But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you,But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;but I say unto you, Love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you;
8 sermons cite this verse
… know not what they do. He was living out what he always taught. After all, on a different day, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, love your enemies, bless those that curse you, do good to those that hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you. That's exactly what Jesus was doing. He was praying for those who were mistreating him as he hung there on the cross. Next point, our sins put Jesus on the cross. Our sins put Jesus on the cross. Later, Simon Peter, on the day of Pentecost, the next chapter two, speaks to a crowd that is gathered. Some of the people present actually played a hand in the crucifixion of Christ. And he says to them, God has made this Jesus whom you crucified. And I wonder if Peter actually looked at someone in that crowd and said, whom you, I remember you, you did it. You did it too. I remember you as well. You were there. Wow. Whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. I'm sorry if I traumatized anyone I just pointed to. It wasn't me. I didn't do it. Actually, you did do it. You're all responsible. …
… it says you've heard it, that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. See, that's God's way. That's kingdom way. You've heard it said this. This was recommended to you, but I say this. You've heard it said love your neighbor and hate your enemy. No, flip it upside down. Love your enemy and pray for the people who are trying to take you down. Jesus says when you do this, the last verse of chapter 5, you will be children of your father in heaven. And then chapter 6 comes, and man, he is recommending something pretty amazing. Let me give you a little backdrop here. The Sermon on the Mount, the core teaching of Jesus, is 107 verses long. This is a great sermon. None of us have been able to replicate it. We're all preaching 35 minutes, 45 minutes, 55 minutes. This sermon is about 15 minutes long. If you just read it at a normal pace. …
… Thank you. Matthew chapter 5, verse 43 and 44. Let's read it together with uplifted voices. You have heard that it was said. But I tell you, love your enemies. bless the Lord. Let's go back to verse 43. I want to read that again. Come on to everybody. You have heard that it was said. Verse 44. But I tell you, love your enemies. Bless the Lord. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Matthew 5, verse 43 and 44. You've heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But Jesus said, I'm telling you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. I want to preach for a little while today using as a subject, I hate that I still love you. don't turn to your neighbor just look straight ahead just I hate but I still love you One of the most crass and repulsive scriptures I've ever read is recorded in Proverbs 26 and 11, where it says, as a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool returns to its folly. …
… But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who harass you so that you will be acting as children of your Father in heaven. That's the Republicans, that's the Democrats, that's the liberals, that's the conservatives, that's the undocumented immigrants who are here and that's the ICE agents who are there. How do we practice those words of Jesus? Now on this Dr. King weekend, I want to pause to consider a few ways that fear has played a role in racial segregation. So this week I was working on my sermon on Tuesday night, and I was reading something that Alvin Brooks had written. Alvin Brooks, some of you know him, he's 93 years old, one of the leading civil rights figures in Kansas City. I've known him for a long time. I really love this man. And Alvin had, well, he was one of the first two dozen African-American police officers for the Kansas City Police Department. This was in the 1950s. He went on after Dr. King's death and murder assassination in 1968. …
… now, pay attention, I'm about to announce to you how you do it, but he is telling us how we do it. I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Now, notice that there's a radical difference from get your own back on those who persecute you. Hate your enemies. But it's not just an exhortation to pray. You know, so I must pray. It is that the Lord Jesus understands the moment you begin to pray for somebody who is your enemy, you can no longer treat them the way you naturally would have treated them. And it does several things. For one thing, it removes you from a situation in which you're trying to defend yourself against your enemy into a situation in which you are actually, you've become the active one in relationship to your enemy. You know, many enemies are intimidators, aren't they? They want to do you down, make you feel small. They are in control. But, you know, the truth of the matter is once you begin to pray for them, you become increasingly conscious. They are not in control. …
… Instead of you loving those who love you and hating those who, and hating your enemies, I say to you, love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. And pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Pause right there. I'm made in the image of God. Jesus is my example. You're telling me that instead of going off on people, Huh? Huh? You're telling me, instead of holding people accountable for the way that they did me, that I'm supposed to bless them. And not the way y'all say God bless people in Texas. If you're watching online and you've never heard a person from Texas say God bless you, you want to make sure that you haven't offended them. People in Texas will say bless your heart. They don't mean bless your heart. They don't mean it like that. They mean get your heart out of here before I have to deal with your heart. But Jesus says, for real in real life, I want you to be in a place where you can bless those who curse you. …
… But Jesus said, let me give you another way. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Why would you do that? Verse 45, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. You want to be known as the Son of God? Then bless people, forgive people, even the people who persecute you, and that assumes they've done damage, they've done harm to you. God forgives. You're never more like God than when you forgive. The forgiveness of God, obviously, is laid out all through Scripture. Just a couple of reminders. The 34th chapter of the book of Exodus, when God introduces Himself to Moses, this is how He describes Himself. He describes Himself this way, the Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth, who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin. Amazing. God is compassionate, and God forgives. We saw that in the reading from Psalm 103, and I would just remind you briefly of Psalm 103. …
… THAT IT HATH BEEN SAID, AND I FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A A TOOTH. BUT I SAY UNTO YOU THAT YE RESIST NOT EVIL, BUT WHOSOEVER SHALL SMITE THEE ON THY RIGHT CHEEK, TURN TO HIM THE OTHER ALSO. AND IF ANY MAN WILL SUE THEE AT THE LAW AND TAKE AWAY THY COAT, LET HIM HAVE THY CLOKE ALSO. AND WHOSOEVER SHALL COMPEL THEE TO GO A MILE, GO WITH HIM TWANE, THAT IS, GO WITH HIM TWO MILES, GIVE TO HIM THAT ASKETH THEE, AND FROM HIM THAT WOULD BORROW OF THEE, TURN NOT THOU AWAY. YOU'VE HEARD THAT IT HATH BEEN SAID, THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AND HATE THINE ENEMY. BUT I SAY UNTO YOU, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, BLESS THEM THAT CURSE YOU, DO GOOD TO THEM THAT HATE YOU, AND PRAY FOR THEM WHICH DESPITEFULLY USE YOU AND PERSECUTE YOU, THAT YE MAY BE THE CHILDREN OF YOUR FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN, FOR HE MAKETH HIS SON TO RISE ON THE EVIL AND ON THE GOOD, AND SENDETH RAIN ON THE JUST AND ON THE UNJUST. FOR IF WE, FOR IF YE LOVE THEM WHICH LOVE YOU, WHAT REWARD HAVE YE? DO NOT EVEN THE PUBLICANS THE SAME? AND IF YE SALUTE YOUR BRETHREN ONLY, WHAT DO YE MORE THAN OTHERS, DO NOT EVEN THE PUBLICAN SO. BE YE THEREFORE PERFECT," AND THE WORD THERE PERFECT MEANS MATURE, BE YE THEREFORE MATURE, PERFECT, EVEN AS YOUR FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN IS PERFECT. NOW THE KEY TO LIVING WITH A SMILE IS A …