Retaliation VS Confrontation

http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/think-it-not-strange-fiery-trials-and-the-testimony-of-christ

John Piper’s Punch Line

 If there is someone in your church clamoring for you to show them from the Bible how they have a right to carry a gun to save themselves and their family from suffering and death, by all means spend ten cents of your labor on that. And then spend a million dollars on this. You don’t need the Bible or the Holy Spirit to persuade human beings to protect themselves. But to bring into being a church of people who rejoice when they are treated unjustly — that is a miracle that you should give your whole life to. Nothing is harder. Nothing more amazing. Nothing more beautiful. Our Savior was beautified at that horrible mount!

John Piper is making the case that Christians, just like Jesus did not resist evil, neither should we.  He used 1 Peter 4:12-19

I am concerned because it is not a full message. 

It is encouraging Christian men to continue to be lazy, not push into greater levels of responsibility. 

Which includes providing for your family, your church. 

Your ministry and evangelism. 

The outcome of this message is disarming Christians in every sense of the word from Doing Good. 

Lazy & Irresponsible, calling it “Do not worry”. 

Not protecting our family and neighbors and calling it “Love”. 

Not loving our enemies with Wisdom and Discernment and calling it “Love”.

We remember Justice is Good. 

But what does it look like for a Christian to live Justly?

Justice VS Revenge

Justice VS Love

In Christ you are standing on the moral high ground.  Use your moral high ground to pull people up and encourage them. 

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

[Rom 12:18 ESV] If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

[Rom 12:19 ESV] Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."

[Rom 12:20 ESV] To the contrary, "if your enemy is ahungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head."

[Rom 12:21 ESV] Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Vengeance is bad, don’t do it.  

What about Defense? 

But Confrontation is Good. 

Before Jesus went to the Cross, there was Passion Week. 

Did Jesus ever confront people?  Enemies and Friends?   YES!

Jesus confronts His Friends

[Mat 16:22 ESV] And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you."

[Mat 16:23 ESV] But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."

[Mat 16:24 ESV] Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

[Mat 16:25 ESV] For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

[Mat 16:26 ESV] For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

[Mat 16:27 ESV] For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.

Jesus Confronted His Enemies:   7 Woes, 6 hypocrites, 5 blind guides

[Mat 23:13 ESV] "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.

[Mat 23:15 ESV] Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

 [Mat 23:23 ESV] "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

[Mat 23:24 ESV] You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

[Mat 23:25 ESV] "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

 [Mat 23:27 ESV] "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.

[Mat 23:28 ESV] So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

 [Mat 23:33 ESV] You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?

[Jhn 8:44 ESV] You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Jesus was doing Good by Proclaiming Truth. 

Are you suffering because you are doing Christian things?

[1Pe 4:12 ESV] Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

[1Pe 4:13 ESV] But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

[1Pe 4:14 ESV] If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

[1Pe 4:15 ESV] But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.

[1Pe 4:16 ESV] Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

[1Pe 4:17 ESV] For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

[1Pe 4:18 ESV] And "If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?"

[1Pe 4:19 ESV] Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

Different Kinds of Suffering. 

Ever heard the saying “That’s their cross to carry. “

Sin and Suffering because of the curse. 

The Curse; creation is going to fight you.  Toil in work. 

Your Sin;  laziness, Fool (opposite of wisdom),  

Others Sin; all of the above, inter-relational, 

Suffering because of the Curse. 

[Gen 3:17 ESV] And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

[Gen 3:18 ESV] thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.

[Gen 3:19 ESV] By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

Our Sinful nature.  Paul details the Christian struggle with the sinful flesh. 

[Rom 7:24 ESV] Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

[Rom 7:25 ESV] Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Other people’s Sin. 

The Blessing of Fellowship:  “God uses the sinful nature of other Christians to expose your sinful nature so you can repent.”

But in your job, they may not be Christian.  This just got more challenging. 

Suffering for Christ. 

 [Luk 9:23 ESV] And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

[Luk 9:24 ESV] For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

[Luk 9:25 ESV] For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?

[Luk 9:26 ESV] For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

When the last time your scheduled was even challenged doing the one of the following?

Evangelizing

Ministry

Fellowship

Discipleship

Think back to the last time you suffered persecution, from work or school or friends?

We need to know the difference between suffering for Jesus and suffering for being foolish and lazy and sinful. 

After Passion week; a week of complete and utter Confrontation with the religion leaders. 

Wrecking the money tables, calling the religious leaders, sons of the devil and white washed graves. 

The Only Time Jesus did not resist evil was to go die on the cross. To be our sacrifice for sin. 

[Mat 26:52 ESV] Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword.

[Mat 26:53 ESV] Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?

[Mat 26:54 ESV] But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?"

Jesus’ path to the Cross was the most powerful aggressive move of Justice against the enemy.  It was the killing stroke to evil.   

[1Co 15:55 ESV] "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"

[1Co 15:56 ESV] The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

[1Co 15:57 ESV] But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[1Co 15:58 ESV] Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Justice Vs Revenge

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