The Faith of the Centurion - 20 May 2018

“Faith That Surprises the Saviour”

Luke 7:1-10 (SBC, Sligo IE)

20 May 2018

INTRODUCTION:

            Have you ever heard someone say something that really surprised you, left you taken aback? Maybe their words were harsh and critical and spewed forth with such venom that it startled you. Or perhaps it was hilariously funny, causing you to burst out laughing. Or maybe it was a kind word, spoken in such a loving way that it helped you get through a dark time in your life. Or perhaps it was something your child said that came out of nowhere and was so surprising that you just had to share it with all your 675 best-friends on Facebook.

            Or instead of words, perhaps it was the actions of another person that impressed you or surprised you. He/she did something that left you with your mouth wide open. Maybe it was one of those so-called “random acts of kindness” that caused you to stand amazed and marvel at the person’s generosity.

TRANSITION:

            In our text for this morning we will learn about an event in the life and ministry of Jesus that caused Him to be surprised and to marvel at the faith of a man who we would not expect to have any faith in Jesus. But he did! And he acted upon his faith! And he provided for us such a beautiful example of Christian faith in action that it has lasted for over 2,000 years. Who was this man of faith? I think you will be surprised. Turn to Luke 7:1-10.  

MAIN BODY:

Verse 1: When [Jesus] had completed all His discourse in the hearing of the people, He went to Capernaum.

·         For the past six Sundays we have been studying Luke chapter 6, known as “the Sermon on the Plain.” In those 49 verses Jesus explained to His hearers what it means to be sons and daughters of the Kingdom of God and to live by its rules and responsibilities. That is the “discourse” to which Luke is referring here in 7:1. We do not know exactly where that sermon took place, but it seems evident that it was in Galilee, probably not far from the Sea of Galilee. Now Jesus and the Twelve head on back to Capernaum, the town that He now called, “home,” because He had relocated there from Nazareth. Capernaum was a small fishing village near the Sea of Galilee. This is where Jesus spent much of His time and performed many of his miracles. And you will recall that quite a few of the Apostles came from Capernaum or villages nearby.

Verses 2-3: And a Centurion’s slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. ³ When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking Him to come and save the life of his slave.

·         “…a Centurion’s slave” – What was a Centurion, you ask? A Centurion [Lat. centúrio] was a middle-ranking officer in the Roman Army. Often rising through the ranks or receiving his commission as a prize for some valiant service, the Centurions were the backbone of the Roman Army. As the name implies, he commanded a group of between 80-100 Roman legionnaires comprising what was called a “century.” Six of these centuries made up a “cohort” and 10 cohorts made up a “legion” comprised of 5,500-6,000 soldiers. A Centurion, when compared to an officer in our modern military command structure, would be roughly equivalent to an Army Captain.

·         “…a slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die.” The word Luke uses here for slave is “doulos” and it generally just means a house servant or a personal slave. This is a curious situation because most Romans were very class-conscious, and a person of this officer’s rank would normally not give a flying hoot about any of the slaves in his house, or even be aware of them unless he needed them to do something for him. But this Centurion “highly regarded” his servant. Why? We have no way of knowing but it does seem to point to the fact that this man was no average Roman. He was different in his values and his outlook. But we gather from this verse that the slave was mortally ill and at death’s door. Matthew 8:6 indicates that the sickness caused paralysis and great torment. Generally, paralysis means you have no feeling. But this servant was paralyzed and in pain.

·         “When he heard about Jesus…” How had he heard about Jesus? And exactly what had he heard? We simply do not know, but he must have had some prior knowledge or had heard rumors that this Galilean rabbi named Jesus was a powerful healer as well as a teacher.

·         “…he sent some Jewish elders asking Him to come and save the life of his slave.” This is quite remarkable because most Roman soldiers absolutely hated the Jews. Truthfully, there was no love lost on either side. The Jews hated most of them as well. But this Centurion had friends among the Jews. He was actually a friend to the village elders to the point that when he asked them, they were willing to go to Jesus and plead the man’s case, begging Jesus to come to the Centurion’s home to save the life of his beloved servant.

