April 23, 2024 • 26 mins
In episode 28, Those Crazy Bible Study Guys get into how we are designed to fight or flight which make retaliation a natural response! They further learn that "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" was actually a term used in the courts of Jesus' day for guidance as to how to assess punishment on a convicted criminal. While joking about a fun level of retaliation at home trying to unexpectedly scare our spouses, the Holy Spirit inspires a mic drop on this episode: we learn why we need to come to God in prayer in situations where we want to retaliate because it is a whole other level of love we need, a supernatural love, that Jesus showed that day on the cross as he asked for God's forgiveness on those who falsely accused Him and brutally brought Him to a wrongful death.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Hello, everybody, and welcome to episode 28. I'm Jim, and I'm Dale,
and we are those crazy Bible study guys.
And happy day to you, Jim. Happy day to all the listeners out there.
Music.
I hope everybody's doing good, and hopefully nobody is seeking revenge today.
(00:24):
That's what we're going to be talking about. Yeah, you thought I was going to
start off with my big retaliation voice, didn't you?
Yeah. And I did actually think about almost just saying my name is Jim too,
just to throw you off, but I didn't. Not today.
No, come one these days. Oh, you want it. Oh, I see you were trying to invoke retaliation.
That's right. I see how that's the word. I thought about it.
(00:46):
I thought about it, but yeah.
Yeah, man. So talk about a journey we've already been on.
We've gone from all over the teachings and Jesus has gathered his disciples
and people are starting to huddle around.
I mean, he's gone from anger to the law, to lust, divorce, vows.
And now he's like, hey, I know you all got revenge in you too. Let's talk about that.
(01:10):
So all around spectrum here, man.
I mean, he's hitting, you came up on this topic. He hit something that you were
struggling with. That's for sure.
Yeah. If not all of it. Yeah. I mean, he's hitting on the core,
right? Those core hard items for sure.
The, the, the retaliation, man, that's like, it's, it's one of those things where.
(01:36):
I think it's intrinsic in us, right?
Because everything you've learned in science and stuff about the human nature
and stuff is fight or flight, right?
So naturally, we're just kind of programmed to either fight or flee.
(01:57):
So it's kind of a natural instinct to, I think that can kind of tie to retaliation,
right? Because something's happening to you and you're either going to fight
or you're going to flight.
I know that's a little more extreme, like a physical issue, but I think it ties
to the heart matter as well.
Yeah, I think you're right. Because even then, in either outcome,
(02:19):
whether you fight or flight, you're going to think about the future.
Like, what are your next steps? How can I get this person?
And that's the reality. I mean, just like anything, like, you know,
we're, we're pretty big pranksters here in the, in the, in the household.
And so, you know, like if I know my wife's in another room, it's very common
for me to hide and to do a jump scare.
(02:41):
You know, the same for my son, you know, like we, we pull pranks on each other
and it's, there's a, there's an element of revenge.
Okay. Like how do I get them next? You know, or how did, how are they attack me?
Me and you know and of course that's the light fun-hearted version
of it but it does escalate and everybody's the
same you know whether you're at work something happens co-worker kind
(03:03):
of throws you under the bus do you have revenge
to you know to seek
them and get them again and make sure that the boss knows that they did something
wrong as well or do you learn to let it go and yeah so a Revenge can be across
the board on everything from goofy playtime to all the way to absolute kind
(03:25):
of row you down kind of a thing. Yeah.
We have that same thing going on in our house. My wife will sneak up on me and say.
Oh, really? So you're opposite. So she'll go, hello, Jim. And I'm like,
I'll be in the middle. So I'm like, Oh, geez.
But, but I do try to get her back.
(03:46):
I don't know why this was, this started a couple of years ago.
I don't know why, but she's having a lot of fun with it. I can just, I can just tell you that.
So that's awesome. I hope that she starts to video and put this like on Tik TOK or something.
Thing goodness yeah there are a couple of people that do
that nina will show me some videos of people getting scared by their
spouse and it's cracking it's very very funny i know and every time it happens
(04:07):
you're like oh dang she got me again you know it's like this opposite roles
man like i'm the one doing it to nina and you're the one getting done so i know
that's awesome well i I do try to, I do try to retaliate.
I definitely agree there.
Oh man. But I want to, I know we got to get into the scriptures here,
(04:30):
but you know, that, that fight or flight thing,
I think, you know, that's not exactly what he's talking about here,
but there's, to me, there's kind of some, you know, some unhealthiness too,
to kind of flighting and avoiding a situation with someone too.
Too, then I'm sure, I think next episode we talk a little bit about,
(04:52):
you know, not trying to avoid it, but what you can do instead in a situation like that.
But, you know, I think that's somewhat unhealthy too, right?
Is not addressing a situation, just trying to avoid it because avoiding it is
sometimes a lot easier than trying to deal with it, especially in a situation
where you would want to retaliate. Yeah.
(05:13):
Yeah and that kind of actually goes with our last episode you know
when we talked about vows and of course we we instantly think oh
vows marriage but in reality it was really about
an oath about a promise and how we really kind of learned a lot about you know
just make your yeses a yes and knows be no because things can happen if you
have false promises so oh i promise to do this and you don't fulfill it you
(05:36):
know well then that could make that other person pretty angry and you know You
know, be like, well, you know what?
Next time they ask for help from me, I'm not going to do it.
