Resisting Retaliation

This is the second week of our pulpit exchange and today we are going to welcome Pastor Rhett Crabtree, who I knew before his clerical collar days when we were in rival bands in Marion. Somewhere in the interim he became a pastor. He's currently the pastor of All Souls Church in Green Camp, though he has pastored also in Scotland and Michigan. He's here with part of his family.

We've got James here and Audrey. Aubrey. Audrey. Sorry, Rhett. Please welcome Pastor Rhett. Well, good morning to you.

It's very good to be with you again. Let me have you take your Bibles and turn to the fifth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, Matthew chapter 5. And we're going to be reading a brief passage there. As you're finding your place, let me thank you for the opportunity to be with you once again. It's one thing, you know, to be invited to speak at a church.

It's quite a different thing to be invited a second time. It doesn't often happen. So, at least it doesn't often happen for me. So it's good to be with you again. We're reading here from God's Word, Matthew chapter 5. and we're starting in verse 38 and reading through verse 42. Hear this, the word of the Lord.

Jesus says, You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

Give to the one who begs from you and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. God's word from Matthew chapter 5 verses 38 through 42. I encourage you to leave your Bibles open as I don't expect you to take my word for anything that I'm going to say this morning but please test it by this section of God's word that we have read. We're considering this passage this morning under the heading of resisting retaliation.

Resisting retaliation. Someone once told me that the easiest time for us to sin against others is immediately after they have sinned against us We call that retaliation don we The easiest time for us to sin against others is immediately after they've sinned against us. So, gentlemen, let's think, for example, that at some point in your life, I'm fairly confident I could say you've been involved in a physical altercation.

I hope it wasn't earlier this morning or even last week, but maybe when you were a boy on the playground at school. You got into a scrap with some other boy. Maybe he started it, maybe you started it, I don't know. But there was a physical altercation. Or maybe you grew up, you had a number of siblings in the house, you had a number of brothers, let's say, and you got into a scrap with them.

Well, regardless of the actual circumstances of that, let me ask you the question, at what point in that fight did you find it easiest to punch your opponent in the jaw? The answer is, most likely, immediately after he punched you in the jaw. And what's true for the men is true for you ladies who are here this morning. I trust none of you have been in fist fights, but these are egalitarian times that we live in.

Some of you may have been biker babes in a former life and gotten to a scrap down at the local biker bar. I don't know. I would like to think not, but here's what I'm fairly confident of, that you ladies would certainly know what it is to have experienced a verbal fight with another a woman. And as you think of a particular occasion when you had such a verbal altercation with another woman, I'll ask you a similar question to what I asked the men.

At what point in that verbal fight did you find it easiest to call your opponent a rude name? And the answer is probably immediately after she called you a rude name first. She said, you are this or you are that. You said, no, no, no, you are this and you are that. You see, the point is that the time we find it easiest to sin against others is immediately after they have sinned against us.

And we call that sin very specifically the sin of retaliation. Now, we read earlier in the service, very fittingly, I think, from 1 John chapter 5. And John was saying there something that really relates to what we're talking about this morning. He said, here is, if you allow me to paraphrase, proof that a person really knows God. Here is proof that a person really has spiritual life.

They'll stop sinning. But John isn't advocating sinless perfection or anything like that. But what he is saying is that there will be a trajectory that the true child of God is on They will be turning from sin and it will be evident to the pattern of their life and that includes by the way the sin of retaliation if you think of this passage we read here in Matthew 5 we note that it here in those verses that the Lord is directing our attention to this sin of retaliation Matthew 5 is part of a broader section that goes through chapter 7 of course that we call the sermon on the mount the context of that sermon or i should say the audience of that sermon was people like you this morning it was aimed at disciples it wasn't aimed at the crowds the unbelieving world this is a sermon that was specifically for disciples we see that in chapter 5 and verse 1 of matthew's gospel seeing the crowds he went up on the mountain and when he sat down his disciples came to him verse 2 and he opened his mouth and taught them he was teaching the disciples you see The crowds were free to come and listen.

But this was a message specifically for disciples. It's addressed to followers of Christ. It's addressed to Christians today. And in this passage that we've read, and indeed in the surrounding section within the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus is telling us how we turn from sin. He's saying, in other words, here is how you should live as members of my kingdom.

