Latest / Reformed Thinking / How True Love Endures Wrongs with Meekness | Jonathan Edwards

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How True Love Endures Wrongs with Meekness | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reform thinking. You know, imagine you have this
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mental Ledger in your head. We all do this, right?
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It is almost instinctive. Oh yeah, we absolutely all do.
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Right. So you give a little in a
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relationship, you take a little and you were just kind of
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constantly keeping score. And if someone crosses a line or
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you know, they take more than they give, that mental Ledger
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shows a deficit. It goes into the red.
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Yeah. And you feel entirely justified
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in pointing to that deficit and saying, hey, you owe me an
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apology or you need to make this right.
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Well, I mean, it is a very clean way to view the world, isn't it?
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You are either in the black or you are in the red.
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We like our human relationships to be manageable.
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We want them quantifiable. And fair, fair is the keyword
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there. I think we want justice.
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But then you sit down to examine the writings of the 18th century
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theologian Jonathan Edwards, and, well, suddenly that entire
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accounting system is just thrown out the window.
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It really is. It is completely dismantled.
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So today we are taking a really thorough look at a classic work
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by Edwards. It was called Charity and Its
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Fruits and specifically we are looking at his exposition on 1st
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Corinthians chapter 13 verse 4. The verse that says charity
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suffereth long and is kind. And you were sitting down for a
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very long, very thoughtful deep dive today.
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So grab a cup of coffee. Yes, get comfortable because the
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relational landscape we are looking at here is honestly, it
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is staggering. We are going to look at what it
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actually means to meekly bear evil and injuries in a world
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that is just, well, full of offenses.
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Absolutely full of them. And what stands out immediately
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in the text is how Edwards frames this.
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He makes the case that this is a core-mark of a Christian spirit,
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right? He does not present it as this
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optional add on for the Super spiritual.
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You know it is the baseline. And the hook for me, the thing
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that makes his take so surprising is that he is not
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talking about just putting on a polite face while you see it on
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the inside. No, not at all because we have
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all done that. You smile at the rude Co worker
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but in your head you are like drafting A scathing e-mail to
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AJ. Right, we're plotting how to
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avoid them forever. Yeah, but Edwards is talking
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about an internal disposition that radically alters how a
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person reacts to being wronged, and he grounds all of it and how
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God handles human rebellion. It is a massive paradigm shift.
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It is a complete reversal of our natural instincts, but before we
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can even grasp how to react to these injuries, we really have
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to establish the reality of what kind of injuries you were going
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to face. Yeah, let's lay that groundwork.
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Because Edwards, he does not deal in vague abstractions.
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He lived in a real agrarian mercantile society with flawed
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people. So he provides this exhaustive
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categorization of how people hurt one another.
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He. Casts A remarkably wide net.
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I want to break down his categories because they hit very
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close to home. They do.
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He starts with what he calls estates, which basically means
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your money and your business. He talks about dishonesty,
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taking advantage of someone's ignorance in a transaction,
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breaking promises. And he is so practical there.
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Right, He even lists doing slack work, overcharging and
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unnecessarily withholding debts. Yeah, he describes people who
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aim to meet the mere letter of their engagements, but they are
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not careful to use their time well to accomplish the task.
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Oh, that is so relevant. Think about the modern
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equivalents. It is the contractor who takes
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your deposit right and then strings you along for six
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months. They show up for one hour a week
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just to keep you on the hook. Yes, or the vendor who hides
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fees in the fine print because they know you will not read it.
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Exactly that. Or the Co worker who does the
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absolute bare minimum, fully aware that everyone else on the
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team is going to be forced to pick up the slack to meet the
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deadline. Which is an injury to your
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estate, your time, your energy. And then he moves to good name
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or reputation. And here he targets backbiting,
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spreading false reports and exaggerating faults.
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He mentions putting injurious and evil constructions on one
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another's words and actions. That specific phrase is
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fascinating to me. Putting an evil construction on
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someone's words. So, assuming the worst possible
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motive, yes, that sounds remarkably like how we read text
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messages or emails today, honestly.
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Oh, 100%. You get a short e-mail from your
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boss that just says see me tomorrow and instead of assuming
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hey they are busy and typing quickly, you assume they are
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furious and planning to fire you.
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Right, or a friend does not invite you to a dinner and
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instead of assuming it was just a small gathering or they forgot
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you, assume they're intentionally icing you out.
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It is such a universal human flaw.
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It really is. Edwards notes that the amount of
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harm done by evil speaking is beyond calculation.
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People will take a grain of truth, right?
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Like a small error someone made and they paint their neighbor in
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the worst possible colors. Just stripping away all the
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context. Just to make the person look
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foolish or malicious. But then he goes even further
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than outward speech. He moves into thoughts and
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words. And this is where his analysis
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gets, well, highly uncomfortable.
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Yeah, I have to admit, this part really caught me off guard.
