Responding to Your Persecutors

It's great to see. All of you here today and what a, what a blessing it is, as Mike said, to be able to gather together with one another and, and to worship God. God's grace is amazing, and we worship Him in that spirit of gratitude and amazement, and we will do so even as we listen to his word in the coming moments. before we get underway with looking at the word this morning, just a few things to bring to your attention.

First of all, tonight, is, I believe our 5th, praying as we should tonight. That'll be at 6 o'clock here in this building. And what we'll be doing tonight is gathering together, to, we'll worship the Lord through song, and then, we'll open up the floor and have a season of prayer and we'll intersperse throughout the prayer time. more songs of, of worship to, to the Lord.

But what we'll do tonight, as we've done in the past, praying as we should tonight is to seek to pray in the Spirit. And we're gonna, just ask the Lord to guide and direct us and we'll seek to think his thoughts after him, and to pray as the Spirit leads us to pray. And, and not only that, but we'll also listen to our brothers and sisters as they pray. as the Spirit leads them and thus be able to perhaps discern something of the heart of God for cornerstone.

We're at a stage in our church's history where God is blessing mightily. And, and, and creating problems as a result in terms of facility space. And we as elders and as a church are left facing questions that are not easily answered in terms of what we do and where we go from, from here and accommodating those that God is bringing to us. And one of the ways, it's not the only way, but one of the ways that the elders want to go about seeking to discern the heart of God is In conjunction with other things to assemble together as a body to pray corporately and to seek to pray in the Spirit.

So come tonight, be a part of our journey, praying as the Spirit leads you, and also listening to your brothers and sisters as they pray, and perhaps collectively, we can come to know the heart of God more deeply for this church. so that's tonight at 6 o'clock. Also, Let's see, we've got the ladies' retreat bulletin that or insert that's in your bulletin, ladies, I just want to remind you the retreat is March 15th and 16th, but the early bird sign up for the women's retreat ends next Sunday, and so the pricing information that you see on here will no longer be in effect after next Sunday.

So If you want to be a good steward of your money and get this deal, you'll want to sign up today or next Sunday because after next Sunday is over, the prices are going to, go up.

So there's a sign up table outside for you, today and next Sunday for you to sign up. If you plan on going, we would encourage you to sign up early, for that. Also, our festival of treats. is coming up this week, Wednesday night, October 31st, and this affords us with a wonderful opportunity to show Christ's love to, to people in the neighboring area who come onto the campus of our church.

It's a phenomenal opportunity. I don't know of any other night of the year where literally hundreds of people walk onto the campus of our church and stay for a while. Many of whom did not even personally receive an invitation from us to come onto the campus of the church, but they do on what is called by some Halloween night, and we have an opportunity to insert the love of Jesus into that evening and to love those that, that come onto the campus of our, church. So there's still some needs, and I believe Chris Johnson will be at a sign up table as you leave this morning.

We need people to sign up to park their cars in the upper lot for the trunk or treat. And there's also other needs that we have, go online and check out what those needs are or see Chris Johnson at the sign up table after, after the service. I believe that the devil is sorely displeased when instead of retreating from the world that evening and having nothing to do with anything, we actually insert ourselves into what's going on and to share the love of Jesus with those who make their way by this, this campus.

And so we also need people to show up and just be walking around, looking for opportunities for people to talk to and to share.

The gospel with as well. So if you're free, Wednesday night, we would love to have you come and be a part of this evening of, of love and outreach. Well, let me invite you to turn in your Bibles to Romans 12. Romans 12 for our time of study.

In God's word this morning we're studying this section of Romans 12 and we're in a very densely packed section of this chapter where we're learning what it means to walk in agape. Love. And today we come to Romans 12:14, where we're going to learn how to treat those who persecute us. probably doesn't strike you as an exciting topic.

Like, I, Lord, how can I care for and love those who treat me awfully? but though it's not an exciting topic, on the surface, it is a part of what it means to walk in agape love. And so that's what we're going to focus on today. If you want to give a title to the message, it would be responding to your persecutors, responding to your Persecutors.

In verse 14, Paul says, bless those who persecute you. Bless. And do not curse, and we'll spend our time this morning focusing on what Paul says here in verse 14. a few years ago, I and my family were in Northern Indiana, and we went to a city called Shiphawana.