·         Notice that the Centurion’s first inclination was to beg Jesus to come to his house to heal his servant. Like everyone else, he assumed that Jesus needed to be physically present to accomplish a healing.

Verses 4-5: When they [i.e. the Jewish elders] came to Jesus, they earnestly implored Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him; ⁵ for he loves our nation and it was he who built us our synagogue.”

·         “…they earnestly implored Him” – From the depths of their hearts they begged Jesus on the Centurion’s behalf. They laid out the case and pled with Him to go back with them.

·         “…saying, ‘He is worthy for You to grant this to him.” Really?! Who is worthy to receive a miracle from God? No one, that’s who! But in the minds of these Jewish elders the Centurion was such a good man that they believed he was worthy of this boon from Jesus. They based their conclusion on three things:

1.    They had watched him long enough to recognize that he was truly a good man, and they had come to respect him.

2.    He loved their nation and the Jewish people, and they could sense this was true. This was totally out of keeping with what one would expect from a Roman officer. Most of the Romans despised the Jews and despised their religion.

3.    He had proved his love for them, not just with words, but by building them a synagogue for their village. He had invested his own money to put up a place of worship for them. Why would he do such a thing? I have a theory, but the text does not tell us. I suspect that the Centurion was what they called, “a God-fearer.” That was a Gentile who had come to believe that the God of Israel was the one, true God. They went through a multi-step process to convert to Judaism. This seems to me to be the only way to account for the Centurion’s actions.

·         However, from the argument of the Jewish elders you can see that they did not understand the difference between grace and merit. In fact, most of the world does not understand this biblical concept. All the other religions on the planet place their bets on the efficacy of merit to win God’s favor, on being “good enough.” People believe that if they can just do more, do better, be better then they will win God’s favor by their good deeds. Every religion on earth, with the exception of biblical Christianity, is a treadmill, a rat-race of trying to win one’s right to inherit eternal life. But the Bible is clear that the only thing any of us deserves is the wrath of God and eternal condemnation for our sins. But that is only the beginning of the story, for the Bible also reveals the grace and mercy of God that led Him to provide a way for our sins to be forgiven. None of us is “worthy” to receive any good thing from God, including that kind and noble Roman Centurion so well-spoken of by the Jewish leaders.

Verses 6-7: Now Jesus started on His way with them; and when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof; ⁷ for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.”

·         We see that Jesus was willing to do what He had been asked, to go to the home of the Centurion, despite the Jewish rule about a Jew never entering the home of a Gentile. His heart of compassion made Him willing to go out of His way to save that slave’s life. And apparently, the little band made up of Jesus and His disciples plus the Jewish elders sent to ask Him to come were now not far from the house.

·         Suddenly Jesus was approached by another group of representatives coming from the home of the Centurion with a second message. The people with Jesus probably assumed that they brought bad news, perhaps that the servant had already died.

·         But it seems that in the interval of time from when the Centurion dispatched the Jewish elders to go find Jesus until now, he had had some time to think. It must have suddenly dawned on him that if Jesus truly was who people said He was, the Messiah, the Christ, the God-Man, then distance was no issue. He suddenly realized that if Jesus wanted to, He could heal his slave from afar off just as easily as if He were standing by the man’s bedside. So, he quickly sent some friends to take a message to Jesus.

·         And just look at the message: “Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof.” Did you catch that? He directly contradicted what his Jewish friends had said about him. They said that “he was worthy.” But the Centurion recognized that he was NOT worthy. And he said it twice: once in verse 6 then again in verse 7. “I am not worthy to receive you into my home,” and “I did not feel worthy to even come and speak to you.” Do you have any idea how out of character this was for a Roman officer? The man understood his own unworthiness and humbled himself before Jesus.

