A Christ-Like Relationship to Personal Attacks and Injustice

This final message is the most challenging, but the one that has the potential to bring the greatest breakthrough. And the fourth and final relationship is a Christlike relationship to personal attacks and injustice. Great marriages are characterized by couples who refuse to repay evil for evil, within or outside their relationship. In case you missed that, great marriages are characterized by couples who refuse to repay evil for evil, within or outside their relationship.

I mean, all the things that we have talked about, right? “He did this? Well, I’ll do that.” “Well, since she did this, I’ll do that.” And it can come out in sarcasm, it can be passive-aggressive, it can be withholding affection, it can be being late on purpose.

Some of us know how to press our mate’s buttons. And we have been wounded so we come around the side and we have jabs and then we say, “Oh, I was just kidding.” Right? We have all kind of ways to repay evil for evil. And when we do it outside our relationship, it creates havoc in our soul, so that destroys our marriage.

Translation: Every couple wounds one another and injustice, betrayal, and personal attacks will happen to all of us from within and outside the church. If these haven’t happened to you, don’t hold your breath; they are coming. It’s a fallen world. You will be betrayed. You will experience injustice. And you will receive wounds from people that you love and the ones that hurt you the most are the people that are closest to you.

No one can hurt you like your kids can hurt you, and no one can hurt you the way your mate can hurt you. Your greatest joys and your greatest pains will be with the people that you love the most.

The principle is we must extend the mercy and the forgiveness to others that Jesus has extended to us. Colossians 3, after talking about our new life in Christ, he says, “And so, as those who are chosen, holy and dearly loved by God,” here’s an action, we are commanded, “put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving each other just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. And beyond all these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed we are called into one body. And be thankful. And let the Word of God richly dwell within you, with all wisdom, admonishing and teaching one another, giving thanks through Him to the Father. And in whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to the Father.” We must extend the mercy and the forgiveness to others that Jesus has extended to us.

Well, how do you develop a Christlike relationship to personal attacks and injustice? I’m going to give you three ways. Number one, we need to know Jesus’ teaching. Matthew chapter 5, verses 43 to 48. Jesus is speaking to His followers. And they have been told: This is how life works. And so, He says, “You have heard it said,” this is how life works, basically, “but I say to you.”

“You have heard it said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Could you underline love your enemies and then underline pray for those who persecute you?

And then there’s a purpose clause – why? “That you may be children of your Father in heaven.” It would mean you have family likeness. To be a son of or to be like your heavenly Father. It’s: This is how you treat your enemies. And then he says, “Well, what is your Father like?” “He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even tax collectors doing that? And if you greet your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even the pagans do that? Be perfect,” and circle the word perfect. The Greek word is teleos. The idea is be perfect. In other words, be mature or be exactly how you are designed and created to be. “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

And so, the question is: How would obeying Jesus’ teaching about our enemies change your response to your mate when their words or actions wound you? That’s loaded, isn’t it? This wasn’t hypothetical. I mean, Nero would take the Christians and he would bind them, and then he would tar them, and then he would light them. And for his cocktail parties, they would provide the light on the patio.

Peter would later write, “Why are you surprised at the fiery trial that you’re undergoing, as though something strange is happening?” He would write to them, he says, “If you suffer for doing what is evil, you know, you’re probably going to get the consequences. But when you suffer for doing what is good, this finds favor with God.”

When I respond in a counterintuitive way, the way Jesus did and the way Stephen did – they weren’t doormats. It was out of their strength, not their weakness. “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.” It’s a power.

And I find at the very personal, practical level, it can be a real challenge when your mate wounds you. It can be a comment, it can be a behavior. Now, by the way, forgiveness doesn’t mean you don’t deal with the issue. Forgiveness doesn’t mean that you kiss and make up and everything is okay in twenty-four hours.

Forgiveness is you take away the right to pay back. The root word is to release. You release them from: You owe this because this is what you did to me and this is how I’m going to pay you back. And you say, “God, this is – I’m going to give them what You have given to me.”

The second way that we learn to have a Christlike relationship to personal attacks is that we have to practice overcoming evil. And in Romans chapter 12, he begins at verse 14 through 21 speaking to the fifth group that he addresses. After eleven chapters of grace, verse 1, this is the normal response of a believer in his relationship with God. You offer your body as a living sacrifice. You’re surrendered to Him. The normal response to the world system with all its temptations, energized by the enemy, is that you are living separate from the world’s values.

