Sermon series: Behaving Like a Christian
Subject: A Christian’s Treatment of His Enemies

Romans 12:20 21
"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. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
Matthew 5:43-48
"Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans do the same? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
Exodus 23:4
"If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to take it back to him."
Proverbs 24:17
"Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice."
Proverbs 25:21-22
"If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you."

In our last lesson, we considered Paul’s admonition concerning vengeance. "Repay no one evil for evil" was his advice, because all retaliation is to be left to Almighty God. He will take care of the settlement of accounts.
Then Paul continues: "If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men."
The first thing we notice about Paul’s challenge to Christians to live a life of peace is his sobering realism. He begins, "If it is possible" and "as far as it depends on you."

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This way of speaking recognizes two potential sources of difficulty: (1) the behavior of other people may negate peace and (2) there may be issues at stake that will make peace impossible even from the side of the Christian.
For example, truth cannot be bartered away or sacrificed just to maintain peace. Purity cannot be violated. Injustice cannot be condoned. James 3:17 says, "The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace-loving..." So a prior, necessary Christian commitment to purity, truth, honesty, justice, and other indispensable matters may make peace unattainable.
Realism recognizes that this is a very wicked world. It knows that evil exists and affirms that it must be resisted by all right-thinking people, sometimes even to the point of armed conflict.
We also need realism of a positive nature: We should realize that some things contribute to peace just as other things cause conflict and that, if we are Christians, we need to be on the side of the one rather than the other.
Here is some practical realism from the Book of Proverbs:
(1) "Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers all wrongs." (Proverbs 10:12)
(2) "A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult." (Proverbs 12:16)
(3) "Fools mock at making amends for sin, but goodwill is found among the upright." (Proverbs 14:9)
(4) "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." (Proverbs 15:1)
(5) "He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends." (Proverbs 17:9)
(6) "Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out." (Proverbs 17:14)
(7) "An angry man stirs up dissension." (Proverbs 29:22)
These verses tell us many things we can do to promote or encourage peace even if the other person does not want it.
History proves abundantly that men are selfish by nature. The first pages of our Bible are stained by abominable hatred that ended in the murder of Abel by Cain.
Our verse says: "Live peaceably with all men." There can be no doubt of the fact that this exhortation has been honored more in the breach than in the obedience. How disastrous has been the splintering of Christendom into a welter of sects! This could not have occurred if men had obeyed what is set before

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us here; the division can be healed only as men yield obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. In the earliest days of the Church men began to divide into parties. How terrible that Paul must write to the believers in Corinth, "It is reported to me that there is quarreling among you, my brethren. What I mean is that each one of you says, ‘I belong to Paul’ or ‘I belong to Apollos," or ‘I belong to Peter,’ or ‘I belong to Christ.’" Such a state of affairs could never have occurred if men had been truly yielded to the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is some truth to the complaint that Christians have not always been a peace-loving people!
Wars among nations are seldom in our control. But what about the battles that have divided Christians from Christians?
In 1054 the Eastern Orthodox church divided from the Catholic church over one word in the Nicene Creed, FILIOQUE. It means "and the Son," and it had to do with whether it is right to say that the Holy Spirit proceeds "from the Father and the Son", or whether the Holy Spirit proceeds only "from the Father."
The leaders of the reformation divided over how Jesus was present in the communion service, Martin Luther insisting on a literal physical presence ("This is My body," Mathew 26:26) and Zwingli on a mere remembrance ("Do this in remembrance of Me," Luke 22:19).
Some divisions within the church have been based on important matters of theology and practice. But many are not, and the self-righteous, antagonistic, fighting spirits that lie behind these unnecessary divisions and perpetuate them are a scandal among those who profess to follow Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers" (Matthew 5:9). He asserted, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:35)
A medical doctor made the following observation: "Using the analogy of the human body, there are some diseases that can spread infection throughout the body of Christ.
The mind can become swollen with pride. The heart can grow cold and indifferent because of sin. The digestive system can get clogged by sterile theory and unapplied theology, so the body can’t digest what needs to be turned into energy or eliminate what needs to be released. When that occurs we start to fight among ourselves or we lose our equilibrium and find ourselves unable to stay balanced...
Sometimes a dreaded thing occurs in the body, a mutiny, resulting in a tumor.

