The Perfect Standard For Life
Expect To Be Persecuted For Your Faith In Christ - Part 8 of 8
Reading: Matthew 5v10-12
As we look at this final Beatitude, we come to a very strange contradiction, because it talks about the relationship between persecution and joy.
It’s like saying, “Happy are those who get punched in the nose”.
Yet Jesus said, “Sooner or later you’re going to take a punch in the nose because of Me”.
…and even more than that, it is the only Beatitude where Jesus gives us a further commentary on what He had just said, and that should tell us that these words are of extreme importance to us as a church.
In other words, Jesus is saying here that we as the church of believers must have supernatural joy when we’re persecuted.
It’s a theme that runs right through the New Testament.
…and so Jesus says, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world”.
Now, if you think about it, that would not make a very good advertisement on TV for Christianity, would it?
Most advertisements don’t play up the fine print, do they?
The community service organisation does not say, “Join us and stand on a street corner in sub-zero temperatures with a plastic bucket in your hand”.
No - they don’t say it, but anyone who joins their service expects it, am I right?
Why?, because they’ve seen others standing on the street corners in sub-zero temperatures with plastic buckets in their hands.
They understand that a few inconveniencies go with the incentives for doing good.
Let me say this, it’s no different in the Kingdom of God!
Persecution wasn’t a last minute add-on by God.
It’s been there all this time by design.
So if you sign-up to the Gospel of Christ, you will experience some spiritual sub-zero days, but along with those inconveniencies you will have rich rewards.
Here’s an example of what I’m talking about.
When Peter and the other Apostles were beaten before the Sanhedrin soon after the Holy Spirit was poured out on them, it says of them in Acts 5v41, “They left the Council chamber rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer dishonor for his name.” (LB).
Its like this Scottish pastor by the name of Samuel Rutherford who was put into prison, yet wrote these words while in prison, “I never knew by my nine years of preaching so much of Christ’s love, as He taught me in Aberdeen, by six months imprisonment”.
Not so long ago now a Romanian pastor described how he was imprisoned and tortured, and yet experienced joy.
Locked in solitary confinement, his captors cut pieces of flesh from his body and then put him back into prison again where he was starved.
Yet in the middle of all of that, there were times when the joy of Christ so overcame him, that he would pull himself up and shuffle about the cell and dance for joy before the Lord.
He felt such a closeness to God during that time, that on his release from prison and his return to his home, he chose to fast the first day in memory to the joy he had known in prison.
When I stayed in Latvia and visited countries like the Ukraine, I also heard of some of these amazing stories.
…and when you hear them at first, you think, “How is it possible to be so full of joy when your body goes through so much pain and suffering?”
But if we want to fully understand what Christ is saying here, there is two things we must keep in mind.
a. When you hear these stories, you have to know that these people never enjoyed the persecution.
To suggest that you should enjoy persecution is to get the wrong idea.
b. Another thing we must keep in mind, is that persecution of itself is neither blessed not joyous.
However, there is a certain kind persecution that has God’s blessing on it.
…and that kind of bring us to the question,…
What Kind Of Persecution Brings Joy?
First we have to understand that this Beatitude does not say, “Blessed are the persecuted, period?”
Unfortunately this is how many Christians have interpreted this verse.
People who think like this actually believe, that anytime they experience conflict, they are bearing the burden of Christ, therefore some people wrongly seek out persecution for the wrong reasons so that they can say,
“I’m being persecuted”.
In other words, they deliberately get themselves into trouble in order to claim that they have been persecuted for Jesus.
But look what God has to say about that in 1 Peter 4v14-16, “Be happy if you are cursed and insulted for being a Christian, for when that happens the Spirit of God will come upon you with great glory. Don’t let me hear of your suffering for murdering or stealing or making trouble or being a busybody and prying into other people’s affairs. But it is no shame to
suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being in Christ’s family and being called by his wonderful name!” (LB).
In other words, a real Christian never manufactures persecution!