Indiana, where there was an Amish community, and we spent a day or so amongst this Amish, Amish community on a buggy ride with an Amish pastor there and had dinner in an Amish home and really got a very helpful feel of the Amish and Mennonite culture and we went into a museum. A Mennonite museum that was there and we learned about a guy who lived hundreds of years ago named Dirk Willems. Dirk Willems, and he is depicted in this image that you see on the screen. He was an Anabaptist, which is where theologically the Amish and the Mennonites descended, as it were.

And there was the Protestant Reformation, and then the Anabaptists even were not looked upon kindly even by most Protestants because they believed that you should be baptized upon believing in Jesus as an adult, even if you had been baptized as an infant, and that made them the recipients of persecution not only from the Roman Catholic Church, but also from the Protestant. Church as well. But there was a guy, Dirk Willems, who was a hero amongst the Amish and the Mennonites, and the story goes that he lived in the Netherlands and he had believed in Christ.

He had been baptized and also was using his home as a meeting place for believers, and he was arrested for those crimes.

Now being baptized again as an adult. And for using his home as a meeting place for believers who believe just like he did. And he found himself in prison and knew that what this means is I'm, I'm basically awaiting my torture and my execution. And so he figured out a way to escape.

He tied some rags together, made a rope out of it, and figured out a way to actually escape the prison. And he got out of the prison, the place where he was being kept, and began to flee. And as he was fleeing, it took him over a frozen body of water that held up nicely for him. And so he began making his way across that frozen body of water, fleeing the prison.

But there was a guard who saw him escape. And the guard began to run after him, and the guard began to run on the frozen body of water in pursuit of Dirk Willems, and the ice broke underneath the feet of this guard, this prison official, and he fell through the broken ice into the freezing ice cold waters below. And Dirk Willems looked back, hearing the shout and observed what had happened. And I want to ask you the question, what would you do?

In that situation. You're fleeing for your life, fleeing execution. And someone is chasing after you to take you back to prison and to your execution ultimately, and he falls through the ice, what would you do? Would you say, thank you, Lord, for rescuing me and dealing with this potential threat to my life, and my freedom, and would you have kept on running?

OK. Or would you have turned around And helped him. Dirk Willems is a hero amongst the Amish and the Mennonite communities because he stopped in his tracks and realized if this man freezes to death, he will die in his sins. And even though this will probably mean my life, I'm going to turn around and I'm going to save his life if I can.

And he turned around and he went to the man and he pulled him out of the water. This official was so grateful that he wanted to spare Dirk Willems' life, but another official was nearby on the shore and saw what had happened and demanded that Dirk Willems be taken back to prison. Shortly thereafter, Dirk was tied to a stake. And burned To death.

What would you have done in that situation? Basically what this brother Dirk Willems did is he lived out the ethic that Paul exhorts us to live out in Romans 12:14. He turned around and decided to bless the one who was persecuting him, to bless. And not To curse.

You may say, Pastor Milton, I could never have done that. In fact, that even feels wrong to me for someone to do that. I could have never done that. Well, OK, fair enough.

But just take a moment to thank God that Jesus didn't think the way you're thinking right now. Thank God that Jesus Christ actually turned around and rescued you at the cost of his life. All that Dirk Willems did was lived out the very ethic that Jesus lived out, that resulted in your salvation and in mine. This is how Dirk responded to those who were persecuting him, and it cost him his life.

But made him a hero amongst those who know the Lord Jesus Christ, and he lived out Romans 12:14, which hopefully by the time we're done this morning, we will learn and be challenged how to live this out, how to respond to and how to treat those who persecute us. Before we begin to break this passage down though, we do need to ask the question, What is persecution? We need to know what persecution is so that we can then know who our persecutors are, so that we then know who to target with the commands that Paul gives to us.

So let's, let's try to take a few moments to figure out what persecution is.

In the dictionary in dictionary.com, here's the definition they give of persecute. They define it as this to subject someone to hostility. and ill treatment, especially because of their race, or political or religious beliefs, and we'll focus just on that first part to subject someone to hostility and ill treatment. Merriam-Webster defines persecute as to harass or punish in a manner designed to injure, grieve, or afflict.

That's their definition of persecute, combing through the New Testament this past week and looking at the use of the word in the various contexts that is translated persecute here, which literally means to pursue. In a context such as we find here in Romans 12:14, here is a decent definition of a persecutor. A persecutor is someone who intentionally inflicts hurt or damage upon another person and feels justified in doing so. So it's not someone who accidentally, being insensitive, inflicts hurt or damage upon another person.

