Sermon Tone Analysis

*/Overcoming Evil/*

*/Romans 12:14 through Romans 12:21 (NIV)/*

14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

16Live in harmony with one another.

Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.

Do not be conceited.

17Do not repay anyone evil for evil.

Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.

18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

20On 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.”

21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

*Introduction:*

~*~*~*A little girl had misbehaved, and as a punishment, at supper time, her parents sat her down at a small table by herself in the corner of the dining room.

The rest of the family paid no notice to her, until suddenly they heard her praying over her meal with these words: "I thank You, Dear Lord, for preparing a table before me in the presence of my enemies!"

 

~*~*~*There was once a Bald Man who sat down after work on a hot

summer's day.

A Fly came up and kept buzzing about his bald pate,

and stinging him from time to time.

The Man aimed a blow at his

little enemy, but his palm came on his head instead; again the

Fly tormented him, but this time the Man was wiser and said:

 

"You will only injure yourself if you

take notice of despicable enemies."

Jesus' wisdom, however, is more profound.

For Jesus taught that

we were not to ignore our enemies but rather to love them!

I.                   Care about Everyone

A.    In hurts

/1.     /Your hurts

  "People need loving the most when they deserrve it the least."

- Mary Crowley

/2.     /Their hurts

 

~*~*~*In the eternal triangle of Christianity, God is first, others are second, and self is last.

"Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep."

(Rom 12:15)  Be sympathetic, tolerant, and understanding.

- Billy Graham, _The Secret Of Happiness_, pp.

178-79.

~*~*~*A lady answered the knock on her door to find a man with a sad expression.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, " he said, "but I'm collecting money for an unfortunate family in the neighborhood.

The husband is out of work, the kids are hungry, the utilities will soon be cut off, and worse, they're going to be kicked out of their apartment if they don't pay the rent by this afternoon."

"I'll be happy to help," said the woman with great concern.

"But who are you?"

"I'm the landlord," he replied.

- - - Leadership p. 44  1984 5~/2

B.     In Happiness

---We are never so small as when we find ourselves disturbed and unhappy about the success of another, whether they be friend, or enemy.

For some, it  is easy to commiserate with those who find themselves in unfortunate circumstances, but they find it difficult to rejoice in the welfare of others that takes them higher than they themselves have attained.

~*~*~* F. B. Meyer was pastor of Christ's Church in London at the same time that G. Campbell Morgan was pastor of Westminister Chapel and Charles H. Spurgeon was pastor of the Metropolitan Chapel.

Both Morgan and Spurgeon often had much larger audiences than did Meyer.

Troubled by envy, Meyer confessed that not until he began praying for his colleagues did he have peace of heart.

"When I prayed for their success," said Meyer, "the result was that God filled their churches so full that the overflow filled mine, and it has been full since."

C.    In Harmony

  In the Acts of the Apostles, Paul had a ministry among people of very different backgrounds.

"There was the Jew with his stubborn monotheistic orthodoxy, his rigorous moral standard and his passionate attachment to the ceremonial customs ...

There was the Greek, even in his decadence far more quick-witted and intellectually ingenious than the Jew, 'spending his time in nothing less but either to tell or to hear some new thing' ...

There was the Roman, singularly like us Anglo-Saxons in some of his characteristics, his respect for law and order, his downright matter-of-factness which could dismiss Paul's passionate convictions of the Resurrection as 'certain questions of their own superstition' ...

And beneath all these was the underworld of the slave-system, and the 'inferior races,' the laborers and dock hands of the Mediterranean ports."

This was the world of the NT as tough as most situations in our contemporary society.

But this was the world in which the Church was created!

  "Jew and Greek, 'outsider' and Roman citizen, slave and free man, found themselves drawn together into the life of a new community in which they found it possible to meet on terms first of mutual toleration, then of respect, finally of love.

The Spirit of Jesus had broken down the middle walls of partition."

- From "Winds of Change"   Quoted from F.A. Cockin,  27-28.

D.    In Humility

You can not have harmony without humility.

No person should consider themselves worth more, or more valuable to Christ than another.

~*~*~*During the American Revolution an officer in civilian clothes rode past a group of soldiers busy repairing a small redoubt.

Their commander was shouting instructions, but was making no attempt to help them.

Asked why, he replied with great dignity, "Sir, I am a Corporal!"

The stranger apologized, dismounted, and proceeded to help the exhausted soldiers himself.

When the job was completed he turned to the corporal and said "Mr.

Corporal, next time you have a job like this, and not enough men to do it, go to your commander in chief, and I will come and help you again."

Too late, the corporal recognized General Washington.

~*~*~*Andrew Murray said, "The humble man feels no jealousy or envy.

He can praise God when others are preferred and blessed before him.

He can bear to hear others praised while he is forgotten because...he has received the spirit of Jesus, who pleased not Himself, and who sought not His own honor.

Therefore, in putting on the Lord Jesus Christ he has put on the heart of compassion, kindness, meekness, longsuffering, and humility."

Humble people are not conscious of being humble.

As Dr. M. R. De Haan used to say, "Humility is something we should constantly pray for, yet never thank God that we have."

II.

Contain the Damage

A.    Refuse revenge

~*~*~* During World War II the U. S. submarine Tang surfaced under the cover of darkness to fire upon a large Japanese convoy off the coast of China.

Since previous raids had left the American vessel with only eight torpedoes, the accuracy of every shot was absolutely essential.

The first seven missiles were right on target; but when the eighth was launched, it suddenly deviated and headed right back at their own ship.

The emergency alarm to submerge rang out, but it was too late.

Within a matter of seconds, the U. S. sub received a direct hit and sank almost instantly.

In much the same way we can destroy ourselves by hostility toward others.

The effects of holding a grudge are very serious.

Modern medicine has shown that emotions like bitterness and anger can cause problems such as headaches, backaches, allergic disorders, ulcers, high blood pressure, and heart attacks, to name just a few.

When we do not love our enemies but strike back at them, we are usurping Gods's prerogative to mete out justice.

We read in the Bible, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord!"

By seeking revenge, we really inflict great harm on ourselves.

B.     Retain respectability

~*~*~*   I have no little admiration for William Tecumseh Sherman.

I think the wreath, that the sculptor represents as resting on his brow in that noble statue at the entrance to Central Park in New York, rests there deservedly.

He was not only the planner and executor of remarkable campaigns but a man of quick and scintillating intellect, not only a prophet of the times but a principal actor.