How Do You Cure A Pain In The Neck?
Text: Romans 12:17-21
17 Keep from repaying anyone evil for evil; keep taking into consideration what is morally good in the sight of all people;
18 if possible, as far as it depends upon you, continue living at peace with all people;
19 never take your own revenge, dear friends, but give a place for God’s wrath, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord.
20 On the contrary, “IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, START FEEDING HIM; IF HE IS THIRSTY, START GIVING HIM SOMETHING TO DRINK; FOR BY DOING THIS YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS UPON HIS HEAD.”
21 Keep from being overcome by evil, but keep overcoming the evil with good.
Sermon:
No doctor, no chiropractor, no pill can cure this pain in the neck, for the pain in the neck is not within you but around you. This pain walks, talks, irritates, and aggravates. This pain can afflict you one minute and cease the next, or it can bug you day and night. This pain can be as sly as a fox or as thoughtless as a bull in a china shop. This pain can try the patience of a Job, exasperate the wisdom of a Solomon, frustrate the strength of a Sampson, undermine the faith of an Abraham, and destroy the serenity of a saint. But he is your pain in the neck nevertheless.
At any given moment your pain in the neck may be one person or another. He could also be a she. He may be your spouse, your parent, your child, your brother, your sister, your boss, your fellow employee, your neighbor, the driver next to you on the street, or the person who just ran you over with a shopping cart. The question is: what do you do with that pain in the neck now that you have him?
For the next few minutes permit me to discuss with you, “ How Do You Cure A Pain In The Neck? With The Human Prescription -- Revenge? Or With The Divine Prescription -- Goodness?”
So here is the situation: Your pain in the neck just waltzed into your life as gracefully as hurricane Andrew blew across Florida. One minute your life was as calm and serene as the Garden of Eden; the next minute your life was like the aftermath of hurricane Iniki – a paradise lost.
How does this happen? Here are a few examples: You are the head of your department. The manpower in your department has been cut in half but the workload has been doubled. You and your people have not had a coffee break in six months or a day off in a year. A job came in yesterday, and your boss snarls today, “Why didn’t you finish this job last week? Shape up or ship out!”
Or, you are a housewife. You have chased the kids from sunup to sundown You have cleaned up forty-eight messes, run twenty-three errands, cut five acres of grass with a broken lawnmower, answered eight hundred and one telephone calls from pesty sales people, fixed two toilets and one broken storm door, prepared six lunches and a four-course dinner, served up more treats than McDonalds has ice creams, and hubby walks in, sees you collapsed on the sofa, and asks, “ Why aren’t my shirts washed yet? What did you do all day?”
Or, you just broke your back shoveling eight inches of slush off of your driveway so you can go to work, when your neighbor takes out his two hundred horsepower snow blower and blows the snow off his driveway onto yours, and then the snowplow drives by and piles up three feet of slush across the entrance of your driveway.
How do you cure this kind of a pain in the neck? What do you do? Several temptations immediately arise. One, scream, “Why me, Lord? And why now?” Two, run for the medicine cabinet because you have a double Excedrin headache. Three, get even, for it is the human way to cure a pain in the neck.
Now there are more than one kind of revenge you can resort to. First, there is the glaring revenge, which is the most tempting to cure this pain in the neck. It is glaring because it is more obvious than a skyscraper in the middle of a desert. After your pain in the neck has struck, that glaring revenge strikes back something like this: A mischievous glare twinkles in your eye; a sinister notion rattles through your brain; a ghastly grin spreads across your face – and then comes your counterpunch! Your pain in the neck started it, you are going to finish it. The victory must be won at all costs. Vengeance is yours. Pain given must be pain extracted. So, when the boss is not looking during the lunch break, you see to it that his coffee is laced with Tabasco sauce. Or, unknown to your hubby (if you are a wife) you take his charge card and go on a shopping spree. Or, you make sure your neighbor gets three pounds of nails strewn across his driveway. Or, you have a bottomless pit dug for the next time that snowplow comes around.