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a tumor is called benign if its effect is fairly localized and it stays within membrane boundaries. But the most traumatizing condition in the body occurs when disloyal cells defy inhibition. They multiply without any checks on growth, spreading rapidly throughout the body, choking out normal cells. White cells, armed against foreign invaders, will not attack the body’s own mutinous cells. Physicians fear no other malfunction more deeply; it is called cancer. For still mysterious reasons, these cells--and they may be cells from the brain, liver, kidney, bone, blood, skin or other tissues--grow wild, out of control. Each is a healthy, functioning cell, but disloyal, no longer acting in regard for the rest of the body.
Even white cells, the dependable palace guard, can destroy the body through rebellion. Sometimes they recklessly reproduce, clogging the bloodstream, overloading the lymph system, strangling the body’s normal functions--such is leukemia.
Because I am a surgeon and not a prophet, I tremble to make the analogy between cancer in the physical body and mutiny in the spiritual body of Christ. But I must. In His warnings to the Church, Jesus Christ showed no concern about the shocks and bruises His Body would meet from external forces. "The gates of hell shall not prevail against my Church," He said flatly (Matthew 16:18). He moved easily, unthreatened, among sinners and criminals. But He cried out against the kind of disloyalty that comes from within.
Unity and love for one another--there are few doctrines more important than these! Because the Church is under constant attack, we need to be good students of the instructions of Scripture that admonish unity and harmony in Christ’s body. Because we are fellow members of the body, we need to apply ourselves to mutual harmony. And because disease can diminish the effectiveness of the body, we must maintain habits of health and a consistent program of exercise in harmony with God’s body-building program.
Remember our text: "If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men."
When we commenced our lesson, we quoted the words of Jesus from His Sermon on the Mount. "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ "But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you; and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you."
To the ordinary person this passage describes essential Christianity in action, and even

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the person who never darkens the door of the church knows that Jesus said this, and very often condemns the professing Christian for falling so far short of its demands.
What does Jesus mean when He tells us to love our enemies?
Our New Testament was written in Greek, a language rich in synonyms. Its words often have shades of meaning which English does not possess. In Greek, there are four different words for LOVE.
(1) STORGE. It is a word used to express the love of a family, the love of a parent for the child and a child for a parent. It is the word of family affection.
(2) EROS. It is the word used to describe the love of man for a maid which includes the thought of passion and sexual love. This word does not occur in the New Testament.
(3) PHILIA. This is the warmest word for love for it describes real love and affection for one’s nearest and dearest friend. It is the word underlying true friendship.
(4) AGAPE. If we regard a person with agape love, it means that no matter what that person does to us, no matter how he treats us, no matter if he insults us or injures us or grieves us, we will never allow any bitterness against him to invade our hearts, but will regard him with that unconquerable benevolence and goodwill which will seek nothing but his highest good.
Jesus never asked us to love our enemies in the same way as we love our dearest and our nearest. The very word is different; to love our enemies in the same way as we love those dearest would neither be possible nor right. This is a different kind of love.
Wherein does the main difference lie?
In the case of our nearest and dearest we cannot help loving them; we speak of falling in love; it is something which comes to us quite unsought; it is something which is born of the emotions of the heart.
But in the case of our enemies, love is not only something which we cannot help; it is something which we have to will ourselves into doing. It is a fact of victory over that which comes instinctively to the natural man.
Agape does not mean a feeling of the heart, which we cannot help, and which comes unbidden and unsought; it means a determination of the mind, whereby we achieve this unconquerable goodwill even to those who hurt and injure us. AGAPE, someone has said, is the power to love those whom we do not like and who may not like us. In point of fact we can only have agape when Jesus Christ enables us to conquer our natural tendency