It's someone who intentionally Willfully is intending to inflict hurt or damage to another person. And generally, the person who is doing that feels righteous. In inflicting that damage. They feel justified in their actions.

Basically, the ingredients of persecution could be looked at this way, whoever is persecuting you is someone who is intentionally harming you. They feel righteous in doing so. And they view you as the problem. You're the evil one who deserves this treatment.

So they're trying to harm you, trying to damage you. They're feeling good about what they are doing. And they're viewing you as the evil person that needs to be dealt with. And they're treating you accordingly.

And Paul says, let me tell you how to treat such people. who treat you in This way. someone who is, by, by the way, think about this, the apostle Paul in the book of Acts, and he talks about this in some of his epistles, he persecuted the church of Jesus Christ, and he was intentionally, he says, trying to destroy the church to wipe it out. And what, he felt righteous in doing so.

He viewed the church as the problem and it needed to be eliminated. It was a threat to Judaism. And so the church was the problem. In Muslim countries in the Middle East today, Christians are persecuted.

And imprisoned, tortured, and even killed, and the Muslims in those particular countries, they're intentionally damaging the church, harming Christians. They feel righteous in doing so because they view the church and Christianity as the evil. It's the problem that needs to be wiped out and eliminated. These are the basic ingredients of persecution, whether it's religious persecution or racially motivated persecution.

Now persecution comes in a variety of forms. If you comb through the New Testament, you can find quite a list of different forms that persecution can, can take. It can come in the form of physical beatings and And torture. Paul was beaten time without times without number.

The apostles in Acts 5:40 were flogged. They were whipped. Paul was beaten with with rods. He was stoned and left for dead.

On one occasion he was whipped. So in whatever form it involves, it can involve physical beatings and, and torture. Also, it can involve the destruction of one's property or the seizure of a person's property, and in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 34, the writer of Hebrews makes reference to the believers who had experienced exactly this persecution can come in the form of imprisonment. Someone's freedoms taken away from them and they're left in prison for any length of time.

Persecution can come in the form of a denial of education, a denial of a job, or a denial of medical care. Now I'm not saying by that that if you don't get the job you want, you're being persecuted. or if you don't get into the college of your choice that you're being persecuted, but it is a fact in many cultures of the world today that Christians specifically are targeted, and, and education is withheld from them, and jobs are withheld from them because they are Christians, and medical care is withheld from them as well.

And Acts 16, even Paul was beaten along with Silas and Thrown in a Philippian jail, and they had, they had medical problems and we know that because after the earthquake occurred and the Philippian jailer got saved, the Philippian jailer had Paul and Silas into his home, and it says, and he washed their wounds.

He addressed their medical concerns and gave them medical care that had been withheld from them up to that point. So that's a form of persecution. Also, rejection is one of the forms that persecution can take, where people, relationships are brought to an end. Someone comes to the Lord and, and they're just outright rejected.

A child comes to know the Lord and the parents say, you are no longer my son, you are no longer my daughter, you are dead to us. You no longer exist. We want you out of our life, rejected from families and relationships and from society. Jesus actually speaks of insults, that 1 may verbally speak as being a form.

of persecution. He uses that expression synonymously with the word for persecution. So even when people are opening their mouth and hurling insults at you for being a believer, that is a form of persecution, slander, Jesus speaks of people who may speak evil against you falsely. That is a form of persecution.

He uses that in a context where he's talking about persecution, and the forms in which it comes. cursing in Luke chapter 6, Jesus speaks of those who curse you. And he uses that in a context where he's talking about persecution, threats in Acts chapter 4, the Sanhedrin had threatened Peter and John, and so persecution can come in the form of just threats. Maybe not a hand is being laid on a believer in Jesus, but threats are delivered, and that is a form of persecution.

And of course the ultimate form of persecution is death. The actual taking of a life, and this still happens in different countries of the world to this day. So many believers down through the centuries have had their lives taken from them. As a result of believing in, in Jesus.

So these are the different forms that persecution can, can take. But underneath all of these forms and expressions, is someone who is intending to harm or damage you, they feel righteous in doing so, and they view you as the evil. Not themselves. They're righteous.

They view you as the evil. You are the problem. That is the essence of persecution. We cannot look at the subject of how to respond to those who persecute you, though, without at least also pondering this question.