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How so? Well, he says people greatly
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injure others by unjustly entertaining mean thoughts or
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low esteem of them. He is talking about harboring
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quiet contempt. He describes the tongue acting
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as a scourge or a serpent's fangs.
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But I am struggling with that first part.
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Let me offer an analogy to see if I am grasping this correctly.
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Please do. OK, think of these injuries like
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a spectrum. On one end you have a massive
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life altering theft or blatant career destroying slander.
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Those are obvious injuries. But on the other end you have
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this kind of death by 1000 paper cuts type of injury.
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Someone acting haughty, boss being overly magisterial, or
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just a neighbor stubbornly refusing to listen to reason
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over like a property line dispute?
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My question is, does Edwards genuinely view the silent,
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inward contempt of a neighbor as being just as much of an injury
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as outright slander? I mean, if I keep my mouth shut,
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haven't I avoided injuring them? That is the natural question,
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right? But the short answer from
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Edwards is yes, he views it as a severe injury.
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Wow. OK, Why?
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To understand his logic, you have to look at how he
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identifies the root issue. For Edwards, the root of all
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these actions is the absence of Christian charity, the absence
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of love. So whether that absence
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manifests as an outward lie that destroys a career or just an
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inward grudge that poisons a relationship, it is still an
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offense against the person and against God.
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But how does my private thought hurt them if they do not even
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know about it? Because the content itself is a
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violation of the command to love your neighbor as yourself.
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You are actively degrading their worth in your own mind.
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You are treating an image bearer of God with disdain.
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Oh wow, like that it is heavy. It is, and furthermore, Edwards
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points out that the tongue is just the wicked instrument
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expressing the evil thoughts of the soul.
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That inward contempt never stays inward forever.
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It leaks out. Yes, it leaks out in your tone,
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your body language, your lack of patience, even your refusal to
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help them when they are in need. The silent contempt is the seed,
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but the outward hostility is just the fruit.
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That is a tough mirror to look into because society tells us
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that as long as we keep our mouths shut and we do not
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physically harm anyone, we are behaving well.
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We are quote UN quote good people.
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Right, society only looks at the outside.
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But Edwards says that if I am sitting at my desk quietly
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looking down on my coworker, judging their intelligence or
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their background, I am actively injuring them in my heart.
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And he details how this internal rot spills over into actions and
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treatment. He talks about tyrannical bosses
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carrying themselves injuriously towards subordinates demanding
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unreasonable things. And then the flip side of that
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too. Yeah.
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Conversely, he mentioned subordinates denying respect to
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those in legitimate authority. He points out sheer selfishness,
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where a person seems to have no regard for anyone's benefit but
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their own. They will disrupt an entire
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community just to secure a minor convenience for themselves.
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Exactly. You know, he even brings up
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partisan political hostility. Yes, he does.
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He says people act not from a regard for the public good, but
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from a spirit of opposition to a particular party or person.
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They just want to exasperate the other side.
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Just to score points, right? Reading this, you would think he
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was analyzing our current news cycle or watching a cable news
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debate rather than writing centuries ago.
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Well, human nature is remarkably consistent.
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The mechanisms we use to tear each other down have not changed
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since the fall of man. That is very true.
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He also highlights malicious joy at someone else's failure.
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That is when we think another person's fall is our own
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elevation. If a rival at work makes a
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massive mistake and you feel a spark of Glee, that is an injury
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against them. Yeah, that's schadenfreude.
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And of course, he mentions calculated revenge, keeping a
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grudge for a lifetime, waiting for the perfect moment to strike
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back. So we have this vast landscape
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of offenses, everything from getting ripped off by a mechanic
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to a family member spreading A vicious rumor about you to a
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neighbor just refusing to be reasonable.
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All the way down to a Co worker holding silent contempt for you.
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We are swimming in a sea of potential and actual injuries.
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So what does this mean for our response?
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How are we supposed to react when the Ledger is constantly
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showing a deficit? This brings us to his definition
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of what it actually means to suffer long.
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Edwards breaks down the required response into four distinct
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requirements. OK, let's go through them.
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The first requirement is no revenge.
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This means absolutely 0 retaliation. 0 retaliation, not
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even a passive aggressive comment.
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No, no bitter words, no hostile actions, he says.
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You must maintain a calm, undisturbed countenance.
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If you are wrong, your first instinct cannot be to make the
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other person feel the pain they caused you.
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That goes against every fiber of our being.
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It does. Now he does address the reality
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that sometimes reproof is necessary.
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You cannot always stay silent if someone is engaged in
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destructive behavior. Right.
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You can't just let them burn their life down.
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But he qualifies it. If you must reprove your
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neighbor, it must be without severity.
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What does reproof without severity actually look like in
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practice? It means you are lamenting the
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sin against God rather than focusing on the personal slight
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to your ego. Your motive is their
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restoration, not your vindication.
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Oh I see you are seeking their good, trying to pull them out of
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a destructive pattern rather than trying to get even or put
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them in their place. That distinction is massive.