And then there's your revenge.
It's already starting up. So it's actually a pretty good tie-in of how,
you know, Jesus kept that flow going.
Like how you look at these headers, you're like, oh, wow, he went from divorce to vows to revenge.
(05:57):
Like how does all that work? And, you know, is it because of divorce?
Is it because of, you know, what it is? And it's, you know, again,
there's a tie to each level.
And so yeah so having that oath you know oath
into a marriage and then oath to a friend and then
now we're in revenge yeah let's let's dive in let's
read it and see what where he's going to take us today so because
(06:18):
again it's easy to think oh it's going to be about this and we've we've learned
quite a bit last couple episodes it's a very different perspective than what
we expect to get into so yep and again it's just a reminder to the listeners
we don't read this before we come in we like to do this in real time so you're
getting a full taste of it so with us But yeah, let me open this in prayer.
And I'm going to read Matthew 5, 38 through 42 today.
(06:41):
And Lord, we just thank you for another day. Lord, we thank you for your blessings.
We just ask and pray that you'll continue to work and mold and shape us the
way that you desire us to be.
Lord, we do fall. We do fail. We're never going to be perfect.
And Lord, I'm just thankful that you know that.
And thank you for loving us, for who we are, and just allow us to do better,
to grow, and just take your words and live them out. So as we learn today about
(07:06):
revenge, I pray that you'll just help us on our heart.
If we do have anything, we're holding a grudge against someone or there's something going on.
I pray that you will just allow us to release that today so that we can just,
again, be in a fresh state of mind.
Because, Lord, that's what you've done for us. You didn't hold a grudge.
You gave it all and you took away all of our sins.
So why should we hold things as well? all so lord
(07:29):
let us give that up today and just really grow
in matthew 5 38 through 42 in jesus name
amen amen all right it goes
like this you have heard that it was said eye for eye and tooth for tooth but
i tell you do not resist an evil person if anyone slaps you on the right cheek
(07:51):
turn to them the other cheek also and if anyone on and if anyone wants to sue you and take your
shirt, hand over your coat as well.
If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.
Give to the one who asks you and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
(08:11):
Hmm. It's interesting. I'm a, you know, I'm a Dave Ramsey junkie and,
and one of his key principles is, you know, don't, don't let people borrow money
from you because it changes the relationship.
So I'm curious how this, the footnotes on this are going to work.
Yeah. You know, basically he says, if, Hey, if you want to give to someone,
(08:33):
just give to them, you know, because once you borrow, it's, you got that slave
lender relationship going on.
So i think he's trying
to get to a bigger point here right of of don't
retaliate right right right do do more than what they expect you to kind of
do right perspective and okay i don't know man i just knowing who i am as a
(08:57):
person sometimes i can be very sarcastic and i'm looking at 39 and yours if
anyone slaps you on the right cheek turn to them the other cheek off so i don't think i
would do that with grace i'd be like come on do it again you know like you'll
bring it you know like i'll turn the cheek but boy i'm gonna be ready to go so i'm already kind of.
(09:18):
Kind of laughing at myself how i would probably handle that yeah you wouldn't
be laughing when you're on the floor with that oh man the
other cheek man yeah yeah yeah it's
so it's interesting but yeah i think that that
it's just interesting even like where he
talks about being sued i mean right you know
obviously that's that's very common in
(09:38):
today's world as well i mean you sneeze the
wrong way someone's gonna feel personally attacked against you but
yeah it's like not only you know they want your
shirt and give them a coat as well like you know what just take it all and
yeah i'm curious to see how that's gonna be i think our
footnotes are really going to help guide us more today but it's it's almost
like you know what just do whatever you want to do you're still representing
(09:58):
yourself well it's not a disgrace that you're just like not willing to fight
you're just you're trying to keep peace you're you know humble and humility
i think you know i think there's a lot.
A lot here that we're probably not seeing yet i think footnotes are
gonna write that up to us yeah i mean the i think
there's a couple pieces on it with the first one
(10:20):
that comes to i'm sure everyone's mind when you read that
was no way i just like that's
gonna take some strength right oh yeah so those those
are good i mean that's this
is definitely something where uh prayer you need to
break out the tool of prayer right and and
put on some armor of god there to
(10:42):
to help you through that situation because you know
the first reaction is eye for an eye tooth for tooth right yeah you ain't you
ain't gonna get away with that right and i think i like how he opened with that
i mean like that's something we all understand you someone hits you you hit
them back right yeah mentality yeah i mean you you get even right with something.
(11:06):
But i find this this part interesting in 39 here he says but i tell you do not resist,
an evil person and and then you're thinking okay what do you you know i'm not
gonna let them just walk all over me which the the next verses appear to be
that right it's like Like, okay,
(11:27):
just let them walk all over you, but not like eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, right?
That person or whatever is, they're expecting the eye for the eye,
the tooth for, you know, they expect when they hit you on the one cheek, right?
That you're going to be coming back at them and then you just stand there and take it.
(11:48):
And you see a lot of movies and stuff like that, right? Right.
Like where the bully gets on the little kid and and the kid really can't do
nothing because he knows he's, you know, he's dealing with the bully who's the
big, big, bad bully of the playground or whatever.
And then it's almost like, you know, they're making fun of him because he's
not retaliating. Right.
