m going to serve the Lord in everything I can do in every way possible. My mind is going to be on the things of the kingdom and be enthusiastic about that. And when things are difficult, I’m going to be the kind of person who endures. And I’m going to call others to come along with me in that. I mean, what if this was what it looked like? That’s the idea of what God wants for the church.

4. Harmony Comes When People Live These Principles

For his people. That we are working together toward this ideal. And to the extent that we do that, then we will live in harmony. So we have the principles in 9 through 13. These are kind of the basic ideas. This is the way you should live. But Paul then follows that up with some more specific concepts. Like this is the way it works in the real world. And harmony comes when people live these principles. So he doesn’t want to leave this without giving some examples of what this is going to look like in their real life. Right, day to day. And he’s going to connect this, which I haven’t mentioned yet, but he’s going to connect this to the teachings of Jesus himself, and he’s going to cite Old Testament passages for backup.

This is the way God’s people live. This is the sort of thing Jesus has called us to. Right? And he starts right with this beginning phrase bless those who persecute you. Does that define the way our culture is? No, I mean, you disagree with somebody over a very simple thing in our culture. They get super upset. They’ll start calling you names. I mean, all kinds of problems. This is the way the world works, right? We have been conditioned to divide. And what Paul wants is to bring people together. And more so, he actually wants us to live like Christ and be like our Father who is in heaven. And this thought, this idea actually comes right from the Sermon on the Mount itself. Bless those who persecute you.

Bless and do not curse. Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5, 44. Jesus is saying, be like the Father. People who speak ill of you, who persecute you, who do all manner of evil towards you. He talks about this in the beginning in the Beatitudes as well. Blessed are you, your reward is great in heaven, right? You’re rejoicing in hope. The moment may not be great, but there’s something better on the horizon. And so bless, pray. I didn’t talk about this one yet, but it’s actually there on the list. When it comes to praying, be persistent. That’s what Paul says toward the end of that section in 9 through 13.

And now he’s saying, pray or bless those who persecute you. You pray for them. Right? This is the way you use some of these principles that he’s listed earlier in the text. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. This is by its very nature external. Right? I mean, this is not my rejoicing. It’s not necessarily my weeping directly. But I’m so connected to my brethren, and I’m so devoted to them that when they rejoice, I rejoice. And when they weep, I weep. And actually, I think this can extend even beyond Christian fellowship and Christian brethren, just to fellow man, that when someone’s rejoicing, we rejoice with them over things that are good. And we weep with them over the things that are difficult and hard.

That we have this connection with them as humans, and maybe even more so as brothers and sisters in Christ, that we rejoice and we weep in the right opportunities. But this means being aware, looking outside my own desires and my own thoughts, looking to the needs of others. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Outdo one another in honor, in other words.

In the Greco-Roman world, nobody’s concerned with humility. Now, it’s sort of a big deal in our world, even though there’s a lot of problems in our world. Everyone still thinks humility is kind of a good thing. Right? We don’t we don’t like the athletes to talk about themselves in the third person and all this sort of stuff. Like they’re all about themselves, right? We kind of notice that. A lot of this is coming from Christian foundation. But in the Greco Roman world, pride was a good thing. Recognizing your status, that you held a certain status above others, and you would not associate with someone in lower status. The things that Paul is saying here, particularly to the Gentiles, you’re not haughty, you don’t think higher of yourself than you ought to think.

5. Give Thought to Do What Is Honorable

There’s an equality that’s coming from this that allows people to live in harmony. Give thought to do what is honorable. This idea of thought is interesting. It’s kind of forethought, right? Or thinking before. I would like to spend a lot of time talking about this because I think it’s something important in our culture, but I’m just going to spend a couple of minutes. We live in a culture that kind of is reactive. We can see this in things like social media, right? Where people are taking videos, things that we react quickly to stuff. There’s not much thought given to the situation. And I really think at this point, young and old alike, we need to think about forethought to what’s happening. Give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

Have I thought this through before I act or before I speak? Right? Because in honor, Paul says, we’re to outdo one another. So have I thought about what I’m doing? Have I thought about what I’m going to say? Have I thought about the actions that I’m about to take? Are they actually being done in honor? And Paul says very specifically here that takes thinking before. Now, some of you, if you grew up like I did, which I know many of you did, you had parents who kind of guided you through some of these decisions, right? Like, what are you going to do if you get in this situation? Right? We’re going to think this through beforehand. You end up at someone’s house and there’s things going on there that shouldn’t be happening there.

What are you going to do in that scenario? Right? You’ve thought before about how this is going to work. This is the concept here. Think beforehand about things that are honorable. Not necessarily how to make people laugh, what’s funny, or what makes you look smart, or what might get you more friends, or various other things that in and of themselves may not be bad, but give forethought to being honorable. I’m going to pick on the young men for just a moment. We really like to be funny, don’t we? We like to make people laugh, whether it’s our peers or whether it’s girls. But let me encourage you to give thought to what’s honorable and what you say. Now, of course, that extends upward, not just to the young people.