·         He also had incredible faith! He never doubted Jesus’ ability to heal: “…But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.”  

·         Moreover, he understood the concept of authority. You see that in verse 8.

Verse 8: “For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

·         This Centurion was a man who obeyed orders, and a man who gave orders. Jesus, too! He came from Heaven to do the will of the Father. He was in subjection to the Heavenly Father and His ministry motto was, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” But Jesus also had great authority to command. We see this in Matthew 28:18-20 where Jesus said to His disciples, “All authority has been given to Me in Heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” The Centurion, upon reflection, realized that Jesus had the power and authority to merely rebuke the illness and it would have to flee. If Jesus was indeed the Son of God then no power on earth, no illness, no demon, no wasting disease could stand against Him, and he was right! If Jesus, by the word of His mouth, could speak the universe into existence, then what could stand against Him? Indeed.

Verse 9: Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.”

·         I love this verse! How many times can you remember in the Bible when Jesus was surprised by anything? But the faith of this Roman officer left Jesus totally gobsmacked, astonished, astounded. The text says, “He marveled at him.” Believe me, it took something very special to make Jesus marvel at anything. He had seen the outer rings of Jupiter, because He formed them Himself. He had seen the Grand Canyon. He might have even carved it out with His finger. He had seen the Himalayas. When He made the earth, He may have pushed them up there together like a child pushes sand around. None of those things impressed Him, but “He marveled” at the faith of this Roman soldier. Only one other time in Scripture do we read that Jesus marveled. That was in Mark 6:6 when Jesus was in Nazareth speaking in the synagogue and we read that, “He marveled because of their unbelief.” It is interesting that both examples were about people having faith or lacking it.

·         His immediate response was to turn to the crowd and exclaim: “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” Even after all He had done for the Jewish people, all He had taught them, all the miracles He had done, all the people He had healed, yet the faith of this pagan Roman soldier put them all to shame.

Verse 10: When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

·         The Centurion’s faith was well-placed. He knew what the Jews and even the disciples did not understand. Indeed, Jesus did not need to be present to heal the servant. He could just as easily have done it from a million miles away. Moreover, He did not need to lay hands on the man. He did not need to say magic words over him or press on his forehead or sprinkle holy water on him.

·         Notice that when they returned to the house, “they found the slave in good health.” He was not just a little bit healed. He was not still weak and wobbly from his ordeal with the killer illness. When Jesus healed the man, He returned him immediately to perfect health. Jesus never did things by half-measures. He never left the job only partly resolved.

CONCLUSION:

            So, what are we to take away from this passage? The point of the story is the remarkable faith of a man who we would not expect to show such faith. From his example we can glean some important principles:

1.    Faith is not believing that God can; it is knowing that He will.

2.    Faith is deaf to doubt, dumb to discouragement, blind to impossibilities, and knows nothing but success in God.

3.    Walking by faith means being prepared to trust where we are not permitted to see.

4.    Faith allows God to do for us and with us what we could never do alone.

In our text for today Luke takes us inside true faith and shows how and what faith does. Though he was a Gentile, the Centurion understood who Christ was and is. Even Jesus would remark that this man’s faith was amazing.

This is the truth Jesus wants to pass on to His disciples. If you are His disciple, this is what He wants you to learn. Great faith in great promises leads to great results. If you want results, you first must know the promises. You first must understand God, and how He works. You first must know what He has said in His Word. Without a knowledge and understanding of those things, you will never have great faith. Romans 10:17 says that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Without hearing and understanding the Word of God, you will never have great faith. And without faith, it is impossible to please God.

Our faith in God is an indicator of how well we know Him. If we know Him but little, our faith will be anemic. Daniel 11:32 says, “…but the people that know their God shall be strong and do exploits.”

