Vengeance… Not As Good As Advertised
Aaron Cloutier
Midland SDA Church
September 5, 2020
Let’s get right in it and start reading 2nd Samuel Chapter 11. This will set the stage for the message this morning. READ
Now, let’s pretend Uriah wasn’t such good guy. In fact lets assume Uriah was a scumbag. What David did was still wrong…on a few different levels. But the reality is Uriah was an upright guy who didn’t deserve the tradeoff from these twisted scenarios. I would assume this stirs your hearts like it does mine because it is a real injustice. It makes you wish you could have been there in real time and maybe diverted the situation…if that would have even been possible.
I want you to keep a finger here because we will be coming back shortly, but I want to keep exploring this issue, and ones like it. Justice…That’s a funny word isn’t it? That’s a term thrown around more these days than a football during the superbowl. Must be some kind of commodity as everyone wants some of it LOL. This raises two questions:
1. What is Justice
2. Why does everyone desire Justice
The very definition of justice as we find it in scripture is defined as a principle of morality…. It means righteous/ to be made right. Look in your concordance Hebrew reference 6666, 6664, and 6665.
The definition needs to be clear because a distinction needs to be made. Often times this confused with terms like retribution, revenge, and vengeance. If they sound like the exact same thing to you, then you are probably like me ad watched too many action movies or read too many comics like The Punisher. But we will discuss some differences shortly.
Why is it that when we read stories like David and Bathsheba, or when we hear of a drunk driving living scott free but killing an innocent individual, etc… we become semi enraged at the situation and want justice to be made? I believe the answer is pretty simple really… as it applies to the entire human family. It is because we were made by the hands of a righteous God.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.” (Psalm 89:14). God is just. It is part of His character. And because we are made in His image its no wonder why we recognize basic distinctions between what is right and what’s wrong… and further more have a desire to reconcile bad situations. And obviously for us Christians the calling is even more acute when we read scriptures like Hoseah 12:6 and Micah 6:8 requiring our search for Love and for Justice.
Further more we read in Romans 12:18-19 “If Possible, live at peace with everyone. Friends, do not avenge yourselves, instead, leave room for His wrath. For it is written, Vengeance belongs to me…I will repay”. WHAT!? How did that make its way into the bible? I mean, we just read that we should seek justice right? A little contradictory?
Not Really. The issue here is our interpretation of how justice functions. What we actually read in those few scriptures was God asks us seek justice “righteousness as we defined earlier” as Paul advised us not seek Vengeance. Right here we need to need to be clear that Justice and Vengeance are NOT the same. But why not? Arent we making things “right” by avenging whatever or whomever? And who doesn’t like a good revenge story? Its just so primal to our existence to make someone pay for their bad deeds.
STORY OF DAD AND NEIGHBORS SCHWINN BIKE
I still think back on this story and experience a small degree of satisfaction knowing that kid got what he deserved. I know you guys know what Im talking about…its just so primal. When that school bully finally gets a beat down from another student…yeah, revenge is sweet, or is it?
You know, for something that feels so right, God sure seems like a buzz kill when it comes time for us to lay the smack down on some perpetrator. Cant help but wonder why. Why is vengeance not a good thing?
Friends, as we read back in Romans 12 we can see clearly see that vengeance is, in a general sense, when we take justice into our own hands. Now, we’ve already seen that justice is a good thing. We as Christians are tasked to make things right as we see them. Also, being raged and or upset about bad things are also a good thing. If the story of Uriah makes you mad, then you are in good company with God 😊 But the problem we face when we experience these situations is how we deal with them and also our expectations associated with the outcome . And as we find in scripture, Vengeance is not the answer.
Now let me be completely upfront with all of you right now. I don’t like this theology. Its not that I believe it be inconsistent with will of God but rather how much of a wimp it makes me feel. Sometimes I feel downright emasculated when I let go of a good revenge opportunity. Or if I’m not able to punish someone for doing something bad!? “Like the person who speed past you to merge way ahead” But I also believe, like times in the past, God has a better standard for me, and so I’m open to the upward look 😊
So, Ive identified a couple reasons why we ought not seek revenge.