(12:11):
So, yeah, I think I think I like that.
And so so I love how God works. So I actually yesterday, literally yesterday,
I saw a little reel of a video and it cracked me up.
And it really relates to this because like what you're kind of getting at is
like, do not resist an evil person.
And these examples afterwards, it's it's it really does.
(12:33):
It's more strength in anything than it is someone to walk all over you because
you're diffusing the situation.
Because, you know, again, if we think about a physical altercation,
someone hits somebody, the perspective and expectation is someone's going to hit back.
But instead, you don't. You resist. You hold yourself back.
Well, then that's going to throw their guard off. That's going to make them
(12:56):
start to think different.
And I heard this guy, I don't know if he's a comedian or what, but it was really funny.
And he was talking about a situation like this, like you're getting into a verbal
discussion or argument.
And he said the best way to dissolve it is by agreeing with them,
such as, you know, again, a very, very, you know, based example here.
(13:17):
But using like, Jim, I hate you or you or you to be able to say,
Dale, I hate you. Like, you know what, Jim, you're right.
Yeah, it's OK to hate me. And it's going to throw you off. You're like, what do you mean?
Right. Well, hey, I hate myself some days. I wake up and go,
why am I the way I am? And like he diffused the situation right away by just
agreeing to the person saying something.
(13:38):
And it wasn't anything bad, but it was real. He's like, yeah,
like there's I wake up and I don't like who I am either. So I understand why
you may not like me today.
And I was like, wow, that's actually some really good wisdom to diffuse it.
He's like, because then when you agree with them, they throw their guard off.
It just takes them down to say, what just happened here? And I think that's
(13:58):
kind of what Jesus is semi-referencing is that diffusion of anger and that diffusion
of hatred or desire of wanting to get back.
It's, again, not a walking on me. It's a, let's dissolve this and let's be smart
and use our brains and talk about this.
That's really good because that's exactly like all of these things were like
(14:22):
when we were just talking, right? We're like, no, no one's going to do that, right?
It's going to throw your guard off because that's not what you would expect
in a situation like that.
Right, right. Yeah. All right, I'm going to dive into a footnote.
Yeah, let's see what's going on. All right, so let's see what Jesus or what
(14:42):
the scholars have to say about eye for eye, tooth for tooth.
So in 538, it says, God's purpose behind this law was an expression of mercy.
The law was given to judges and said, in effect, make the punishment fit the crime.
It was not a guide for personal revenge.
These laws were given to limit vengeance and help the court administer punishment
(15:07):
that was neither too strict nor too lenient.
Some people, however, were using this phrase to justify their vendettas against others.
People still try to excuse their
acts of revenge by saying, I was just doing to him what he did to me.
And how often do we hear that even today? Yeah.
(15:29):
The interesting, though, that that was kind of a legal term back in the day
for guidance related to punishments or judgments.
Yeah. I mean, again, very similar phrases. Make the punishments fit the crime.
You know, you do the crime, you do the time. You know, you get these nice, lovely rhymes.
(15:51):
But, yeah, but they still all related, you know, because, again,
back then, I mean, why do we have law? And that's because, you know,
we need structure, you know, as, as a, you know, as an individual human race,
we have to have structure as well. God gave us the 10 commandments.
That's why we have to put boundaries on things.
That's why we have a stop sign, a stop light, you know, to say,
(16:11):
okay, we need to stop here. So these people can go, then your turn will come.
Like we have to have guide rail.
And yeah, so it would have probably made sense back in the day.
It's like, okay, what do we do? This person, you know, threw a chair and hit somebody.
Well, throw a chair back at them. you know let them get a taste of their
own medicine so it kind of makes sense that's how they would
have thought of it back then so it's pretty
(16:33):
easy guideline there you know the the
other thing is is i'm pretty amazed like you know phrases come and go right
like totally totally awesome man all right dude yeah it's like i'm more i'm
showing my age definitely but here man And eye for an eye, tooth for tooth,
(16:53):
man, that's lasted over 2,000 years here.
I mean, everyone knows what that phrase means. So my kids, if I just say totally
awesome, or any younger kids are going to look at me like, what are you talking about?
So anyways, bad side tangent there. I'm going to head into the next footnote
(17:14):
before we lose any listeners here.
All right, 38 through 42. too. So they're kind of summarizing the whole thing about a retaliation.
When we are wronged, often our first reaction is to get even.
Instead, Jesus said we should do good to those who wrong us.
Our desire should not be to keep score, but to love and forgive.
(17:39):
This is not natural. it's supernatural only god can give us the strength to
love as he does instead of planning vengeance pray for those who hurt you i'm
glad they clarified that though right this is like,
(18:00):
You know, but I think God designs us that way, right? Is there certain things
that he knows that are good for us?
Like retaliation is, it's, it's going to hurt you more than the other person. Right.
Because, because of what it's creating in your heart. Right.
But he makes certain things like in our life, like things, you know,
(18:22):
even non-believers, right. They face an extremely difficult situation in their
life, and you find that they go to prayer.
There's certain things in our life where we just need God's power to pull us through.
I mean, everything in life would be the preferred recommendation,
but we're human as well, too.
(18:45):
You and I, I think, talked about this in a previous episode.
We're not always so great at that and do the same thing. Right.
All of a sudden it gets to a point in a situation where we finally get on our
knees and then bring God into the situation when that's what we should have done first.
