Romans 12:14

Bless and Curse Not

by Pastor James Lincoln on January 21, 2007

 

Paul called the believers in Rome to shine like stars against the darkness of Roman paganism which had become bogged down in the night of a loveless culture. Infanticide, abortion, homosexuality, slavery and killing people for sport in the gladiator games is evidence enough that love had grown cold in Rome. The emperors offered little moral leadership. Caligula made a horse a senator and murdered a nephew because his constant coughing bothered him. Nero murdered his mother and his wife. He blamed the Christians for the fire that destroyed most of the city and then fed them to wild animals and murdered them in unspeakable ways. Against this dark backdrop Paul calls the Christians to bear a witness to the gospel through behavior that brings light, love mercy and goodness into their world.

Last Sunday we looked at the Christian virtue of generosity and hospitality. Because God through Christ had been so outrageously and extravagantly generous with them they could bear a witness to the gospel by being generous to others. Because God had been graciously hospitable to them not only by welcoming them into his home as guests, but by opening his arms and adopting them as His children and making them heirs of Jesus and heirs of God they could practice hospitality as well. He has committed to his people all the resources of his kingdom authority and has promised to forever be engaged in using those resources and authority to do us good. Through the gospel Christians are on the receiving end of God's extravagant generosity and hospitality. So, out of that fullness we can do the same.

This morning we come to verse 14 where Paul writes, "Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not." The Christians could shed light on the gospel of grace not only as He set them free from the love of money and privacy but also as the gospel set them free from retaliation and vengeance.

Vengeance: An Honored Pagan Trait

In Greek pagan religion vengeance was seen as an honorable trait. Because there are children here I won't tell you precisely how vengeance came to our world in Greek paganism. The story is just too gross to describe in detail. Uranus and his wife Gaia had hundreds of offspring, Cyclops, Titans and numerous armed monsters. Gaia got angry by the fact that her husband wouldn't share some things with her children. So, she forged a weapon and had her son kill her husband. From one of his body parts Aphrodite was born and his blood which fell to the earth sprang up much needed vengeance. For the Greeks vengeance was a simple matter of justice. Punishments should fit crimes. Revenge was merely balancing the scales of justice. It was viewed as noble and just.

When Prometheus stole fire from mount Olympus and gave it to mankind, Zeus in an act of revenge gave the world Pandora's Box which when opened gave the earth all its troubles. All the gods and heroes of paganism pursued vengeance and were acknowledged as heroic for doing so.

Jesus' call to bless those who persecute you, stood out in stark contrast against this background. What are Jesus and Paul driving at here? And, is this a call to abandon justice as the Greeks charged?

First, what does it mean to bless and not curse? What are Jesus and Paul calling us to do? Jesus said,

"Bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you." Lk.6:28

He also said,

"Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back." Lk.6:29-30 (cf. 1Pe.3:8; Mt. 5:44-45; Lk.6:27)

To bless someone means more than not cursing them. To bless means to want and promote the good and well being of another person. It requires a radical change of heart to pursue the blessing of your adversary. You can't bless someone with integrity if your heart is full of hatred, malice and revenge toward them. You might stop yourself from retaliating but that's different than blessing someone. It means that you wish in your heart for the other person's well being and that you seek their good. Real Christianity transforms the heart; it gives your heart a new capacity to do what by nature you wouldn't otherwise do. If we're going to bless someone who has treated us or hurt us unjustly our natural tendency to make sure that the scales always balance and that we're always treated fairly must be redirected. Paul alludes to this several times here at the end of Romans 12 in slightly different ways. In v. 17: "Don't return evil for evil." or v.19: Don't avenge yourselves or v.21: Don't be overcome by evil. Or v.20: Give food and drink to your enemy. And v. 21: "Overcome evil with good."

Where does freedom to live like this come from? It comes from the gospel. The gospel frees us from having to make certain every circumstance in life works out justly for us here and now. Once you become a Christian that's just not necessary. God's promises are more than sufficient. God is for you. Who can stand against you! The gospel with all its promises of God's care, love, protection and supremacy sets us free from having to make sure every circumstance is a just one. We have put our lives in his care. We have been made children of His love. We have been make servants of His Kingdom and sheep of His shepherding. If Jesus is your highest treasure, if he is your Good Shepherd, if he's your champion and constant advocate, if God is your Father in heaven, if he has given you every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, if he has made a covenant to never stop doing you good and has committed all the resources of heaven to conform you to the image of His son Jesus, if He is your most durable and greatest joy and hope, if His kingdom is more important to you than your own, if you are just a sojourner and this world is not really your home...then...when someone else mistreats you with abusive speech, pain or even death it's just no longer an ultimate threat to your blessed life in Jesus. So, by His gospel and tender mercies he sets us free from the powerful and natural impulse to retaliate. Our security and contentment is in Christ and the covenant He has made to us not in how others treat us here. You haven't forgotten that have you? He has made our future absolutely secure forever, by dying for us and rising up for us. Persecution can't destroy you; it will only put you into the presence of Christ quicker. So you don't have to have the last word here on earth. Relax...God will and he does all things well.