Now there’s nothing wrong in approaching people with the Good News of Christ, and I believe Christ has given us very specific ways in reaching people with the Gospel.
He says, if you do it, do it in a gentle way, yet some Christians believe, - because they’ve interpreted this verse incorrectly, - that if they bombard people with the Gospel and assault people with the Gospel and are then persecuted for doing so, they find it all joy.
No!, sadly some Christians are often persecuted not for their Christianity, but for their lack of it.
Sometimes they are rejected simply because they have unpleasant personalities.
Sometimes they are rude and insensitive and thoughtless and possibly even obnoxious.
Some Christians are rejected because they come across as always being judgmental or just because they are lazy and irresponsible.
Sad to say, that some believers do not know the difference between being offensive and talking about the offense of the cross!
…and to solve this problem you must read the entire verse in it’s context, “Blessed are those who are persecuted, because of righteousness”.
…and what is this righteousness spoken about here?
The root meaning of the word “righteousness” is “to divide, to be different”.
When Jesus was on the earth He caused a division, and if you seek to follow Him then you will produce the same results.
In other words, the world out there always welcomes a compromising Christian, but it hates a Christian who does the will of God.
Let me give you an example: “Isn’t it strange that when you’re with a lot of friends, you can easily say that you’re a Baptist or a Presbyterian or a Methodist or whatever, and very few people will get upset?”
But if you should go further and say that you’re a Christian, and you let the name of Christ come into the conversation, then war is declared?
So the “righteousness” spoken of here, is the right living spoken of in all the other Beatitudes.
Jesus says, if you live a life like that, then the world will not tolerate you at all, Why?
First of all, poverty of spirit runs in the opposite direction of the proud heart.
“Isn’t it true that the world out there only looks at the self-sufficient who need nothing else?”
They never consider the poor in spirit to be strong people.
Secondly, if you mourn over your own sins and the sins of the world, we know that our society does not appreciate that at all.
Thirdly, the people who are meek and mild are regarded as being weak by those who do not know Christ.
Fourthly, hungering and thirsting after Christ is not understood by a world who hunger’s and thirst’s after pleasure and money.
Fifthly, the merciful person is out of step with a society who lives by revenge and grudge-bearing actions.
Sixth, the pure and single minded person focusing only on Christ, is the opposite to a sin seeking, self-focused society.
Seventh, the peacemaker is rejected because he will not settle for peace at any cost.
In other words, when you look at these Beatitudes you should now understand that a person living such a life will always be persecuted, Why?, because they are like Christ.
Living a righteous life is then like a thermometer, - it helps us measure how much we are like Christ.
So Jesus says, if you should live your life according to the first seven Beatitudes, you are guaranteed at some point to experience the eighth Beatitude, because Godliness generates hostility from the world!
This is exactly Jesus’ point when He completes verse 11 with “because of me”.
In other words again, if you live your life like Jesus, then you will be persecuted, - period!
…and Jesus comments on this in John 15v18-21, “…for you get enough hate from the world! But then, it hated me before it hated you. The world would love you if you belonged to it; but you don’t—for I chose you to come out of the world, and so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave isn’t greater than his master!’ So since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you! The people of the world will persecute you because you belong to me, for they don’t know God who sent me.” (LB).
Jesus tells us here, that since He had a hard time with people rejecting Him and persecuting Him because of His message of righteousness, so it will be with you as well!
Paul writes to the young Timothy and gives him some advice (2 Tim 3v12), “Yes, and those who decide to please Christ Jesus by living godly lives will [certainty] suffer at the hands of those who hate him.” (LB).
…and there’s no getting away from that for any Christian.
…and because persecution is seen as a consequence of a spiritual battle, it must be extended to the experience of every Christian, regardless of location.