And here specifically he touches on the need to resist retaliation. The Lord says in our passage, as it relates to this sin of retaliation, retaliation has absolutely no place in the life of the genuine believer. We live in a world that says that revenge is a dish best served cold. Jesus says to his followers, revenge is a dish best left unserved altogether, if you're going to follow me.

Now, as we begin to unpack the meaning of this text, we want to note that there are three unusual phrases. They're not unusual because they're unknown to us. In fact, they've become more or less proverbial or idiomatic in our culture. But they are unusual in the sense that Jesus is using hyperbolic or extreme language here to make his point. Now, we want to understand what each of these three phrases mean and how they relate to the broader topic of retaliation.

The phrases in our text are, first of all, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Again, not unknown to us, but a little unusual as we seek to understand its meaning. The second phrase that Jesus says here is do not resist the one who is evil And a third phrase that he uses or at least the way we put it is turn the other cheek An eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth do not resist the one who is evil and turn the other cheek.

Again, we want to understand these three things, and we want to understand their meaning as Jesus uses them here, and we want to do so that we might understand how it relates to refraining from the sin of retaliation. So we take the first of those unusual phrases, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Look at verse 38, if you would. You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

And if we skip ahead to verse 39, but I say to you. You've heard it said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say to you. Pause there. It's at this point that a critic of the Bible steps boldly to the plate and he announces his verdict as he reads what Jesus says in verse 38. they say triumphantly here is an obvious contradiction in the Bible an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but I say unto you you see says the critic if he knows his Bible often times critics don't know their Bible if they did they wouldn't be critics but this particular critic does know his Bible and he says now in the Old Testament three different times in Exodus in Leviticus and in Deuteronomy Moses speaking on behalf of God specifically said to the people an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

He said, this is a principle you must adopt and you must employ. But, the critic continues, here's Jesus, and he seems to be saying, you shouldn't take an eye for an eye and you shouldn't take a tooth for a tooth. So what do you have to say about that, says the critic, as he steps away triumphantly, looking around for applause, presumably. Well, we say to him, first of all, the point you've just made does not represent a contradiction in the Bible at all. and secondly it doesn't represent a contradiction because of what it actually says does jesus say in verse 38 or anywhere else in the bible does does he say that the eye for eye and tooth for tooth principle of the old testament has no place in the christian's life is that what he's saying absolutely not jesus as a matter of fact isn't undoing this principle he's actually reinforcing it.

He's actually commending it to his audience. This is his manner of teaching, by the way, in the Sermon on the Mount. Let me make the point here a little more broadly. He speaks against anger in verse 21, right? If you look there, chapter 5, verse 21, you have heard it said to those of old. you shall not murder. I would say to you that though that was part of the Old Testament law, the Lord is mentioning it to commend it to his audience.

He's saying, you've heard, you know, just as I know, as everybody knows, it's wrong to murder. He's not undoing the principle or the command, is he? And later in verse 27, when he uses a similar method of teaching and he says, you've heard it said you shouldn't commit adultery. The Lord Jesus certainly isn't saying, well, that's what they thought back in the old days, but now that I've come, do whatever you like.

That's not what he's saying. He's commending the principle to his audience. In the same way, in verse 38, he's doing the same thing. You have heard it said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. And by implication, he's saying, and that is right and proper. We understand that, and we understand why it's good.

Let me say to you very, very bluntly here, very, very bluntly, that the Lord Jesus was and he is all for an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth when properly understood and when placed in its proper context. And there's nothing in the words of Christ or in the words of his apostles that would tell us otherwise. That means we need to understand what this principle means and where it comes from and how it's rightly applied and how it relates to revenge.

Do you remember in the Law of Moses way back in the beginning of the Bible where this eye for eye, tooth for tooth principle comes in. Do you remember why it was given in the first place? Well, it was given as a kind of principle, a command, if you like, that God had given to his old covenant people, Israel, and it was to govern justice and the civil courts of that day.

By the way, I believe this is still a principle that should be embraced in society at large today, whether it's a secular society or it's a religious society or whatever. This is a good principle for us to employ. The Lord gave it to Israel to ensure that justice would take place. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. He gave it that justice would be what we call retributive, that the punishment would suit the crime.

He gave it to the nation of Israel to ensure that justice would be just. And it wouldn be the kind of so justice the brutality of the surrounding nations you know The Canaanites weren eye for eye tooth for tooth people They were people who said you take my eye I take your life God said it will not be so with you, my people. Canaanites said, you knock my tooth out, you lose your life.