Have you not been tempted to take revenge at least a time or two? After your pain in the neck has made a shambles of your life, have you not been tempted to play chicken with him – he is the chicken and you are going to ring his neck? You desire to smash him, trash him, pounce him, and trounce him. For this is the human prescription for curing a pain in the neck – sweet revenge!
Some persons resort to the more subtle kind of revenge. This subtle revenge is latent and hidden behind apparently innocent motives, words, and actions. But it is revenge nevertheless. It is the tit-for-a-tat. It is the state of mind that what you do to me, I will do to you. You do this, I will do it also. You play spades, I will play spades. The individuals who resort to this subtle revenge are small, immature people. They are like little children. They have a monkey mentality – monkey see, monkey do. The boss causes them trouble, so discreetly they cause the boss trouble. Hubby complains about what his wife does not do, so she complains about what he does not do. The neighbor blows his snow on the other people’s driveway, so they blow their leaves on his lawn.
Individuals who resort to this tit-for-a tat subtle kind of revenge are subject to a troublesome, inherent weakness. They are apt to be suspicious and distrustful of others. They look to find fault and are always on the defensive. They assume they can read the mind and the motives of others. They fail to understand that like all human perceptions, their perceptions of others are usually wrong. Thus their reactionary behavior is usually wrong. Yet they follow this subtle kind of revenge and make it a common human prescription for what they see is a pain in their neck.
Some fall into a premeditated revenge, others into an instantaneous revenge. The premeditated revenge includes the monkey mentality just described as well as the careful plotting to carry out a single instance of getting even, like dousing the boss’s coffee with Tabasco sauce during the lunch break. The instantaneous revenge occurs on the spur of the moment. It is an immediate blow up. Without thought the cutting remark is unleashed and the hurt is inflicted.
What is the motivation for revenge? Hatred. Bitterness. A self-seeking pride. Selfishness to have one’s own way. A malicious heart. The Word of God says, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.” Revenge motivated by bitterness and hatred is as much murder as wringing the person’s neck, whether it be that glaring revenge or the subtle, monkey-mentality revenge.
All human revenge is wicked and sinful in the eyes of God. Woe to those who seek and take revenge, for God will take his revenge on them. It would be better for them not to have been born than to perish for having a vengeful heart.
Each of us at some time has resorted to revenge to cure a pain in the neck. This human prescription has brought us under the wrath of God. But now God is giving us the time to repent of our vengeful sins and to believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. For Jesus bore the vengeance of God on our sins.
Happy are those who take refuge in the sufferings of Jesus Christ, for they have been delivered from the pains of hell. Happy are those who rely on the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, for in the day of God’s vengeance they will find mercy. Happy are those who believe this gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ, for they are comforted with the assurance of eternal life.
Jesus says, “Blessed are the merciful, For they will be shown mercy.” This being true, the forgiven children of God will be intent upon showing mercy to others. They will desire to follow God’s divine prescription for curing a pain in the neck.
God tells us, “Never take your own revenge, dear friends, but give a place for God’s wrath, for it is written, ‘VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,’ says the Lord.” Vengeance is the Lord’s; he will repay. So whatever evil we suffer, we will let God settle the score. He is the judge, we are not. We are to forgive, he will punish. We are to treat those who sin against us like God now treats us who sin against him.
God says, “Keep from repaying anyone evil for evil; keep taking into consideration what is morally good in the sight of all people.” Let’s not lower ourselves to the level of our antagonists. Because our antagonists are the scum of the earth does not mean that we should be the dregs of the world.
God, and others around us, see the disgusting evils our pains in the neck do to us. Let us do in return what is right in the eyes of all around us. While all condemn our antagonists for the evil they do to us, all will praise us for the good we do to our antagonists.
