PRAY FOR THOSE WHO DESPITEFULLY USE YOU AND PERSECUTE YOU

PROCLAMATION

“While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’  Then he fell on his knees and cried out, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’  When he said this, he fell asleep.”  Acts 7:59-60 (NIV)

 

EXPLANATION

These words were written by Luke, the physician, under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  After being arrested for teaching and speaking about Jesus, The Christ, (Acts 6:12) Stephen spoke before the Sanhedrin council.  He recounted for them the life of Abraham, the father of the faithful, from the time when God appeared to Him and told him to leave his home country and go to the land that He would show him. (Acts 7:1-7)  He continued on with the lives of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. (Acts 7:8-19)  He told them about the birth and life of Moses, (Acts 7:20-44) and then he told them about Joshua, David, and Solomon. (Acts 7:45-47)  He ended by calling them “stiff-necked people” just like their ancestors and then said that they murdered Christ. (Acts 7:51-53)  The members of the Sanhedrin were furious with him.  They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. (Acts 7:54-58)  That was when he prayed the above prayer.

 

APPLICATION

Jesus, The Christ, taught us that we should love our enemies. (Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:27 and Luke 6:35)  Some of us are not there yet and we are still working on this.  Stephen was a man full of God’s grace. (Acts 6:8)  He followed the teachings of Christ, even to the point of praying for them while they were stoning him to death. (Matthew 5:44)  We need to understand that if we choose to follow and speak up for Christ, the people of the world are not going to like us and may even hate us.  However, He said, “Blessed are you when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake.  Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven…” (Matthew 5:11-12)  

 

PRAY FOR THOSE WHO DESPITEFULLY USE YOU AND PERSECUTE YOU

Proclamation:

“While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’  Then he fell on his knees and cried out, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’  When he said this, he fell asleep.”  Acts 7:59-60 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written by Luke, the physician, under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  After being arrested for teaching and speaking about Jesus, The Christ, (Acts 6:12) Stephen spoke before the Sanhedrin council.  He recounted for them the life of Abraham, the father of the faithful, from the time when God appeared to Him and told him to leave his home country and go to the land that He would show him. (Acts 7:1-7)  He continued on with the lives of Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. (Acts 7:8-19)  He told them about the birth and life of Moses, (Acts 7:20-44) and then he told them about Joshua, David, and Solomon. (Acts 7:45-47)  He ended by calling them “stiff-necked people” just like their ancestors and then said that they murdered Christ. (Acts 7:51-53)  The members of the Sanhedrin were furious with him.  They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. (Acts 7:54-58)  That was when he prayed the above prayer.

Application:

Jesus, The Christ, taught us that we should love our enemies. (Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:27 and Luke 6:35)  Some of us are not there yet and we are still working on this.  Stephen was a man full of God’s grace. (Acts 6:8)  He followed the teachings of Christ, even to the point of praying for them while they were stoning him to death. (Matthew 5:44)  We need to understand that if we choose to follow and speak up for Christ, the people of the world are not going to like us and may even hate us.  However, He said, “Blessed are you when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake.  Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven…” (Matthew 5:11-12)  

THE HIGHER STANDARD OF CHRISTIAN LOVE

Proclamation:

“... Love your enemies, bless those that curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you, and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father which is in heaven ..." Matthew 5:44-45 (NKJ)

Explanation:

These are the words of The Lord Jesus, The Christ, as recorded under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God by the Apostle Matthew.  Jesus spoke these words to His disciples, and to the surrounding crowd, during His Sermon on The Mount.  He was contrasting how the world acts with how a believer should behave.  The world says love your neighbor and hate your enemy. (Matthew 5:43)  Jesus said that believers should love their enemies.  If they only love those who love them then they are no different from the non-believers in the world. (Matthew 5:46)

Application:

Sometimes being a Christian is not easy to do.  It is easy to love those that love us.  However, as believers, Jesus has challenged to love those people who do not love us.  We are told to love, bless, do good to and pray for the people that we would normally hate, curse, want to get even with, and want bad things to happen to.  God's way for us to treat people is not the way that we would normally behave.  We are to treat them with kindness.  Maybe this is what is meant by "killing them with kindness".  Our being nice to them will be like pouring burning coals on their heads.  Vengeance belongs to The Lord and He will take care of them. (Romans 12:19-21)  We are to apply the "golden rule" to all people.  We are to do unto others as we would have them to do unto us. (Matthew 7:12)  We are to treat people like we would like to be treated, not as they treat us.  As a believer we should live and love by a higher standard.  Sometimes being a Christian is not easy, but it is well worth it.