Can Christians persecute Christians? in fact, guys, if you read Romans 12:9 and following, you get a very distinct impression that Paul is giving counsel on how to walk in agape love with one another, in relationship with one another. And he says things like verse 10, be devoted to one another in brotherly love, give preference to one another in honor. Verse 15, rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

Verse 16, be of the same mind toward one another. It's pretty clear in the context that he's talking about how we walk in love in relationship with and toward one another. And it's a little bit surprising that sandwiched in the middle of all of this is the instruction bless those. who persecute you.

Bless those who intentionally harm you, feeling righteous in doing so, and viewing you as the problem. And it at least raises the question, In the mind of Paul, whatever he means by persecution, is it a big enough concept to where definitely nonbelievers persecuting Christians are involved in what Paul is talking about. But are Christians, is Christians persecuting Christians? Entailed in Paul's thinking as he gives this council on how to respond to those that are persecuting us.

Well, to answer the question, can Christians persecute Christians? let's think of it this way. Think of the list that we just looked at. Can Christians physically strike other Christians in moments of malice and ill will?

Can Christians in a moment of malice and ill will destroy the property of another Christian? Can Christians be guilty of rejecting another Christian? Can Christians in moments of ill will, insult another genuinely born again brother or sister in Christ? Can Christians in moments of wrongheadedness and sin and malice speak evil against another believer falsely?

Can Christians be guilty in moments of malice of cursing another believer? Can Christians be guilty ever of in moments of malice showing personal hostility against a brother or sister in Christ? Can Christians be guilty in moments of malice of actually killing? Another Christian, or at least having murder in their heart and behaving in their attitude and in their words, and in their actions accordingly.

In fact, just a very quick sampling. Galatians 5:15. Paul speaks to the Galatians, saying, You are biting and devouring one another. These are Christians, having moved away from the gospel, having malice in their hearts, and they're biting and devouring one another.

Philippians 1:17, Paul says there are some who preach Christ out of selfish ambition, thinking to cause me distress, or affliction in my imprisonment. Paul understood that there are actually some people in the church that are proclaiming Christ, and a part of their motivation is they're thinking to add affliction on top of his Already Existent imprisonment. And James 4, James speaks of people in the church that are fighting and quarreling and conflicts, envy, and even murder, at least in their hearts and in their actions taking place.

In fact, guys, if we're really honest with ourselves, we will look at this list.

And admit that we have often been persecutors. In fact, my wife and I were talking about this last night, and as I was going through this list, my wife said, I've persecuted you. And I said to her, and I've persecuted you. We need to be honest and recognize the fact that when we ever willfully say or do anything damaging to another person in a moment of malice, feeling justified, and that moment and what we're saying or doing, and we view them as the problem and not us, we are doing something that has profound kinship.

With persecution. You read through church history and you also observe there are times in the annals of church history where Christians persecuted Christians, and the Protestant Reformation took place in Roman Catholics persecuted the Protestants and then As the Protestant Reformation continued and the Anabaptists came along, the Anabaptists were persecuted by Protestants. and there were Christians that persecuted other Christians because they disagreed with one another on the Lord's Supper, or on some other doctrine.

And as you look at history, you, you observe that, what, this guy was a Christian and this guy was, was almost certainly a Christian.

And yet, one is persecuting the other. A fair reading of Christian history will leave us with the resounding answer. Yes, it is possible for Christians to persecute Christians. It is possible that even in the church, that some of our most painful persecution that we experience is at the hands of someone who is perhaps even legitimately a brother or a sister in the Lord.

So as we look at in this passage, how to respond. To those who persecute us, I want us to go beyond just thinking about how to respond to atheists who persecute us and people who don't love Jesus, and they're not Christians and don't even profess to be Christians. I want us to go beyond that and also include, even those who do claim the name of Christ, and even those who perhaps are genuinely saved people who in moments of malice and profound wrongheadedness, intentionally say and do things that harm us.

And in the moment they feel justified in doing so, and they view us as the problem.

How do we respond to such people both within and outside the church who treat us in this way? What we're going to observe with the time that we have in this passage is 5 things that, that you should do in order to respond to your persecutors in a way that is governed by agape love. 5 things that you need to do that we can learn from this passage that By way of responding to your persecutors in a way that is governed by agape love, number one, guys. We can actually infer this from the passage, and that is, don't be surprised by their persecution.