And to do this, if it's not natural, that'd be, you know, one of those prayer
(19:08):
indicators of Lord, man, this just hurts so bad.
I can't believe what this person just did to me. Please give me the strength
here to handle this how you would want me to. Yeah.
And I think this is what's really cool. Like that, that footnote line where
it says our desire should not be to keep score.
(19:28):
I think that's extremely important. And I was thinking, as you were mentioning
that too, like looking at our titles, when we talked about lust,
divorce, vows, revenge, like a lot of that can also still even tie into the marital piece.
You know, even though we were joking about, you know, spouses scaring each other,
but how often do we find ourselves even in our marriage?
(19:50):
How often do we find ourselves in friendships? I mean, again,
just in any general relationship with coworkers or family or friends that we,
again, talking about these guidelines, we, we are a human race that has to have guidelines, right?
But we also take those guidelines and we make scores, we make levels like,
oh, okay, Jim, you said that I was, you know, you said a bad word to me.
(20:13):
Okay, well, it's like a low two, but man, you threw me under the bus,
you know, Dale, with our boss, you know, and that really affected my performance review.
So like that's now an eight. And so it's like, well, you know,
we hold these scores and these values against each other. And we do that even,
again, in these, you know, big relationships we have, like with our,
(20:35):
again, with marriage and spouse and, you know, our loved ones.
And we hold them like, well, you're not holding up as much as I'm doing.
You know, I'm keeping score.
You, you know, you've been more bad than me. And again, it's Jesus is trying
to open our mind's eye to say, look, it's, that's not what it's about.
It's not about keeping score and who has, who's done better than who.
(20:55):
It's, you know, it's a do life together and, you know, work on that, work on it together.
Try not to get into these situations and use your brain to overcome these versus
just constantly getting back at each other.
You know, because I don't know whenever I'll admit this, I am not a conflict guy.
(21:15):
Don't like it. I don't do drama. Don't like it. And so for me,
like, I always feel like if I'm bickering and constantly going back and forth
with someone, I feel like I'm stagnant and it bothers me.
I don't like to be stagnant. I always like to be a foot forward kind of mentality.
That's who I am. I always think, you know, I don't live in the past.
I always think in the future kind of a thing. Like, how do we get to this point?
(21:37):
Like, let's let's take the steps. We have to walk towards it.
And and so I just I don't know. I just keep thinking about stuff like that.
You know, when we're in these mindsets, I think that's what Jesus is trying to get to.
With a lot of this is just take that next step
to resolve and that next step to go
forward from this point because if you don't it's just going to stay the way
(21:57):
it is and it's only going to get worse over time i don't know i just went on
a random change it all over the place on that one but well i need to clarify
that i i'm 24 scares behind lisa so i mean who's keeping score
but um i owe her a few so uh to get even so she is so far ahead of me on that,
(22:21):
oh i'm just i'm just next time i see you man just be ready oh my goodness yeah
i'm gonna i'm gonna be watching my bag for sure but i'm gonna add one more thing
here before we close out because we only got two footnotes today because it's
pretty straightforward but.
I love this. Only God can give us the strength to love as he does.
(22:45):
So, you know, if you think about even him on the cross, right?
Father, forgive them for they don't know what they do, right?
He is loving people when he had every right to just bring hail and brimstone
down to just destroy these people that put him up on the cross there.
(23:11):
And so, you know, I think for me that just all of a sudden popped out right
at the end here of just his love is so powerful and we've got to tap into that,
especially in situations like this because it's a level of love that it's just
we can't fathom it, right? Right.
(23:32):
It's, it's, it's just a God, God level of love that is, is just so admirable.
He's demonstrated it, but we can't just fully fathom it.
It's, it's a whole different stratosphere than, than the level of love that we know as human beings.
And that, that's powerful, dude. There's no way we're going to, yeah.
(23:52):
I'm glad that you ended this in, ended this one with that because there's no
way we're going to get any better than that moment i mean yeah amen i mean talk
about showing that humility on the cross you know he he could have i mean matt
again like what you're just saying he could have just said you know what,
you know when they're all yelling come down from that cross he could have he
(24:14):
could have and just said you know what screw this i'm done i'm over it i'm i'm
gonna you know we're wrapping it up we're gonna end it now i'm done he could
have but instead he actually asked god to forgive us.
Even in the worst moment. And I think that is a beautiful example that no matter
what we're holding in our hearts today, no matter what regression,
(24:35):
frustration, argumented, you know, situation where we find any of ourselves
in today, we need to have that perspective of what you just mentioned and let
go of whatever we're holding on to.
Cause it mostly, again, I think I even heard it, maybe even said in
another call or another session prior where
I think 90% of arguments are for
(24:57):
nothing literally 90 arguments actually have
no value it's just bickering here and
there and you know and how
far much of that 90 actually goes into breaking relationships and destroying
people and you know mentally and harmfully physically verbally whatever might
be and all because of just junk and you know yeah so those who are listening
(25:22):
they're still with us today, I mean, let it go.
If there's something you're holding on to, let it go.
Don't bring it back around. It's not worth it. And Jesus is the exact example.
Like you just said, man, dang, that was powerful.
Yeah. Father God, thank you for, we'd love to have so much fun on this podcast,
but you just bring it to us.
