How to treat an enemy

Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay," says the Lord. Therefore "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty give him a drink; for in so doing you will reap coals of fire on his head." – Romans 12.19-20

Earlier in the passage we talked about the necessity of not returning evil for good in a personal way, but I want to spend a couple of days dealing with the more general and powerful impact that following these instructions can have.

‘Don’t seek vengeance yourselves. I will take care of that. If your enemy is hungry – feed him. If your enemy is thirsty – give him something to drink. In so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.’

This does not seem to make any sense. Why should I help my enemy? Why should I ‘aid and abet’ those who want to do evil to me? Isn’t aiding and abetting the enemy the very definition of treason? Isn’t this being a traitor to the cause of Christ?

It may seem that way at first, but when we respond to persecution by feeding and giving drink to our enemy we accomplish so much more than a temporary victory. When we do that we ‘heap coals of fire on his head.’

In other words, we cause a discomfort that is unanswerable. When we respond that way it is something the enemy cannot answer. He can respond to everything else – but we respond this way we don’t give him any reason of cause for his action.

I need to go back Uncle Tom and Simon Legree to illustrate this. Here Tom is submitting to Legree’s tyranny in a way that frustrates Legree.

‘"Mas'r Legree, as ye bought me, I'll be a true and faithful servant to ye. I'll give ye all the work of my hands, all my time, all my strength; but my soul I won't give up to mortal man. I will hold on to the Lord, and put his commands before all,--die or live; you may be sure on 't. Mas'r Legree, I ain't a grain afeard to die. I'd as soon die as not. Ye may whip me, starve me, burn me,--it'll only send me sooner where I want to go." "I'll make ye give out, though, 'fore I've done!" said Legree, in a rage. "I shall have help," said Tom; "you'll never do it." "Who the devil's going to help you?" said Legree, scornfully. "The Lord Almighty," said Tom.’

The hard truth is that Tom’s response didn’t help him personally. Legree was so disturbed that he had Tom beaten to death.

How did that work? As we saw a few days ago Tom’s response saw two other slaves saved.

Lest we think that is only fiction we can go back to the early church to find out how this response played out. For hundreds of years the believers had persecuted by the Roman government. From historical accounts they responded by loving and taking care of their persecutors. They did not take up arms. They did not riot in the streets. They did not attack the governing authorities.

Many of them suffered. Many of them died. But they persisted in responding God’s way.

And what happened?

In 311 Galarius was emperor. He had been one of the leading figures in the persecutions, admitted that the policy of trying to eradicate Christianity had failed. In 303 he issued an edict to renew the persecution which had somewhat backed off under Diocletian. But in 311 he issued an Edict of Toleration which finally ended the persecution of Christians.

Here is a part of that edict:

 "wherefore, for this our indulgence, they ought to pray to their God for our safety, for that of the republic, and for their own, that the republic may continue uninjured on every side, and that they may be able to live securely in their homes."

God’s plan had worked. It worked so well that eventually the Roman government asked the church to pray for them.

Who says God’s way doesn’t make any sense?