He also wrote the Thessalonians and gave them this warning (1 Thess. 3v1-4), “Finally, when I could stand it no longer, I decided to stay alone in Athens and send Timothy, our brother and fellow worker, God’s minister, to visit you to strengthen your faith and encourage you and to keep you from becoming fainthearted in all the troubles you were going through. (But of course you know that such troubles are a part of God’s plan for us
Christians. Even while we were still with you we warned you ahead of time that suffering would soon come—and it did.)” (LB).
He also told the Christians in Antioch (Acts 14v22), “They encouraged them to continue in the faith in spite of all the persecution, reminding them that they must enter into the Kingdom of God through many tribulations.” (LB).
In other words, if you give your life to Christ, you affirm your commitment and loyalty to the suffering of Christ.
That’s why you and I as Christians are called to suffer for Christ by living a righteous life.
Even at a stressful time during Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s life when he was highly criticized, his wife took a sheet of paper, printed the eight Beatitudes on it and stuck it to the ceiling over his bed, because she wanted him to fully understand that everyone who lives a righteous life will be persecuted, no exceptions!
In other words, persecution and rejection for righteousness sake, are just as much signs of the believer as being poor in spirit or being merciful are.
Therefore we should not be surprised when persecution comes, but rather surprised when it does not come.
What that means, that if persecution never comes to your life, then it may be reasonable to ask whether you’re a Christian or not!
Let me try and make that statement again by putting it into a question, “If you and I as Christians have never experienced rejection for the sake of the Kingdom, are we really citizens of the Kingdom?”
“If you have not experienced the disapproval of our society for the righteous life you live, are you then truly God’s child?”
It does not mean that you have to go through persecution every minute of each day.
No one is persecuted all the time!
It does not mean that our persecution will always be dramatic, because most of it will come quietly.
How Will Our Persecution Come?
If we want to answer this question, then we must look at the word “persecuted” in
verse 10.
A good translation of this word would mean “harass”, in other words, “blessed are the harassed”.
…and then verse 11 explains it even further for us, “Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely”.
…and this “casting of insults” literally means, “to cast in one’s teeth”, so that the sense here is of throwing insults in your face.
In other words, yes, sometimes our persecution comes in physical terms and blood is spilled for the sake of the Gospel (martyrdom by execution), sometimes imprisonment, sometimes physical abuse, sometimes our persecution will come via verbal harassment, sometimes audible, sometimes whispered, sometimes rejection, sometimes hatred, sometimes exclusion.
Its when you’ve given 20 years of your life in great service to your company, but you’ve always been passed over when promotion time comes, because you never stand down from the values you believe in.
As a young person, you may be excluded from a certain group of people just because you do not rubber-stamp all they say.
You may even be rejected by your friends as a housewife just because you do not agree with the other women gossiping.
These are hard things to deal with.
There Are At Least Four Sources Of Persecution Today.
a. Religious Nationalism.
In other words,…religious nationalism exists where a particular territory or culture has become the exclusive region for a very particular religion.
For example, its when a government says, “Only Hindus stay in India” or “Croatia is for Catholics only”, or, “You are only a true Sri Lankan if you are a Buddhist”.
…and what these states are saying is this, that to have other religions in their territory would destroy the special character and unity of the state, and this becomes a source of persecution for Christians in those countries.
You see, these kind of governments use religion as an important way to increase their legitimacy, and so they use religion for grabbing power or maintaining it, and its this thinking that gives way for genocide.
b. Islamic Extremism.
Islamic extremism want the whole world and not just one region to become Islamic.
…and this Islamic extremism really got to its feet when the Shah of Iran was toppled by the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979.
That’s when he started running a modern state along theological lines.
We need to understand that Islamic extremism feeds of a disgust with secularism.
In other words, the West has now banned the Bible or almost all religion from schools and public debate.
Islamic Extremism does not want that model imposed on them!
…as a result, Christians are persecuted by direct state persecution in countries like Saudi Arabia, Sudan and the Maldives, where the Government takes the lead in persecuting Christians.
Christians are also persecuted by extreme Islamic mobs spurred on by extreme Islamic teachers.
Christians are also attacked directly by radical Islamic terrorists.