When someone persecutes you, intentionally wrongs you, they feel righteous in doing so, they view you as the problem. When that happens to you, don't be surprised. Paul would say, don't be surprised by that. I told you that would happen.

I even told you that would happen in Romans 12:14. Look what he says, he says, be blessing those who are persecuting you, be blessing, and do not be cursing. It's literally how that, that reads. When you look at what Paul says in the context, You begin to understand that he's alerting you to the fact that you can expect persecution as you walk in agape love.

He's giving instructions. Here's how to walk in agape love. And as he's rattling off what walking in agape love looks like, he says in verse 14, and here's one of the things that it looks like, bless those who are persecuting you. Bless and do not curse.

Think about it this way. If I were to approach you this morning and say, hey, can you do me some favors tomorrow? You may say, Well, you're my pastor. I want to help you out.

So what do you need? And if I said, what, I need 7 things from you. Can you do 7 things for me tomorrow? I want to give you a list of 7 things that I want to make sure that you do tomorrow.

You say, OK, what are those things? And I tell you number 1234, and 5 and 6, and you're like, OK, fair enough. I'll do those things for you. And then what if number 7?

You say, Well, what's the 7th thing? And I say, Well, here's the 7th thing I need for you to do tomorrow. I need you to protect yourself from those who are shooting at you. Just imagine that it's a silly example, but just imagine that.

You would say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. what are you saying is going to be happening to me tomorrow? You would take me saying that item number 7 as indicating to you what you can likely expect to happen. You're going to be shot at tomorrow, and you would then reread.

You take another look at items 1 through 6, because apparently doing items 1 through 6 is going to put you in a position where you very well. Might be shot at tomorrow. And guys, that's exactly the way that we need to read Romans 12:9 through 14 and following. Paul is telling us, here's how to walk in agape love, and we're just enjoying these descriptions.

Oh, this is what it means. OK, this is so exciting. And then he says, and by the way, here's how you need to respond to those who are going to wrong you and feel righteous in doing so, and They're going to view you as the problem. And you're like, whoa, wait a minute.

So apparently walking in agape Love puts me in a situation where I'm going to be persecuted. And we then take another look at these earlier counsels of Paul and begin to realize, what, yeah, if I do live this way, persecution is inevitable. Like going back to verse 9, and we don't have time to do this with all of the descriptions, but look at this. Paul says agape, I want you to walk in agape love.

Here's what it means, no hypocrisy. Well, as well as I do that if you're going to live transparently, without any mask and declare war on hypocrisy, you're going to offend people who are walking in hypocrisy, right? look at the next one, hating the evil. That means that you will look at evil and say that evil is evil, and I hate it.

Well, that you're living in a society of people who do not think evil is evil. In fact, they love evil, and yet here you are renouncing evil and hating evil. That's gonna bug the people around you. It will make you a target of persecution.

Everyone around you may look at something that the Bible says is evil, and they may say, it's OK. In fact, this is good. This is beautiful. This is to be celebrated.

And you say, no, it's evil. And I hate it. You're going to be viewed as a hater, and you will be persecuted. You're going to be viewed as the problem, because you're not evolving with everyone else.

Also clinging to the good, that means to lay hold of that which is good and noble and virtuous, and godly, and maintaining your hold on those things, even when everyone around you is letting go of such things, and things that people in our society maybe once clung to, they're not clinging to anymore, because they're looking at those good things and saying, actually, that's bad. And that's the problem. These things that Christians call good, that's the problem in our society and our society needs to be saved from those things.

Meanwhile, here we are clinging to those things.

We're going to be a bother to the people in our culture. And it will make us a target and what, even in the church there are compromises that take place where things that are evil aren't maybe viewed as evil anymore and things that are good that the church maybe once really clung to, you see people in the church even beginning to let go of those things, and sometimes even in the church there will be people who view you as the problem. And they persecute you. They wrong you in some way in moments of malice, and they feel righteous and justified in doing so, viewing you as the problem.

On and on the list can go, Guys, reread these. These instructions of Paul and see them in conjunction with verse 14 and realize that if you walk in agape love, it is inevitable. You're going to find yourself a target being persecuted by people trying to harm you and feeling righteous in doing so and viewing you as the problem. And Paul says, and when that happens, and it inevitably will, here's how to respond.

You guys with me? Does that make sense? OK, here's the second way to respond when you are persecuted. The second way to respond toward your persecutors, and that is to bless those who are persecuting you.