(25:43):
And thank you for the reminder of the level of love that you have for us that
we can't even fathom. Help us to tap into that regularly and daily,
and especially when we have difficult situations.
We ask and pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. All right, man. Man, way to drop the mic. And yeah, so again, live like Jesus.
(26:08):
You know, forgive those and let it go. And until next time, enjoy the gift of today.
Music.
Hello, everybody, and welcome to episode 28. I'm Jim, and I'm Dale,
and we are those crazy Bible study guys.
And happy day to you, Jim. Happy day to all the listeners out there.
Music.
I hope everybody's doing good, and hopefully nobody is seeking revenge today.
(00:24):
That's what we're going to be talking about. Yeah, you thought I was going to
start off with my big retaliation voice, didn't you?
Yeah. And I did actually think about almost just saying my name is Jim too,
just to throw you off, but I didn't. Not today.
No, come one these days. Oh, you want it. Oh, I see you were trying to invoke retaliation.
That's right. I see how that's the word. I thought about it.
(00:46):
I thought about it, but yeah.
Yeah, man. So talk about a journey we've already been on.
We've gone from all over the teachings and Jesus has gathered his disciples
and people are starting to huddle around.
I mean, he's gone from anger to the law, to lust, divorce, vows.
And now he's like, hey, I know you all got revenge in you too. Let's talk about that.
(01:10):
So all around spectrum here, man.
I mean, he's hitting, you came up on this topic. He hit something that you were
struggling with. That's for sure.
Yeah. If not all of it. Yeah. I mean, he's hitting on the core,
right? Those core hard items for sure.
The, the, the retaliation, man, that's like, it's, it's one of those things where.
(01:36):
I think it's intrinsic in us, right?
Because everything you've learned in science and stuff about the human nature
and stuff is fight or flight, right?
So naturally, we're just kind of programmed to either fight or flee.
(01:57):
So it's kind of a natural instinct to, I think that can kind of tie to retaliation,
right? Because something's happening to you and you're either going to fight
or you're going to flight.
I know that's a little more extreme, like a physical issue, but I think it ties
to the heart matter as well.
Yeah, I think you're right. Because even then, in either outcome,
(02:19):
whether you fight or flight, you're going to think about the future.
Like, what are your next steps? How can I get this person?
And that's the reality. I mean, just like anything, like, you know,
we're, we're pretty big pranksters here in the, in the, in the household.
And so, you know, like if I know my wife's in another room, it's very common
for me to hide and to do a jump scare.
(02:41):
You know, the same for my son, you know, like we, we pull pranks on each other
and it's, there's a, there's an element of revenge.
Okay. Like how do I get them next? You know, or how did, how are they attack me?
Me and you know and of course that's the light fun-hearted version
of it but it does escalate and everybody's the
same you know whether you're at work something happens co-worker kind
(03:03):
of throws you under the bus do you have revenge
to you know to seek
them and get them again and make sure that the boss knows that they did something
wrong as well or do you learn to let it go and yeah so a Revenge can be across
the board on everything from goofy playtime to all the way to absolute kind
(03:25):
of row you down kind of a thing. Yeah.
We have that same thing going on in our house. My wife will sneak up on me and say.
Oh, really? So you're opposite. So she'll go, hello, Jim. And I'm like,
I'll be in the middle. So I'm like, Oh, geez.
But, but I do try to get her back.
(03:46):
I don't know why this was, this started a couple of years ago.
I don't know why, but she's having a lot of fun with it. I can just, I can just tell you that.
So that's awesome. I hope that she starts to video and put this like on Tik TOK or something.
Thing goodness yeah there are a couple of people that do
that nina will show me some videos of people getting scared by their
spouse and it's cracking it's very very funny i know and every time it happens
(04:07):
you're like oh dang she got me again you know it's like this opposite roles
man like i'm the one doing it to nina and you're the one getting done so i know
that's awesome well i I do try to, I do try to retaliate.
I definitely agree there.
Oh man. But I want to, I know we got to get into the scriptures here,
(04:30):
but you know, that, that fight or flight thing,
I think, you know, that's not exactly what he's talking about here,
but there's, to me, there's kind of some, you know, some unhealthiness too,
to kind of flighting and avoiding a situation with someone too.
Too, then I'm sure, I think next episode we talk a little bit about,
(04:52):
you know, not trying to avoid it, but what you can do instead in a situation like that.
But, you know, I think that's somewhat unhealthy too, right?
Is not addressing a situation, just trying to avoid it because avoiding it is
sometimes a lot easier than trying to deal with it, especially in a situation
where you would want to retaliate. Yeah.
(05:13):
Yeah and that kind of actually goes with our last episode you know
when we talked about vows and of course we we instantly think oh
vows marriage but in reality it was really about
an oath about a promise and how we really kind of learned a lot about you know
just make your yeses a yes and knows be no because things can happen if you
have false promises so oh i promise to do this and you don't fulfill it you
(05:36):
know well then that could make that other person pretty angry and you know You
know, be like, well, you know what?
Next time they ask for help from me, I'm not going to do it.
And then there's your revenge.
It's already starting up. So it's actually a pretty good tie-in of how,
you know, Jesus kept that flow going.
Like how you look at these headers, you're like, oh, wow, he went from divorce to vows to revenge.
(05:57):
Like how does all that work? And, you know, is it because of divorce?