Repay evil with good that you may possibly live in peace with your pain in the neck. If he hits you, your clouting him with a club will not make for peace. If he growls and you then snarl, you have no peace but a dogfight. You prolong the fight and stir up further animosity in your antagonist. If you antagonize a dog, it will bite you; if you pet it gently, it will go to sleep. Do likewise to your pain in the neck and he may finally leave you alone.
At least that works in some cases, but not all. If you are faced with a mad dog, all you can do is stay out of his way.
Our Lord says, “if your enemy is hungry, start feeding him; if he is thirsty, start giving him something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals upon his head.” Don’t kill your pain in the neck with a shot in the head; kill him with kindness.
During a radio interview that I granted in February of 1992 a wife called in to the radio program. She identified her husband as a dominating, irritating, loveless pain in the neck. Since the theme of our discussion at the time was the name of my book, Deepening Love – For Marital Happiness, she wanted to know what to do to awaken her husband’s love for her. I told her to do what our Lord says here in Romans. Return love for hatred; kindness for unkindness; pleasantness for irritation; goodness for wickedness.
Do likewise yourself. Would you like to disarm your spouse when he raises his dukes for a fight? Well then, when your spouse says, “ you irritate me,” respond, “ I love you, dear.” When he kicks the cat in his path, run to pick up the dog in his way. The dog will love you for your kindness too. When your husband blows his top in frustration, you provide the ear needed to let him vent his steam. When he speaks roughly to you, you speak kindly to him.
What may your kindness do to your pains in the neck? It may make them feel guilty for treating you so badly. Your kindness shows up their wickedness. Your kindness in the midst of their wickedness is like a floodlight that comes on in the night – it reveals them for what they are. Finally, they may have a change of heart. Your kindness may melt their heart, for people love what pleases them.
Now, how have you been curing your pains in the neck? With the human prescription – revenge? Or with the divine prescription – goodness? Which of the two do you think our Lord wants you to follow? For he says, “Keep from being overcome by evil, but keep overcoming the evil with good.”
Amen.
17 Keep from repaying anyone evil for evil; keep taking into consideration what is morally good in the sight of all people;
18 if possible, as far as it depends upon you, continue living at peace with all people;
19 never take your own revenge, dear friends, but give a place for God’s wrath, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord.
20 On the contrary, “IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, START FEEDING HIM; IF HE IS THIRSTY, START GIVING HIM SOMETHING TO DRINK; FOR BY DOING THIS YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS UPON HIS HEAD.”
21 Keep from being overcome by evil, but keep overcoming the evil with good.
Sermon:
No doctor, no chiropractor, no pill can cure this pain in the neck, for the pain in the neck is not within you but around you. This pain walks, talks, irritates, and aggravates. This pain can afflict you one minute and cease the next, or it can bug you day and night. This pain can be as sly as a fox or as thoughtless as a bull in a china shop. This pain can try the patience of a Job, exasperate the wisdom of a Solomon, frustrate the strength of a Sampson, undermine the faith of an Abraham, and destroy the serenity of a saint. But he is your pain in the neck nevertheless.
At any given moment your pain in the neck may be one person or another. He could also be a she. He may be your spouse, your parent, your child, your brother, your sister, your boss, your fellow employee, your neighbor, the driver next to you on the street, or the person who just ran you over with a shopping cart. The question is: what do you do with that pain in the neck now that you have him?
For the next few minutes permit me to discuss with you, “ How Do You Cure A Pain In The Neck? With The Human Prescription -- Revenge? Or With The Divine Prescription -- Goodness?”
So here is the situation: Your pain in the neck just waltzed into your life as gracefully as hurricane Andrew blew across Florida. One minute your life was as calm and serene as the Garden of Eden; the next minute your life was like the aftermath of hurricane Iniki – a paradise lost.