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There is a world of difference between confronting someone
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because their action is an offense against a holy God and
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confronting them because they bruised my pride.
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A completely different posture. One is an act of love, the other
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is just an act of self-defense, and that leads perfectly into
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his second requirement, which is the continuance of love, right?
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He says. The heart must not harbor
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revenge. You can pity the offender, but
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you cannot hate them. That internal disposition is
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critical. You cannot simply maintain a
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smooth, polite external behavior.
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All your blood is boiling on the inside.
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Which is what most of those do. True long-suffering means
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sincere love continues despite the injury.
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You still desire their well-being.
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You still pray for their salvation or their growth.
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And the third requirement ties right into that internal state.
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It is inward quietness. The mind must remain at peace.
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Edwards says that if an injury throws you into a tumult that
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disrupts your prayers or your daily duties, you are not
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exercising long-suffering. He quotes Jesus from Luke
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chapter 21, verse 19. And your patience possess ye
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your souls. This is a vital diagnostic tool
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for anyone listening right now. Think about it.
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How often do we let a rude e-mail from a difficult
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colleague ruin our entire weekend?
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All the time. We carry the anger home.
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We snap at our family. We cannot focus on reading or
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praying. We lose our inward quietness.
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We let the injury dictate our emotional state.
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Which means we have ceased to bear it in a Christian spirit.
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We have allowed the offender to colonize our mind.
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OK, I am tracking with everything so far, but here is
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where I have to push back heavily on Edwards.
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I thought you might. The 4th requirement he lists is
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a willingness to suffer loss. He says we should choose to
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absorb the loss, whether that is financial or reputational, for
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the sake of peace, rather than demanding vindication.
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He references First Corinthians chapter 6, verse 7.
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They're asking why we do not rather suffer ourselves to be
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defrauded. Right, and I am stuck here.
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If my contractor runs off with $10,000 of my money, Edwards is
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saying my first instinct shouldn't be to call my lawyer.
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Or if someone is openly lying about my business practices
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ruining my livelihood, I am supposed to just absorb the
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loss. That does not sound like peace
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and love. That sounds like enabling a
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criminal. Does Christianity demand that we
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become doormats for fraudsters? That is the most natural
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reaction to reading this requirement.
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It feels intensely unjust. But if we look closely at the
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nuances in his text, Edwards clarifies that he does not
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condemn all self-defense or all legal protection.
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He explicitly says not that all endeavors and men to defend and
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right themselves are censurable. He acknowledges there are times
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and places to vindicate ourselves, to use the justice
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system and to protect our families and our property.
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So he's not saying we abandoned the concept of justice entirely.
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No, he is not, but he argues that in most cases, especially
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in interpersonal conflicts, peace and love should dictate
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our first steps. It is about the sequence of
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actions and the heart behind them.
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We must exhaust long-suffering before pursuing vindication.
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Explain that sequence. What does exhausting
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long-suffering look like? It means your first reaction is
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not the lawsuit or the public defense.
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Your first reaction is to bear the injury quietly, to seek
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private reconciliation, and to assess whether the loss is
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something you can simply absorb for the sake of maintaining a
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relationship or a peaceful community.
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So. Pause and assess before going
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nuclear. Exactly.
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You should be willing to suffer considerably before escalating
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the conflict. Furthermore, he says, we must do
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this out of sincere love for the person who injured us,
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especially if defending ourselves would utterly crush
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them. Wow.
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If vindicating your name means destroying your neighbor's life
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over a minor slight, Edwards would argue, you should absorb
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the slight. That is a very high bar.
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He is asking us to weigh the value of our own vindication
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against the value of the offender's well-being.
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Yes. And he insist we must never
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pursue justice out of a desire to hurt the other person.
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Yeah. Even if we go to court, our
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cannot be malice or revenge. That is right, and we must
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remember why it is called long-suffering.
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It is not about taking one small hit for giving it quickly and
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moving on. Right, it is a prolonged thing.
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He says we should not only bear a few injuries but a great many
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over a long period without an expiration date on our patients.
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We do not get to say, well I have forgiven you three times.
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The 4th time I am taking you down.
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This all sounds incredibly noble, but it also sounds
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impossible. It does.
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It is a seemingly impossible bar for human nature.
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If someone keeps hitting you, the biological and psychological
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instinct is to hit back or build a wall.
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Which is why the discussion has to pivot here.
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Yes, we need a shift in perspective.
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We have to move from what to do to why anyone would ever do it.
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The capacity to absorb injury like this, to exhaust
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long-suffering without turning bitter, is not a natural human
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trait. It requires a vertical
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motivation. Looking upward, the only way to
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sustain this kind of horizontal patience with humans is to have
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a robust vertical theology. Exactly.
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Edwards analyzes the relationship between loving God
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and bearing with humans, and he anchors it in two concepts,
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imitation and gratitude. Let's talk about imitation
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first. OK, God is the ultimate cosmic
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example of long-suffering. Edwards points out that God
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keeps the world spinning despite relentless human rebellion.