The apostle wrote in Heb.10:34,

"You joyfully accepted the plundering of your property (without retaliation) since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and abiding one."

What takes away the drive to avenge ourselves is our deep confidence that this world is not our home and that God is utterly faithful. Now, we also believe that God is absolutely just. No act of injustice will go unpunished. Don't confuse the fact that God delays his justice with the idea that he will not carry it out. He will and without grace that should be a frightening thought for all of us.

We also know that in the gospel Jesus treated us with mercy instead of justice. In the gospel mercy prevailed over justice in our own lives (Ja.2:13b). If the just outcome of sin is death or separation from God, if God dealt with us with justice our own separation from God would be a just outcome. But God treats us with mercy. He doesn't violate justice...Jesus died. Jesus was separated from God in our place. God paid a huge price so that he could show us mercy. Justice has been satisfied. And then He blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. We don't have to always be demanding justice out of others before we bless them because Jesus didn't demand it from us before He blessed us. This is the good news of the gospel. Before Christ saved us we were enemies of God. The just thing to have done would have been to separate us from his presence. Instead, he treated us with mercy. Now, our motivation is to shine the light on the gospel of grace in the world not to get our pound of flesh in every circumstance.

So, if you struggle with feelings of bitterness and revenge what you need more than anything else is to receive what Jesus has promised in the gospel. And then on the basis of that grace and preoccupation with Jesus and His love - you can let go of revenge, bitterness and retaliation. In this way we are revealing something of the way God is.

He is merciful. Scripture says that He makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." (Mtt.5:45) He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities (Ps.103:10). When we live this way we show something of what God is like.

"Father, forgive them..."

On the cross Jesus said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." Now this is strange to me. If they don't know what they are doing, why do they need to be forgiven? Only the guilty need forgiveness. If they were innocent they wouldn't need forgiving. But they weren't innocent. They were guilty. And here's the reason why... they should have known what they were doing! In other words there was so much evidence of Jesus' innocence that the only explanation for their actions was that they didn't want to see it. They resisted and hated the truth about Jesus because it threatened their own agendas in life. It was a willful ignorance. That's why they need to be forgiven. "Father, forgive them because in their hatred and defiance they have willfully chosen to ignore all the evidence of my innocence and who I am. They have willfully rejected the truth. Forgive them for they need forgiving.

Notice that Jesus declares guilt and seeks their forgiveness at the same time. This helps us. Our adversaries may really be guilty...and yet that shouldn't stop us from loving them and seeking forgiveness for them. So, when we follow Jesus in this way we are revealing to the world a piece of what God is like. He blesses sinners by calling us to repent and believe in His good gospel. And he doesn't treat believers as our sins deserve.

Elisha's Mercy

One of my favorite Biblical episodes of mercy is found in 2 Kings 6. The Syrian army came in full force to kill Elisha and his servant. When they found his hut they surrounded it with their vast army. Gehazi, Elisha's servant, was terrified by that sight. So, Elisha prayed that God would show him that those who were for them were more than those against them. Then the veil that separates heaven and earth split open and they beheld the vast hosts of the Lord in their chariots of fire dwarfing the Syrian army. What did Elisha ask God to do? Kill the army? Return evil for evil? No. He asked God to strike them with temporary blindness and he then led them into the capitol city of Samaria. When they arrive the king of Israel asked Elisha, "Shall we kill them?" Shall we kill them?" Elisha said, "You shall not!" Instead he said, "Set bread and water before them that they may eat and drink and go back to their master." He prepared a great feast for them and sent them home. He blessed his adversary. He didn't treat them with justice but with mercy.

Beloved, I know it is counterintuitive to our nature. But it's consistent with the gospel that we bless our enemies. Is there someone you need to bless today? You can't do this without gospel grace. You must be filled up with who God is for you in Christ or you just won't have the means to do it. Is there a hit list in the back of your soul? Is there someone back there who offended you, hurt you perhaps deeply...will you forgive them? ...will you bless them?

Treating my step dad with Mercy...

My first major test with this was when I was asked to officiate at my step father's funeral. For most of my life I hated him. He was an abusive alcoholic and he was unjust. Even after I became a follower of Christ I couldn't shake my hatred for him. It took me years to win this battle. Then one night while we were visiting him - over dinner - he launched into an abusive demeaning and vulgar attack on me in front of my children. They were old enough to know that it was abusive. Their heads turned to me to see what I would do. Normally, I would just pack up the bags and take us home. This time I asked him to meet me on the porch for a talk. I was so angry I had no idea what I was going to say.

All of a sudden in my heart my anger and hatred melted like wax. I can't really explain it. One moment I hated him and the next my heart loved him and pitied him at the same time. I told him for the first time in my life, "Abe, I love you." I could have never said that before even as a Christian. I said, "Abe I love you. But, you need to hear something loud and clear. If you ever speak like that again to me you will never see me or these precious girls again as long as I have anything to say about it. So, you make up your mind. You know, that night he repented and never spoke to me again like that.