How does this happen? Here are a few examples: You are the head of your department. The manpower in your department has been cut in half but the workload has been doubled. You and your people have not had a coffee break in six months or a day off in a year. A job came in yesterday, and your boss snarls today, “Why didn’t you finish this job last week? Shape up or ship out!”
Or, you are a housewife. You have chased the kids from sunup to sundown You have cleaned up forty-eight messes, run twenty-three errands, cut five acres of grass with a broken lawnmower, answered eight hundred and one telephone calls from pesty sales people, fixed two toilets and one broken storm door, prepared six lunches and a four-course dinner, served up more treats than McDonalds has ice creams, and hubby walks in, sees you collapsed on the sofa, and asks, “ Why aren’t my shirts washed yet? What did you do all day?”
Or, you just broke your back shoveling eight inches of slush off of your driveway so you can go to work, when your neighbor takes out his two hundred horsepower snow blower and blows the snow off his driveway onto yours, and then the snowplow drives by and piles up three feet of slush across the entrance of your driveway.
How do you cure this kind of a pain in the neck? What do you do? Several temptations immediately arise. One, scream, “Why me, Lord? And why now?” Two, run for the medicine cabinet because you have a double Excedrin headache. Three, get even, for it is the human way to cure a pain in the neck.
Now there are more than one kind of revenge you can resort to. First, there is the glaring revenge, which is the most tempting to cure this pain in the neck. It is glaring because it is more obvious than a skyscraper in the middle of a desert. After your pain in the neck has struck, that glaring revenge strikes back something like this: A mischievous glare twinkles in your eye; a sinister notion rattles through your brain; a ghastly grin spreads across your face – and then comes your counterpunch! Your pain in the neck started it, you are going to finish it. The victory must be won at all costs. Vengeance is yours. Pain given must be pain extracted. So, when the boss is not looking during the lunch break, you see to it that his coffee is laced with Tabasco sauce. Or, unknown to your hubby (if you are a wife) you take his charge card and go on a shopping spree. Or, you make sure your neighbor gets three pounds of nails strewn across his driveway. Or, you have a bottomless pit dug for the next time that snowplow comes around.
Have you not been tempted to take revenge at least a time or two? After your pain in the neck has made a shambles of your life, have you not been tempted to play chicken with him – he is the chicken and you are going to ring his neck? You desire to smash him, trash him, pounce him, and trounce him. For this is the human prescription for curing a pain in the neck – sweet revenge!
Some persons resort to the more subtle kind of revenge. This subtle revenge is latent and hidden behind apparently innocent motives, words, and actions. But it is revenge nevertheless. It is the tit-for-a-tat. It is the state of mind that what you do to me, I will do to you. You do this, I will do it also. You play spades, I will play spades. The individuals who resort to this subtle revenge are small, immature people. They are like little children. They have a monkey mentality – monkey see, monkey do. The boss causes them trouble, so discreetly they cause the boss trouble. Hubby complains about what his wife does not do, so she complains about what he does not do. The neighbor blows his snow on the other people’s driveway, so they blow their leaves on his lawn.
Individuals who resort to this tit-for-a tat subtle kind of revenge are subject to a troublesome, inherent weakness. They are apt to be suspicious and distrustful of others. They look to find fault and are always on the defensive. They assume they can read the mind and the motives of others. They fail to understand that like all human perceptions, their perceptions of others are usually wrong. Thus their reactionary behavior is usually wrong. Yet they follow this subtle kind of revenge and make it a common human prescription for what they see is a pain in their neck.
Some fall into a premeditated revenge, others into an instantaneous revenge. The premeditated revenge includes the monkey mentality just described as well as the careful plotting to carry out a single instance of getting even, like dousing the boss’s coffee with Tabasco sauce during the lunch break. The instantaneous revenge occurs on the spur of the moment. It is an immediate blow up. Without thought the cutting remark is unleashed and the hurt is inflicted.