The normal response to your relationship with yourself is you have a sober self-assessment, an accurate view, you discover where you fit in the body of Christ, and you exercise your gifts to serve others. And then in verses 9 through 13, the normal response of a Christian toward other believers is to radically, sacrificially serve one another. Then in verse 14, he shifts and says, “Well, how do you respond to the evil, especially evil people, coming at you?”

And by the way, he’s saying, “This is normal Christianity.” “Bless those who persecute; bless and curse not.” By the way, the word curse means to desire for someone to be lost eternally. So, this isn’t like someone said something mildly offensive. And bless is the desire for them to not only be saved, but to experience God’s favor. Do you realize how radical this is? Can you imagine being in the first century and your whole life you have been taught, “Love your neighbor; hate your enemy.” And then this rabbi comes and starts, you know, like, really?

And then He lives it out. And because He talks about: There’s a way of life that you see in the world and I’m bringing – the kingdom is here – and I’m the King. And there’s a kingdom ethic and there’s now a set of values in the way that doesn’t make any sense except when you do it, I show up. And the peace and the security and the power that the world is looking for, you experience when you do it My way. And so, when you die you find your life. When you give, you receive. You’re the change-agents of the world.

And then He says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.” In context, He is still talking about how you treat people who are persecuting you or who are evil.

Now, I want to be really clear here. There are certain situations where you need to have boundaries. I have taught this before and had people say, “Well, you know, gosh, my father sexually abused me.” Or, “I have been in physical harm.” Or – we have to bless people, but that doesn’t mean we have to have contact.

And so, there’s always a stance for truth, but He’s talking about personal relationship here. There is a time to fight and there’s a time for peace. But He’s talking about, in personal relationship, you bless those who persecute you and the way you do it is – can you think of someone that maybe hurt you or wounded you and how do you feel like when they get a raise or they get promoted? I mean, down deep. Right?

This is so unfair. Because you know how they treat people and you know all this and you know all that and, yet, they got that. Or – right?

I could tell you multiple stories and I will tell one. A fellow who I know well. And he went through a really ugly, ugly divorce. They weren’t Christians. A lot of bad stuff. And his wife for the next twenty-five years, her goal was to make life miserable. And, I mean, alienate from the kids and hostility and anger and just poured it out.

And shortly after the divorce, he became a Christian. A few years later he married a very godly woman and they began to really walk with God in a powerful way. And out of her bitterness and her soul, she had alienated other people. He ended up becoming pretty wealthy and gave her thousands and thousands and tens of thousands of dollars. And even gave her a house was part of settlements. And she squandered it all and came to a place where, as she was aging, she had nothing.

And he and his wife bought a home for his ex-wife after twenty-five years of those treatments. And his daughters watched how he treated her. And then he set up a fund through one of the daughters so that she couldn’t squander it all, so she would be able to live the rest of her days. And he said, “It was my wife as we prayed who really encouraged us to do that.”

See, he released her. He said, about the first couple years it was just like, you know, I mean, it was stuff like, “Don’t you touch the key to the house that you just gave me.” I mean, it was just so ugly. And he said, “You know, after about three years,” he said, “we actually sat down and we had a Thanksgiving meal, slightly awkward, but this embittered woman sat with our daughters, myself, my wife and we had a civil conversation and I watched a heart that was rock hard begin to open up.”

But then he gives some safeguards. “Be of the same mind toward another.” The idea is when you’re doing this, don’t take this position: This guy, this gal is actually a jerk and aren’t I a wonderful Christian doing this?” In fact, in case you didn’t get it, he says, “Don’t be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly.”

See, you don’t do this out of, you know, right? It’s called being self-righteous. “Do not be wise in your own estimation.” Don’t think, like, Well, I’ve got it all down and this…right? And then the second major command, that’s verses 14 to 16. Verse 17, you might underline the first word, “Never,” well, like, how often is that? What’s the Greek word for never? Never. “Never pay back evil for evil to anyone.” And I might add, even to the one we are married to.