God says, no. For my people, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. We see this principle throughout the Old Testament. You remember how it was? If there was a man who was a thief, for example, in the Old Testament. Take Exodus 22, somewhere in that neighborhood.

We can think of the laws that are given there. We apply it to a specific context. The context is here is a farmer. He lives next door to another farmer. They both own cows. He looks over at his neighbor's cows and he says, I think I like my neighbor's cows better than I like my cow.

And that covetousness gives way to theft. He goes and actually takes two of his neighbor's cows. And farmer one is caught as a thief. And what was the punishment? Well, it was eye for eye, tooth for tooth. the punishment had to fit the crime the punishment for the cow thief was not death by firing squad the punishment was restitution you must return to farmer number two his two cows and you must give him two of your own so that you will know what it's like to have to do without two cows you were going to deprive him, you must live in that way now eye for eye, tooth for tooth it's crucial for the maintenance of a healthy society On one hand, it assures that criminals will not be treated criminally, that the authorities will treat criminals with justice, that criminals, though they are criminals, will be protected from malice and vengefulness and heavy-handed retaliation.

And on the other hand, this principle protects society as a whole. How? Here's how. Because just laws, justly enforced, deter crime. And just laws, justly enforced, purge evil from the land. Just laws, justly enforced, help citizens take confidence in their civil authorities.

By the way, if we have a rise in crime in our age, if there is an abundance of evil in our land, and if people don't have much confidence in their civil authorities, it might say something about the fact that we've strayed from this eye-for-eye, tooth-for-tooth principle. That perhaps we don't have just laws that are justly enforced in many occasions. But more than this, this eye-for-eye, tooth-for-tooth principle ensures that within society as a whole, according to Deuteronomy 19 that there will be instilled a fear of the Lord through just laws in society justly enforced This eye for eye tooth for tooth principle is a good one Jesus says He says you heard it said so you know it written and you know it true That's what he's saying in essence.

It was to govern the old covenant people, it's to govern us today, it's to govern society as a whole. Now all that's fine and good information, but now we ask ourselves, all right, but how does that relate to us as disciples and how does that relate to this theme of us turning away from retaliation? Well, here's how. Jesus is saying this principle still applies.

The punishment is to fit the crime. And that means that we need to be very careful as Christian people that we don't indulge in heavy handed reactions to the least little paper cut that someone deals upon us. It means that as the Lord's people, we need to understand that he is forbidding us the cold pleasure of a vengeful spirit when someone is wrong.

We need to understand that as the Lord's people, the Lord is forbidding us to engage in retaliation of any kind. Now, notice how he builds on this theme with the next phrase that he adds. He says, do not resist the one who is evil. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth. And now he continues on teaching and he says, do not resist the one who is evil. And here he's showing us that even as we want to apply this eye for eye, tooth for tooth principle, We don't want to respond to people with heavy-handed retaliation.

Now he goes on and says, you've even got to go further beyond that as my followers. He's saying there's a sense in which you have to adopt an attitude that goes well beyond this eye for eye, tooth for tooth thing. Well beyond justice, if you like. Do not resist the one who's evil. Look at the flow of his thought, verse 38. You've heard that it was said, an eye for eye, tooth for tooth.

But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil. For the law says eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Jesus says, but I say, do not resist an evil man. So the former is saying there's this ban on retaliation, this ban on heavy-handed retaliation. It exists, it always will. It exists at a level of society.

It exists at the individual level if you're going to be my follower. But in the latter, where he says don't resist an evil man, he's saying, once again, you have to go beyond the letter of the law. You see? You're going to be my follower. follower. It's not just that you've obeyed the letter of the law. You've got to go and you've got to honor the spirit of the law as well.

It's not enough that you just physically restrain from retaliation He says you must go further You must seek to do positive good even to those who would harm you Now at this point we might throw up our hands in frustration and we would say to the Lord now Lord Jesus, I trust you and I love you and I want to be your follower, but where on earth am I to see an example of this kind of thing? This is otherworldly, this is not natural to, if I could put it this way, my human nature. My nature loves the idea of revenge.

It loves popping somebody in the chops when they pop me in the chops first. So where am I to see an example of this sort of thing, not resisting the one who is evil? I take you out to a hill on which there is a cross. And on the cross there is a man. And the man is nailed to the cross. He's bleeding.