1. In a world where we are trying to make things right, Life is not fair. Solomon has a bit to say on the subject of injustices. We read in Ecclesiastes chapter 9 that bad things happen to those who don’t deserve it. Read Ecc 9:11-12. The reason this concept needs to be understood sounds pessimistic but really its just a reality because of what sin has done to the world. Often when we are seeking to make thigs right, what we are trying to do is fix a world which can never be healed. I think of terrible situations where a loved one is snuffed out of existence because of someone being careless or downright evil. We want retribution for something like this. And we hope that we can achieve peace by putting this person away to jail or taking their life. Now Im not going to advocate for against capital punishment; however, we need to understand something. Those actions we take to reimburse pain, to level the burden will not bring your loved one back nor will it stop sin from showing up again. Sin in a wild card brothers and sisters. And on our own, we can really exhaust ourselves trying to “fix” things aka make revenge. "Like hate, revenge is something that takes a toll on the person who feels wronged, as well as the [person's] enemy. It is inherently unhealthy because it takes a psychological and physical toll on the person. Venting those feelings of anger and hostility does not decrease those feelings," he said."It may give you a cathartic feeling, but it doesn't last."
The Endless Cycle of Retribution “ https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=96813&page=1
But I want to read 2 more scriptures from our man King Solomon. The same guy who recognized how twisted and vain the world is had enough to faith to be vocal about something familiar:
Proverbs 20:22, and 24:29
All three of these have the same thrust don’t they? Do not fight evil with more evil…but wait on the Lord. Now, this should offer us hope shouldn’t it. I understand that nobody likes to wait, but at the very least we have a promise bad things wont go undone. And here in a little bit I want to talk about how God will make things right, but at this point we can safely assume whatever His plan is, it will somehow be far superior to our vengeful efforts.
2. Moving forward, I asked you to keep a finger back in 2 Samuel 11. Now we will begin reading chapter 12. And if you remember God wasn’t happy with King David because He had committed some pretty knarly things. READ
Now here is the dilemma King David faced; Through the story line Nathan told him he recognized a real injustice given how the poor man was taken advantage of. However, David was fully aware, thanks to Nathan, that he was also a perpetrator just like the rich man….one worthy of death and debt.
Side note, thank goodness for good friends. Its important to have people in your life who are willing to call you out on your stupidity when necessary.
Obviously the story goes on and we find that King David pays for his transgression down the road…and suffers a lot of convictions because of his decisions.
But there is an important take away for everyone here today. Just like David was the man, so are you, so am I. We want people to pay back the evil they participate when we ourselves are in debt to transgression… sometime guilty of the exact same things! But then we ourselves are also requiring mercy! Now obviously this does not supersede the need for us to seek justice, to seek righteousness but we need to be mindful that we are ALL guilty and are in need of the love God. “ You hurt me, and you will pay!... No no no, you are also sinner and you are also in debt, . Tread carefully” It’s a good way to stay humble, keep a clear mind away from animosity and allows room for the Lord to work without our interference.
This brings me to our capstone point today where we can briefly explore what all this waiting on the Lord is all about and where our part eds and His begins. I have a quote in the Book Desire of Ages which really captures the platform God seems to be working off of.
“Christ suffered keenly under abuse and insult. At the hands of the beings whom He had created, and for whom He was making an infinite sacrifice, He received every indignity. And He suffered in proportion to the perfection of His holiness and His hatred of sin. His trial by men who acted as fiends was to Him a perpetual sacrifice. To be surrounded by human beings under the control of Satan was revolting to Him. And He knew that in a moment, by the flashing forth of His divine power, He could lay His cruel tormentors in the dust. This made the trial the harder to bear. DA 700:3” You guys want to talk about injustice… this is the very definition of injustice. By all means, Christ had every reason to vindicate His position by bringing hell fire onto the human family in that moment. Instead, He chose to stay true to His plans. That’s interesting isn’t it?
When we go back to our scripture reading in Romans 12, there is a critical piece of information beyond in verses 20-21. READ verse 19 also. You see friends, God’s vengeance has eternal value…always. And that brothers and sisters is how we should operate also… giving the Lord room to work. You see friends, when new seek retribution for ourselves we often get in the way of could be a beautiful situation where a wrong could truly be made right. For all we know, a person could be restored if we see them as Christ sees them. I think of folks like Saul of Tarsus. What would have happened if the early church didn’t receive him?
Furthermore, its certainly possible folks wont be restored or situations be made right. But there is coming a day when God himself is going to clear the slate clean with a cleansing fire following a new Earth where all tears are wiped away. Complete Justice will only be found when that time comes. Its hard to imagine a world where we are not weighed down by the load of anger or sadness… a loss of control. And this is why Jesus’ 2nd coming shold mean more to us than it does because it marks the beginning of the end of full restoration. Its more than just dead people being resurrected and seeing Christ in real time. All things will be made right and the reason for vindication will no longer be relevant.
So, my challenge to everyone today is this…harness your anger and frustration to fuel your passion for Jesus. Otherwise you are just wasting time amongst other things. Put your stock in what’s to come rather than finding momentary satisfaction. Get on the J train my friends…equity is right around the corner 😊