Echo Principle

Echo principle. What you say will come back. Little boy in me. Few months ago, Abigail and I went into Cathedral Caverns and heard the echo. You speak, and the sound comes back to you.

Have you ever met any mean people? I am talking about downright rude and ugly people. Do you know anyone like this? I heard about a lady that got on board a bus. She was carrying her baby, and the bus driver said, “Lady, that is the ugliest baby I’ve ever seen.” She didn’t know what to do, she paid her fare and went and sat down. But she was visibly upset. And the lady next to her said, “What’s wrong?” She said, “That bus driver just insulted me terribly and I don’t know what to do.” Well, the lady said, “You ought to get up and you ought to go give that bus driver a piece of your mind.” She said, “Here, let me hold your monkey. You go talk to him.” You must trust Him. Romans 12:17-19. Vengeance belongs to Him and Him alone. How many times have you and I tried to get back at someone? Resist your temptation to respond to someone who harms you. Some people do unto others as they have done unto you. Others philosophy is to do unto others before they do unto you. The Christian’s golden rule, though, is to do to others as they would do unto you. They have said something and we want to say it back. We want to practice the echo principle where we force the echo. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and soon the world will be toothless and blind.

Proverbs says in 24:17. “Do not gloat when your enemy falls. When he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice. If you do, it says the Lord will see and he’ll disapprove and he’ll turn his wrath away from him.” Now, God’s going to repay evil. Some of you are sitting there saying, “Well now, I don’t know about that, Pastor, because some people have treated me dirty, and it sounds to me like they’re getting along just fine right now, thank you.” All I can say, my friend, is God’s not finished yet. Get out of the way and let God do what God wants to do.

Remember, God wants what is best for us. Therefore, He tells us to, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Luke 6:27-38.

Why? Yes, for the other person, but also for you. If I had a huge tube of chocolate and begin to see someone pig out, I would say, you have had enough, share with others. Other people would need to have their share of the chocolate, but if you eat too much, you will get sick, 2 Corinthians 5:8-10.

Let me tell you a little true story. I love this story. It occurred in the Great Depression in America. There was a certain man by the name of Judd Brewster who was a mean, hateful man. Nobody liked him. There was a family named Jansen who lost their farm and all their possessions during the Depression. They heard of a sharecropping farm they could work. The only problem was, that property adjoined the property of Judd Brewster, this mean man. Everybody in the area said, “Oh no, you don’t want that farm, because you would have to live next to Judd Brewster, one of the meanest men on the planet earth.” Mr. Jansen said, “I tell you what, if this Judd Brewster gives me any trouble, I’ll just kill him.” That is what he said. So they moved in and started working this sharecropping farm. One day, their chickens got loose and got over in Judd Brewster’s yard, and Brewster came stomping over to the Jansen’s house, pounding on the door, “Get those chickens out of my yard! If you don’t, you won’t see them again!” So they ran over there, and got the chickens and put them in a hen house and locked the hen house.

A couple of weeks later, Jansen’s pigs got loose and got into Judd Brewster’s garden. Once again Judd Brewster came storming up to the front door, pounding on the front door. He said, “Jansen, your pigs got in my garden. But they’ll never get in my garden again. Here they are.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder, and there in the wagon that he had ridden up in was a pile of dead pigs. He had shot every one of the Jansen’s pigs. Jansen didn’t do anything except bury his pigs. One day several months after that, one of Jansen’s sons came running in saying, “Dad! Dad! Get your gun, get your gun quick, because Brewster’s pigs are in our garden!” Already he could taste the sweet flavor of revenge. Jansen said, “No, we’re not going to kill them. Boys, round them up.

Load those pigs in the wagon.” You know, it’s a whole lot easier to load dead pigs in a wagon than it is living pigs. But after a lot of work, that’s what they did. They rounded them up and put them in the wagon. He pulled the wagon over to Brewster’s property. He walked up to the front door knocked on the door and Brewster came to the door, “What do you want?!” He said, “Brewster, your pigs got in my garden today.” And all the color just drained out of Brewster’s face, because times were hard and nobody could afford to lose their livestock. Jansen said, “What do you want me to do with them? I brought them back.” Brewster, knowing he killed them, said, “Pile them behind the barn. I’ll take care of it later.” Jansen said, “Well, I can’t do that. If I put them behind the barn they’ll just get loose again.” And Brewster realized this man was showing kindness toward him.

 That very afternoon, they had a long conversation. When Jansen left, Brewster had given him half of his pigs. And the next Sunday, for the first time in as long as anybody could ever remember in those parts, Judd Brewster was in church. And he became a Christian. Someone asked Jansen, “What did you mean when you said you were going to kill him if he gave you any trouble?” He said, “That’s what I did. I killed him. I killed him with kindness, because that old mean neighbor we used to have is no more.”

 You say, “That’s a pretty good little story, where did you hear it?” To me, this is the best part. It was told by Judd Brewster’s grandson, who is now a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I think mainly because somebody was willing to obey this passage of scripture and show kindness when they had been insulted.

Drink the cup, (wrath of God or trials). Jesus drank the wrath out of the cup, they were for Him only, but anyone who wishes to follow Him must drink the cup of trials and tribulations.

a) You reap what you sow.

b) You always reap more than you sow.
A farmer who sows corn expects to reap more than he sows. The same is true with the things we sow that are not from God.

c) Your evil deeds come back and affect others as well.
Adam and Eve. Every time we stand at a grave the seed they planted affects us.