What is the motivation for revenge? Hatred. Bitterness. A self-seeking pride. Selfishness to have one’s own way. A malicious heart. The Word of God says, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.” Revenge motivated by bitterness and hatred is as much murder as wringing the person’s neck, whether it be that glaring revenge or the subtle, monkey-mentality revenge.
All human revenge is wicked and sinful in the eyes of God. Woe to those who seek and take revenge, for God will take his revenge on them. It would be better for them not to have been born than to perish for having a vengeful heart.
Each of us at some time has resorted to revenge to cure a pain in the neck. This human prescription has brought us under the wrath of God. But now God is giving us the time to repent of our vengeful sins and to believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. For Jesus bore the vengeance of God on our sins.
Happy are those who take refuge in the sufferings of Jesus Christ, for they have been delivered from the pains of hell. Happy are those who rely on the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, for in the day of God’s vengeance they will find mercy. Happy are those who believe this gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ, for they are comforted with the assurance of eternal life.
Jesus says, “Blessed are the merciful, For they will be shown mercy.” This being true, the forgiven children of God will be intent upon showing mercy to others. They will desire to follow God’s divine prescription for curing a pain in the neck.
God tells us, “Never take your own revenge, dear friends, but give a place for God’s wrath, for it is written, ‘VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,’ says the Lord.” Vengeance is the Lord’s; he will repay. So whatever evil we suffer, we will let God settle the score. He is the judge, we are not. We are to forgive, he will punish. We are to treat those who sin against us like God now treats us who sin against him.
God says, “Keep from repaying anyone evil for evil; keep taking into consideration what is morally good in the sight of all people.” Let’s not lower ourselves to the level of our antagonists. Because our antagonists are the scum of the earth does not mean that we should be the dregs of the world.
God, and others around us, see the disgusting evils our pains in the neck do to us. Let us do in return what is right in the eyes of all around us. While all condemn our antagonists for the evil they do to us, all will praise us for the good we do to our antagonists.
Repay evil with good that you may possibly live in peace with your pain in the neck. If he hits you, your clouting him with a club will not make for peace. If he growls and you then snarl, you have no peace but a dogfight. You prolong the fight and stir up further animosity in your antagonist. If you antagonize a dog, it will bite you; if you pet it gently, it will go to sleep. Do likewise to your pain in the neck and he may finally leave you alone.
At least that works in some cases, but not all. If you are faced with a mad dog, all you can do is stay out of his way.
Our Lord says, “if your enemy is hungry, start feeding him; if he is thirsty, start giving him something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals upon his head.” Don’t kill your pain in the neck with a shot in the head; kill him with kindness.
During a radio interview that I granted in February of 1992 a wife called in to the radio program. She identified her husband as a dominating, irritating, loveless pain in the neck. Since the theme of our discussion at the time was the name of my book, Deepening Love – For Marital Happiness, she wanted to know what to do to awaken her husband’s love for her. I told her to do what our Lord says here in Romans. Return love for hatred; kindness for unkindness; pleasantness for irritation; goodness for wickedness.
Do likewise yourself. Would you like to disarm your spouse when he raises his dukes for a fight? Well then, when your spouse says, “ you irritate me,” respond, “ I love you, dear.” When he kicks the cat in his path, run to pick up the dog in his way. The dog will love you for your kindness too. When your husband blows his top in frustration, you provide the ear needed to let him vent his steam. When he speaks roughly to you, you speak kindly to him.
What may your kindness do to your pains in the neck? It may make them feel guilty for treating you so badly. Your kindness shows up their wickedness. Your kindness in the midst of their wickedness is like a floodlight that comes on in the night – it reveals them for what they are. Finally, they may have a change of heart. Your kindness may melt their heart, for people love what pleases them.
Now, how have you been curing your pains in the neck? With the human prescription – revenge? Or with the divine prescription – goodness? Which of the two do you think our Lord wants you to follow? For he says, “Keep from being overcome by evil, but keep overcoming the evil with good.”
Amen.
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