I can't hate him. I love Him. I love him because Jesus has loved me so much that there just isn't any room or energy left to hate him and wish him harm. I want him to be blessed. He professed to trust Jesus before he died and that's between him and God. I love him because Jesus loved me when I could have cared less about Him. Jesus loved me when I didn't deserve it. Filled with God's mercy and love, I wanted Abe to see something of the grace I had come to see and something of the way God is. So, beloved, "Bless those who persecute you and not curse."

Ok, now one last thing. How does all of this relate to those times and places when punishment, and justice seem right things to call for?¹ The message here is clear. We are to love our enemies and this love involves treating them better than they deserve.

But here's the catch. Beloved, God is more than merciful. He is also just. He writes in v. 19. "Vengeance is mine says the Lord." No wrong will go without punishment. God is just. But here's the hard question, "Are men ever agents of His justice here on earth in this age?" Can we ever repay evil with just pain because God calls us to share his authority in a limited way to demonstrate his justice as his mercy? Do we ever treat people as they deserve?

I think the answer is, "Yes." Here's my point. There is a place for proper human reciprocity. There are times and places where we mingle mercy and justice. When you are a leader or represent a God ordained institution you simply must establish a foundation of justice within that institution. I'll mention some scriptures that call for this. Within the family, you don't bless the child that curses and abuses you or turn the other cheek when a child strikes you in the face. Proverbs says, "Do not with hold discipline from your son [and]...he will not die." Whoever spares the rod hates his child. This was David's great failure with Adonijah. 1 Kings tells us that David never pained him. In other words when a child dishonors his parents, the Bible does not simply say, "Bless the child that curses you and turn the other cheek." No, it instructs us to discipline children and show the justice of God as well as the mercy of God.

We have teachers here so let me apply it to you. Educators (locus parenti) should not reward lazy and irresponsible students with good grades. Assessment should be along the lines of justice. Teachers reward good work in learning the assignments with good grades. When the foundation of a just institution is in place it creates the possibility of mercy. But if truth and justice are abandoned mercy has no meaning.

Jesus taught that a worker deserves his wages (Lk.10:7) and a sluggard doesn't. If an employee doesn't fulfill the obligations of his contract then he may be fired. And God approves. I once interviewed a candidate for one of our jobs here at church. She wasn't qualified. After graciously telling her that she wasn't she told me not to worry because she didn't hate me. That was kind. But, the fact that we had just qualifications for the job, in her mind, made us hate worthy.

The economic order God has ordained won't survive if people take things without paying for them and get a salary without working for it. That's called stealing. Paul picks this up in 2Thess. 3:10ff. Some had stopped working anticipating the return of Jesus. Paul says, "Hey, if anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat." So, notice that Paul doesn't believe that to give to everyone who asks of you is a universal principle to be applied always and everywhere. Paul himself didn't. If Osama Bin Laden asks you for money, would you give it to him? There's no way you would and God would approve. Now there may be exceptions where against this backdrop of justice that we show mercy. We should. But the principle is not universal.

Paul tells us in the next chapter that the civil authorities have the right to use force to punish those who do wrong. Rom.13:2-4. The police have the right to forcibly arrest criminals and judges have a right to imprison people for felonies and fine them for misdemeanors. The military has a right to protect others from abusive people with force. Police and soldiers should not turn the other cheek when they are functioning as representatives of state authority. They should not stand idly by when a thief is robbing a bank and give him money if the thief asks for it or passively let a murderer kill others without protecting them.

So, don't turn the other cheek when your child curses and assaults you, and bless him for it. Don't give good grades to an irresponsible student. You can show mercy against the standard of justice and give help. Also, don't give money to a lazy person who won't work just because they ask you for it. Don't give the worker a salary when he chooses to stay home and sleep instead of working. A police officer doesn't turn the other cheek to a criminal who strikes him. God ordained institutions must function with a foundation of justice if mercy is to mean anything. Even in the church there is a provision for church discipline that is not normally interpreted as a blessing. Church discipline calls for treating a person with some rejection and some harshness in order to help him return to fellowship.

Family, education, business, the state and the church each of these is an institution God wills to be. And they demand that justice and treating people in ways they deserve is the normal way they relate and carry on. There can be merciful exceptions. But if everything becomes an exception to the rule of justice - these institutions will break down. So, when we act as leaders or representatives of these institutions we function fundamentally in terms of justice.

So, here's the deal. God calls us to be merciful - to return good for evil and to treat our adversaries better than they deserve. He wants us to do this to show something of what He is like in His mercy and that he can free us from greed and vengeance. Also, God calls us to uphold justice within the God-ordained institutions we belong to and we do this to show that God is just.

Above all God calls us to trust and look to Christ because without His wisdom and without His Spirit we can't resolve the ambiguities of being both merciful and just. These can get complicated. And the path of wisdom can be unclear. Should we be merciful? Yes. Should we be just people? Yes. We will need God's wisdom in each circumstance to know which is best. So, beloved pursue justice, and pursue mercy to bless and in both of these way reveal what God is like. And above all hold fast to Jesus who is your life and wisdom. And remember that in the gospel of Jesus Christ Mercy has prevailed over justice. God has not treated us as our sins deserve. Yet, Jesus bore the full brunt of God's perfect justice on our behalf. And because of His mercy we can now live at peace with our holy God.