Revenge

Sermon on the Mount Context

Jesus is redefining the purpose of the Law. It was never intended to be manipulated as obedience but was intended to bring life by having a pure and righteous heart.

The “book end” in Matthew 5 perfectly show Jesus’ meaning.

Matthew 5:20 “20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 5:48 “48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Paul later explains that the Law was never the problem or the solution. Our hearts have always been the problem. Jesus has always been the solution.

Romans 7:9-12 “9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”

Romans 7:21-25 “21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 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.”

Revenge/Payback Context

The OT law was very specific on payback/revenge.

Exodus 21:23-25 “23 But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”

Leviticus 24:19-20 “19 If anyone injures his neighbor, as he has done it shall be done to him, 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him.”

Deuteronomy 19:21 “21 Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”

This seems childish but it creates a “fair” justice system.

Humans have the potential and inclination to over-react and return harder hits for payback.

This law teaches that the punishment must fit the crime.

Stealing one ox results in paying back two oxen, the stolen one and one the match what the victim would have lost.

The NT does not deny this type of justice system.

Matthew 10:32-33 “32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”

1 Corinthians 3:17 “17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”

Once again, the original intention of the commandment is not wrong, nor intended to be used for wrongdoing, but was twisted and manipulated to fit the sinful desires of humanity. The commandment meant to create justice was skewed to “justify” sin.

A vindictive spirit is never appropriate in the Kingdom of God because it assumes the victim is judge, jury, and executioner.

Jesus’ Redefining

“Do not resist”

“Resist” does not mean “stay away from”

“Resist” means “fight, oppose”

Jesus does not say we should surround ourselves with evil but is teaching that we should not take fighting evil into our own hands. We are not little saviors running around fighting evil. We are Christians living as servants of our King.

In 1978, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were drafted into the NBA. The league had been growing but was really irrelevant. When these two were drafted the NBA skyrocketed. They were marketable, talented, exciting, and rivals. They are credited with “saving the NBA”. Neither one of them see themselves as saving anything, but just loved the game and wanted to play at a high level. The growth of the NBA was the responsibility of the NBA and Commissioner David Stern.

We should see ourselves similar to these basketball players. We are not striving to save anyone but are just doing what we know to do, serve our King. The byproduct of us doing that is the true Savior doing what he does.

We should not look to fight fires with a justified mindset from the Law’s “eye for an eye” justice system.

We sacrifice our rights.

We have every reason to defend ourselves but we give up that right so that God may be glorified.

1 Corinthians 9:12-15 “12 If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. 13 Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? 14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. 15 But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting.”

Our goal is not to force anyone’s hand, or get what we should, but to win some for the gospel.

We do the opposite of human nature.

More than a bad (or just) response, we are called to do good!

We must understand that God has given us all things therefore, we own nothing. All we have is a resource for reaching the lost and blessing God.

Jesus’ Example

The greatest example of not retaliating is Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion.

1 Peter 2:23 “23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”

Matthew 26:52-53 “52 Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. 53 Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?”

Luke 23:34 “34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.”

Conclusion

We cannot create ways around an obedient life that allow for sin. We have a responsibility to BE servants of the King.

We have to turn away from our sinful desires and seek to bless God and bring others to him.

Justice is not our responsibility. God is God and we are not.

2 Peter 2:4-10 “4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorio…”