“Respect what is right in the sight of all men,” and this is one of the keys, especially in our marital relationships. The word, this translation is “respect.” The word is consider. Take into account. It’s sort of a stepping back and you might write this down, this has helped me. Everybody behaves in a way that makes sense to them. When someone does evil, in their mind, this makes sense to them. “This is how I get ahead; this makes sense to me.” The real step in having your heart where you can be much more like Jesus, it’s empathy.

And you don’t want to have any because you have been wounded. And what you want to do is protect and then bash them. And so, when he says, “Respect what is right in the sight of all men,” it’s this ability to disengage from the emotion and the wound and especially if it’s your mate, “and consider,” in other words, take into account. It’s a word like an accountant looking at all the numbers and wondering how the numbers all fit together. It’s kind of examining things and realizing: He just said this or he wounded me again or there was this action.

And not excusing any of it, but it’s like stepping back and going, “I can see at least how maybe in view of her background or his background and the circumstance and the wounds they have, how this could have happened and how I received it.” You’re not saying it’s right, it doesn’t mean the wounds went away. I will tell you this, we had really, really big problems in our marriage, and yes, we needed Christian counseling. But it wasn’t until I heard my wife explain what it was like to grow up in her home. It wasn’t until I heard – I had seen her father – but I heard what she lived with.

It wasn’t until I heard the journey that she had been on and it was like I was so focused on what she wasn’t giving me, so focused on her lack of response, I was so focused on being frustrated and hurt and protecting myself and attacking her. When I just took the moment, I remember in the counselor’s office thinking, Oh my gosh. It’s amazing that she is even a nice person, let alone this loving person.

And you know what? It didn’t change some things in our marriage I didn’t like and she needed to change and I needed to change. But it was the first time I had empathy. It was the first time I considered we were apart for a long time, there is a lot of temptation, there is a lot of struggles, there is…and he or she absolutely blew it and violated this, but there’s some sense of consider how that person got there.

It’s so important to get a grip on kind of where our mate has been and what they have been through, not to excuse behavior, but to understand it.
“Bless those who persecute; bless and curse not.” By the way, the word curse means to desire for someone to be lost eternally. And bless is the desire for them to not only be saved, but to experience God’s favor. Do you realize how radical this is? Can you imagine being in the first century and your whole life you have been taught, “Love your neighbor; hate your enemy.” And then this rabbi comes and starts, you know, like, really?

And then He says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.” In context, He is still talking about how you treat people who are persecuting you or who are evil.

I’ve got stories from here down my elbow of people who have taken this passage that literally and acted in those ways and seen the most dramatic breakthroughs, because it’s how the kingdom works.

And then the second major command, that’s verses 14 to 16. Verse 17, you might underline the first word, “Never, never pay back evil for evil to anyone.” And I might add, even to the one we are married to.

“Respect what is right in the sight of all men,” and this is one of the keys, especially in our marital relationships. The word, this translation is “respect.” The word is consider. Take into account. It’s sort of a stepping back and you might write this down, this has helped me. Everybody behaves in a way that makes sense to them. It’s kind of examining things and realizing: He just said this or he wounded me again or there was this action.

And not excusing any of it, but it’s like stepping back and going, “I can see at least how maybe in view of her background or his background and the circumstance and the wounds they have, how this could have happened and how I received it.”

“Never pay back evil for evil to anyone, respect what is right in the sight of all people.” The second “never” you might underline. “Never take your own revenge,” that’s paying back, “beloved, but” – why? “leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine.’” Basically, “That’s My job.” “‘I will repay,’ says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him.” What? “If he is thirsty, give him a drink.” Why? “For in doing so you will heap burning coals on his head.”

By the way, I know some of you are thinking, “Great! You know, it’s like a grenade right in their brain! Finally, we are getting someplace.” I’m going to explain what that means in just a minute.

And then the final command is: “Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.” And this is a practice.

I was a Christian about two and a half years, growing in Christ in college. We had a guy on our team who probably should have been playing Division I. We were a school that gave scholarships, but we were kind of below the Division I. And he had been through Vietnam. He had scars here and scars here. He had a vertical of about forty-four inches and he was six-seven, six-eight. I mean, Jerry, elbows over the rim. But he was also a drug dealer, he had spent some time in prison. And between the drugs and the war, had really messed up with his brain and his nervous system.