Living By the Rules of the Kingdom - 29 April 2018

“Living in the Right-Side-Up Kingdom”

Luke 6:27-38 (SBC, Sligo IE)

29 April 2018

INTRODUCTION:

            Last Sunday Matthew led us in a study of Luke 6:20-26 and explained that the reason most of Jesus’ listeners had so much difficulty comprehending what He taught was because they lived in an upside-down world, and that fact affected every aspect of their lives, including their ability to see and understand the truth of God, even when it was laid out right in front of their faces. You see, that is what sin did when it entered into the human story. All the heavenly values were flipped upside-down. Godly morals were turned on their heads. Righteous human relations were completely inverted. Men’s eyes were blinded, and their understanding was darkened.

            What do I mean by this? Just look around you! We were created to know, love, and serve God, and to walk in continuous fellowship with Him, but when sin entered the picture man began to ignore God, love himself, and crave material things. In God’s original plan people were to honor one another, love their neighbor, do good to one another, and put the well-being of others above their own. However, under the influence of sin, men hate one another, begrudge one another, look for ways to step on one another in order to get ahead.

            In other words, sin turned the world upside-down and now completely colors every aspect of our lives, our values, our desires, our dreams, and our work. You and I now live in a world that is very foreign to what God intended. But then Jesus came along explaining what life is supposed to be like, and how it can be if we will let Him transform our lives and go back to living according to God’s Kingdom values.

            So, this morning we will be continuing what Matthew began last Sunday, trying to help us wrap our minds around what it really means to live as sons and daughters of the Kingdom of God.

TRANSITION:

            Many have observed that Luke 6:20-49 seems to contain an abbreviated version of the “Sermon on the Mount” found in Matthew chapters 5-7. Bible students have long debated this question because Matthew states that Jesus’ sermon was given on a mountain, whereas Luke says it was given on a “plain” (KJV). But the word Luke uses just means a level place. Admittedly that could have been the side of a mountain, though it seems unlikely. However, it is also equally possible that Jesus repeated these same teachings many times and with variations. I would point out that although Luke’s account is similar to that of Matthew’s, it is not the same. For one thing the sermon in Luke’s Gospel gives more of a material emphasis than in Matthew’s version. Matthew seems to give more emphasize to the heart. And although Luke’s version differs from Matthew’s account there are no contradictions, rather only different arrangements of the same material. I personally believe that the Matthew account and the Luke 6 account describe two different occasions, two different sermons, but you may disagree with me. That’s OK, I will love you anyway!

Notice that Jesus directed this teaching mainly at His loyal disciples, although the text says that “a great multitude of people” listened to it as well. He was explaining the kind of conduct appropriate to those in the Kingdom of God, with special emphasis laid on love and the importance of not judging others. What you need to understand is that this sermon contained a series of bombshells! Jesus was saying things that were unheard of! He was outlining a lifestyle that is completely outside of normal human relations.

Last Sunday, Matthew led us in a study of verses 20-26 that contain the blessings and the curses, the beatitudes and the woes. This morning we are going to continue looking at the sermon to see what Jesus says about how the children of the Kingdom should treat our fellowman. Open your Bibles to Luke 6:27-38.

MAIN BODY:

Verses 27-28: But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

·         “Love your enemies.” Love was at the heart of the Saviour’s teaching, because it is one of the essential attributes of God. The Greek word for love that Jesus uses here is agape [ἀγάπη], a love that is different from the love we have for our spouse, or our children, or our sweethearts, or our dear friends. People speak of “falling in love,” but that’s very different from the love that Jesus is describing here. This love towards our enemies does not stem from the heart alone, but also from the will. It is a love that follows a decision. It is a love that describes an active feeling of benevolence towards the other person. No matter what that person does to us we will never allow ourselves to desire anything but his highest good, and we will deliberately and with a fixed purpose go out of our way to be good and kind to him. This is the “agape” love that God demonstrated towards us, and indeed, towards all men. It is not selective. He loves all men, even those who do not love Him back. This kind of love arises from the will, as a conscious decision to act lovingly toward someone, even if he does not “deserve” such love.