He's dying. His life is ebbing away. And even as he is in that position, bleeding and dying, there are those around him mocking him as he died, making fun of his suffering. And worse, there are those at the foot of the cross who are gambling for this man's last earthly possession, namely the garment that he wore. And what is the response of the man on the cross?

Father, forgive them. for they don't know what they do. You want an example of how not to resist the one who is evil? Just as the Lord's words in this passage are our guide, his life is our example. There's a third phrase here that we need to take note of. An eye for eye, tooth for tooth, do not resist the one who is evil. But thirdly, turn the other cheek.

At least that's how we put it. But look how verse 39 puts it. Jesus doesn't state it quite like that. and of course words matter don't they he says in verse 39 if anyone slaps you on note the phrase the right cheek he's very specific isn't he if anyone slaps you on the right cheek turn to him the other also as we said words matter we need to understand exactly what Jesus is talking about here the picture I think is of two people one is being very aggressive these people are standing toe to toe and the aggressive person lands a blow on the right cheek of his opponent.

He lands a blow on the right cheek. Do you know why that's odd? Think about it, you'll get it. It's odd because We live in a world where the vast majority of people are right-handed. And that means when a blow lands, it lands on the left cheek if you're face-to-face, doesn't it? It doesn't land on the right cheek.

But Jesus clearly says, no, no, no, if someone slaps you on the right cheek. And by the way, notice, notice, even as he specifies right cheek, he also specifies the type of blow. It's called, at least it's translated here in the ESV, a slap. This isn't a punch, this isn't a jab. It isn't a haymaker that comes in. Jesus says it's a slap, a very specific kind of blow.

Presumably, if two men are standing toe-to-toe, and there's a slap that lands on the man's right cheek, it would be a backhanded slap, wouldn't it? You see? No one's going to slap you like that. Not if they're really trying to harm you. But like that, this that Jesus is speaking about here seems to be a backhanded slap. You say, well, it's a wonderful Sherlock Holmes impression you've just done, tracking all that down.

But what does it actually mean? What does it matter? Well, it does matter. It matters because in the first century culture, to these men that Jesus was speaking to, namely his followers who were men of the first century, a backhanded slap was an affront to a man's manhood. It was an insult. An insult to his honor.

And similarly, to a lesser extent, even today, a backhanded slap to a person's face remains an embarrassing thing. I mean, something a little bit more dignified, if men are standing toe-to-toe and he's just going to take an honest swing at you and pop you in the nose, than if he's going to backhand you. It's an insult, you see. I was 19 years old once. half my life ago, literally.

It was on a Saturday. It was North Main Street in Marion, Ohio, about this time of year, and it was a beautiful late morning on that Saturday. I was driving in my 1986 Mustang GT with the mag wheels and the dual exhaust and the windows down, and I thought the only thing that could possibly make this day any better was if I had an ice Dr Pepper So I pulled into the Smith Cardinal grocery store Some of you may remember the Smith Cardinal Grocery Store It used to be called Smith Royal Blue It sat there on North Main Street in Marion.

And I was going down North Main Street because I was going to see my girlfriend. I married her, by the way. She's my wife now, but she lived out up by Morrill and Brush Ridge in that area, and I was going up to see her and thought I'd get a bottle of pop on the way. Pulled into the grocery store and stopped there and I get out and I was going, towards the door and as I was walking towards the door across the parking lot I noticed a lady coming out of the grocery store.

She looked very mean. She's one of those ladies who has no neck. And she was holding two bags of groceries like this. And she just looked mean. I'm telling you she looked mean. And behind her there was a little boy who I assumed was her son and I think I was right in making that assumption.

And he was pathetic. He was not wearing a shirt. He had a pair of sandals on, curly blonde hair, but he looked like he desperately needed a bath. And I felt sorry for him just looking at him. And he was trying to help his mom. He was coming behind her, and he had this big glass jar that, you know, like a big jar of pickles or applesauce or something like that.

And he was carrying it, trying to help. And as he stepped over the threshold and onto the black top. He was wearing these sandals and a sandal caught on a loose piece of black top and he fell. And as he fell, the jar went in the air and the jar seemed to hang in the air for quite a while before it landed and it broke and it made a terrible mess. And the boy was laying on the ground.

He'd hurt himself and he was crying. And I still remember the reaction of his mother. she just dropped both of the bags and she turned to the boy who's laying on the ground crying and she begins to cuss at him and to shout at him and all of these kind of things and it stopped me in my tracks and I just watched she made a gesture with her arm at first I thought she was going to help him up but no she pulled her arm back and she backhanded the boy right across the face now that was as I said half of my life ago literally And it made an impression on me I don't remember very many things very clearly. I remember that very clearly.

