The Rightful Judge

David Sorn 8/25/24 Renovation Church Series: “In View of God’s Mercy” Title: “The Rightful Judge” FAMILY FUN DAYS INTRO (Renovation Church Slide) Good morning! My name is David Sorn, and I’m the Lead Pastor here at Renovation Church Before we get into our message this morning, I want to tell you about an absolutely amazing outreach we have coming up. It is called Family Fun Days (Family Fun Days Volunteer Slide) This is an event we’ve been able to do several times in the past, and it’s so amazing, and so effective, it’s going to be for TWO days this time, thus Family Fun Days… The weekend of September 21st and 22nd, we are going to do an outreach that will have a similar feel to our Easter Egg Hunt outreach if you were with us then. And that weekend, people will come to our services, and we will share the Gospel with them. And then, afterwards, they’ll get food tickets and kids will get a wristband, to go across the street to Sunrise Elementary… …where we will have a ton of food trucks…with free food.. FREE. Mini Donuts, Pronto Pups, Pulled Pork, Egg Rolls, Kettle Corn, and a ton more. And, there will be a field full of inflatables. It’s incredible. It is one of THE best ways to invite someone to church…honestly, whether they have a family or not…it’s awesome. And we are expecting SO MANY people to come and hear about Jesus that we are doing SIX services that weekend: 2 on Saturday, and 4 on Sunday. And as you might imagine, in order to pull off such a huge gospel outreach for our city, it takes an army of volunteers. In fact, we need 290 volunteers to pick up shifts that weekend. We need help with street signs, drink stations, A LOT of parking help (which you don’t need to be an expert, you just need the arm flexibility to do this)… …we need help at the inflatables, the field, and so on. And it’s SOOO much easier for us, if you sign up early (like today) This is an all hands on deck, pick up an oar event. Church, this is our heart, until All hear…that’s us. And this is part of how WE tell them. But WE need to do this together. So, sign up to serve that weekend today…through the connect tab of our app, our website, or there is a Family Fun Days table out in the lobby! THE PASSAGE All right, let’s jump into our message for this morning. Go ahead and grab a Bible. Romans 12:17 21 Page 775 We are in week 4 of 4 of our series on Romans 12 in the Bible. Romans is a letter written by one of the early leaders of the Christian faith called “The Apostle Paul” And he’s writing to some new Christians in in Rome about who Jesus is, what he did, and what it means to follow Jesus and His counter cultural way. We left off at verse 17 (Romans 12:17 21) NIV 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Series Slide) This is both counter cultural AND counter to what our own hearts often want (which is payback) But we are called to live this out because of the way that Jesus didn’t “pay us back,” but he had mercy on us. That’s our series: IN VIEW OF GOD’S MERCY And this isn’t just an idea of Paul’s, Jesus himself taught this Matthew 5:38 44 Page 660 Flip back in your Bible a bit to page 660. I want to show you what Jesus taught in his famous sermon on the mount. Find the small 38; right where it says “Eye for Eye” (Matthew 5:38 44) – NIV 38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (Series Slide) This is the counter cultural teaching of Jesus.. …because in those days you were basically expected to take an eye for an eye. And even today, if someone hurts us, immediately we start thinking about how to get them back…make them feel what we felt. But that’s not the way God wants us to live. Romans 12:17 21 Page 775 If you flip back to our Romans passage now… …we saw in verse 17 that we are not to repay anyone evil for evil. So Paul is saying that if someone has hurt you… Maybe a co worker is gossiping about you… Maybe a neighbor offended you… A family member betrayed you… Our passage says (verse 18), “If it is possible (which means sometimes it isn’t), but if it is possible, as far as it depends on you (meaning, you can’t control other people), live at peace And vengeance…getting back at someone doesn’t lead to peace. (Title Slide – The Rightful Judge) And by the way, neither does cutting out every single person because they’re quote unquote “toxic” Which is the general advice you’ll get nowadays if you ask social media, or AI, or youtube…how to deal with people who’ve hurt you. Our culture says: If your friend is often putting you down, cut them out of your life. You don’t need toxic people If your parent always makes you feel like you’re never good enough (and every phone call brings up all of these emotions), the world would say, “cut them out of your life. Toxic. But I feel like the secular culture never asks, “What if you are the toxic person?” And you messed up and hurt someone, how would you want them to treat you? And see, you can’t live by this Bible passage if you cut everyone out when they mess up You can’t “live at peace” with someone if they’re not around you. No, the way of Christ, is to talk about it with someone. To be honest. Tell them how it’s affecting you. And offer forgiveness. Now, are there extreme situations where you probably shouldn’t be around someone? Definitely. But most of the time, that’s just not the case. And every situation is nuanced. This is why House Groups are so important (and sign ups start in just 2 weeks!) We all need Godly Christians around us to help speak Godly wisdom into our unique situations. I AM NOT THE JUDGE But all of this