·         But Jesus does not stop with just telling us to “love our enemies.” He further commands us to “do good to those who hate us,” to “bless those who curse us,” and to “pray for those who mistreat us.” This goes completely contrary to human nature! It is not natural! It is not humanly possible! No, it is supernatural, and can only be accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit. And what is the most powerful way of dealing with your enemies who hate you, who curse you, and mistreat you? Love them, be good to them, bless them, and PRAY FOR THEM. Did you notice that those are all action words: love, be good, bless, and pray? Godly love is more than words, more than feelings. It is action! That is the kind of love Jesus showed, and it is what He expects of us. And by the way, it really messes with people’s heads!

Verse 29: Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either.

·         Here Jesus illustrates the point by using physical violence. The word in this version translated “cheek” literally means the jaw. Jesus is speaking of a punch to the face rather than a light slap. The natural human response to being slugged in the face or robbed is to strike back hard and fast, to seek revenge, to get back at the other person. Why is that? It’s because we do not like people to hurt us or to steal our stuff. It’s part of that whole up-side-down materialistic world that we already talked about. In this world here, nobody touches my stuff, and nobody messes with me or they will pay a heavy price! But Jesus was trying to teach His disciples to love their abuser instead. He urged them to follow His own example in returning good for evil.

Verses 30-31: Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. ³¹ Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.  

·         The principle is what we want to get at in verse 30. If Christians took this verse absolutely literally, in no time at all there would soon be a class of saintly paupers, owning nothing, and another class of rich idlers having everything, but for which they had not labored. Here in verse 30 Jesus urges us to hold lightly to our possessions, to not value things over people. The man of the world loves things and uses people. Here Jesus is telling us to love people and use things. It is another eternal principle of His right-side-up Kingdom.

·         Verse 31 is often referred to as “the Golden Rule.” Jesus dropped this bomb right in the middle of His message and it colors everything before it and after it. In this simple sentence Jesus sums up the heart and core of His teaching. But do not be too quick to think that you understand what Jesus was really saying. There is more here than immediately meets the eye.

·         Nearly every religion and philosophy of men teaches some variation of this truth; however, in most cases it is stated in its negative form. For example, Hillel, one of the greatest of the ancient Jewish rabbis, was asked by a student, “What is the heart of the Law?” Hillel answered and said, “What is hateful to you, do it not to another. That is the whole Law and all else is explanation.” Likewise, Philo the great Jewish philosopher of Alexandria, said: “What you hate to suffer, do not do to anyone else.” Isocrates, the Greek philosopher known for his rhetoric and oratory, declared, “What things make you angry when you suffer them at the hands of others, do not do to any other.” The Stoic philosophers had as one of their basic rules, “What you do not wish to be done to yourself, do not do to any other.” Confucius gave a similar answer when asked about this. He said, “What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.”

·         Did you notice what all these examples have in common? Every one of these forms is negative, basically saying, “Do not do to others what you do not want done to you.”  Whereas, Jesus stated it in the positive, thus raising the bar much higher! The basis of Jesus’ teaching and the very essence of Christian conduct is that it does not consist in not doing bad things to others, but in actively doing good things for them, going the extra mile to demonstrate agape love.

Verses 32-34: If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. ³³ If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. ³⁴ If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount.

·         Jesus drives His point home when He says that loving those who love you and treating them kindly is nothing out of the ordinary. Even the worst of sinners do that! Doing good to those who reciprocate is common to both believers and unbelievers. Do not pat yourself on the back for doing the same thing that gangsters, tyrants, and professional assassins do. Moreover, lending to those who will pay you back is no great act of kindness. Unbelievers do that, too.

·         The real question is, “How do we treat those who hate us, mistreat us, and slander us?” That is where our Christianity has to kick-in because it is not normal human behaviour. In fact, it is totally baffling and perplexing to people of the world when they witness this kind of Christian behaviour. They simply do not know what to make of it. The people standing at the foot of Jesus’ cross when He prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” must have been totally taken aback. That was the last thing they expected to come out of a dying man’s mouth.