And it wasn't just that here was a mother who had been unkind to a child, or here was a mother who had used profane language which was inappropriate to use, particularly with a child, let alone anyone else. It wasn't that here was a little boy who just made a mistake and he tripped and now she wounded him emotionally but it was that she had added insult to injury by slapping him in that way back handing him across the face and if I had to guess that little boy who today might be 28, 29, 30 years old living somewhere, I don't know where if I had to guess I would guess that he still remembers that why? because the pain that was associated with that physical slap is nothing to be compared with all that that slap meant with all that it symbolized There's something else much more serious there. I mention it because that's what a backhanded slap does.

This is something of the type of thing that Jesus is referring us to when he tells us as disciples we have to turn the other cheek. He is saying there is a need for you, as my followers, to be willing to endure not just the first, but also, if needs be, the second blow. You need to endure those things for my name's sake. by the way, eventually you run out of cheeks, you know, you only got two of them.

The Lord is saying here, though, you need to give it all. If it takes both, then it takes both. You go as far as you can go if you're required to endure insulting blows for my name's sake. And how are we to do this? Well, again, we're to do this not just by looking to Christ's words, but we also look to his example. His life is our model. who, more than the Lord Jesus, knew what it was to be insulted for doing good.

And who, more than the Lord Jesus, knew what it was to be treated shamefully by violent, evil, wicked people. And so again, his life's our model, just as his words are our guide. These three phrases, all related to retaliation, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, Jesus is saying you must not engage in any heavy-handed responses. Do not resist the one who is evil The Lord is saying you should seek to do positive good to those who harm you And turn the other cheek The Lord is saying you must be willing to endure insulting blows for my name's sake.

Now we take our understanding of those three phrases and now we see how the Lord goes on to apply them in the remaining verses of our text. He very helpfully does what good preachers should do. He takes these principles and now he actually works them into real life application, you see. So he mentions here common situations and our response to them. The first one, as he's dealing with this theme of retaliation, he brings up the little matter of getting sued.

We can think of this more broadly, of someone bringing some kind of legal charge against us. It could be the local policeman. as he sees that we've parked in a handicapped spot and we shouldn't have and he gives us a ticket. Whatever it might be. Jesus is thinking here of some legal situation where someone comes at you and of course the natural response is to stand up for your own rights and say, well I have a right to park there or whatever it might be.

He says in verse 40, if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. We live in a very litigious society. The Lord Jesus lived in a very litigious society. Lawsuits were common then, they're common today. and in verse 40 we note in Jesus words that he is he is offering the example of a person who rightly or wrongly is suing a disciple to reclaim a debt that's what he's talking about so this adversary is seeking compensation by taking the disciples clothing that was a fair thing to do in those days because of course clothing was a very valuable and expensive commodity and if I loaned you money and you said you would pay it back and then you defaulted you had a right to come and to take something that was a commodity of mine by way of payment.

Most folks, by the way, in those days, you know, they only owned the clothes they were wearing and the shoes on their feet. Maybe an important person might have an extra change of clothes in their home. But those clothes that people wore in those days, they consisted really of two garments. There was the inner garment that Jesus refers to there in verse 40.

It's called a tunic. There's the outer garment that's called a cloak. and as we said in the case of a lawsuit where someone defaulted on a payment of some kind the law permitted the seizure of the tunic but it did not permit the seizure of the clavicle. You can read about that in Exodus 22. And the reason it didn't permit the seizure of the cloak, as we're told in Exodus, is because the cloak is a man's covering.

This way he didn't have to run around naked, which is an important thing. And more than that, these people didn't have bedclothes in those days. The cloak is his blanket at night. Whatever the man may have defaulted on, he doesn't deserve to be running around naked He didn't have to sleep cold and damp in the night. He should be able to be covered up. This was the law in Israel that regarded lawsuits, and everyone in those days was familiar with it.

But along comes Jesus, and he says, yes, that's the law, but listen. He says, if anyone attempts to take your tunic, which they may or may not have a legal right to, here's to be your posture to them. You should also offer them your cloak, which they have absolutely no legal right to. So what's Jesus saying? Again, he's not saying that his disciples should be doormats or we should go around cold and naked.