Bless those who are persecuting you. Literally, Paul says, be blessing those who are persecuting you, be blessing and do not be cursing. The, the persecutors, it's not just a moment of persecution, but we're talking even Paul says about those who are persistently wronging you intentionally. And he says, I want you literally present tense to be blessing them.

Just the mere tense indicates that Paul is calling for more than Then maybe you doing one nice thing so that the record will show, hey, look, I did bless them and I did a nice thing. I said hi to them last week and so I've obeyed this passage. What do I do next? No, be blessing, be habitually behaving towards them with the intent to bless them.

The word that is translated bless here is the Greek word that we get our English word eulogy from. which in our language, a eulogy, to give a eulogy is to give a speech where you speak well of somebody, you speak good about About them. And in the New Testament, this word does sometimes speak of something you do with your tongue, where you speak well or respectfully to someone, you speak well or respectfully about someone, or you speak good upon them in the form of a blessing, or going to God in prayer.

Opening your mouth and praying for God to bless that person.

All of that that we do with our tongue could be wrapped up in this particular word. But it goes beyond that. This word in the New Testament clearly at times speaks of not just something we do with our tongue, but something we do with our deeds as well. In Hebrews 6, the writer of Hebrews, I believe, I believe it is, makes reference to God saying to Abraham, I will bless you, and he uses this verb and make of you a great nation.

Clearly speaking of more than just I'm going to speak good words about you. No, I'm gonna do real blessing and real good to you. And so if we put all that together, here's what Paul is saying to bless. It means to genuinely wish good upon a person, and then speak and act in a way that is consistent with that wish.

That's, that's amazing. That's what Paul is saying to do to people that wrong you and feel righteous in doing so and view you as the evil, view you as the problem. Paul says, bless them, wish good upon them, and then speak to them and of them and speak before God on their behalf, and behave towards them in a way that gives expression. To that fundamental wish of blessing and good upon them.

You say, wow, Pastor Menada, I don't know if I can do that. Maybe this is the only place in Scripture, this obscure passage where this command occurs. And so maybe, maybe we don't, we don't really have to give heed to this. Well, let's look elsewhere really quickly.

In Luke 6, Jesus is talking. And says the same thing. He says, but I say to you who hear, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you.

Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. In 1 Peter 3, the apostle Peter says to sum up, let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit, not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing. Instead, so Paul in Romans 12 says, Bless those who persecute you.

Jesus says in Luke 6, Bless those who persecute you. The apostle Peter says in First Peter 3, Bless those who persecute you. By the way, when Paul is speaking this council in Romans 12:14, he's not sitting in an ivory tower. This is a guy that is experiencing severe persecution, and he himself is living out this ethic.

In fact, in 1 Corinthians 4, Paul says to the Corinthian believers, to this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty and are poorly clothed and are roughly treated and are homeless. And we toil, working with our own hands. When we are reviled, we bless. When we are persecuted, we endure.

When we are slandered, we try to conciliate. So Paul is saying, when I'm wrong, when I'm slandered, persecuted, reviled, I don't respond in kind. What I'm seeking to do with the grace that God gives to me is to respond with, with blessing to those that wronged me. Jesus lived this out in his life and ultimately at the cross.

First Peter 2, Peter says, for you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. And while being reviled, he did not revile in return. While suffering, he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to him. who judges righteously.

In fact, when Jesus was on the cross being insulted, reviled, persecuted, crucified, How did he respond? Amongst his final words was a prayer of blessing. Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing.

Here's the Son of God using the access that he has to the Father, and saying, Father, I am seeking from you a blessing for these people. I am asking you to forgive them. Because they don't know what they are doing. Stephen in Acts 7 was being stoned, and amongst his final words were, Father, do not lay this sin to their charge.

He's, he wishes well upon those that are stoning him. And it comes out in the prayer that he prays for them. And by the way, Those people that Jesus prayed that blessing over around him at the cross. 50 days after his resurrection, some of those very people on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 are pierced to their heart with grief over the awareness of what they've done in killing Jesus.

And they cried out to the Lord for salvation. And did receive the forgiveness of their sins. Some of his crucifiers became followers of Jesus, receiving that forgiveness that Jesus prayed for. And amongst those that heard Stephen pray, Father, do not lay this sin to their charge was a man named Saul of Tarsus who held the coats of those that were stoning him.