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Right. He sends rain on the unjust.
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He spares incredibly wicked cities every single day.
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People wake up, use the breath God gave them to curse his name,
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and God still allows their crops to grow and their lungs to
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function. It is astonishing when you
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really think about it. He showers them with the
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bounties of his daily Providence, and beyond his
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general patience with the world, he bears with his own chosen
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people. The church.
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Yes, the very people he has chosen to save often spend
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years, sometimes decades, living in direct rebellion against him
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before they are brought to repentance.
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And even after they are saved, they continually stumble, fail,
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and act selfishly. Yet God does not cast them off.
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He highlights the Apostle Paul's testimony in First Timothy
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chapter 1. To illustrate this, Paul talks
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about how he was a blasphemer, A persecutor and an injurious man.
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He was actively hunting down and killing Christians.
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And yet Christ showed him immense mercy.
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And Paul says Christ did this specifically to display his
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perfect long-suffering as a pattern for those who would
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believe later. The logic Edwards uses here is
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watertight. He says it is the nature of love
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to imitate the one you love. Right, like a child naturally
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imitates a father they adore. Yeah, if we claim to be children
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of God, and our Heavenly Father exhibits this staggering, daily
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longsuffering toward rebels, our love for Him will naturally
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dispose us to imitate that patience.
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And conversely, if we hate patience, we are showing that we
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do not truly admire the character of God.
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But the motivation goes beyond just wanting to imitate God's
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character. It is also rooted in intense
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personal gratitude. This is where it gets very
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convicting. Edwards brings up the biblical
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comparison of the 10,000 talents versus a few pence from the
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Gospel of Matthew for context. A talent was a massive unit of
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currency representing years of Labor.
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Huge amount. 10,000 talents was an unpayable astronomical debt,
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like billions of dollars today. A few pence was pocket change.
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He uses this parable to make a very bold theological claim.
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We are vastly worse offenders against God than anyone could
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ever be against us. The offenses of our neighbors
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against us are the few pence. Pocket change.
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Our offenses against The Creator are the 10,000 talents.
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I want to make this concrete because the numbers in that
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biblical parable are so vast they can lose their emotional
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impact. Let me try an analogy.
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Go for it. Imagine you are the CEO of a
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massive corporation. Through total negligence, greed,
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and a series of terrible decisions, you run the company
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into the ground racking up a billion dollar debt.
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OK, a catastrophe. Yes, you are facing life in
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prison and total ruin. The board of directors calls you
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in, looks at the Ledger, and instead of prosecuting you, they
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completely forgive the debt. They wipe the slate clean out of
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pure grace. You walk out of that room a free
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person. Yes, you walk out of the
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boardroom fully pardoned, but on your way to the elevator you see
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an intern who accidentally lost a $20 stapler that belong to
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you, and you grab the intern by the collar, scream at them, and
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aggressively fire them on the spot, demanding they pay you the
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$20 immediately. The sheer absurdity of that
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scenario is exactly what Edwards is getting at.
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It looks ridiculous. Anyone watching that would say
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the CEO is a monster, and Edward says that if we refuse to bear
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with a neighbor, we are practically declaring that we
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disapprove of God's patience toward us.
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That is a brilliant way to put it.
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If we thankfully accept God's forgiveness for our massive
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lifelong rebellion against His holy laws, we have to testify to
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our gratitude by showing that same patience to the person who
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cut us off in traffic or the Co worker who took credit for our
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idea. Understanding our own vast guilt
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before a holy God is the engine that drives true patients with
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others. Without that engine,
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long-suffering is just a stoic exercise that eventually runs
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out of fuel. Yeah, you can only grit your
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teeth for so long. Exactly.
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But when you see your own sin clearly, when you realize the
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magnitude of what you have been forgiven, the sins of others
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against you shrink in comparison.
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You lose the moral high ground required to hold a bitter
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grudge. Which flows seamlessly into the
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next major concept. Edwards tackles humility and the
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hand of Providence. Yes.
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If understanding our guilt drives patience, then a proper
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view of ourselves neutralizes anger at its source.
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Edwards states bluntly that pride is the foundation of
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bitter resentment. A humble person who is acutely
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aware of their own flaws and their unworthiness before God
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does not think highly enough of themselves to be deeply
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offended. That is so countercultural.
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It is, Edwards argues, that we consider it a much greater
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enormity to offend someone great and high than someone mean and
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vile. We expect to be treated
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according to our perceived status.
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So if I view myself with appropriate loneliness, the
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sting of an insult loses its venom.
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When someone disrespects me, my pride says, do you know who I
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am? But humility says if you knew
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the dark thoughts in my heart, you would realize your insult is
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actually too mild. Wow, that is a brilliant way to
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phrase it. When you get fiercely angry at
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an insult, your anger is just an indicator of your own self
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conceit. You are angry because you
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believe you deserve better treatment than you were getting.