Is it because of, you know, what it is? And it's, you know, again,
there's a tie to each level.
And so yeah so having that oath you know oath
into a marriage and then oath to a friend and then
now we're in revenge yeah let's let's dive in let's
read it and see what where he's going to take us today so because
(06:18):
again it's easy to think oh it's going to be about this and we've we've learned
quite a bit last couple episodes it's a very different perspective than what
we expect to get into so yep and again it's just a reminder to the listeners
we don't read this before we come in we like to do this in real time so you're
getting a full taste of it so with us But yeah, let me open this in prayer.
And I'm going to read Matthew 5, 38 through 42 today.
(06:41):
And Lord, we just thank you for another day. Lord, we thank you for your blessings.
We just ask and pray that you'll continue to work and mold and shape us the
way that you desire us to be.
Lord, we do fall. We do fail. We're never going to be perfect.
And Lord, I'm just thankful that you know that.
And thank you for loving us, for who we are, and just allow us to do better,
to grow, and just take your words and live them out. So as we learn today about
(07:06):
revenge, I pray that you'll just help us on our heart.
If we do have anything, we're holding a grudge against someone or there's something going on.
I pray that you will just allow us to release that today so that we can just,
again, be in a fresh state of mind.
Because, Lord, that's what you've done for us. You didn't hold a grudge.
You gave it all and you took away all of our sins.
So why should we hold things as well? all so lord
(07:29):
let us give that up today and just really grow
in matthew 5 38 through 42 in jesus name
amen amen all right it goes
like this you have heard that it was said eye for eye and tooth for tooth but
i tell you do not resist an evil person if anyone slaps you on the right cheek
(07:51):
turn to them the other cheek also and if anyone on and if anyone wants to sue you and take your
shirt, hand over your coat as well.
If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.
Give to the one who asks you and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
(08:11):
Hmm. It's interesting. I'm a, you know, I'm a Dave Ramsey junkie and,
and one of his key principles is, you know, don't, don't let people borrow money
from you because it changes the relationship.
So I'm curious how this, the footnotes on this are going to work.
Yeah. You know, basically he says, if, Hey, if you want to give to someone,
(08:33):
just give to them, you know, because once you borrow, it's, you got that slave
lender relationship going on.
So i think he's trying
to get to a bigger point here right of of don't
retaliate right right right do do more than what they expect you to kind of
do right perspective and okay i don't know man i just knowing who i am as a
(08:57):
person sometimes i can be very sarcastic and i'm looking at 39 and yours if
anyone slaps you on the right cheek turn to them the other cheek off so i don't think i
would do that with grace i'd be like come on do it again you know like you'll
bring it you know like i'll turn the cheek but boy i'm gonna be ready to go so i'm already kind of.
(09:18):
Kind of laughing at myself how i would probably handle that yeah you wouldn't
be laughing when you're on the floor with that oh man the
other cheek man yeah yeah yeah it's
so it's interesting but yeah i think that that
it's just interesting even like where he
talks about being sued i mean right you know
obviously that's that's very common in
(09:38):
today's world as well i mean you sneeze the
wrong way someone's gonna feel personally attacked against you but
yeah it's like not only you know they want your
shirt and give them a coat as well like you know what just take it all and
yeah i'm curious to see how that's gonna be i think our
footnotes are really going to help guide us more today but it's it's almost
like you know what just do whatever you want to do you're still representing
(09:58):
yourself well it's not a disgrace that you're just like not willing to fight
you're just you're trying to keep peace you're you know humble and humility
i think you know i think there's a lot.
A lot here that we're probably not seeing yet i think footnotes are
gonna write that up to us yeah i mean the i think
there's a couple pieces on it with the first one
(10:20):
that comes to i'm sure everyone's mind when you read that
was no way i just like that's
gonna take some strength right oh yeah so those those
are good i mean that's this
is definitely something where uh prayer you need to
break out the tool of prayer right and and
put on some armor of god there to
(10:42):
to help you through that situation because you know
the first reaction is eye for an eye tooth for tooth right yeah you ain't you
ain't gonna get away with that right and i think i like how he opened with that
i mean like that's something we all understand you someone hits you you hit
them back right yeah mentality yeah i mean you you get even right with something.
(11:06):
But i find this this part interesting in 39 here he says but i tell you do not resist,
an evil person and and then you're thinking okay what do you you know i'm not
gonna let them just walk all over me which the the next verses appear to be
that right it's like Like, okay,
(11:27):
just let them walk all over you, but not like eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, right?
That person or whatever is, they're expecting the eye for the eye,
the tooth for, you know, they expect when they hit you on the one cheek, right?
That you're going to be coming back at them and then you just stand there and take it.
(11:48):
And you see a lot of movies and stuff like that, right? Right.
Like where the bully gets on the little kid and and the kid really can't do
nothing because he knows he's, you know, he's dealing with the bully who's the
big, big, bad bully of the playground or whatever.
And then it's almost like, you know, they're making fun of him because he's
not retaliating. Right.
(12:11):
So, yeah, I think I think I like that.
And so so I love how God works. So I actually yesterday, literally yesterday,
I saw a little reel of a video and it cracked me up.
And it really relates to this because like what you're kind of getting at is
like, do not resist an evil person.
And these examples afterwards, it's it's it really does.
(12:33):
It's more strength in anything than it is someone to walk all over you because
you're diffusing the situation.