And Saul heard Stephen say that, and no doubt God used that, amongst other things to pierce the heart of Saul, who later became Paul, to bring him to a saving knowledge of Jesus. one of the reasons that we should just focus on blessing those who wrong us and feel righteous in doing so and view us as the problem. One of the reasons that we should seek to bless them is because we know that some of today's persecutors will be tomorrow's most ardent Christians. And the testimony of Scripture gives indication of that.

And that's not always the case. But we know that amongst those who are wronging me right now, very well may be tomorrow's most passionate, useful Christians, and so I will bless them. And maybe my blessing coming from me to them will be the early rays of a coming dawn. In their life as the grace of God is breaking forth upon them.

You say, all right, enough about blessing. so we shouldn't be surprised when people persecute us. Number 2, we need to bless those who are persecuting us. What's the 3rd thing, Pastor Milton, that we need to do?

Well, here's the 3rd thing that we observe in the passage. All right, bless those who are persecuting you. Bless those who are persecuting you. You say, wait a minute, you've already given that point.

I know. But Paul states it again. because he's not ready to move on. he's not sure you got it yet.

Romans 12:14, literally, be blessing those who are persecuting you. Be blessing, he says, and do not be cursing. Paul is doing this partly for emphasis, partly to make sure that we got the point. And he's also perhaps anticipating that someone may say, bless those who persecute me.

OK, I've done that. The record shows I've done that. What do I do next, Paul? Paul would say, Here's what you do next.

Bless those. Who persecute you. I really want to make sure you get this right and take this blessing thing to the full length as you seek to bless those who are wronging you. Be repeatedly blessing those who are persecuting you.

And then he says it again, be repeatedly, continuously blessing those. who are persecuting you. And then fourthly, he states it negatively. Do not curse those.

Who are persecuting you, refrain from cursing them. He says, be blessing those who are persecuting you. Be blessing and do not be cursing. Here's one thing that you are to refrain yourself from in terms of how do you respond to those that are persecuting you.

Do not allow yourself to curse them. What does it mean to curse? It's the opposite of bless. We can define it this way to curse someone is to wish evil upon them, and then to speak and act in a way that is consistent with that wish.

It is to wish harm upon another person, to wish injury upon another person, and then to speak in a way that perhaps maybe my tongue can be an agent of doing that harm. And what I say to them and what I say about them to other people, my tongue can be an instrument of this injury and harm and even my behavior. I can take steps to make sure that they are injured and harmed. It acknowledges here that we have power to do real harm to those that are wronging us in many instances.

And Paul says, do not wish evil upon those that are wronging you and feel righteous in doing so and view you as the evil person with the problem. Do not wish evil upon them in return, and do not speak to them or of them, or behave towards them in a way that is consistent with that evil wish. what, guys, if someone wrongs you, persecutes you, reviles you, curses you, insults you, and you respond in kind, You respond by reviling and insulting. And doing entry to them, guess what?

They just won the ultimate victory because they just succeeded in making you just like them. Congratulations. You have become just like your enemy. You have become just like your persecutor, and that is the ultimate victory for Satan.

True beauty, and true toughness is when all of this evil is being hurled at you that you respond with something otherworldly. If you respond in kind, everyone's going to look at you and say, yep, I knew it. They're no different than us. They're just like us.

But if you respond with a kindness, with a graciousness, with a blessing that comes from another world, there is power and beauty that is there. Richard Wormbrand tells in his book, Tortured for Christ about how when he was in a Soviet prison, I believe in Romania for a number of years, like the, the tortures that he and his fellow Christians in the underground church endured were just horrific. He says, I can't even, what he recounts is mind numbing, and then he says, I can't even go into further detail to tell you the full extent of the things that were done to us.

so they were treated awfully, and he said, by the guards that were over them.

He said, but there were times where those very guards that tortured us, that they fell out of favor with the communist authorities for whatever reason, and they, these guards were imprisoned right along next to us. And he says, and when that would happen, the non-Christian prisoners who were with us would begin persecuting and tormenting and mistreating these former guards, treating them the way that they had been treated. But Richard Wormbrandt says, but I have seen with these eyes true beauty in the ugliest of places.

He said, I have seen such guards torture Christians, horribly.

And then those guards becoming fellow prisoners with those Christian prisoners. And I have seen those very Christian prisoners give their last piece of bread to those guards. Being an instrument of blessing rather than of cursing. Paul is saying, bless those who are persecuting you, bless, and do not be cursing those who are persecuting you.