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Humility lowers your expectations of how you should
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be traded, which drastically reduces your capacity for taking
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offense. But Edwards goes even further
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into the theology of Providence, and this part requires some
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heavy mental lifting. He says we should see God's hand
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in the injury. This is a huge shift.
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We should view the event chiefly as from God, ordered by his
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infinite wisdom, even if the immediate cause is a malicious
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human being. He illustrates this using a
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powerful narrative from the life of David in Second Samuel,
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chapter 16. Wait with shine.
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David is the anointed king, but he is fleeing for his life from
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his own son Absalom, who has usurped the throne.
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As David is walking along this dusty Rd. weeping, a man named
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Shimei comes out. Shimei is from the House of
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Saul, David's old enemy. Right.
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And Shimei starts violently cursing David and throwing
22:03
stones and dirt at him. It is a humiliating, dangerous
22:07
and incredibly provocative situation.
22:09
Very provocative and David's military commander Abhishai asks
22:13
for permission to go over and take off Shimei's head.
22:17
Avishai says why should this dead dog curse my Lord the king?
22:21
It is the natural retaliatory instinct.
22:24
But David stops him. David says, let him alone, and
22:27
let him curse, for the Lord hath bitten him.
22:30
David saw the hand of Providence in the trial.
22:32
Yes, he submitted to the event as a discipline ordered by God,
22:36
which completely stripped away the personal offense from
22:39
Shimei's malice. David recognized that God was
22:42
using Shimei as an instrument for a specific purpose in
22:45
David's life at that exact moment.
22:47
OK, we need to unpack this theological knot because I have
22:50
a big question here. I am ready.
22:52
I understand trusting God, but if God were is the event, if God
22:57
uses the malicious neighbor to test or discipline me, does that
23:00
let the malicious neighbor off the hook?
23:02
That is the classic question. Are they no longer responsible
23:05
for their cruelty? If God quote bid him curse, is
23:07
shame innocent? This touches on the historical
23:10
understanding of primary and secondary causes.
23:13
Edwards would absolutely clarify that the offender remains fully
23:17
responsible for their malicious intent and their sinful actions.
23:20
So God's sovereignty doesn't erase human responsibility, not.
23:23
At all. God's sovereign use of an event
23:26
does not excuse the sin of the human agent.
23:29
She may was acting out of his own wicked heart.
23:31
He hated David and he chose to throw those stones.
23:34
He was held accountable for it later.
23:36
But for the Christian on the receiving end, the focus shifts
23:40
entirely. So the Christian is not looking
23:43
at the human instrument, they are looking past the instrument
23:46
to the divine composer. Exactly that.
23:48
When you believe in Providence, your brain stops viewing your
23:51
attacker as the ultimate threat. You start viewing them as a
23:55
surgical tool in the hands of a skilled Dr. Oh that is a great
23:58
image. You might hate the pain of the
24:00
scalpel, and the scalpel itself might be dirty, but you trust
24:03
the surgeon. You realize that God is using
24:05
this friction to sand off your rough edges, to produce
24:08
endurance, and to test your charity.
24:10
That cognitive behavioral shift is phenomenal.
24:13
It completely, completely bypasses the brain's retaliation
24:15
instinct. When you see the injury as a
24:17
tool in the hand of a loving father, your anger toward the
24:21
human tool dissipates. You do not get mad at a hammer
24:24
when it hits your thumb, you look at who is swinging it.
24:27
Right. And if a person swinging it is a
24:29
God who has promised to work all things for your good, the anger
24:33
turns into quiet submission. And the logical result of seeing
24:36
God's hand in everything, of trusting that Providence, is an
24:39
incredible sense of invulnerability.
24:42
Edwards essentially says that if you live this way, you live
24:45
above the reach of injury. Invulnerability.
24:47
That sounds like a superpower. It is a kind of spiritual
24:50
superpower. He grounds this heavily in
24:52
Romans chapter 8, verse 28. The famous promise that all
24:55
things work together for good to them, that love God.
24:58
True friends of God cannot be fundamentally harmed because
25:01
their life, their true identity, and their ultimate reward are
25:05
hidden with Christ in God. Edwards makes a very astute
25:09
observation about what our enemies can actually touch.
25:12
He argues that because a Christian's happiness is placed
25:15
in God, worldly interests matter less.
25:18
And worldly interests are the only things enemies have access
25:21
to. Exactly.
25:22
Men can only injure God's people with respect to earthly goods.
25:26
They can steal your money, they can ruin your reputation, they
25:29
can cause you physical pain, but they cannot touch your soul,
25:32
they cannot remove your justification, and they cannot
25:35
steal your inheritance in heaven.
25:37
So if your heart is entirely set on your worldly interests, if
25:41
your whole identity is tied to your bank account or your job
25:45
title, then every attack is devastating.
25:47
You will fight to the death over a promotion.
25:49
Because that is your treasure. Right, but the more a person
25:52
loves God, the less they care about the things of the world,
25:55
and therefore the less they feel the injuries inflicted by
25:58
enemies. He brings up the story of
26:00
Mephibosheth from the Old Testament to prove this point.