is really hard to apply if you’re just trying to “work hard” to forgive. That’s not going to work for most of us. We need some deeper reasons. And we start to see it in verse 19 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. So I want you to start by saying this: I AM NOT THE JUDGE You are not meant to be on the Throne of Judgment. The Bible says: That’s God’s job, not yours. I don’t know who wronged you, but surely, we’ve all had people who’ve hurt our feelings, even deeply wounded us, or some, even physically hurt us. But here, The Word of God tells us that revenge isn’t ours to take. That doesn’t mean that we don’t believe in the justice system, the police, the courts, or anything like that In fact the next chapter is sort of about that! But Paul is saying that we, personally, don’t get to be the judge and take any sort of revenge (petty or blatant) into our own hands. I am not the judge. In part because you and I are unfit to properly judge and punish We don’t know the whole story like He does, and our judgment is often out of control, whereas His is Holy and just (Title Slide – The Rightful Judge) And so we are to trust in our Father that He will judge correctly, and that He will avenge. Think of it this way. Imagine that there are two siblings of elementary school age, and one child punches their sibling. Now, if their father is mostly absent, and unloving, they won’t even run inside to tell him…because they know he won’t do anything about it. And so honestly, they’ll probably try and take matters into their own hands, and punch back. But if they have a good father, and they have absolute trust in him, it’s that much easier to run inside, tell him what happened, because you trust that Dad is going to do the right thing with it. And so Paul is admonishing us here to trust that Our Father in Heaven is a good judge! In fact when you and I say that we’ve got to find a way to get back at someone…(whether it be through the silent treatment or a tongue lashing…) When we say that we’ve got to find a way to make them feel our pain, it shows a lack of trust in the justice of our Father in Heaven. Because Our Father says, “Don’t take revenge. It’s MINE to avenge. I WILL repay it.” But I think a main reason so many of us want to get back at an ex and see them pay, or if a boss does something mean to us (we’re lying in bed at night, brainstorming ways to make their career suffer…) I think the reason so many of us think like this is because we know very little about the wrath of God. In the U.S., many of us have been taught much about the love of God, but we are infants in our understanding about God’s justice and holy wrath. And if we more deeply understood that God makes all things right, it would make it easier (not easy, but easier) to relinquish our right to take revenge into our own hands. In history, people take vengeance and justice into their own hands when they don’t trust the justice system… …and sometimes we end up doing the same thing because we’re not trusting God. But what we need to say is this. I AM NOT THE JUDGE, BUT THERE IS A JUDGE Say it. That’s Biblical Truth The Bible teaches that every wrong will be dealt with. There is no sin that has ever been committed that won’t result in someone’s punishment. Either A) their punishment will go on Christ… As the great prophecy from the Old Testament said about Jesus: (Isaiah 53:6b) – NIV the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. If someone trusts in Christ for salvation, Jesus will pay for their wrongs. (Title Slide – The Rightful Judge) Or B) if someone refuses to accept the rescue of Jesus, they will personally feel the wrath of God for all of eternity in hell. And that is a scary thing to think about. But it’s real. God will have justice one way or another. And this is important to think deeply about. Because when you say: “I am not judge.” You’re not saying, “I’m giving up on justice.” I think this is why some people have a hard time forgiving. Because they feel like, “If I’m forgiving, I’m letting that person off.” But that’s not true; it’s not Biblical. The Biblical thought is: I AM NOT THE JUDGE, BUT THERE IS A JUDGE Justice will be served. On Jesus, or on them, but it will be served. But you don’t need to be the one serving it. You need to let the rightful judge administer it. We need a bigger perspective here. We need an eternal perspective. It makes me think of Elizabeth Elliot, whose book we have in our library… (Through the Gates of Splendor Book Cover) …her husband, Jim Elliot, and 4 other Christian missionaries were killed trying to reach a violent uncontacted people group in Ecuador. And if that happened to your spouse, what would you do? Or what would the average American do? I can imagine responses ranging from: “Call in the army, and let’s get even.” A lot of other people would say, “Elisabeth, that’s traumatic, you need to get out of there as soon as possible” And yet, Elisabeth stayed in Ecuador, and her, and her 3 year old daughter, and Rachel Saint, who was the sister of one of the martyrs, courageously and miraculously, made contact with the group who killed their family members. And eventually these women lived with the people in the jungle and led many of them to Christ. In fact, Steve Saint, whose father was one of the martyrs, eventually started spending his time in the jungle with this tribe…and as a young man, he was even baptized by the men who killed his father…as they had come to Christ. But none of that happens if we insist on taking vengeance into our own hands. …and we get on