Because older men, we like to be funny too, don’t we? We like to make people laugh and we like to get the attention. And sometimes that’s totally fine. But I just want us to see what Paul’s saying here about giving forethought, thinking beforehand about the things that are actually honorable in what we do and what we say. Leave it to the wrath of God.

6. Overcome Evil with Good

If I’m serving the Lord, right? When it says in the Lord, in the sphere of the Lord, serving. If I’m serving the Lord, I’m going to do things the Lord’s way. And in our culture, we’re really caught up in vengeance, right? Have you seen those videos? You kind of like they’re like karma, you know, somebody does something and they kind of get what they deserve and all that. That’s that’s what our culture is like. And we sort of like that, like that person didn’t treat somebody right, and then something bad happens to them. Sometimes that just happens. And sometimes it’s a result of their own actions. Just the way it is. But what Paul is saying here is don’t be trying to take vengeance into your own hands.

Vengeance is mine, I’ll repay, and the sphere of the Lord serve. Don’t be looking for your own glory. Don’t look to take vengeance on somebody. And in some ways it’s sort of fun, right? It’s like, oh man, I would love to get that person back for what they did, but then consider. Who feels that way about me? Who might, if they weren’t acting in the way of Jesus Christ and the will of the Father, might want to take vengeance on me and something I’ve done to them. And then the perspective is quite different. We don’t want that. And that’s why if we will live by the standards of Jesus Christ, we’ll live by these principles and their applications, it would make things so much better. Rather than trying to take vengeance and get even and get somebody back without thought of what that would look like if someone did that to me, consider the reality that we need to be like Jesus Christ.

The best way to get even is to show the kind of mercy that God has shown me. To be gracious in the way that God has been gracious to me, that even while I was a sinner, Christ died for the ungodly, even when I didn’t deserve it at all. He was patient and loving and merciful. If we really want to get even, that’s the direction we’ll go. Paul says, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he’s thirsty, give him a drink, because that’s the right thing to do. That’s love that is unhypocritical. Not because it makes us feel good necessarily, but it’s because it’s the right thing. It’s abhorring what is evil and it is holding fast to what is good. And then he finishes by saying, overcome evil with good.

All of this is tied to the words of Jesus in places like the Sermon on the Mount and also things like Proverbs 25, where he actually directly cites this idea of feeding your enemy and giving him a drink. This is not stuff that Paul’s just making up. He’s actually taking this from inspired text and from the mouth of Jesus Himself. And so we don’t overcome evil with evil. The ends don’t justify the means. We can’t slander and take vengeance and mock and shame and act the way that the world acts and thinks that good results are ultimately going to come from that. We are to overcome evil with good and in so doing become like our Father who is in heaven. Remember that text I mentioned earlier in chapter 11 and verse 32.

As Paul is bringing his argument to a conclusion about the gospel and about faith in Jesus Christ, he’s trying to explain the nature of Jew and Gentile relationship to God, how there’s disobedience, and God’s going to ultimately save everyone who wants to come to him by his means and by his methods, even if it doesn’t completely make sense to us. In verse 32, it says, For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

Conclusion

Sin, he’s not ignoring it. He’s recognizing, he’s seeing it for what it is. He’s looking at the disobedience, and he says, I’ve got a plan, I’m going to show mercy. And by so doing, he’s going to overcome evil, and ultimately the whole world will be renewed. Romans chapter 8. Everything will be made right again because of God’s plan of mercy and love. And so this morning, what I want us to consider is if we’re going to give our whole selves to Jesus Christ, if we’re going to be a sacrifice that’s living and holy and acceptable. If we’re going to be transformed and we’re going to renew our mind, if we’re going to find the things that we can do and use them in service to Jesus Christ and his kingdom, we need to do it with the right attitude.

And do it in the way that he’s called us to do it. Loving in an unhypocritical way. Being attached to the things that are good and staying away from the things that are evil, being connected to others who want to do the same, not looking at ourselves better than anyone else, that bringing equality between all of God’s people and having fellowship together in the endeavor to overcome evil with good. This is Paul’s appeal to us. It’s the appeal to them, it still fits today that this is the nature of how God’s people should live. Now we can’t even go into the depths of how good this would actually be. Luke does a little bit of that in the book of Acts, where he talks about language about the ideal community, and he gives those summaries about how good all of this is.

This would make society so great if we would live this way. And to the extent that we do, you see how that works. Even people in the world who aren’t following Christ sometimes follow these principles, and so many good things happen because of that. So why not go all the way? Why not give our lives to Jesus Christ in fullness? And maybe you haven’t done that this morning. We would love to help you do that. Paul says that you give yourself to him, that you die with him, you’re buried with him in a baptism like his death, and you’re resurrected in newness of life. And we are ready to help you do that. We have water ready this morning. If you want to give yourself to him and start that process, why don’t you come now as we stand and we sing together?