26:03
Mephibosheth was Jonathan's disabled son, whom King David
26:06
had taken in. I remember this story.
26:08
Yeah. When David fled from Absalom,
26:10
Mephibosheth's servant Zeba essentially stole Mephibosheth's
26:14
land through deception, telling David a lie.
26:17
Later, when the rebellion is crushed and King David returns
26:19
in peace, David tries to sort out the property dispute.
26:23
And Mephibosheth response is astonishing.
26:26
He basically says let him take it all for as much as my Lord
26:29
the King has come again in peace.
26:31
He had what mattered most. The king was back.
26:34
The loss of the land, the betrayal by his servant, the
26:37
financial ruin, it was all irrelevant compared to the joy
26:40
of the King's presence. His treasure was secure, so the
26:43
loss of his property did not break his spirit.
26:46
Edwards also uses a historical analogy in the text that
26:49
perfectly illustrates this concept of invulnerability.
26:52
I wanted to break this one down because the imagery is
26:54
fantastic. He describes the walls of the
26:57
ancient city of Babylon. Oh yes, the walls of Babylon
27:00
were famous in the ancient world for their sheer size.
27:03
Edwards notes that they were so exceedingly high and thick that
27:06
when an enemy army came to besiege the city, the
27:09
inhabitants did not panic. They weren't scrambling to
27:11
defend themselves. Not at all.
27:13
They would actually stand on top of the walls, look down at the
27:16
massive army surrounding them, and laugh.
27:19
They knew the enemy's arrows simply could not reach them, and
27:22
their siege engines could not breach the stone.
27:25
So placing your full joy in God is like building an emotional
27:29
fortress with walls that high. When someone shoots an arrow of
27:33
slander at you or tries to steal your promotion at work, those
27:37
arrows literally cannot reach the treasury where your
27:40
happiness is stored. That is it.
27:42
You can look at the attacks and remain completely unaffected
27:45
because your core joy is entirely out of their range.
27:48
And this leads Edwards to a fascinating psychological
27:51
insight about power dynamics. Becoming angry at an injury
27:54
actually surrenders power to your enemy.
27:56
Explain that how does getting angry give them power?
27:59
Well, Edwards points out that if an adversary sees they can
28:02
disturb and vex you, they are gratified.
28:04
They have hit their target. They know they have influence
28:07
over you. They got under your skin.
28:08
Yes, but if they see that by all their efforts they cannot
28:12
interrupt the calm of your mind or break up your serenity, they
28:15
are frustrated. Their weapon is rendered
28:17
useless. The shafts they fire fall back
28:20
without doing any execution. So by reacting with bitter
28:23
anger, you are essentially handing them the remote control
28:26
to your emotional state. You are.
28:29
Edwards is saying that anger isn't a weapon you use against
28:32
your enemy. It is confession to your enemy
28:34
that they have found your weak spot.
28:36
Retaliation is just an admission of vulnerability.
28:39
Precisely. You fall under their power the
28:42
moment you lose your peace. This ties back to the wisdom of
28:45
Solomon in Proverbs chapter 16 verse 32.
28:48
He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he
28:52
that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh the city.
28:55
True inward fortitude is the mark of a genuinely great soul.
28:58
Right. The world views retaliation as a
29:00
show of strength. We think the guy who shouts the
29:02
loudest and gets revenge is the strong one.
29:05
But Edwards reveals that retaliation is actually a sign
29:07
of weakness. It shows your walls are low and
29:09
your treasury is easily plundered.
29:11
He illustrates this with another brilliant contrast, the analogy
29:15
of the streams. He says little streams of water
29:18
make a lot of noise when they hit small obstacles.
29:20
They bubble, they splash, they cause a commotion over every
29:23
little Pebble in the riverbed, right?
29:26
But massive deep rivers flow over the exact same obstacles
29:30
silently. The surface does not even
29:33
ripple. It is a beautiful metaphor for
29:35
the human mind. A little mind is disturbed by
29:38
reproaches. It hits a minor insult and makes
29:41
a lot of noise, splashing and foaming with anger.
29:44
But a great mind, a mind deep with the love of God, flows
29:47
right over those same insults silently.
29:50
The obstacle doesn't even register on the surface.
29:52
OK, but there's a glaring hole in this theory.
29:55
It's very easy for Edwards to write this from a quiet study in
29:58
Massachusetts surrounded by books, but has anyone actually
30:01
survived the meat grinder of the real world using this exact
30:05
method? That is a fair question.
30:06
Did Edwards point to anyone who actually pulled this off, or is
30:09
this just an ivory tower philosophy?
30:11
Edwards anticipates that exact skepticism.
30:14
He directs our attention to those who actually live this
30:17
way, establishing the ultimate standard while also providing A
30:20
harsh reality check about our environment.
30:23
He looks directly at the life of Jesus Christ.