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to anger and to bitterness, and to achieve this invincible goodwill to all men.
Jesus laid it down that this is the kind of love that must exist in human relationships. And this commandment is only possible for Christians. Only the grace of Jesus Christ can enable a man to have this unconquerable benevolence and this invincible love in his personal relationships with other people. It is only when Jesus Christ lives in our hearts that bitterness will die and this kind of love comes to life. "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us." (Romans 5:5)
Every person who has received and trusted in Jesus Christ is indwelt by the Holy Spirit and the fruit of His indwelling is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance."
Jesus included other actions on the part of the Christian which must be a part of his response to his enemy. He must bless him and pray for him! No man can pray for another person and still hate him. When he takes himself and the man whom he is tempted to hate to God, something happens. We cannot go on hating another man in the presence of God!
Concerning the act of blessing someone, our text in Romans 12:20 tells us: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink." Then Paul added a statement which is hard to interpret..."In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."
When we behave as Christians should, we heap coals of fire upon the heads of our enemies!
This ancient proverb must be considered in several ways. First, the coals of fire can be considered words of hatred that are poured upon us, and which we do not return. In the Proverbs, we read, "A worthless man plots evil, and his speech is like scorching fire" (Proverbs 16:27). Then, further, we must understand this proverb as an illustration of either of two results in the life of the enemy. He speaks or does evil against us, and we respond with kindness and love. The man may be melted into repentance or he may be hardened. If our enemy curses us, we are to bless him; if he uses us spitefully and persecutes us, we are to do good to him and pray for him. Perhaps this will melt him down, and he may come to live in the love of God.
Professor Hodge gives us his interpretation of this difficult phrase or proverb. He writes: "Doing good to one’s enemy is the best means of subduing him or winning him. To heap coals of fire on anyone is a punishment which no one can bear; he must yield to it. Kindness is no less effectual; the

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most malignant enemy cannot always withstand it. The true and Christian method therefore, to subdue an enemy is to overcome evil with good."
One of the finest illustrations of this truth in the Bible is that in the life of David when he was treated evilly by King Saul. Could there have been a more relentless enemy than that wicked king, Saul? Could any foe have more persistently pursued a man than Saul did David? Yet when Saul slept in a cave where David was hiding, David would not take advantage of his enemy. David cut off the edge of the king’s robe and used it to prove his love to the king.
Listen to him crying out after the king as the latter left the cave, unaware that a piece had been cut from his garment. "My Lord the king!" David called out after him. "And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth, and did obeisance. And David said to Saul, "Why do you listen to the words of men who say, "Behold, David seeks your hurt?" Lo, this day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you today into my hand in the caves; and some bade me kill you, but I spared you. I said, ‘I will not put forth my hand against my Lord; for he is the Lord’s anointed’... May the Lord therefore be judge, and give sentence between me and you, and see to it, and plead my cause, and deliver me from your hand" (1 Samuel 24:8-15).
Now this was not boasting, this was not arrogance. David, though himself anointed by God to be king, would not speak or act against the ruling king. He was surely heaping coals of fire upon the head of Saul. Read the result!
"When David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, ‘Is this your voice, my son David?’ And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. He said to David, ‘You are more righteous than I for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil. And you have declared this day how you have dealt well with me, in that you did not kill me when the Lord put me into your hands. For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safe? So may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day’" (1 Samuel 24:16-19).
We are not to consider what others deserve to suffer, but what we are required to do as Christians. As to the use that others will make of our kindness, that is no concern of ours; we have only to obey God and leave all events to Him!
We cannot leave this ancient proverb with

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out turning to its most terrible side. We are in this world not only to witness to those who will be moved by our actions and our words, but also to witness in the judgment that will ultimately descend upon those who know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The believer is a savor of death unto death to those who will not believe.
"But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumph, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life" (2 Corinthians 2:14-16).
Now we come to the closing verse in Romans 12. "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
Verse 14 tells us that we are not to speak badly of another person but rather to speak good instead. In verse 17, Paul tells us that we are not to retaliate for evil done to us. That concerns actions. At the end, in verse 21, he takes us beyond anything we might anticipate and tells us that not only are we not to retaliate for evil done to us, but that we are actually to do good to others and, amazingly, actually to overcome the evil of those persons by our good conduct.
The verse has two parts. The first says, "Do not be overcome by evil." That is the negative. The second part says, "But overcome evil with good." That is the positive.
Paul gives us the secret of overcoming evil in Ephesians 6:10-18. "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand, stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peaces above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." (Ephesians 6:10-18)