So, he’s on our team and Jerry, I don’t know his background, all I can tell you is he hated Christians. And so, he found out I was a Christian. And he was very smart, very articulate, and he was an amazing artist. And he came as the reformed drug addict. And so, Jerry’s joy was to mess with me and one day I was walking to my room, and the RA was across the hall. And the door was just open a little and everybody was smoking dope and back then it was illegal. And smoke is coming out.

And I just glance and Jerry glanced and I got to my room and when I got to my room, I felt a hand behind me. And I turned around and Jerry is about six-eight and he grabbed underneath my neck and he lifted me off the ground. And, see, if he was caught doing drugs, it was back to prison. And he brought me up here and he looked at me and he said, “you say anything to anyone, by God, I will kill you. And I have killed a lot of people already. One more wouldn’t matter.”

To say I was terrified, and I don’t know, maybe some of you have had this. I didn’t know the human heart could be so evil. I’m ashamed to say that. I had anger fantasies. I had rage inside my heart.

So, it’s not going well and there is a method to this story. But I’m, I can’t sleep at night and now I don’t know what it’s like when you really get full-blown ulcers but, I mean, it’s my stomach, my heart, it’s…and I’m scared. And I’m angry. And I can’t pray. And there was a leader of our, it was a campus ministry and I said, “What do I do?” He goes, “You really want help?” I said, “Yeah.” He said, “I’ll tell you how God will intervene and change all this.” I said, “Great.” You know what he did? He read Romans chapter 12, verses 14 to 21.

He said, “Chip, the only freedom is for you to bless him and don’t take your revenge. You don’t have to feel it. Second, you need to pray for him every day.” “Oh, I’ve been praying.” “Not that the earth would swallow him up. You need to pray that God would give him favor in basketball, that God would cause his art to go well, that God would bless his life.” I want to kill him. I don’t want to bless his life. He goes, “Chip, obedience has nothing to do with your emotions. Choose to do it.”

I share this story because some of you, what I just shared and all that stuff, in your brains you’re thinking, There is no way in…I’m going to do that with my wife or some people that hurt me. I’m not going there. And I’ll tell you what, I, you know, after practice everyone laid their stuff down, I would take Jerry’s stuff, I’d lay a towel there and I would put his stuff away.

Always on road trips, it was like I would get his bag before he could say anything and I would put it on the bus for him. “What in the…what are you doing?” He always called me Chee-up. And then at the meal we would always have a training table meal and it would be like, “Get me this, get me that, get me that.” Just always humiliating. And so, instead, it was like, “Hey, Jerry, can I get you…?

I did it for a month and did it for two months and did it for three months. And I prayed for him every day. And he didn’t change. But I did. Bitterness kind of went out of my soul. I didn’t even know it, but other guys watching, a couple guys on the team came to Christ. We got to the very end of the year and the tournament and he was really big and he would always put his hand on me like this. “Chee-up.”

And he said, “There are only two people on this whole team I respect. They are all a bunch of phonies; they are posers. I’m evil and if there’s a hell, I’m going there.” He said, “The other person is - you. I don’t believe a thing that you believe about all this Jesus- But you’re no fun. I’ve lost all joy in trying to put you down. And I would never want to be a Christian. But if I ever did, I’d want to be one like you.”

Bless those who persecute you. Bless and curse not. Never take your own revenge. Leave room for the wrath of God. If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If your enemy is thirsty, give him a drink.

Question: Is there someone you need to forgive, bless, or seek reconciliation? Certainly, in our context, we are asking about our mate, but there may be some other people.

What do you need to believe about God’s character to help you overcome evil with good? You know what you need to believe? He’s sovereign. He’s in control. He orchestrates things. Joseph, who was betrayed by His brothers; Joseph, who was sold into slavery; Joseph who ends up in prison and then forgotten – he’s got a ten-year journey of bad, bad, bad, bad, unfair, unfair, unfair, unfair. But there’s a little line in Joseph’s life that says, “The Lord was with Joseph.” And we can’t find him whining or complaining.

And when he gets to the end of his life and his father dies and his brothers think, Now the other shoe is going to drop. He’s the most powerful man in Egypt except Pharaoh. All of the family is here. He’ll probably kill all of us.

Joseph says, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God,” are you ready for this? “meant it…” that means God had a part. When people do evil things against you, He’s got the bigger play. God meant it for good to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.”