30:25
OK, if anyone had a right to be outraged by injustice, it was
30:29
him. The contrast he draws.
30:31
His stark Christ was the Lord of glory, the creator of the
30:35
universe. Yet look at how the world
30:37
treated him. He was maligned as a glutton and
30:40
a drunkard. He was mocked as a friend of
30:42
publicans and sinners. They called him a deceiver.
30:44
They said he was mad. They said he was possessed by a
30:47
devil, Beelzebub. They called him a blasphemer.
30:50
And it was not just name calling.
30:52
The source material lists out the relentless physical nature
30:56
of this persecution. He was haunted.
30:58
He was watched constantly by religious leaders hoping to trap
31:01
him. In his words, they try to throw
31:03
him off a Cliff in his own hometown.
31:05
And finally, he was betrayed by one of his closest friends,
31:07
subjected to a sham trial, mocked by soldiers, scourged
31:11
until his back was torn open and crucified.
31:14
And through all of that unimaginable injustice, he
31:17
exhibited perfect long-suffering.
31:19
Not one word of bitterness escaped him When he was reviled.
31:23
He did not revile in return. There was no interruption of the
31:26
calmness of his mind even while being nailed to the wood.
31:29
He pleaded with his father for their forgiveness, saying,
31:32
Father forgive them for they know not what they do.
31:36
The agonies of his death did not interrupt his charity.
31:39
He is the ultimate pattern. But Edwards doesn't stop with
31:43
Jesus. He knows people will argue that
31:45
Jesus was divine and therefore had an unfair advantage in
31:48
bearing injuries. So Edwards points to the Saints,
31:51
regular flawed humans with the same passions and frailties we
31:54
have who relied on the Spirit of God to live this way.
31:57
He brings up Stephen, the first Christian martyr, while a mob
32:01
was crushing him to death with large stones.
32:03
Stephen did not curse them. He kneeled down and cried with a
32:05
loud voice. Lord, lay not this sin to their
32:08
charge. That was his final breath.
32:10
He was imitating his Savior perfectly.
32:13
He also mentions the Apostle Paul, who labored with his own
32:15
hands to support himself, yet was buffeted and treated as the
32:18
filth of the world. Paul wrote to the Corinthians.
32:22
Being reviled, we bless. Being persecuted we suffer it.
32:26
And he recalls David again, who repeatedly spared King Saul's
32:29
life. Saul was hunting David like an
32:32
animal in the wilderness. Yet when David had the chance to
32:34
kill Saul in The Cave, he refused to stretch out his hand
32:38
against the Lord's anointed. OK.
32:40
We have the historical examples, but I can hear someone thinking,
32:44
well, that's great for Jesus and the apostles and maybe David,
32:47
but what about me at the DMV? What about me dealing with a
32:50
toxic corporate culture? Edwards pairs these lofty
32:53
examples with a very blunt reality check about the world we
32:57
live in. He says we do not dwell in a
32:59
world of purity and innocence. He strips away our naive
33:03
expectations. He reminds his readers that we
33:05
live in a fallen, corrupt, miserable world under the
33:08
dominion of sin. The Bible calls Satan the God of
33:11
this world. Christ explicitly told his
33:14
disciples he was sending them out as sheep in the midst of
33:16
wolves. The practicality of Edwards
33:18
observation here is brilliant. He says.
33:20
He says, what did you expect, aside from being the holy thing
33:23
to do? Edwards is arguing that getting
33:26
mad at sinners for sinning is just bad math.
33:29
It is illogical, he says. If you get upset every time
33:32
someone acts selfishly in a fallen world, you're acting as
33:35
if some strange thing has happened to you.
33:37
If you expect a wolf to act like a sheep, you are going to be
33:40
constantly outraged and disappointed.
33:42
Edwards describes a person who lets every reproach put their
33:45
mind in a ruffle as a bark driven to and fro continually on
33:49
a stormy ocean. If you demand perfect fairness
33:51
from a corrupt world, you will be wretched at every step of
33:55
your way through life. It is exhausting.
33:57
So how does anticipating these injuries actually create a
34:00
buffer against them it? Is the wisdom of expectation.
34:04
A wise person expects friction. They know that the principle of
34:07
divine Love is extinguished in the natural human heart,
34:10
replaced by self love. Therefore, they prepare their
34:13
mind for it. They factor the reality of a
34:15
fallen world into their emotional calculations.
34:18
When the inevitable betrayal or harsh word comes, it does not
34:22
shock them into a reactive frenzy.
34:24
Their serenity is maintained because they are not caught off
34:27
guard. They say, ah, there is the
34:29
fallen world, acting exactly as it was described.
34:32
That is incredibly freeing, but let's bring it all home, because
34:35
even after hearing all of this theology, the examples, and the
34:38
logic, a listener might still be clinging to their right to be
34:42
angry. I know I felt that way reading
34:44
through this. Yeah, there's always that voice
34:46
that says yes, but Edwards doesn't know my specific
34:49
situation. My situation is different.