Because, you know, again, if we think about a physical altercation,
someone hits somebody, the perspective and expectation is someone's going to hit back.
But instead, you don't. You resist. You hold yourself back.
Well, then that's going to throw their guard off. That's going to make them
(12:56):
start to think different.
And I heard this guy, I don't know if he's a comedian or what, but it was really funny.
And he was talking about a situation like this, like you're getting into a verbal
discussion or argument.
And he said the best way to dissolve it is by agreeing with them,
such as, you know, again, a very, very, you know, based example here.
(13:17):
But using like, Jim, I hate you or you or you to be able to say,
Dale, I hate you. Like, you know what, Jim, you're right.
Yeah, it's OK to hate me. And it's going to throw you off. You're like, what do you mean?
Right. Well, hey, I hate myself some days. I wake up and go,
why am I the way I am? And like he diffused the situation right away by just
agreeing to the person saying something.
(13:38):
And it wasn't anything bad, but it was real. He's like, yeah,
like there's I wake up and I don't like who I am either. So I understand why
you may not like me today.
And I was like, wow, that's actually some really good wisdom to diffuse it.
He's like, because then when you agree with them, they throw their guard off.
It just takes them down to say, what just happened here? And I think that's
(13:58):
kind of what Jesus is semi-referencing is that diffusion of anger and that diffusion
of hatred or desire of wanting to get back.
It's, again, not a walking on me. It's a, let's dissolve this and let's be smart
and use our brains and talk about this.
That's really good because that's exactly like all of these things were like
(14:22):
when we were just talking, right? We're like, no, no one's going to do that, right?
It's going to throw your guard off because that's not what you would expect
in a situation like that.
Right, right. Yeah. All right, I'm going to dive into a footnote.
Yeah, let's see what's going on. All right, so let's see what Jesus or what
(14:42):
the scholars have to say about eye for eye, tooth for tooth.
So in 538, it says, God's purpose behind this law was an expression of mercy.
The law was given to judges and said, in effect, make the punishment fit the crime.
It was not a guide for personal revenge.
These laws were given to limit vengeance and help the court administer punishment
(15:07):
that was neither too strict nor too lenient.
Some people, however, were using this phrase to justify their vendettas against others.
People still try to excuse their
acts of revenge by saying, I was just doing to him what he did to me.
And how often do we hear that even today? Yeah.
(15:29):
The interesting, though, that that was kind of a legal term back in the day
for guidance related to punishments or judgments.
Yeah. I mean, again, very similar phrases. Make the punishments fit the crime.
You know, you do the crime, you do the time. You know, you get these nice, lovely rhymes.
(15:51):
But, yeah, but they still all related, you know, because, again,
back then, I mean, why do we have law? And that's because, you know,
we need structure, you know, as, as a, you know, as an individual human race,
we have to have structure as well. God gave us the 10 commandments.
That's why we have to put boundaries on things.
That's why we have a stop sign, a stop light, you know, to say,
(16:11):
okay, we need to stop here. So these people can go, then your turn will come.
Like we have to have guide rail.
And yeah, so it would have probably made sense back in the day.
It's like, okay, what do we do? This person, you know, threw a chair and hit somebody.
Well, throw a chair back at them. you know let them get a taste of their
own medicine so it kind of makes sense that's how they would
have thought of it back then so it's pretty
(16:33):
easy guideline there you know the the
other thing is is i'm pretty amazed like you know phrases come and go right
like totally totally awesome man all right dude yeah it's like i'm more i'm
showing my age definitely but here man And eye for an eye, tooth for tooth,
(16:53):
man, that's lasted over 2,000 years here.
I mean, everyone knows what that phrase means. So my kids, if I just say totally
awesome, or any younger kids are going to look at me like, what are you talking about?
So anyways, bad side tangent there. I'm going to head into the next footnote
(17:14):
before we lose any listeners here.
All right, 38 through 42. too. So they're kind of summarizing the whole thing about a retaliation.
When we are wronged, often our first reaction is to get even.
Instead, Jesus said we should do good to those who wrong us.
Our desire should not be to keep score, but to love and forgive.
(17:39):
This is not natural. it's supernatural only god can give us the strength to
love as he does instead of planning vengeance pray for those who hurt you i'm
glad they clarified that though right this is like,
(18:00):
You know, but I think God designs us that way, right? Is there certain things
that he knows that are good for us?
Like retaliation is, it's, it's going to hurt you more than the other person. Right.
Because, because of what it's creating in your heart. Right.
But he makes certain things like in our life, like things, you know,
(18:22):
even non-believers, right. They face an extremely difficult situation in their
life, and you find that they go to prayer.
There's certain things in our life where we just need God's power to pull us through.
I mean, everything in life would be the preferred recommendation,
but we're human as well, too.
(18:45):
You and I, I think, talked about this in a previous episode.
We're not always so great at that and do the same thing. Right.
All of a sudden it gets to a point in a situation where we finally get on our
knees and then bring God into the situation when that's what we should have done first.
And to do this, if it's not natural, that'd be, you know, one of those prayer
(19:08):
indicators of Lord, man, this just hurts so bad.
I can't believe what this person just did to me. Please give me the strength
here to handle this how you would want me to. Yeah.
And I think this is what's really cool. Like that, that footnote line where
it says our desire should not be to keep score.
