I want to offer up the opportunity for anyone to write what they think about the topic preached on the previous Friday, or any Friday.
I will do my best to add my thoughts and responses, and I hope the others will do as well.
Such as a question that was asked of me after my message on 1 Peter 3:8-12.
“I know that we are to bless when we are insulted or someone does evil to us, but how does that relate to when someone commits a crime against us?”
This is a great question that I think we all could benefit from. So why don’t we get this going so that we all will help in our sanctification, remember, we are sanctified as individuals as well as a body.
My response is below:
As far as someone committing a crime towards you, and how you respond, there are a few things to consider.
There are certain things that people do to us that we can just let go of and love them, say for instance the analogy of the husband cheating on his wife.
But then there are other things that people do to us that isn’t only us that are affected. Some crimes will go beyond the personal, say for instance if someone were to break into your home, you would call the police, and if that person got arrested and you decided not to press charges, the state would probably take over and pursue prosecution. Because that isn’t only a crime to you, but to the state since they broke the state law.
In Romans 13 Paul talks about how we are to submit to the Government and obey because they are a messenger from God to reward good and punish evil.
Paul also says in Ephesians 5 that we are not to partake in any evil deeds, but expose them.
So I would say when dealing with someone who wrongs you or commits a crime toward you, you can look at it like this:
What is the severity of it, is it something that love can cover?
Are you the only one effected, and if not then for the sake of state justice, report it?
Obey your conscience, if your conscience doesn’t feel right about something, don’t do it.
But ultiimately you want to make sure that you are not taking matters into your own hands and desiring someone punished because they have wronged you, that is where it would break down, because then it is personal and you would be returning the evil for evil.
But if you seek to honor God, and the state, then you have the right to hand the case over to the courts.
I think as Christian, we should be very passive when it comes to evil, but we are not called to be doormats, we are called to be godly.
I hope this helps.
This is from John Macarthur’s message on this passage and I think it gets to the heart of the issue.
http://www.gty.org/Resources/transcripts/60-33
Now you know what that all sums up to? One word, it starts with “F,” what is it? Forgive them. That’s the all-encompassing term because that’s what allows you to respond in that way. It amounts to forgiveness, unselfish, forgiving, gracious, merciful love to someone who harms us.
I always think of my brother-in-law, Duane Rey, many of you know him. He had a son, of course, all of us who knew loved in a special way Tim. And I think of Tim as a vibrant, enthusiastic, dynamic Christian young man. He was a star volleyball player at Northridge, very involved in Grace Church. Not a few years ago, just a few years ago, he was working in a market, a man on drugs came into the market over in Sun Valley and pulled a gun and murdered him when he tried to protect another checker from this guy who was robbing the place. And I remember the night that I received a phone call and said, “Tim’s been shot and he’s dead.” I’ll never forget it. And to watch the scenario unfold and the unbelievable loss of this young man’s life, a young man who was idolized by many, including my own children, who was in many ways a role model for other young man, and I watched Duane dealing with this and had a number of conversations with him. And always his concern was, “Somehow I have got to get into the jail to reach this man who killed my son in order to present to him the gospel.” That was always Duane’s concern.
And as I remember, Patricia, he had the opportunity to do that. That is a forgiving heart. Unimaginably for those of us who are parents but that is the forgiving heart toward one who has murdered your son. That’s the right response.