34:52
In the final section of our text, Edwards anticipates this
34:55
exact resistance. He tackles 3 specific objections
34:58
head on. He really does not let anyone
35:00
off the hook. The first objection he raises is
35:02
the most common one. The injury is intolerable.
35:05
The person argues that the injustice they suffered is so
35:08
severe, so out of bounds, that it is enough to provoke a stone.
35:12
They have been trampled on and they cannot help but resent it.
35:15
It is beyond human capacity to bear.
35:17
And Edwards responds by turning the mirror violently back
35:20
around. He asks, is this injury worse
35:23
than what you have done to God? Has your enemy been more base or
35:26
ungrateful to you than you have been to your creator?
35:30
Do you want God to stop bearing with your offenses just because
35:33
they are severe? It is a devastating rhetorical
35:36
move. He asks.
35:37
Is it less heinous to offend the Lord of heaven and earth than
35:40
for a mere man to offend you? He is forcing the objector to
35:44
look at the scales. Would you be willing for God to
35:48
deal with you in the future the exact way you are planning to
35:51
deal with your fellow man right now?
35:54
If the answer is no, then your objection falls apart.
35:56
The second objection is just as common and it has to do with
35:59
time. They persist in it.
36:00
The objector says I forgave them the first time, but it is not a
36:04
one time thing. They keep doing it.
36:05
They don't repent. They are obstinate.
36:07
To which Edwards replies, this is the very opportunity to
36:10
practice long-suffering. If they stopped immediately and
36:12
apologized, there would be no need for long-suffering.
36:16
The persistence of the injury is the arena where patience is
36:19
forged. And again he points upward.
36:21
He brings to mind the fact that God bore with our persistent
36:25
obstinate rebellion for years. We did not just send once.
36:28
We persisted in a daily and God did not cut us down.
36:32
And the final objection is the pragmatic one.
36:34
This is the one that really gets me.
36:35
If I bear this injury quietly, it will just encourage them to
36:38
do worse. If I don't stand up for myself
36:40
and strike back, they will see me as weak and I will just be
36:43
injured more. Edwards cuts right through that
36:45
pragmatic fear with two points. First, he points out our lack of
36:50
omniscience. We do not know the future.
36:52
We assume retaliation will solve the problem, but often it just
36:55
escalates it. More importantly, he brings in
36:58
the promise of God from Romans chapter 12 verse 19.
37:01
Vengeance is mine, I will repay, sayeth the Lord.
37:05
So he is telling us to trust the justice system of the universe.
37:08
Yes, he points out that God is infinitely more able to put a
37:12
stop to the wrath of man than we are.
37:15
God has ways of defending His people and restraining the
37:17
wicked that we cannot fathom. Plus, sheer observation shows
37:21
that meekness usually diffuses situations far better than a
37:25
revengeful spirit. Responding to rage with gentle
37:28
quietness often pours water on the fire, whereas revenge just
37:32
pours gasoline on it, provoking more conflict.
37:35
Watching him dismantle these objections 1 by 1 is incredible.
37:39
He takes away every single excuse we use to justify our
37:42
bitterness. This theology leaves absolutely
37:45
zero room for self righteousness.
37:47
You cannot walk away from this text feeling superior to anyone
37:50
because the entire system is built on recognizing your own
37:53
massive guilt before God. In the end, he relies entirely
37:56
on the overarching sovereignty and justice of God to free the
37:59
individual. Think about how heavy it is to
38:01
carry around your Ledger, constantly telling who owes you
38:04
what, constantly plotting how to get even.
38:07
Is a terrible burden. Edwards says you no longer have
38:10
to play judge, jury and executioner in your own life.
38:13
You can lay down the exhausting burden of vindication, knowing
38:16
that God will handle the scales of justice perfectly.
38:19
You are free to just love people.
38:20
Which brings us back to where we started.
38:22
Consider your daily interactions.
38:25
Think about the contractor who RIP you off.
38:27
Think about the annoying Co worker who constantly undermines
38:30
you in meetings. Think about the unfair relative
38:32
who speaks poorly of you behind your back, or the stranger
38:36
online who leaves a vicious comment on your post.
38:38
We naturally want to pull out the mental Ledger, point to the
38:41
deficit and demand payment. We want to retaliate.
38:44
But Edwards offers a better way, A way of high walls, deep rivers
38:48
and inward quietness. A way that actually protects
38:52
your peace instead of sacrificing it on the altar of
38:54
revenge. And he leaves us with a final
38:57
warning built right into the structure of Scripture.
39:00
In Matthew Chapter 7 and Matthew chapter 6, we are told that God
39:03
will deal with us according to how we deal with others.
39:06
With what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again.
39:09
So true. So as we wrap up this
39:11
discussion, I want to leave you with a thought to ponder after
39:13
the audio stops. If God were to handle your next
39:16
failure using the exact same measure of grace you extended to
39:20
the last person who wronged you, how would you fare?