But no, he's using hyperbole. He's commanding us. He's using this to command us very broadly not to stand up for your own rights. That's kind of hard, isn't it? Not to stand up for your own rights. not to devote yourself to defending your own honor. By the way, most of what you do when you're defending your own honor or your own good name isn't really anything of the sort.

Your name isn't that good. You're just trying to stand up for yourself so other people won't think less of you. Jesus is saying, whatever you do, when people come against you, even in a legal setting, your posture towards them should not be that you're going to avenge on all the fronts. Jesus says here, in essence, stop fighting for your honor. Stop trying to vindicate yourself before those who accuse you, even if it means that you have to offer your accusers something that doesn't rightly belong to them, something they have no right to.

Think of the pettiness, maybe you've experienced it, with your unchristian neighbor. He swears up and down that the fence you put in is on his property. That's it, we're going to go to court over it. Why not just say, hey Bob, where do you want the fence? I'll move it. I'm a disciple of Christ.

I believe that's mine. I believe I have a right to it. but I'm not here to defend myself. I not here to have a fight with you Why can we do that Because as Christians we should know something It God who defends us So why get worked up when evildoers seek to defraud us You have a believing heart? You trust God for vindication? Do you believe him when he promises to right every wrong?

Do you believe him that he will right every wrong to such an extent that he promises Personally, I will wipe every tear from your eyes. Do you believe that? If so, you'll have to respond like it, the Lord is telling us here. But secondly, we apply this to going the extra mile. Jesus speaks of another scenario where this area of retaliation comes into play.

You know, it's easy to retaliate when people force us to do things, force us to help them. It's easy to become vindictive, you know, some undeserving person. forces us. And by the way, notice that's exactly the scenario he paints in verse 41. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go two. This is a situation where, yes, a person has a need, but they aren't a very nice person, are they?

They're not a very polite person. This is a person who forces you to go one mile. They have some leverage, some way to get you over the barrel, and they use it so that they can get something out of you. It can be very easy to get frustrated with people like that. I thought of another example from the olden days. I'll share it with you.

I used to work as a janitor in a building downtown in Marion. It was not the most illustrious time of my life in those days, but I worked as a janitor and there's nothing wrong with it. I was working in a downtown building. It was about two in the morning. I was coming out on a Saturday night. It was very late.

My truck was sitting in the parking lot. No one was around. And I got in my truck, I planned to go home after a long day, and I fired up my truck, and then I saw him for the first time. He was a little, very small, slender-built black man with no shirt on who had gotten in my truck and was sitting in the passenger seat, and it was so remarkable because he had an entire home stereo system sitting on his lap, speakers and all.

There was even a turntable. It was clear up to hear on him. I said, hi. He introduced himself, giving his name as Road Dog, and demanded to be taken to I believe it was North Prospect Street I said okay and we went to North Prospect I never crossed my mind to say no It was a very weird situation. Now I saw the same guy two or three times more over the next, let's say, six months.

He was always right in the same place, near that parking lot somewhere. I might be driving to work or driving home or driving to my house because I didn't live far from there. But I would see this guy, and I'm not kidding you, three or four times every time I saw him he did the same thing he would stop whatever he was doing he would make his way over to my truck he would get in and he would announce where he needed to be taken on one occasion he announced he wanted to be taken to the prison to see his daddy okay, so we went out there you know.

Other occasions it was other places. I thought about that. It's just silly. I never saw him after the last ride. I don't know where he went. Maybe he drifted off somewhere else.

I was never in danger with that. He was a harmless person. I thought the whole thing was humorous. He might have not been a terribly bright person. I don't know. Maybe he's brighter than I thought.

He got a free ride out of the whole deal. but in retrospect in retrospect you know he was pretty presumptuous and pretty rude he never said thanks never said please he never said I've got $20 I'll give you in gas since you've hauled me all over this county it's perhaps you know a less comical but an equally rude person with a need that the Lord has in mind in verse 41, someone who forces you. He forces you to go a mile. You're not obligated to take him anywhere.

He forces you to go the mile. And then Jesus says, now, when that happens, when this person does this, they come into your life, they sit in the truck of your life in the passenger seat, and they say, no, you're going to take me here, you're going to take me there. Here's what you do. Don't just go the one mile. He says, go two. And again, we say, where is the example for that?

Where do we follow? And again, we turn to this man standing before Pontius Pilate on his way to be crucified. And there he is. He's run through a kangaroo court. He's declared guilty. He's declared innocent, but he going to be sentenced to be executed anyway And then to add insult to injury they say this now you going to be executed and we want you to pick up your cross and we want you to take the thing out to the hill where you going to be killed That's an insulting thing, isn't it?

