HOW TO RESPOND TO THOSE WHO HURT YOU

Text- Luke 6:27-38

Introduction

This morning our text is found in Luke 6:27- 38 and the title of my sermon is, "How To Respond To Those Who Hurt You”.  Truly, getting hurt is a part of life.

Matthew 5:11 People will insult you and hurt you. They will lie and say all kinds of evil things about you because you follow me. But when they do, you will be happy. (NCV)

When people try to hurt you either by what they say or do, how do you respond to them?  Do you respond in anger and wrath, with cursing and insults?  Do you take it out on others, such as your children, your husband, your wife, or maybe the church or perhaps even God himself?  Or are you happy, as Jesus said we are supposed to be?

This morning I would like us to examine what the Bible says about how we should respond to those who hurt us.

Charles Spurgeon, while still a young man was passing the house of a woman known as the "town mouth", who greeted him with a volley of words the opposite of polite.

Smiling, Spurgeon said, "Yes thank you, I am quite well."

Hearing this the woman burst into another string of superlatives. "Yes, it does look as if it's going to rain," he replied. 

Surprised and exasperated, the woman said, "Bless the man, he's as deaf as a fence post! What's the use talking to him?"

So, how should I respond to those who hurt me?