Bless Those Who Persecute You — John Piper

The following message is by Pastor John Piper. More information from Desiring God Ministries is available at www .desiringgod .org.

Blessing Persecutors and Sharing Others’ Joy and Sorrow

Romans 12 verses 14 through 21. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty but associate with the lowly.

Refusing Revenge and Overcoming Evil With Good

Never be conceited. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible so far as it depends on you. Live peaceably with all Beloved. Never avenge yourselves, but live it to the wrath of God.

For it is written Vengeance is mine. I will repay says the Lord to the contrary. If your enemy is hungry Feed him. If he's thirsty give him something to drink. For by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.

Do not be overcome by evil But overcome evil with good.

Let's pray. Oh Lord God, I've So long to be the kind of person I'm going to preach about tonight blessing Those who persecute me. Blessing and not even thinking about a curse and I want to be among those who weep easily when others are weeping and Are happy.

When others are happy, I don't want to be the kind of person who's sort of above it all looking out and Frozen with analysis of that weeping or that rejoicing. I want to be easily Drawn in to others hearts.

So there's our challenge Lord. We want to be new different kinds of people. We don't want to defend ourself right now saying we were grew up in a certain house. We were born with certain DNA. We want to be open to the Holy Spirit.

And so we ask now that you'd come and make your mighty word an instrument of our transformation in Jesus name. Amen. It's amazing as you look at this paragraph, isn't it verses 14 to 21? Over and over again same thing verse 14 Don't curse those who persecute you.

Verse 17 Don't return evil for evil. Verse 19 Do not avenge yourselves. Verse 21 don't be overcome by This kind of evil. And then the positive side same thing verse 14 Bless those who persecute you. Verse 18 live peaceably with all.

Verse 20 give food and drink to your enemy. Verse 21 overcome evil with good. Get sucked into revenge. It's really clear what this paragraph is about. That's really clear and I'm tempted to really hasten through Romans 12 and say we can do this in one sermon.

We can pile all this into one put the banner over it love of enemy. That's what this this is about loving your enemy and I'm gonna resist that temptation. For for two reasons one each of these commandments has a Slightly different nuance and I think if I lumped them all together I'd start generalizing in a way that would miss some important practical implications for our lives.

That's one reason the other reason is I didn't quote the whole text when I summed it up right then. There are some pieces in there I left out like weep with those who weep and how does that fit into this theme?

And there are other pieces and if I tried to crunch it all under this one banner, I think I would Minimize those pieces. So I've decided instead to move right through verse by verse. We're gonna do two verses tonight.

In fact, maybe one and a half and then pile that other half into next week Lord willing. So that's where we're going verses 14 and 15. Here, let's do it. Bless those who persecute you bless and do not curse them.

The Connection Between Blessing Persecutors and Empathy

Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who? Weep now right off the bat in. That little unit the question rises what those two verses have to do with each other. I mean, it's Paul just Stringing verses together with no no connection or do these two verses somehow?

Link with each other how does weeping with those who weep and rejoicing with those who rejoice relate to Blessing those who persecute you and not cursing them. How do they relate to each other? One answer emerges when you ask the question What would be one reason I can think of about seven and That's what I might talk about next week.

But what would be one reason? That you wouldn't weep with those who weep. One reason might be that you are happy that they are weeping because you're mad at them they hurt you and Then they had a car wreck or something.

You're really glad so you're not about to weep with those who weep because you think they got what was coming to them and As soon as you pose it like that the link with verse 14 is immediate. Right. Bless those who persecute you.

Weep with those who weep pose like that or one. This is not hard to even imagine one situation and there are others in which Blessing those who persecute you is directly related to whether you have a heart to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice.

Distinguishing Righteous and Sinful Rejoicing

There's another question that arises here immediately. Do we rejoice with all rejoicing and Weep with all weeping or must we make some distinctions here and say some rejoicing shouldn't be rejoiced with and some weeping shouldn't be wept with and I think the answer to that question is manifestly.

Yes there is some rejoicing we should be very sad about and There is some Weeping we should be very glad about. Jesus said Luke 6 25 Woe to you who are full now. For you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now.

You shall mourn and weep. Now I assume that's a laughter. I shouldn't be excited about Woe to you who laugh now. It's gonna turn and we don't want to be encouraging that kind of laughter with our laughter and The other side is true as well.

Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 7 10 godly grief Produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret. There is a godly weeping. There is a wonderful weeping. Oh painful for a moment painful and indeed we might Hurt with them for a moment, but oh inside we are Exploding with joy at this weeping.