…and why do they do it?, because the glory of Islam must be restored.
c. Totalitarian States.
A totalitarian state is one in which the political leaders dominate every aspect of society.
No-one is allowed to organize outside of state control.
These states persecute Christians out of fear, because they see Christians as a threat because they refuse to be dominated.
Countries like this include Cuba, China, Vietnam, Loas, North Korea, and in these countries Christianity is tolerated but controlled.
You see, Christians worship nobody but God!
In these countries the government has to know everything everyone is up to.
The leadership of the country has to be served and anyone who objects is automatically an enemy.
d. Secular Intolerance.
The Western block of countries are becoming more and more intolerant of evangelizing religions.
Its like this true story of an Anglican church in the UK who received a government grant to refurbish their church.
The arrangement was to have a café that would serve as a resource to the little town.
The vicar said one day, “Of course, to get the money I had to sign that we would refrain from evangelizing on the premises”.
Problem is that he signed away his religious right to share his faith, and a western Government made them do it.
Now the church members cannot pray in their own café.
You see, secular intolerance maintains that we all have different beliefs, and we had better accept that everyone is just as right as the next person, or else!
Here’s the problem.
Originally religious tolerance was introduced to limit the power of the state, not the church.
The state was not allowed to prefer one religion over another.
This is why we have as a Baptist belief the Separation of State and Church.
But now a new definition of tolerance is being applied, this time not to the state, but to you and me and we’re told, “You must accept that all religious beliefs really just amount to the same thing”.
In other words, secularism says that religious differences are insignificant.
So what it says is this, “If we as Christians admit that we would like Muslims to know Christ, we are called arrogant and intolerant by a secular culture, because all religions are the same”.
It means, that if Christians say that homosexuality is not a God-pleasing lifestyle and forbidden by God, then the church is accused of “homophobia”.
Here’s another way modern secularism works.
It has privatized faith.
In other words, your religious truth is really just your truth, therefore you and I as Christians have no right to argue for our faith to be included in any laws of the country.
It means then that our faith in Jesus Christ is now automatically removed from the public sphere, because you’re not allowed to discuss it at work or any other place, except your own home.
…and the Government says that it will separate itself from all religion.
In other words, religion now gives way to governmental concern in every aspect of life.
It means, when the state gets in, religion is supposed to get out.
This means there is a greater cost for speaking our for Christ.
This is that battle for the Western Church today.
Why Does Persecution Not Happen When It Should?
The tragedy remains, not that these things are happening to Christians, especially in the West, but that they’re not happening.
One of the reasons is that most Christians [in the West] do not have secular friends anymore.
Yes, they come to church 100%, attend Bible studies 100%, attend Christian schools 100%, golf with the believers, eat with the believers, go on holiday with the believers, and so seal themselves off from any persecution.
Some people again keep their Christianity a secret so as not to make waves with non-Christian organisations.
The tragedy is that hidden Christianity is probably not Christianity at all!
Imagine a man who accepted a new job in which he had to work with people who blaspheme and swear all day long.
When at the end of his first day at work his wife asks him how he managed, he said, “Terrific! They never guessed I was a Christian!”.
As long as people have no reason to believe that you’re a Christian, then you need not worry about persecution.
In other words, the greatest reason why most Christians [in the West] do not experience persecution and rejection, is that they have become like the world out there.
They live like they live, they talk like they talk, they go to ungodly places like they do, they laugh over the same immoral jokes they do, they enjoy the same ungodly and perverse entertainment as they do, they smile when God is mocked, they act as if all religions lead to heaven, they don’t mention Hell, they draw no moral judgments, they take no stand against unbiblical political laws they do not share their faith with other people.
If you don’t want to be persecuted, then follow this formula and you’ll be safe.
John MacArthur says, “The fact that many professed believers are popular and praised by the world, does not indicate that the world has raised it’s standards, but that many who call themselves by Christ’s name, have lowered theirs”.