(19:28):
I think that's extremely important. And I was thinking, as you were mentioning
that too, like looking at our titles, when we talked about lust,
divorce, vows, revenge, like a lot of that can also still even tie into the marital piece.
You know, even though we were joking about, you know, spouses scaring each other,
but how often do we find ourselves even in our marriage?
(19:50):
How often do we find ourselves in friendships? I mean, again,
just in any general relationship with coworkers or family or friends that we,
again, talking about these guidelines, we, we are a human race that has to have guidelines, right?
But we also take those guidelines and we make scores, we make levels like,
oh, okay, Jim, you said that I was, you know, you said a bad word to me.
(20:13):
Okay, well, it's like a low two, but man, you threw me under the bus,
you know, Dale, with our boss, you know, and that really affected my performance review.
So like that's now an eight. And so it's like, well, you know,
we hold these scores and these values against each other. And we do that even,
again, in these, you know, big relationships we have, like with our,
(20:35):
again, with marriage and spouse and, you know, our loved ones.
And we hold them like, well, you're not holding up as much as I'm doing.
You know, I'm keeping score.
You, you know, you've been more bad than me. And again, it's Jesus is trying
to open our mind's eye to say, look, it's, that's not what it's about.
It's not about keeping score and who has, who's done better than who.
(20:55):
It's, you know, it's a do life together and, you know, work on that, work on it together.
Try not to get into these situations and use your brain to overcome these versus
just constantly getting back at each other.
You know, because I don't know whenever I'll admit this, I am not a conflict guy.
(21:15):
Don't like it. I don't do drama. Don't like it. And so for me,
like, I always feel like if I'm bickering and constantly going back and forth
with someone, I feel like I'm stagnant and it bothers me.
I don't like to be stagnant. I always like to be a foot forward kind of mentality.
That's who I am. I always think, you know, I don't live in the past.
I always think in the future kind of a thing. Like, how do we get to this point?
(21:37):
Like, let's let's take the steps. We have to walk towards it.
And and so I just I don't know. I just keep thinking about stuff like that.
You know, when we're in these mindsets, I think that's what Jesus is trying to get to.
With a lot of this is just take that next step
to resolve and that next step to go
forward from this point because if you don't it's just going to stay the way
(21:57):
it is and it's only going to get worse over time i don't know i just went on
a random change it all over the place on that one but well i need to clarify
that i i'm 24 scares behind lisa so i mean who's keeping score
but um i owe her a few so uh to get even so she is so far ahead of me on that,
(22:21):
oh i'm just i'm just next time i see you man just be ready oh my goodness yeah
i'm gonna i'm gonna be watching my bag for sure but i'm gonna add one more thing
here before we close out because we only got two footnotes today because it's
pretty straightforward but.
I love this. Only God can give us the strength to love as he does.
(22:45):
So, you know, if you think about even him on the cross, right?
Father, forgive them for they don't know what they do, right?
He is loving people when he had every right to just bring hail and brimstone
down to just destroy these people that put him up on the cross there.
(23:11):
And so, you know, I think for me that just all of a sudden popped out right
at the end here of just his love is so powerful and we've got to tap into that,
especially in situations like this because it's a level of love that it's just
we can't fathom it, right? Right.
(23:32):
It's, it's, it's just a God, God level of love that is, is just so admirable.
He's demonstrated it, but we can't just fully fathom it.
It's, it's a whole different stratosphere than, than the level of love that we know as human beings.
And that, that's powerful, dude. There's no way we're going to, yeah.
(23:52):
I'm glad that you ended this in, ended this one with that because there's no
way we're going to get any better than that moment i mean yeah amen i mean talk
about showing that humility on the cross you know he he could have i mean matt
again like what you're just saying he could have just said you know what,
you know when they're all yelling come down from that cross he could have he
(24:14):
could have and just said you know what screw this i'm done i'm over it i'm i'm
gonna you know we're wrapping it up we're gonna end it now i'm done he could
have but instead he actually asked god to forgive us.
Even in the worst moment. And I think that is a beautiful example that no matter
what we're holding in our hearts today, no matter what regression,
(24:35):
frustration, argumented, you know, situation where we find any of ourselves
in today, we need to have that perspective of what you just mentioned and let
go of whatever we're holding on to.
Cause it mostly, again, I think I even heard it, maybe even said in
another call or another session prior where
I think 90% of arguments are for
(24:57):
nothing literally 90 arguments actually have
no value it's just bickering here and
there and you know and how
far much of that 90 actually goes into breaking relationships and destroying
people and you know mentally and harmfully physically verbally whatever might
be and all because of just junk and you know yeah so those who are listening
(25:22):
they're still with us today, I mean, let it go.
If there's something you're holding on to, let it go.
Don't bring it back around. It's not worth it. And Jesus is the exact example.
Like you just said, man, dang, that was powerful.
Yeah. Father God, thank you for, we'd love to have so much fun on this podcast,
but you just bring it to us.
(25:43):
And thank you for the reminder of the level of love that you have for us that
we can't even fathom. Help us to tap into that regularly and daily,
and especially when we have difficult situations.
We ask and pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. All right, man. Man, way to drop the mic. And yeah, so again, live like Jesus.
(26:08):
You know, forgive those and let it go. And until next time, enjoy the gift of today.
Music.
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