This penitent heartbroken weeping of the straying one. Nothing could make us happier than this weeping. We can scarcely contain our joy at this weeping so manifestly from the Bible we must make distinctions and Figure out what kind of weeping do you weep with and What kind of laughter do you laugh with.

Dying to Self and Treasuring Christ

I Think we'll get closer to the meaning here if we try to figure out the root in Christ the Christian root of this behavior. They both have the same root 14 and 15. I think have the same root in the dying of the self and The treasuring of Christ the work of Christ and so I want to try to pull together from the context of Romans 12.

The Christian root of these two verses what makes these two verses Christian? Now to do this I could do exactly the same thing. I did last time, right? I could go to verse 1 we could do this at every verse.

I could go to verse 1 and say I appealed to you therefore brethren by the mercies of God. Bless those who persecute you and root it all in the mercies of God. Abundantly displayed in chapters 1 to 11.

That's exactly what I did last week. I could do it again right now and it would be exactly right. That would be the right thing to do but there are more ways to skin this cat than one and. And so instead of doing that I want to go to verse 3 and remind you of some things from months ago and show you the link between verse 3 and verse 15 and Christ verse 3 for by the grace given to me I Say to everyone among you Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.

But to think with sober judgment each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. Now we spent a lot of time on that verse, I think we lingered there for three weeks. Let me put it in context verse 1.

By the mercies of God, I ask you all give up your bodies as living sacrifices, which is your spiritual service of worship. I think that's what's being described through this whole chapter. What does it look like when Christians say to the Lord you have me body soul and spirit?

I am yours make yourself look good on my life. That's my living worship. Then verse 2 unpacks how that happens. Don't be conformed to this world. If you do you're gonna look just like it. He's not going to get any praise from you, but be transformed.

How do you do that? How do you get so transformed that your life looks like worship? By the renewing of Your mind. Now that's where we are when verse 3 begins. That you may prove what is the will of God good acceptable imperfect.

How do you get a mind that is so different from the world's mind a? Mind so much like Jesus mind a way of thinking that is so out of sync with the world. So in sync with the Bible that you can smell the will of God prove it discern it do it embrace it love it follow it intuit it.

And verse 3 I Think goes as deep as you can go in answering what the renewed mind is. Let me read it again. For by the grace given to me I Say to everyone among you Not to think of himself More highly than he ought to think.

The first thing the renewed mind does is go after the exalted Self and get it down and then secondly but To think with sober judgment. How how how. Paul what do you mean think with sober judgment, what's this what's this sober thinking each according think in accordance with the measure of faith that God has assigned.

And I said weeks ago the Alternative to thinking too highly of yourself in the Bible. The alternative in the Bible in this text in particular Is not mainly to think lowly. Though that's a very good place to start and essential.

But mainly to think very little and to think a lot about Christ faith is turning away from self preoccupation and self infatuation and self exaltation and Looking at the Christ who is so valuable that we become Christ preoccupied and Christ exalting and Christ infatuated.

That's the alternative to thinking too highly of Ourselves. And the root of all sin is these two things not happening. Not getting the self down and Then turning from the self to Christ in faith. Remember I use the image of a mirror.

The goal of Christian Thinking is not to get a better view of the self that you see in the mirror. The goal of Christian thinking is to stand in front of the mirror and have faith. Turn the mirror into a window behind which we see the glory of Christ.

Remember I said when you get to heaven and somebody says to you are you now? humble. The answer is going to be not yes, but rather Christ is all. Don't lock yourself in to low and high self-esteem. There is a third way to live.

It isn't drawing down joy from high self-esteem. It's drawing down joy from Christ esteem Christ infatuation Christ preoccupation where you're thrilled with and occupied with and ravished with and taken up with Christ so much the self is Incidental it's just back there the thing that's doing it.

In fact, if you were to ask me to define the new self in Christ Define it. What's the new? creature I Would say the self that looks away from itself to Christ is the new self. That's the meaning of the newness of the self it looks away from self to Christ as its treasure as its joy as its hope.

Faith as a Gift That Destroys Boasting

I think that is the root of Verse 14. But before we go there and show that more specifically, there's another thing in verse 3 That's absolutely essential if we're going to do verses 14 and 15 from this root of faith and self-denial.

And it's the words at the end of verse 3. Think with sober judgment. I'm in the middle of the verse here. Each according to the measure of faith that God Has assigned in other words the measure of our looking away from ourself to Christ which is what faith is an Embracing of Christ a treasuring of Christ a holding fast to Christ a trusting in Christ arresting in Christ.

