Let Dad Handle it.
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Let Dad Handle It.
Let Dad Handle It.
Let. Dad. Handle. It.
Good morning.
You people will never guess the passage of scripture my sermon comes from this morning.
Romans chapter 12.
Last week we looked at what it meant to live in harmony with one another.
Eden shared some beautiful piano music to help us to know what harmony was - and I added a few blasts from the mouthpiece of a trombone to show you what it wasn’t.
Harmony feels good - sounds good.
Clashing makes my teeth itch.
This week we will finish out chapter 12 - and from here I hope to speed things up to a reasonable pace, so that we can finish this series in the book of romans sometime before my kids graduate.
In all seriousness - I do want you to know that even though we have taken such a slow pace to this chapter - we have not exhausted its depth.
Ron and Sherry went to the ocean over the last few days - and they saw it, they stood and swam in it… but they didn’t get it all.
John Piper - the chancelor of Bethlehem Bible College preached from the book of romans for 10 years.. I think we are doing pretty good, having only been here for 1!
Before we get into the word today, lets pray.
PRAY.
19 Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.
20 But If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head.
21 Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.
Intro - Let Dad Handle it.
For us to understand all of this, we have to have read Romans 1-11. And we have. We have studied it. We have learned from it.
Romans 1-11 tell me who I am. They tell me who God is. They tell me how different I am because of Jesus.
By Grace you have been saved.
Romans 5 tells us we have peace with God.
Romans 6 we died to sin. We have have life in Christ
We are no longer under the law, we don’t keep rules as a means of Righteousness - we have Jesus.
We are under grace.
There is therefore now NO condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.
We walk no longer by the flesh but by the spirit. Again - at peace with God.
God has adopted us as children.
We are foreknown, predestined, called, justified, and there is a plan for us to be GLORIFIED.
We can say amen to that.
He gave us the Holy spirit who intercedes for us.
All things work together for the good of those who love god and are called according to his purpose.
Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.
We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus.
He has an incredible plan for us.
That is who I am. That is who God is to me.
The creator of the universe has me set aside for his glory. And he has you set aside for that too.
When we understand all of that - some of the rest of this makes sense.
I see four instructions here in these three verses, and some explanation.
Do not avenge yourselves
Leave room for Gods Wrath
Live different.
Be more than a conqueror
Do not avenge yourselves
Why do we seek vengeance?
People have hurt us. Physically/mentally/Spiritually.
We have a desire to be made whole, and also for them to suffer. We call that justice.
Physcologists have been studying this for a long time. believe it or not, they came to the same conclusions the bible tells us.
study after study showed that as a society we hunger for vengence - but it does not help us. In fact, most people feel worse after they have inflicted pain on someone else. But we hunger for it.
I believe that the things that we want most in the world are rooted in good things that God gave for us to want, but unfortunately sin entered the world. So what would have been a desire for Good - Godly Justice instead becomes a cesspool of evil desires in our heart to cause pain and suffering so that we might feel better.
God gives us instruction - through the Bible - on how to be the people that he created us to be. In that - he tells us not to avenge ourselves. And to get to that point, Paul goes through 11 chapters of defining who we are as a new creation.
Highlights: Mostly from Romans 8.
We are not condemned. There is nothing worth fighting over.
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus,
We do not live according to the flesh - we live according to the spirit.
9 You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him.
Because we live by the spirit we are Gods sons. Romans 8:14
14 For all those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons.
We are not obligated to the flesh. Romans 8:12
12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh,
We have a direct line to the father where we cry out Romans 8:15
15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Instead, you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!”
So - when we are hurt.. which is going to happen, because we still live here. When we ARE hurt… we have an open door to take those things to the father. I am provided with a direct line.
The mindset of the flesh would be to take a pound of flesh for my pain and suffering.
The mindset of the spirit has to be one of forgiveness.
Some of this starts with Romans 12:18
18 If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
As much as it depends on me - I am supposed to live at peace.
My pain threshold needs to be pushed a little bit.
My skin needs to be a little bit tougher.
I need to be understanding of the people around me.
Because if I respond to every little thing that someone does - I will need revenge. I will need them to be punished.
The reality is - I can’t even think about all of that too much.
15 See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.
11 Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.
2. Leave Room for the Vengeance of the Lord.
Understand that God wants to handle it. Don’t get in the way.
There are three types of people in the world, those who can count, and those who cant.
There are really two kinds of people - those who are alive in Christ Jesus, and those who aren’t.
God has declared - time after time - that if you are not for him you are against him.
He is the everlasting God. The only wise king, and he will repay.
Punishment must be handed down. You cannot run from it, avoid it. You can’t push it away. The only thing we can do is to hand it to Jesus.
And apparently - we can get in way of vengeance from the Lord.
We can interfere - mostly by enacting our own vengeance.
We can get in the way by carrying out our own punishment on them.
Let dad handle it. This is what Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica.
6 since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you,
7 and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
10 when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.
30 For we know the one who has said, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, and again, The Lord will judge his people.
35 Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay. In time their foot will slip, for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.”
1 Lord, God of vengeance— God of vengeance, shine!
Understand that even if we don’t see something happening - God is going to handle the situation.
Let Dad handle it.
Live Differently
44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
27 “But I say to you who listen: Love your enemies, do what is good to those who hate you,
21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,
22 for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.
Time after time in scripture we are called to be different.
This is one of those times.
Jesus cares a great deal about how we feel about others.
He cares a great deal about how we treat other people.
Our friends, our enemies - it doesn’t matter.
BE MORE THAN A CONQUEROR.
21 Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.
31 What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
32 He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything?
33 Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies.
34 Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.
35 Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
36 As it is written: Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In all of those things, we are more.
Our identity has been established.
More means evangelism.
God is going to deal with those who chose not to follow Jesus.
Let dad handle it.
Keep loving.
Keep serving. Keep feeding.
Keep on.
Value people - see people the way Jesus did.