By the way, I don't think that many condemned men would have complied with Rome's demand to carry your own cross. What did they have to lose? They were going to be killed anyway. The Lord Jesus complied. And he didn't just go the one mile. If you like, he went the two.

He goes down the Via Dolorosa until he collapses. And he can't go any further. I would say that's a wonderful example of going the second mile. And he says to those who would follow him, take up your cross. Follow me. Well, we need to move on.

We come to the third and final piece of application. Jesus speaks of giving to the one who asks. he's stressing here something that is important it's it's it's the key to to to being able to do away with retaliation he's stressing here when he talks about giving to the one who asks he's talking about the great need for having for finding for seeking for for prayerfully attaining a generous heart that you see is the antidote to retaliation when we have a generous posture a generous heart that's aimed at others, even those who are doing us wrong. Endless requests for money, as we said earlier, or endless requests for help.

All this can stir up anger. Lawsuits and the like, as Jesus mentioned. Forced service, these things can stir up anger. But Jesus says here, in verse 42, Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. Remember, by the way, the application here is primarily to disciples. It means that we have a particular duty to our spiritual brothers and sisters when they come to us with a need, even if they come to us in the wrong way with a need.

And in light of Jesus' words here in verse 42, I think the application is clear. We should give to one another, particularly in our local congregations, in our churches. We should give to one another as the needs arise, and we should do it until it hurts. That's Jesus' example. No, we don't give at the expense of feeding our families, obviously. We don't give at the expense of being recklessly and fostering a kind of unhealthy dependency in others who would seek to take advantage of us.

But we give generously. We use sanctified common sense. And we follow the Lord's example. It's always been that way, you know, that's the way it was clear back in the time of the law of Moses. When Moses commanded the Old Testament church to lend generously to their brethren and to do so without any interest even. And why did God tell them, you need to look after your brethren, you need to lend to one another, you need to help one another.

God says, it's because of my example. He says back there through Moses, he says, you know, here's why you should be generous, because I'm generous. when you were a slave in Egypt, when you had nothing going for you, when you were bound and shackled and you were under the oppressive weight of this man Pharaoh, I came and I gave you great riches even as I led you out. God says he's the example here.

Give to the one who begs from you and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. Well, we've been thinking this morning about resisting retaliation. And recognizing that in our own minds and hearts the easiest time it is to sin against others is after they sinned against us And Jesus says no that has no place in the life of my disciple My friends, as we think about that, perhaps some of us need to repent.

We know our own hearts, and we know our own natural inclination to defend ourselves, to pop the other in the jaw, metaphorically speaking, I hope. Maybe to do it with our words, maybe to do it with our actions. But the Lord Jesus says no. And as we recognize our own need to repent of this sin of retaliation and our own natural inclination of our hearts, our hearts are made glad by the fact that we serve a Savior who came to rescue people with bad hearts.

People who by their own nature will respond wrongly and sinfully to others. But Jesus says, because of my work on the cross, not only is there forgiveness that you can have, but I will place my spirit within you to cause you to grow and to turn from these things increasingly. I close with this quotation that I came across from an author whose name I didn happen to write down but it a good quotation He says, the values of a disciple are the values of his Lord.

The values of the kingdom are the values of the king. We look to Christ. We turn the other cheek because he turned the other cheek. We give generously because he gives generously to all. We go the extra mile with others because he went the extra mile even with us. As God's children, we share in Christ's supreme righteousness when we stop standing on our rights, when we forego revenge and do good to all.

We are strong, for Jesus is strong, but we also give because Jesus gives. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father we thank you for your word that you have preserved down through many years We thank you for the Holy Spirit the author of this word and we thank you for his ministry to us raising us from death to life and then bringing this word to bear upon our minds and hearts that we might produce fruit for you.

We pray that you would forgive us of our natural inclination to engage in retaliation, and we recognize that there certainly must be in this room today some very specific, some very real world difficulties that some are facing this morning. And they may be tempted in those situations to engage in retaliation, to get a little of their own back, to stand up for themselves where they ought not, to demand their own rights where they ought not. Father, would you, by your spirit, minister grace and wisdom to each one.

May it cause us to live and to walk as your children, even as we thank you for pardoning our sins in Christ's name. Amen.