That's what faith is looking away to him. If that weren't enough to strip us of all self-exaltation and self-preoccupation and self-infatuation. This phrase does it? Because this phrase comes in this phrase comes in and Spots the old self slowly theologically raising its head and at least saying I Produced I produced the faith.

I was smart enough to believe I was humbled enough to turn away from myself. I I I believed It won't let us do it cuts us off at every turn and says Turn to Christ and think of self in accord with the measure of self-forgetting faith that God has assigned To you by grace you have been saved through faith and This is not your own doing it is the gift of God Not of works lest any little voice would raise its head and say What a good boy I am.

I Believed so It started here two grounds for boasting have been shattered. Number one, I thought once that I could boast in myself satisfy myself save myself and I discovered in The gospel that I couldn't and that Christ was my only Savior My only Lord my only counselor my only treasure and joy.

And so I have now by grace Been enabled to look away to him. Just test your own hearts right now. Do you find it within yourself? Easily to be ravished with Christ rather than money. Television success, is that your native air?

It isn't. You coast in this stream. You're going backwards you must be taken hold of by the Holy Spirit and born again and then constantly worked on by the Spirit in order that you would look away from self and Find your satisfaction in Christ Rest in Christ trust in Christ hope in Christ Be glad in Christ.

I can imagine that Shane is pretty discouraged right now. Her violin snapped in two while she was playing. That's probably a pretty expensive instrument. I felt bad for her she had to sit there and Think about it while we finished worshiping and I pray right now that Shana would say Christ is all Christ is all God will provide.

The second ground of boasting is That At least Lord. Won't you let me won't you let me? Take credit for Looking away from myself. And the answer is no, I won't. I will take that to myself so that your salvation Will be all of grace and you will lean on me now.

How Faith Produces Blessing Instead of Cursing

With that kind of mercy flowing to us blood bought mercy to look away from ourselves to the all-satisfying Christ and To know that even our looking away from ourselves was assigned to us by Christ. We meet three kinds of people in verses 14 and 15.

We meet persecutors. We meet weepers and we meet rejoicers and this verse tells us how the kind of people who are looking away from themselves and Thrilled with Christ. Relate to those three kinds of people bless those who persecute you.

Bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Now first of all before we link Verse 3 and what we've seen with this behavior notice how radical it is. You might be missing it.

It does not say Don't retaliate like don't hit back. That's true. It doesn't say that because it's deeper than that. Because if it really depended on what you did with your hands. It doesn't take any Holy Spirit to do that.

Stoics did that right? People with willpower do that. So what's the difference between that? Not doing with your hands what you feel like doing. What's the difference between that and verse 14? The answer is verse 14 is telling you to do something with your heart bless.

Don't curse bless don't curse. You're not even allowed to feel vengeance. Blessing is is Wanting somebody to have it go well with them. That's the meaning of blessing. Wanting to have it go well with them forever.

We're Christians. We're not gonna never ever ever say I hope it goes well with them for 80 years. And I don't care where they go to hell or not. We're never gonna talk like that. We wanted to go well with them now because that's the way we'd like it to be.

And the Bible says do unto others as you'd have them do unto you and we want to go to heaven not hell. So we're gonna pray and work and love Towards that end. This is a radical command. You can't imagine how radical this is.

This is straight from Jesus, right? This is just quoting Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere. So it's pretty remarkable we're supposed to pray for them. Well, let me just read the words of Jesus Luke 628 bless those who curse you pray for those who abuse you.

That's the way Jesus said it bless those who curse you pray. So take this inner Longing for their welfare and turn it into a Godward Petition. Isn't that amazing? So here's a husband or a wife who's let you down 10 ,000 times or he's a boss who mistreats you or here's a friend who's always told wrong things about you.

Or here's a dad who abused you when you were little and this text says want their Welfare and pray for it. Oh. You have loads of questions coming to your mind right now. Which is why I said I wasn't gonna take this paragraph in one one night or one day.

I want to. I want to come back in the weeks to come. I want to ask about should anybody go to prison? Can you be a policeman and carry a billy club? Should you ever spank a child? Can you give a student a C

Can you fire somebody who comes in at 10 instead of 8? All the time I Mean this is we're not playing games with this thing. We live in a real world. When it says bless those who persecute you questions happen.

Turn the other cheek when your little kid sasses you. I think not. Well, it says to bless well. So I guess we have to come back. Don't we because I'm not going there tonight. I'm just saying come back.

The New Satisfaction That Makes Enemy-Love Possible

So where do we go with the minutes we have? Left and I want to. I want to show you how faith From verse 3 is the root of this behavior. If you're going to have the kind of heart that when somebody crosses you Wrongs you.

