Rev. David Holwick V
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
June 19, 2016
Romans 12:20-21
GRACE VS. GUNS
I. Yet another atrocity.
A. Orlando's bloodshed.
1) In a replay of the San Bernardino shooting, a gunman
entered a popular establishment and started shooting.
2) He identified himself as an Islamist.
a) However, he was not very clearheaded. Several of the
groups he mentioned are enemies of each other.
1> Radical Islam is hardly monolithic.
b) He may have been torn within himself.
1> His father said he was triggered into rage by seeing
two men kissing.
2> Others have said the killer himself visited gay
clubs, so it was a form of self-hatred and denial.
3> We may never know for sure, because he is dead.
B. Terrorism associated with Islam is a major modern development.
1) Starting with the 1983 bombing of the American embassy
in Beirut, there have been 447 attacks.
2) The Orlando massacre is not even the most recent, because
two days later a policeman and mother in France were
stabbed to death by someone who was allied with ISIS.
3) Tally of attacks:
a) United States - 14 terrorist attacks since 1983.
b) France - 16.
c) Iraq - 50.
d) Israel - 75. [1]
C. Terrorism is their radical way to transform the world.
1) They want everyone to conform to Islam.
2) Christians want everyone to conform to Jesus.
a) How we go about it should be very different.
II. Why is hate so popular?
A. It is easy.
1) Hatred is a negative, a statement of what you are against.
a) Constructing something positive is much more difficult.
b) Tearing things down is a breeze.
2) It is not hard to express.
a) Guns are cheap and you just pull a trigger.
b) As the Old Testament prophet Joel wrote, the weak can
say "I am strong."
c) Most of the attacks since 9-11 have been "lone wolves."
B. It gets attention.
1) Notorious fame may be a motivator.
2) This is why some media won't use the killer's name.
C. But it is not God's way.
1) Christians are called to use different weapons.
2) As the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:4 --
"The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.
On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish
strongholds. We demolish arguments..."
3) Jesus never commands his followers to raise armies or
kill infidels.
a) Perhaps the Quran does, but the New Testament does not.
b) Instead, Jesus calls on us to love one another and
preach God's salvation.
1> The easy version of the Golden Rule says don't do
something bad to someone, that you wouldn't want
done to you.
2> Jesus gives the harder positive version: actively
do to others what you want them to do to you.
III. Christians should do good to everyone.
A. We are to help those who agree with us, and those who don't.
1) Paul's teaching in Galatians 6:10 --
"Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all
people, especially to those who belong to the family
of believers."
2) So Christian friends can be a priority, but all people
are an obligation.
B. Toleration is a Christian virtue.
1) It doesn't mean we agree with everyone, but we can live
with them.
2) When you are tolerant, you treat them with politeness and
compassion.
a) You affirm them as human beings who are created in the
image of God just like we are.
b) We don't affirm everything they believe, or everything
they do.
C. Toleration affirms God's ability to change people and situations.
1) God is not done with people until they leave this earth.
a) 1 Timothy 2:3-4 --
"...God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved
and to come to a knowledge of the truth."
b) No one is a hopeless case.
2) If we treat them well and tell them about the love that
Jesus has for them, they can be transformed.
IV. Love can work on people.
A. How to treat an enemy. Romans 12:20-21
1) Paul's classic passage talks about doing good things
to your enemy.
2) But it has an interesting conclusion - it is like heaping
burning coals on their head. What does this mean?
B. Burning coals.
1) It could be a reference to eternal punishment.
a) Burning coals are often a symbol of God's judgment in
the Old Testament.
1> This interpretation was popular in medieval church.
b) Can be abused - are you loving your enemy so they'll
suffer even more?
1> Even the ancient church fathers knew this was the
wrong attitude.
2) It is more likely a reference to enemy's sense of shame.
a) Paul is actually quoting from Proverbs 25:21-22.
1> It may reflect the ancient Egyptian practice of
carrying burning coals in a pan on their head
as a symbol of repentance.
2> So as Proverbs suggests, you treat them well, they
feel guilty and change, and God will reward you.
b) Romans 12:21 sums up: we don't let evil call the shots.
1> Evil doesn't defeat us, but we defeat it by doing
good.
V. Hard cases are no exception.
A. Can you love a Bin Laden?
1) It would be hard, but a Christian can do it.
2) On a more practical level, you may come across a local
Muslim who has some anti-Western views.
a) They may criticize Christianity or America.
b) Chances are, they don't know many Christians.
1> You get to know them, and show them God's love.
3) Islamic leaders recognize the danger of this.
One Islamic leader stated at a large conference of
Muslim clerics recently,
"Do not allow your people to have close contact with
Christians because if you do the Christians will
love your people into their faith." [2]
B. Can you love a homosexual in a gay bar?
1) Many Christians find this hard.
2) One radio program raised the point, that when you heard
the tragedy happened in a gay bar, did your attitude
change at all?
The average American thinks a California Baptist preacher
is typical.
Preacher Roger Jimenez in Sacramento told his church
that the only tragedy of the Orlando shooting is that
"more of them didn't die." [3]
3) God disagrees with Pastor Jimenez.
a) He doesn't want these young men and women to die.
b) God wants them to have true life, abundant life,
sanctified life.
C. The real tragedy of Orlando.
1) How many of these young people, partying late at night,
were prepared to meet their God?
2) I could ask the same of you.
a) You think your death is so far away, but it may not be.
b) Are you ready to meet God?
VI. We can love because God first loved us.
A. You can go from being a hater to being a transformer.
1) I like Paul's advice in Titus 3.
3:1 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and
authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do
whatever is good,
3:2 to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate,
and to show true humility toward all men.
2) That fits my message today perfectly. But it is not all
Paul has to say:
3:3 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived
and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures.
We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating
one another.
He seems to think we all are not far from being a terrorist.
B. Grace is God's gift to us.
Paul then adds a "but":
3:4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior
appeared,
3:5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had
done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through
the washing of rebirth and renewal by the
Holy Spirit,
3:6 whom he poured out on us generously through
Jesus Christ our Savior...
1) Have you experienced God's mercy?
2) Are you willing to pass it on?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
1. “List of Islamist Terrorist Attacks,” Wikipedia.org; <link>.
2. “Mistakes Christians Make When Trying to Reach a Muslim,” by William
Wagner, North American Mission Board (Southern Baptists); <link>.
3. “Only In America [Section],” Week magazine, June 17, 2016; <link>.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
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