A Believer’s Attitude Toward Evil – Part Two

July 30, 2011

Eddie Evil, Forgiveness, Persecution, Perspective, Revenge Leave a comment

This is the second installment on this topic adapted from “The Cross of Christ,” by John R. W. Stott

Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. (Romans 12:9 NIV)

Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. (Romans 12:17 ESV)

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21 NIV)

For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good…They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. (Romans 13:4 NIV)

 

It appears that these verses clearly define what our Christian attitude to evil should be:

1) Evil is to be hated.  God hates evil because his love is holy love;  we must hate it too.

2) Evil is not to be repaid. Revenge and retaliation are absolutely forbidden to the people of God.  Instead we are to do what is right.

3) Evil is to be overcome.  Hating evil is one thing; refusing to repay it is still another.  It is still better to overcome/conquer it.  A few verses prior to verse 21, namely verse 14, Paul wrote “Bless those who persecute you.”  In verse 20 he writes, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him.”  Clear echoes of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). This is how evil is conquered.  The supreme example of this is the cross!

4) Evil is to be punished.  Stott points out if we stop with the first three we will be very much out of balance.  In these passages and their context we are instructed to not avenge ourselves, God will do that.  We are told to NOT repay anyone evil for evil; God will repay.  Vengeance and retaliation is God’s prerogative, not ours.

How does God punish evil?   …next time.

A Market for Myth

July 23, 2010

Eddie Forgiveness, God's Word, Guidance, Last Days, Truth Leave a comment

[16] All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [17] that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
[4:1] I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: [2] preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. [3] For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, [4] and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Timothy 3:16-4:4 ESV)

Who is God’s messenger in your church?  Nearly every response will likely be “my preacher” or “my pastor.” Which is the correct response!  What does he think of the Bible?  Is it THE source of his messages from God?  Does he turn to it when offering counsel?  Does he use it when he teaches?  Is he a student of the Word?  If the answer to these questions is yes, thenbased on 1 Timothy 3:17 he is competent and equipped for every good work.
Consider the charge in 4:1-4:  Paul’s charge to Timothy and every messenger of God is to preach the word and be always ready.  Additionally he is charged to reprove, rebuke, and exhort — all with complete patience and teaching.
Paul told Timothy that the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but will look to teachers (and preachers) to satisfy their own desires (what they want to hear).  So this note of prophecy is that these same people will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
Over the last century we have seen the progression of this wandering off mentioned in verse 4. One can generate a large crowd of people with a message that is riddled with myth.  There are
the seekers of a message that will tickle their ears.  So we must be aware of the reality that a man or woman who can pack out large civic centers are not necessarily presenting a message of truth.  There is a market for myth today.  It was prophesied and we are seeing it fulfilled in our lifetime.
God’s messenger is charged to present the truth of the message which will include a message about sin (reprove and rebuke) as well as more positive messages of promise, hope and comfort (exhorting).
In our self-esteemed-bloated society, we want to avoid the discussion of sin.  Yet, friend, one cannot…I repeat…cannot come to God without dealing with the question of sin in one’s life.  It was the very reason Christ came to die!
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. (1 John 1:9)

Meditating on God’s Wonderful Works

June 26, 2010

Eddie Forgiveness, Meditational Moments, Perspective, Praise & Thankfulness, Sins, Worship Leave a comment

4 One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts.5 They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. (Psalm 145)

(vv. 4-5) - How important it is to share with our children how the Lord has worked in our lives even while we were growing up.  (See vs. 12; Isa. 38:19; Deut. 11:18-21).  See that child with wide eyes of wonder hearing the stories of God’s faithfulness in answered prayer, deliverance from troubles, stumping the doctors, financial needs being met, etc.

Meditate/meditation occurs 19 times in Psalms.  I have been blessed so many times as I take a passage and turn it over in my mind (with no external distractions) and consider its application in my life.  It becomes a means for the Spirit to speak to my heart. In our current passage, one example of meditation is “on the glorious splendor of your majesty” (v. 5).

The example I think of when I consider the glorious splendor of God’s majesty is what Isaiah (Isa. 6:1-6) and what John (Rev.4).  Words cannot describe the full splendor of it all.  Yet it is helpful for us to try.

The Psalmist also meditated continually on God’s wondrous works.  These could be in general through nature, history or humanity.  They could also be in his own personal life.  Just remembering and thinking back over how God has worked in our lives.  How he worked in and through a particular event in history or in His creation.

So, what are the benefits of this meditation in our lives?  First, it should spawn the same response as it did Isaiah.   “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”  It is good to see my sinfulness; my helplessness and the condition of my culture!  Secondly, I recognize the One who is there and delights to help me. To Him I turn for forgiveness and deliverance.  When I meditate on His majesty and His works, my God becomes larger than any problem I have in my life!

Purge Me with Hyssop!

February 19, 2009

Eddie Cleasing from Guilt, Forgiveness Leave a comment

 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.   Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.  Ps 51:6-7 (ESV)

hyssop

Hyssop Plant in Israel

As David is coming to the point as Isaiah did in Isaiah 6, he realizes that purging comes from God’s altar.  He begins by acknowledging that God desires truth beginning deep down.  In the context of David’s heinous sins,  He has revealed the truth in his confession.  Some never come to this point.  They blame others or their circumstances or their upbringing.  I don’t think, based on what is being said here, that purging can begin until truth finds residence deep down in one’s heart.  Only then can one expect to be purged (purified).  Hyssop was used in the OT in connection with purification.  “Purge me with hyssop” = “Purify me.”

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