Our Relationship With Strangers

Scripture Reading/Gospel Lesson – Romans 12:14-21

Last week, we looked at how Scripture describes our relationships with other believers. This morning, our Scripture gives us some practical insight into our dealings with strangers. When we reach out and minister to a stranger we don’t know if they are a Christian or not.

First, Paul tells us to bless those who persecute you.

This command goes against our human nature, our worldly feelings. How can this be? How can you bless someone who is attacking you? This makes no sense to us. Yet, this is what Paul, by the Holy Spirit, is urging his readers to do.

And not just Paul, but Christ said the same thing Himself. In Luke chapter 6 He tells us to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, bless those who curse us pray for those who mistreat us.

He even gives us some practical examples. Turn the other cheek when someone hits you. If someone takes your coat, give them your shirt as well. Give to who ever asks and do not ask for anything back.

We are to treat those who persecute us as our friends. Don’t get me wrong, we are not to be doormats or abused for the sake of being a pacifist. We are indeed to stand up for what is right according to God’s Word.

We should bless those who persecute us. Jesus did. Remember what He did while hanging on the cross? He prayed for those who were killing Him. He said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

Stephen did the same thing in Acts at the end of chapter 7 as he was being stoned. He cried out, Lord, Do not hold this sin against them. Oddly enough, the next verse which is Chapter 8 verse 1 is Saul, Paul approving of Stephen’s execution.

The next time someone is attacking you, don’t attack back. Be nice, love them, bless them, pray for them.

Second, Paul tells us to sympathize and empathize with strangers.

We should try to identify with those we come in contact with and do whatever it is we can do to help them. We should put ourselves in their shoes if you will. Everyone has bad days at time. It is possible for those bad days to turn into better days when someone is there to help.

One of the simplest things we can do is to simply be available when others need us. Sometimes there is nothing we can do or say to help a person, but just being there with them makes all the difference in the world to them.
Of course, we can give them physical help if we are able. And we should always be praying for them.

Our Scripture gives us two specific ways to identify with people in verse 15, “rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.”

They sound so simple, yet we find ways to mess them up. Sometimes when we hear of someone’s good news, do we maybe get a little jealous? What if their happiness is at our expense?

For example, if you and another person were applying for the same job and only one person was going to get it. And that person wasn’t you! Would you rejoice with the other person who got “your” job?

But that is what we are called to do. We are to rejoice with those who are rejoicing. No matter what is happening in our life we are to show our joy when things are going well for someone else.

Sometimes others aren’t rejoicing, instead, they are weeping. We too are commanded to weep with them. Compassion is a necessary characteristic of a Christian. We must be prepared to feel the pain that others are feeling.

Third, in our dealings with strangers, we must be impartial. We are to treat everyone the same, no matter their race, gender, socioeconomic status, or whatever. We are to treat them the same.

This leads into the fourth way in which we deal with strangers: avoiding elitism. Paul instructs us to guard against any temptation to put ourselves above others. We are no better than anyone else.

We are to associate with the rich and the poor, the weak and the strong, the influential people and the needy people of this world. There is no place for elitism in the family of God.

Unfortunately, this attitude does prevail in some churches. When elitism exists among Christians the entire integrity of the ministry suffers. We are to help all people, not just those that can help us out later on.

Last, when dealing with strangers, we need to avoid conceit. We cannot be so conceited in ourselves that we trust only in our own wisdom. We must remember where we get our wisdom from.

We do these things not for our own ego. We do them to faithfully serve God. We live our lives with integrity and submit to His will for our lives. Our confidence is not in our abilities, rather our confidence should be in Him.

Of course, throughout our lives we will come into contact with people who hate us, they are our personal enemies.
As I mentioned blessing those you persecute you is challenging, so Paul concludes with a few more tips about dealing with those personal enemies in your life.

First, we do not return evil for evil. We are not to retaliate by revenge. We do not take the law into our own hands.

Instead we are to respect what is right. We should respond to evil with good. When we act graciously to our enemies then all will see the testimony of Jesus in our life.

Paul tells us to live at peace with everyone as far as possible. Remember it takes two to make peace. We are to desire peace and act appropriately. This means we do not hold a grudge or inward bitterness toward them. We must forgive our enemies to pursue peace with them.

We must overcome evil with good. We should rely on God’s power to gets us through any situation that we are in. If we are focused on God and serving Him, then we won’t need to worry about being overwhelmed by the evil of this world.

As we obey God we can actually see a transformation not only in our life, but also in the lives of those around us as well. Try it and see for yourself.

Closing Prayer

Lord we thank you again for our time in your Word this morning. We thank You for giving us the opportunity to come here and worship you.

There are so many strangers out there in this world and we don’t know which ones are your faithful servants, so help us to treat them all with love, respect, and kindness. Not because we want to look good, but because we want to serve You.

AMEN