the throne, and say, “I am the judge!” The only way stories like this happen is if we can say, I AM NOT THE JUDGE, BUT THERE IS A JUDGE MY ROLE IS TO SURPRISE EVIL WITH FORGIVENESS That was 20 & 21, right? It’s in the text, let’s look: 20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. As the great Charles Spurgeon once said: “Returning good for evil, reflects great honor upon Christ. I do not know of anything which makes the blind world see so much of the glory of Christ as this.” – Charles Spurgeon …as the “surprise of forgiveness” …as when your family member hurts you, and they’re bracing for you to retaliate and you say, “I forgive you” “Why?!?” “Because Christ forgave me” OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD (Title Slide – The Rightful Judge) And there is such power in this Biblical truth. Power to change the world. I try and read at least one biography of a historical figure a year, and last year I read Martin Luther King Jr.’s biography. I wanted to read it because I think with a lot of famous historical figures, you know something from school or pop culture…but I always think, “How much do I really, truly know about them?” And it was a fascinating read. And many times his biographer contrasted King with Malcolm X who advocated a more aggressive approach to dealing with racism, and even a separation of races. But it was King who famously said: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." – Martin Luther King, Jr. That’s a principle drawn straight from Romans 12. The only way we overcome evil is through good, not more evil. The only way we overcome evil is through surprising it with forgiveness. And that very Biblical principle is part of the reason why Martin Luther King’s movement was so influential in the 1960’s. The part of King’s life that stands especially clear in my memory from the book…was from 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama when they were nonviolently protesting racial segregation of restaurants, bathrooms, and more… The authorities responded with attack dogs and by knocking down even black children with high powered water hoses. But what happened next was Romans 12:20 played out in real life. The part where Paul tells us that if we surprise people with forgiveness, you’ll “heap burning coals on their head” (that’s a metaphor for shame) Because what happened is the videos of the attack dogs and the fire hoses knocking down children were played on the nightly news across the country …and these videos awoke the sleeping conscience of a nation to the sin of racism and segregation… And (this is important) the surprise of forgiveness (by those who had been knocked down) woke up the nation in a way that revenge or violent protests never could. We are not to “be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good” And even still today, it’s the stories of forgiveness (not revenge) that grab our hearts and, as Spurgeon said, make Jesus look so appealing. Because that’s His story. (Title Slide – The Rightful Judge) It reminds me of the story of Amber Guyger Amber was an off duty police officer in Dallas who came home from work one night…and believing that she found an intruder inside her apartment, she shot and killed the man. However, turns out, she had, while not thinking, gotten off on the wrong floor, and accidentally entered into the wrong apartment…exactly one floor above hers. And the man she shot, was actually her neighbor directly above her, a 26 year old Christian named Botham. But what was most remarkable about this story is what happened after she was sentenced to jail. The brother of the man who was killed was allowed to make a statement in court to the woman who killed his brother, and this is what he said: (Botham Jean Brother Forgives Amber Guyger Video) (Title Slide – The Rightful Judge) You can’t do that if you don’t know Jesus Christ. And see that is what ultimately allows us to live in such counter cultural ways, and relinquish our supposed right to revenge. It’s because of what our Jesus did. The world was so cruel to him; unjustly so. They mocked him and hurled insults at him, and then brutally pounded nails through his body on the cross. And what did he say??? Did he say, “You wait until I come back? When I come back, I’m going to hunt every single one of you down!” No, He said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they’re doing” We must never forget that we are followers of the one who died for his enemies. And if your heart is still going, but I don’t know if I can forgive them… They feel like my enemy after what they’ve done to me….. Remember, the main point of this series is that IN VIEW OF HIS MERCY, we must never forget that WE were his enemies. So much of Jesus’ teaching is on this. Like in Matthew 18 where he tells the parable of the man who owed his master an enormous debt he could never repay, and yet the master had mercy on him and forgave him. And then that man went right out and demanded someone else pay him back a small debt!” Jesus is teaching that if you rightly understand that you were an enemy of God, and you owed him a debt of sin that you could never repay… …and yet, he came and paid it for you…forgiving all of your debt and sin. If you truly understand that, you can’t go out, to someone who hurt you, and say, “You’re my enemy, now you will pay!” I am not the judge; but there is a judge. And so I pray that each person who’s hurt you will find, what their eternal soul really needs…not payback, not revenge, but eternal life Let me pray. GOSPEL AT END OF SERVICE