Overcoming Evil with Good

Introduction

We turn once more to the Word of God because we know it to be the final authority over our lives and the only place where truth is not shaped by culture, but where culture is confronted by truth

For several weeks now we have been walking through Romans 12 and we have discovered that worship is far more than what happens in a song, or in a moment, or in a single gathering. Worship is a life, it is:

The offering of ourselves to God in view of His mercies

A mind that is being renewed

A heart that has been reshaped

A life that is now being lived differently in the world

Paul has shown us that true worship changes how we think, how we see ourselves, how we serve, how we love, how respond to one another, even how we respond to those who mistreat us.

If those changes are not happening you have not been worshiping, or you have been worshiping at a different altar.

Today we close this series still dealing with how we respond to people that mistreat us in view of His mercy. Because it is one thing to talk about love, it is another thing to live it when you are wronged.

It is one thing to speak about kindness, it is another thing to show it to someone who has made themselves your enemy. And this is where everything in us wants to push back.

That is because the natural response to evil is not goodness, it is retaliation. It is self-protection. It is creating distance. It is, at times, just quiet resentment that we justify because we were wronged.

But Paul does not lower the biblical standard to meet our instincts, he raises it to reflect Christ. As Scripture says,

Philippians 2:5 LSB

5 Have this way of thinking in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

So as he closes this section, he gives us one of the most countercultural commands in all of Scripture: We do not overcome evil by matching it. We overcome it by something the world does not understand: goodness.

Today we will discover that true worship is not proven in how we respond when life is easy, but in how we respond when we are wronged. (pray)

I. Worship Responds to Evil With Intentional Good(v. 20)

Romans 12:20 LSB

20 “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Overcoming evil with good can not remain an abstract idea and Paul makes sure of that. So he brings it to real tangible actions:

If your enemy is hungry feed him, if he is thirsty give him a drink. Notice that this is not a friend or a neighbor. This is not someone who is easy to love. It is an enemy.

This is the person who has opposed you, mistreated you, ridiculed you, spoken against you, wounded you, etc.

And Paul does not say avoid them, ignore them, or just forgive them internally, he says serve them.

This is intentional, active, costly goodness. It requires you to move toward the very person your flesh recoils from or at the very least tries to avoid.

It requires you to do good not when it is deserved, but precisely when it is not. Let’s be honest here, this is not natural. This is counterintuitive.

By nature we operate by a different logic: If you treat me well, I will treat you well. If you hurt me, I will distance myself from you, that is, if I don’t return the favor.

Neither of those responses belong the worshiper of the One and Only True God. Paul is calling us to a different way of living. One that reflects Christ. Jesus said,

Luke 6:27 LSB

27 “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

I do not know when we started thinking that somehow this was optional or reserved for the super spiritual.

This is the normal expression of a life that has been transformed by the mercy of God. And this is not new, for Paul is actually quoting from the OT

Proverbs 25:21 LSB

21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;

Now let us clear up a common misunderstanding. the second part of that passage reads, “For in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head” (v.20b)

Some hear that and think be nice to them now so you can really rain down hell on them later. This not what Paul is saying. It it were, it would contradict everything Paul has been saying. The point here is not punishment, its conviction.

There was an ancient Egyptian custom in which a person demonstrating public contrition carried a pan of burning coals on his head as a sign of guilt and repentance.

The idea here is that when believers lovingly help their enemies, there is a strong possibility that this would bring shame and perhaps even conviction for their hate and animosity.

The burning coals is an awaken conscience that would not let them rest which could lead them to repentance. Or at the very least, remove any justification for their behavior.

So this is not about getting back at someone, but about trusting God enough to respond in a way that He can use. And that takes faith.

I know this feels like: “If I do good to them, I’m letting them get away with it.” But the apostle told us last week that judgment belongs to God

And what God has called you to do is to reflect His character. And God’s kindness is not weakness, it is power

Romans 2:4 LSB

4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

The same principle is at work here. Your goodness, rooted in worship, becomes a tool in the hands of God.

So worship does not respond to evil by returning it, nor by doing nothing. It responds by doing good in a way that puts God on display. Which brings me to my 2nd point

II. Worship Wins by Refusing Evil’s Terms (v.21)

In this last verse, Paul gives the command that governs everything we just saw:

“Do not be overcome by evil…”

That means that evil is not just something out there. It is something that seeks to work it’s way into you. Let us look at Yahweh’s words of wisdom spoken to Cain:

“…sin is lying at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:7)

In other words, it is not just what is done to you. It is what begins to shape your response. Because the moment you respond to evil with retaliation, bitterness, resentment, or even cold indifference. You have already been overcome.

Even if you win the argument. Even if you have proven your point. Even if you have successfully gotten them back. You lost where it matters most.

The evil done to you has now multiplied, and you have now become an instrument of it. Evil did not just touch you. It shaped you. And that is precisely what Paul is warning against.

Do not let evil dictate your behavior because if you do, you become its instrument, you become its puppet. Do not let it set the terms. Do not let it pull you into its way of operating. Evil is not just destructive, it is highly contagious. It wants to reproduce in you.

“…but overcome evil with good.”

This is not passive, this is not weakness, this is warfare. This is real spiritual warfare, not like the world understands it. They think spiritual warfare is holding a wooden cross to Dracula, or something along those lines.

when we say “spiritual warfare,” that often conjures up images from the movie “The Exorcist.” But no this is real warfare for the adversary of your soul wants nothing more that for you to become an instrument in his hand.

So, you do not defeat evil by matching it. You defeat it by introducing something that evil is incapable of producing… goodness.

Victory is not domination or getting even. Victory is not having the last word. Victory is remaining Christlike when everything in you wants to respond otherwise. This is what God meant when he said to Cain that you must rule over it.

And this is exactly how Christ overcame:

1 Peter 2:23 LSB

23 who being reviled, was not reviling in return; while suffering, He was uttering no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.

At the cross evil did its worst. Sin managed to reach its fullest expression. It crucified the Lord of glory. There we saw injustice in full display. And Jesus did not respond with an angelic battalion in retaliation.

He responded with righteousness. He absorbed evil and answered it with good:

Isaiah 53:4–5 LSB

4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our peace fell upon Him, And by His wounds we are healed.

In so doing he did not lose… He won

“for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2)

Like I said, “He won.” That is why He tells us

“In this world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33)

go to Rom 8:37 more than conquerors

So when you respond with goodness, you are not being weak. You are walking in the very victory of Christ.

Sermon Conclusion:

Most people think that they are resisting evil, but they are actually being shaped by it. Bitterness feels justified. Retaliation feels natural. Withdrawal feels safe. But all those are ways of being overcome.

Instead of pondering the question, “how or were was I wronged?” I must ponder the question, “who is shaping my response. My flesh, or my Savior.

Worship refuses to let evil set the terms and instead answers with the goodness of God.

Series Conclusion:

We have covered a lot these 8 weeks, and all of it centered around the word worship–giving it its right, biblical definition.

Not something confined to a song, a moment, not measured by an emotion but worship as a life laid down before God. We have seen that worship begins at the altar presenting ourselves as living sacrifices in view of His mercy.

We have seen that worship continues in the mind, being transformed, no longer thinking the way the world thinks.

We have seen that worship reshapes how we see ourselves. How we serve and love one another. How we endure, and how we respond to those who mistreat us.

Worship is not proven in what we sing though we must sing. It is proven in how we live that which we sing. It is revealed in the ordinary moments. And it is tested in the difficult ones.

Especially when we are wronged because it is there, in that moment, that it becomes clear whether we are shaped by the world or transformed by the mercy of God.