Your longing is going to be for their welfare. You got to have a miracle happen. There's got to be a death to your old self. It's got to be a new a glorious new satisfaction because it used to be that my getting praised and my getting treated right and my getting thought well of was where I Got a lot of my satisfaction.

And you're telling me that I'm supposed to have the resources that when I'm wronged over and over again I can come back at that with A blessing. I don't think so unless a miracle happens and The miracle is what chapters 1 to 11 was all about and and this is the application of it.

So I want to try to get at. How faith in Christ is the root of this radical? Behavior the root of not cursing when you're persecuted but blessing the root of praying. For those who make your life hard and really wanting good for them.

Here's the way it works. Faith in Christ as we've seen involves turning from natural self even our bodies turning away from our natural selves as The source of our main contentment and security. So the self even the body dies.

In a biblical sense a death happens to my old self. I'm crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live. But Christ lives in me the life. I now live in the flesh. I live by faith by faith in the Son of God.

I'm turned away from that old self. It has died as the ruler the controller the source of my contentment my security. I'm not looking there and how that self is treated. I'm looking to Christ. For my security my contentment my satisfaction.

Christ is all to me now. And therefore when people deal with that old thing, it's not decisive. Anymore in how I feel we must get free From the impulse to retaliate that used to rise up in that old King self and we must turn to Christ and Find him as the all-sufficient Contentment and security.

Christ’s Example of Forgiving His Persecutors

So here are the three ways that I think it works practically number one the Christ that faith beholds and embraces. So I'm thinking of faith now as turning away from self as a source of our contentment and security and satisfaction and Looking away to Christ as a new source.

Being ravished with him preoccupied with him infatuated with him exalting him. We're just looking away to him the the Christ that this faith Beholds and embraces is a Christ who lived this way this verse 14 way Luke 23 34 father forgive them they know not what they do.

And faith in looking to that Christ sees and savors Everything about that Christ. That's what faith does. Faith doesn't pick and choose. Faith doesn't say I like 70 of what Christ is and the other 30

I think he was a fool. Faith says Everything the Bible reveals to me about Jesus. I love And you cannot say I Love the way he treated those who persecuted him and Call Cursing your persecutors right or beautiful or good and Say it the other way around.

You can't look to Christ. Faith cannot look to Christ. Embrace Christ savor Christ as one who? Blesses those who persecutes him and Then regard our blessing of those who persecute us as stupid. You can't do it.

Mercy Toward Enemies as the Fruit of Knowing Christ

It's a living inner contradiction of soul. That's the first way it works. Second way it works is this. The faith that beholds and embraces Christ Sees him Having mercy upon those who persecute him and are his enemies not in a vague general way.

Faith isn't about belief in a historical fact merely it isn't about a belief in a theological truth. Merely faith looks into the face of the living Christ and Knows he did that for me. I was his rebellious traitorous Subject in the kingdom.

I was on my way out of here. I was in his face. I didn't like Christianity. I didn't like church. I didn't like Bible. I didn't like anything about him or his people that just a bunch of hypocrites and I'm going my way and he looked at me and said father I Pray for John Piper.

You chose him before the foundation of the world. I Intend to shed my blood for him and I will pour out our Holy Spirit upon him and break his heart when he sees me Lifted up and God did it. That's what faith sees in Christ that's what faith sees in Christ and therefore When you know that not in general, but your specific life hangs on undeserved mercy toward an enemy.

You can't be swimming in that ocean and Taste it towards your enemy and say yeah, I don't like the way mercy tastes here. Oh No, I don't like mercy here towards you you can't do that. It's an inner contradiction of soul you have tasted that Christ blessed you.

Romans 5 6. While we were still weak at the right time Christ died for the ungodly Christ blessed you while you were still his enemy. Christ didn't curse you therefore you can't feel the wonder of that and then turn around to somebody has Who's mistreated you and not love mercy.

The Security of Believers Under God’s Judgment

Third way it works is this. The Christ that we behold and embrace Because of his death and resurrection made our future Absolutely secure. This is huge. Because I think we're tormented in a moment of mistreatment that if I don't make this right My life's gonna be miserable and they're gonna get the last word and great injustice will be done.

And I will not see justice done and I will be miserable and unhappy forever. That's a great act of unbelief in the death of Jesus because He who did not spare his own son But gave him up for us all. Will he not with him?

Freely give us all things. Will he not make your future? Absolutely secure. So that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor powers. Nor height nor depth or anything in this world will be able to separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Is that not blood-bought? So why do you think you need to take it into your hands? So that your future Will be better. You don't. In fact, it's unbelief to think you need to take it into your hands. Do not fear those who kill the body and After that have no more that they can do rather Fear him who after he has killed.

