Retaliation:  A Product of the Human Nature

The Body of Christ Fellowship Church

Date: November 28, 2010
Speaker:  Pastor Willie J. Henderson, Jr.

Retaliation:  A Product of the Human Nature

Focus:


 Scriptures:

Matthew 5:38-39 Exodus 21:24 Romans 13:1-4


Points:

 

  1. The saved and the unsaved have the human nature in common.

  2. A heart with good intentions won't change God's Word.

  3. Discipline practiced in the spirit of retaliation (personal revenge) is wrong.

  4. We need God's help to be nonviolent.

  5. Satan preys on us using our own human nature against us.

  6. When Jesus said to turn the other cheek, He did not mean that government can not carry out judgment or that we can not defend ourselves.

 

Summary:

Retaliation means to settle the score.  It's human nature to desire retaliation.  Human nature is the one part of us that is not saved after we get saved.  This is why we must still fight against it.  We need the Spirit of God to help us.  Not only are we fighting against our human nature, we are also fighting against Satan.  Satan uses our unsaved human nature to try to trap us. 

Mixing discipline and retaliation is wrong.  Discipline should be practiced in a spirit of love, not retaliation.  Jesus said if someone smites you on one cheek, turn the other cheek.  He did not mean that we shouldn't defend ourselves or that the government can't carry out justice.  Jesus is prohibiting the human tendency to get personal revenge.  Romans 13: 1-4 tells us to be subject to governing authorities.  Resisting God appointed authority is the same as resisting God. 

If you walk in darkness as a leader or follower, you won't walk in the light of God's Word.   Those who walk in the light allow God to retaliate on their behalf.  We must not line up with self, but with God.  Jealousy  will retaliate and false accuse.  God will justify all those who are carrying out justice.  The spirit of retaliation doesn't know how to love.  It knows how to hate.  Some hop from church to church to hide their retaliation spirit.  When Adam and Eve messed up, they blamed everyone else, not themselves.  Judgment begins at the house of God.  The flesh will try to not retaliate, but it gets weak.  We can't be nonviolent without God.