You say, Pastor Milton, this is like impossible. To carry out. I've got, I've got situations in my life right now where there are people willfully wronging me. They feel justified in doing so.

And they view me as the problem. It's maddening. And you're, you're saying I need to actively seek to bless them and refrain from doing injury to them. This is impossible.

I need help in getting myself into a frame of mind where I actually would want to do this, and what, the 5th point will help us with that. And I think we can tie it together with a larger context and observe this. Here's the 5th way to respond to those that persecute you. Remember that Christ has blessed you by freeing you from the curse that you were deservedly under.

Paul would say, Now why. Waited until this point of the letter to give you this instruction. I didn't say this in chapter one. I waited until I had spent 300+ verses giving you gospel and explaining to you how you used to be under the curse of God's condemnation.

And yet the lengths that God went to to bless you with salvation. In the Book of Deuteronomy, and the law, it says cursed is everyone who does not live according to every provision that is in the book of the law. And Paul says in Romans, you have failed to obey the law of God, and therefore, you are under the curse of God's condemnation. And yet God has moved towards you in grace through His Son Jesus, who lived the life you failed to live and died the death you deserve to die.

And what, when Jesus died that death that you and I deserved to die, he was becoming the curse. For us that we deserve to bear. In Galatians 3:13, at the bottom of the screen, Paul says Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, at tremendous cost to himself. God rescued us from the curse that we were deservedly under, and gave us grace and gave us forgiveness, the blessing of forgiveness and relationship with Him, to where the result is Romans 4:7 and 8, blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered.

Blessed is the man who sin the Lord will not take into account, you're blessed. You are blessed. And guys, we need to be humbled by an awareness when when someone's wronging you and you feel righteously indignant, it's like, man, I, they need to be judged and I want to retaliate against them. It's in those moments where we need to get off our high horse for a moment and be profoundly humbled by the awareness that what, when I look at them, who are persecuting me, I see me.

They are what I once was, they are doing to me what I once did to God, what I once did to Jesus, my sins led To the death of the perfect and spotless Son of God, and I deserve to be cursed forever as a result of that. I was once a persecutor of Jesus. I have, as Martin Luther says, I have the nails in my pockets as evidence that I was a persecutor of him. And you and I are saved today because somebody already lived out the ethic of Romans 12:14.

Jesus already lived this out. And said, what? Here's your disposition towards me. The poison of serpents is in your lips.

Your mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Read Romans 3 and you'll find yourself described there. But what? I'm going to bless you.

I'm really going to bless you in a twofold way. And I'm going to refrain from you. In fact, I'm going to take away from you the curse that you are rightfully under. Guys, when you read Romans 12:14, don't groan and say, oh man, this is something else I need to do.

Read first Romans 12:14 and realize this is your story. You are the recipient. Of a savior who lived this out towards you. And now you're called to turn towards those that are doing to you what you once did to Jesus and to mirror to them the grace and the generosity and the love and the forgiveness and the blessing.

that God has shown to you through Jesus. Let's pray together. Lord, I think, I think one of the greatest expressions of worldliness that shows up in our midst as Christians is that the way that we respond to wrongs that are done to us, we respond to wrongs that are done to us the same way the world does. Help us to, to respond in a way that is shaped by the glory and the beauty of the gospel to show the world that The life we have is otherworldly.

It's something different than what they know. You have loved us, you have given us grace, you've given us blessing, you have withheld a curse from us, Lord, that we deserve to be under. And now you call us to living in the good of that to turn towards others. And to manifest this to show them.

The very grace. that we ourselves have received To show them what the gospel looks like. Make us a humble people, Lord, not a vindictive, self-righteous people. Make us radically humble, radically broken.

radically shaped by the gospel. To where when we're reviled, we respond with a blessing when we're insulted, we respond. By doing good. And that such speech and behavior in the face of wrongs done against us, will lend credence to the message of the gospel that we preach when we go to the world and say there is a God.

Who is ready to shower His grace upon you if you would believe in Him. You're a great God, Lord, and you've demonstrated your greatness to us. Help us to mirror this greatness to others, especially those that wrong us. We thank you for this opportunity to give up our offerings to you, Lord, receive these funds, do much with them for the glory of Jesus.

We ask these things in his name, and all God's people said. Amen.