Verses 35-36: But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

·         “But love your enemies.” This principle was the very one that brought Jesus to earth (cf. Romans 5:8; 1 John 4:10), and His perfect love should be our example and our goal. Jesus came to give His life for us “while we were yet sinners,” while we were His enemies, despising Him, and wanting nothing to do with Him. Yet, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” When we demonstrate that same kind of agape love we prove that we are indeed sons and daughters of the Most High. He is kind, so we too should be kind. He is merciful, so we should be merciful, even to “ungrateful and evil men,” remembering the Lord’s kindness and mercy towards us.

Verse 37: Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned.

·         This verse has been much quoted and much abused, usually taken out of its context and used as an excuse for bad behaviour. Jesus was not telling His followers that they should stop being diligent to discern right from wrong. In fact, in this same sermon, down in verses 43-45 Jesus says that we should be fruit inspectors, evaluating ourselves and other people based on the righteous fruits the person produces. However, here in verse 37 Jesus was condemning the unjust and hypocritical judging of others. And certainly, He had been the victim of such treatment since the beginning of His ministry. Yet He refused to repay His abusers with vengeance. Instead, He just poured out more love on them.

Verse 38: Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.  

·         This figure of speech is taken from the practice of the grain merchant, who would fill the basket or sack of his customer as full as possible until the grain ran over the top. Then he would use his hands to pat it down and add a little more to fill the slack until the container could hold no more.

·         Jesus said that this is how you will be treated if you treat others this way.

CONCLUSION:

            So, why should we do good to our enemies? Because it is only by showing love to our enemies and doing good to those who hate us that we display to them the love of God. And maybe, just maybe, if we show them the love of God, they will experience something they have never experienced before, and will want more of it. And they may come to us, or they may turn to the Bible because they know we are Christians and live according to it, and they will learn of God’s infinite love for them and so be converted. We show love to our enemies because that is what God has done for us when we were His enemies, and that is how we were brought into His family, and that is how, hopefully, they can be brought into the family also.

I am convinced that one of the reasons so much evangelism fails today is because people cannot see the love and grace of God in our lives and actions. Forget showing love to our enemies for the moment. Most of the time, we do not even show love to our own fellow-believers in Christ! I am convinced that the church as a whole would be more effective in completing the Great Commission of making disciples of all the nations if we were more effective at carrying out the Great Commandment of loving God and loving one another. We cannot evangelize the lost until we love the saints, and we cannot love our enemies until we love other Christians, but it all begins with love. Loving God, loving one another, and loving our enemies.

David Cho, the pastor of the world’s largest church located in Seoul, So. Korea, has an interesting rule for his congregation. He tells his parishioners that they are not allowed to witness to someone until they have first performed three good deeds for them. They are forbidden to mention the name of Jesus until they have, for example, first helped that person fix an appliance, or brought them a meal when they were sick, or helped them work on their house. Pastor Cho believes that only after three such acts of kindness will the heart be open to the Gospel.

Do you have an enemy? Love him/her. How do you develop this love? Do good for them. As you do good for your enemies, the amazing miracle of divine agape love will blossom in your heart for them. You will reveal what the love of God has done for you, and what it can do for others also. You will be like Christ to them. Then you will not be so focused on outliving your enemies, but on living for them. This is what Christ has done for us and what He wants us to do for others.

A man was seen one day going out in a boat on a river with a large dog, which he planned to get rid of by drowning it. He succeeded in throwing the animal into the water, but the dog kept trying to get back into the boat. As the man was attempting to beat the dog away from the boat, he fell overboard. Witnesses later testified that the man would have himself drowned if the dog had not seized him by his coat and brought him to shore. When someone tries to do you harm, do good to them in return. As Paul writes in Romans 12, “Never pay back evil for evil to anyone…but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:17-21).