"Eyes, Teeth, and Undershirts" - 28m:02s

Scott McFarland
03/05/17 - Sun AM Worship

Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:38-48 ;   Sermon Series "The Upside Down Kingdom".

Getting Ahead?  

“I don’t get even, I get ahead,” a friend once told me. Although in the context of  playing practical jokes--and this person was a huge prankster--I thought about how that could be said of many people’s silent attitudes when wronged. Whether we seek to  get even or ahead, the feeling of wanting to return a wrong with self-enacted justice is  almost universal. If someone wrongs us, they should get what’s coming to them, right‘?  And, if that means we have to help justice be sewed, we are justified in taking action.  After all, they wronged us.

What we often do when getting involved in “justice seeking” is set ourselves up for an  ongoing cycle of bitterness, anger and, in some cases, violence. Vengeance rarely  resolves anything. You can probably think of families, friendships, and other  relationships that were torn apart--or never happened--because someone sought the  justice of a grievance and destroyed relationships and lives in the process.  

Jesus calls us to a higher standard. Join us as we discover how Jesus  desires his followers to act in the face of ridicule and being wronged. I can guarantee  you it is not easy. However, I can guarantee it is the best way to get ahead. 

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