Both soul and body can cast into hell. Yes, I tell you fear him are not two sparrows. Sold for one penny and not one of them falls to the ground apart from your father. Fear not you are of more value than many sparrows.

That's The way Jesus talked about how rock-solid Secure you are in him. Let him kill the body. That's all they can do. That's all they can do. Paradise home free. Failure enemy you thought you put it down.

And you put it up. That's what faith does so in summary the root of radical Christ like love of enemies is death to an old self-preoccupied Self-infatuated self-exalting you self self self. Self. Mirror mirror on the wall.

Who's the? Fill in the blank of them all. Whatever you like. No, no. Mirror mirror on the wall become a window to Christ for me. Satisfy my soul with Christ. So that I may turn away From vengeance last Question you you're wondering.

Rejoicing and Weeping With the Persecuted Church

Well, what are you gonna do with verse 15 tonight? I'm gonna do just one thing with it. I've done a couple of things already. I'm gonna do more next time because I love verse 15. I want to be verse 15 all that it can be not just a little bit of what it can be.

And that's all we're dealing with tonight is a little bit of what it can be. I want To close like this and I'll tell you just really frankly where this came from. I read some commentaries and I thought and I looked at my own experience and I had about seven ideas That this might mean.

And I'll probably give them to you next time and then I went downstairs for supper and took with me the voice of the martyrs February edition that had just come in the mail and I opened it to an article on the I believe it's the Kuhn people k-h-u-n in Laos.

Half of them have become Christians and they're under severe persecution from the government forces in Laos and I read I read the whole article, but these two paragraphs That shed a whole new light on verse 15 for me in the context of persecution which shows how How we need to try to get inside the mind of verse 14 in order to rightly handle verse 15 at least handle all of it.

And I'm gonna read those two paragraphs for you and then close. I'm sorry when I gave you the people that was the the woman's name Kuhn k-h-u-n Kuhn this woman whose husband is in prison right now right now right now Sunday morning in Laos.

He's in prison. Kuhn Urges Christians in the West to pray for her husband come say and their family. She also asks us to pray for the people of Cassie of the Cassie district and for greater freedom for Christians to practice their faith.

Openly without hindrance from local government officials. Even though our cultures are different. She says we are one body in Christ. Kuhn boldly shared quote our business is your business our Hurt is your hurt our happiness is your happiness.

First 15 It goes on the Apostle Paul wrote. I hadn't thought of this parallel. I had to be given this by a suffering woman in Laos. It's the closest parallel in the Apostle Paul. Why didn't I think of it?

I've been to school. I Didn't think of it because I haven't suffered enough. That's why The Apostle Paul wrote if one member suffers all the members suffer with it. If One member is honored all the members rejoice with it.

That's verse 15 over there in first Corinthians 12 26 as Kuhn family members. That's the name of the people khmu khmu. I guess khmu family members suffer for Christ. We suffer with them when come say rejoices in prison because he's won another inmate for Jesus we rejoice with him.

That may that be the most eloquent application of verse 15 that I can give and so I leave it with you for you to consider. So summing up the admonition and I say this to Bethlehem. Bethlehem North Campus Bethlehem downtown.

Bless those who persecute you bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep and if you're struggling with bitterness still or Resentment or grudges or even planned retaliation I Just plead with you.

Forgiveness as Freedom From Resentment

Go deeper with Jesus. Get to know Jesus faith Looks away from all the pleasures that the self will have out of getting our comeuppance looks away from all those vengeful delights and Looks through the mirror, which has become a window to Christ and embraces all about him as our treasure our joy our satisfaction our contentment our security our future our judge.

Let's pray Lord. I pray for all the Saints and all the Unconverted Sinners who are listening to me now. Would you please Oh God? Come in your power by your spirit through your word and Fill us with a longing for the sweetness of the liberty of forgiveness.

Oh How sweet to Lay it down. Oh how sweet to walk out into a night sky and look up free, I'm free. I don't have to carry the burden of anger the burden of vengeance the burden of Resentment anymore. I'm free I hand it over to him who judges justly.

I embrace the all-merciful Christ as my Satisfaction. I ask now that overflowing out of my abundant heart would be words of blessing and not words of cursing. This is life indeed. Would you cause it to happen now?

In Jesus name Amen. Thank you for listening to this message by John Piper pastor for preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Feel free to make copies of this message to give to others, but please do not charge for those copies or Alter the content in any way without permission.

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