…and God has something to say about that very same thing in Luke 6v26, “And what sadness is ahead for those praised by the crowds—for false prophets have always been praised.” (LB).
“What does Jesus say about people like this?”
He says in Luke 9v26, “When I, the Messiah, come in my glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels, I will be ashamed then of all who are ashamed of me and of my words now.” (LB).
But the fact is the church must be persecuted or it is no church at all!
To live for Christ is to live in opposition to satan in his world and his system.
We need to be like Moses who chose to identify himself with his own people rather than compromising himself with the sinful ways of the Egyptians, and he paid a great price for it.
Hebrews 11v26 says of Moses, “He thought that it was better to suffer for the promised Christ than to own all the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking forward to the great reward that God would give him.” (LB).
So people need to be told, that if they’re going to follow Christ then they will have to pay the price of being rejected and persecuted.
Therefore it should affect how you get along at school, at work, at the sports club, and how you make your living.
What Is Your Reward For Being Persecuted?
Jesus says it’s good if you are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, because that means you’re like Christ.
In other words, persecution is not an accident if you’re a Christian, but rather a certain evidence of it.
This is what Jesus has to say about that in verse 12, “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you”.
When John D. Rockefeller died, many people of course became very curious about the fortune he had left behind.
One reporter was determined to find it, so he spoke to one of Rockefeller’s associates.
He asked the associate how much Rockefeller had left behind.
The man replied, “He left it all?”
Now in contrast to that, that is not the case with people who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake.
This verse says that your reward will be “great”, which means, it will be “immeasurably great”.
In other words, God will no permit what you have done for the Kingdom to go un-rewarded.
This is what God says about that in 2 Corinthians 4v17, “These troubles and sufferings of ours are, after all, quite small and won’t last very long. Yet this short time of distress will result in God’s richest blessing upon us forever and ever!” (LB).
…and look what Paul says of himself in 2 Timothy 4v7-8, “I have fought long and hard for my Lord, and through it all I have kept true to him. And now the time has come for me to stop fighting and rest. In heaven a crown is waiting for me, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that great day of his return. And not just to me but to all those whose lives show that they are eagerly looking forward to his coming back again.” (LB).
Conclusion.
It’s always a good thing to have God’s blessing on you and have the curse of society on you,…for then you are a real Christian.
Holy living is what brings persecution to your life, and such persecution should be seen as a joyful thing.
Peter says in 1 Peter 3, “Remember, if God wants you to suffer, it is better to suffer for doing good than for doing wrong!” (LB).
Remember!, when people reject you, ridicule you, persecute you, their real hatred and hostility is not against you but against Jesus Himself, because satan’s greatest enemy is Christ and he will appose you however he can just because you belong to Christ.
Persecution is about Christ and satan is trying to get at Christ through you and me!
The world out there is ready to accept you if you are willing to put some distance between yourself and Christ’s righteousness.
Our challenge is this though, not to compromise our righteousness in Christ, but to stand up for Him and take it one the chin if need be.
…and yes, if you refuse to compromise the Gospel by the way that you live, then you’re going to suffer for it, but that’s OK, because we are approved by God for doing so, and God’s approval on my life is worth much more than any approval of man or government.
So we must not hide from the world, for to hide from the world is to escape your responsibility.
And what is our responsibility?, that Christ has sent us into the world to serve just as He Himself came into this world to serve others with the Good News of the Gospel.
Jesus says that you and I are the salt of the earth, the light of the world, and for our light to shine in this world, and for the Gospel to flavour the earth, we must be active in this world, though we are not of this world anymore.
In other words, the Gospel has not been given to you and me to hide away, but to give it away.
…and when you become Christ’s salt and Christ’s light, your salt will sting the world’s sinful wounds and your light will irritate they eyes of sinful people, and for this we will be persecuted and rejected and killed.
My challenge to you this morning is this, “Will you stand up for Jesus and be counted?”
“Are you willing to be rejected and persecuted for Christ’s righteousness?”
“Will you do that?”