God got me in Egypt, then He got me in prison, then He got me connected with the baker and the other guy, then got me promoted, and then, by the way, then God got me a wife and some sons and He gave me wisdom. And you know what? Yeah, you meant it for evil. You have to believe that.

Romans 8:28 we often quote but we forget 29. “And we know that in,” circle, “all things.” A tough marriage, wounds, struggles, anger, infidelity, alcoholism, deployments, “in all things God works for the good,” but not for everyone. “…for those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” God will use every adversity and His agenda is not that your life is smooth. His agenda is to make you like Jesus. And He will use the betrayal, the injustice, the difficulties, all the things that you go through if you stay in the game.

And by that I mean you don’t get bitter. By that I mean it’s like, “I don’t get it, this isn’t fair, emotionally I’m really angry, I’m super ticked off, it shouldn’t be this way, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I’m going to keep living Your way instead of the world’s way. And it’s so counterintuitive. And people will think I’m a fool.”

The second thing you have to believe about God is His mercy. Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or my sister who sins against me?” Or my wife? Or my husband? “Up to seven times?”

And Peter is going, like, “Wow, like, I must be a superstar to go up to seven.” Jesus answered, “I tell you not seven times, but seventy-seven times. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servant,” and I want you to read something. This is the most profound parable in all of Scripture, because here’s what God is asking you to do. You have to forgive your mate. You have to forgive if it was your parents. You have to forgive whoever did you in. You – literally, “Dear God, will You bring to mind anyone that I need to forgive? That I harbor ill or resentment?”

And it might be from ten years, twenty years, or last week. And forgiveness is an act of the will. I choose to release them – point in time – and then forgiveness is a process. Forgiving. You forgive and then you – forgiving is a process. And the process is you bless them. If there’s any way to do something nice or kind to them, even if it has to be anonymous. And then you pray for them.

I was betrayed by a staff member; I prayed for him every year for two years. I never took the Lord’s Supper where I didn’t ask God to bless his life. Now, my early prayers were, “God, will You show him where he’s wrong? Would you cause his life to cave in and repent and come back and tell me he’s sorry for all the terrible things he did?” That never happened. But I can tell you, after two years of praying for him and blessing him and doing good things, I heard something good about him and I was shocked. My heart rejoiced. I could actually be happy that something good happened to him.

Forgive – point in time. Forgiving – a journey. Forgiven – when you can come to the point where, you know what? Why would you ever feel that? Jesus said, “For this reason the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves.”

I’m in Matthew 18, you can see it in your notes. “And when he had begun to settle them, one owed him ten thousand talents, was brought to him. But since he didn’t have the means to repay, his master commanded that he be sold along with his wife and his children. So, the slave fell to the ground, prostrated himself before him saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will pay you everything.’ And the master of the slave felt compassion,” empathy, “and he released him and he forgave him the debt.” You don’t have to pay it! It’s done. Jesus wants them to understand it would be impossible for anyone to repay that master.

“But he went out and found one of his own slaves who owed him a hundred denarii and he seized him and he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe me.’ So, his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ But he was unwilling and he went and threw him into prison until he would pay him back what was owed. So, when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their master all that had happened. And then summoning him, his master said to him, ‘You wicked slave. I forgave you all that debt, because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave in the same way that I had mercy on you?’”

Now, listen to Jesus, meek and mild. “And his master, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he would repay him all that was owed. My heavenly Father will also do the same to you if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”

Some of us pray the Lord’s Prayer fairly regularly. “Father, forgive us our sins…” It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what that means. “Father, forgive us our sins as we forgive those…”

Resentment, bitterness, and unforgiveness are like cancers that eat away at our soul and destroy our love. We must forgive our mates as Jesus has forgiven us.

Forgiveness does not mean that the consequences of behavior or reconciliation or things don’t need to have a structure and a plan to repair things. It doesn’t mean that you don’t need to go get help, see a counselor, get on a good path, all the rest. But you don’t go from square one until you give to your mate what Jesus has given to you.

And here’s the deal. We all want justice for the other person, but we all want mercy from God, right? I don’t want justice. God, forgive me! And He does! And you just, here’s the moment. You have this equation. And it’s this simple. This is what You did for me. Unless I want to get from You what I want them to get from me, then I don’t deserve to have Your mercy. And this isn’t like the first time we have come on this issue and many others. I have to give what You have given to me. And it was only that logic that allowed me to forgive.