Interview with

Founder & Teacher, Desiring God

Audio Transcript

There are dark stories of people who get taken advantage of in this world and who want to take revenge or see God’s vengeance pour down on those enemies — the case today in this email from a listener named Jemma, who lives in Australia. That’s all we have, her email. It’s short and dark. “Pastor John, how do I pray for my enemies who have abused me, taken advantage of me, and left me homeless and bankrupt? I want revenge and God’s wrath to overcome them right now. Help me find my balance in Christ.”

I am so glad that Jemma has asked for help to find balance in Christ because that’s the only place to be at this moment for her, for all of us: in Christ. There’s no Christian solution to this kind of situation unless we are in Christ — that is, unless we are truly Christians. We have been born again. We are trusting Christ for the forgiveness of our sins and the hope of eternal life. The word of Christ is our law and our joy. That’s where we can find some resolution.

So, let me give a biblical word to Jemma about your God, your soul, your reward, your prayer, your witness, and your church — those six realities.

1. Your God will make all things right.

First, a word about your God. Don’t take into your hands what belongs in God’s hands. Let God be God. Let God be Judge. Romans 12:19: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’” So, vengeance and wrath are God’s right and honor. Don’t take from his hand what belongs to him. This is very freeing. You can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that since God is God, no wrong against you will go unrighted. Justice will be done, now or in hell, for all who do not repent. And if they do repent, justice is done on the cross. You can’t improve on hell or the cross as proper payments for the wrongs done against you.

2. Your soul will suffer if you refuse to forgive.

Second, a word about your soul. A bitter and unforgiving soul is self-destructive. It feels like you’re getting back at others, but in fact you are making matters worse for yourself. Ephesians 4:26–27 says, “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.” This means that if you hold a grudge and go to bed night after night with anger, you open the door to the soul-destroying work of the devil. The devil specializes in using unforgiveness and bitterness to destroy our souls. Paul calls this lack of forgiveness one of Satan’s schemes in 2 Corinthians 2:10–11.

3. Your reward will satisfy you.

Third, a word about your reward. Jesus said in Matthew 5:11–12, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” The Christian life of joy in the face of abuse and loss only makes sense in view of eternity. In Hebrews 10:34, the Christians, it says, “joyfully accepted the plundering of [their] property,” because they knew they “had a better possession and an abiding one” — a great reward in heaven. We need to cultivate a strong heavenly-mindedness to live like this. The Christian life is simply impossible if our portion is in this life.

4. Your prayer will bless your enemies.

Fourth, a word about your prayer — that is, your prayer for your enemy. In Luke 6:27–28, Jesus said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” What do we pray? And I think the answer is given in the word “bless.” When he says “bless,” that means we’re not praying for their destruction. We’re praying for their blessing — that is, their salvation. We do not pray for their prosperity in evil. The blessing we pray for is their deliverance from evil. We’re not sentimental, as if we want their life of sin and injustice to prosper. We don’t. We want them to be brokenhearted for their sin, and humbled, and brought to repentance and faith and holiness. And that’s what we pray for.

5. Your witness will make Christ look great.

Fifth, a word about your witness. We want our lives as Christians to bear witness to the worth of Jesus as our all-satisfying treasure. That’s what we want our lives to communicate. Jesus is so great. He’s all-satisfying. If we treat this world like our supreme treasure, we look just like non-Christians. But if our treasure is in heaven, and we show that by our attitudes he’s the treasure, then we show Christ to be great. We magnify him. In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul was upset with the believers because they were suing each other before unbelieving judges. It was a terrible witness. He said, “Why not rather be defrauded?” (1 Corinthians 6:7). In other words, that would be a better witness to the world about the true value of Christ.

6. Your healthy church will help protect you.

And finally, a word about your church. If you’re not part of a healthy church, Jemma, you are cutting yourself off from one of the most important ways that God has provided for his people in this kind of situation. The elders (or pastors) and deacons of the church should show a special jealousy to protect the women of the church — and I’m thinking especially of single women and widows — from being taken advantage of through the unjust practices of others.

“Don’t take into your hands what belongs in God’s hands. Let God be God. Let God be Judge.”

I’m thinking of two kinds of biblical responses that the church, especially the leaders of the church, should exercise. The first is the most immediate, pressing emergency care so that if a person has been defrauded or abused, made homeless, destitute, she receives immediate shelter and protection from her church. The leaders of the church should take a special initiative in providing this kind of care. In the book of Acts, we see that no Christian was lacking in any basic need in the early church, while the other Christians had plenty (Acts 4:32–37).

The other initiative is that the leaders of the church should step in to an unjust situation and seek to bring justice for those who have been wronged. They can do this directly, by the intervention with those who have wronged — and, where appropriate and where the laws require it, involving the civil authorities, which God himself has ordained for this kind of protection involving them (Romans 13:1–4). That kind of corporate counterpart to the individual’s non-retaliation is crucial. The individual bears witness to the mercies of Christ by non-retaliation, and the church bears witness to the justice of Christ by standing up for the innocent.

So, I pray, Jemma, that God will glorify himself and his honor in fighting for you, and that your soul will be protected from the self-destructive disease of bitterness, and that your enjoyment of the hope of great reward would be sweet, and that your prayer for your enemies would be effective, and that the witness of your life to Christ’s grace would be powerful, and that you would find yourself protected and defended by a healthy church.