INTRO: For the last few weeks, we’ve been a series on the family called “Bless This Home.” During this time, we have taken a few of Jesus’ beatitudes from Matthew 5 and have applied them to our families. You’ll remember that we defined BLESSED as having a much richer meaning than the typical “happy” that some give it. We traced the idea of blessing to it’s Hebrew roots and learned that the to be blessed means to have God’s supernatural power working FOR you.
In week one, we looked at “blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” and we learned that for our families to be blessed we must CHANGE OUR APPETITE from hungering after what this world has to offer to hungering after Jesus who is the righteous one. During the second week, we took the beatitude, “Blessed are the pure in heart” and saw that the only way we can have purity in our families is through the power of the Holy Spirit. Last week we took “Blessed are the peacemakers” and saw the importance of responding to each other instead of reacting against each other.
One would think that these kind of qualities would make for a model family that the world would run to and want to be like. The truth is, many will. However, there are others who will turn against you, want nothing to do with you, and even oppose you. For this reason, TODAY we are finishing our series with Matthew 5:10.
Matthew 5:10, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Over the last few years we have experienced a shift in how many in our society view followers of Jesus Christ. A culture that declares tolerance for opposing viewpoints has become less and less tolerant of those who do not share their views and opinions. It wasn’t long ago that most Americans considered the church and people of faith part of the solution for what was wrong in our nation. A recent survey, though, 42% said that “people of faith” were part of the problem in our country. 46% said “religion” was part of the problem. These believe that Christianity should be actively removed from society.
We are finding our faith more-and-more marginalized, as many have labeled Christianity as either irrelevant or extreme.
In their book, “Good Faith: Being a Christian When Society Thinks You’re Irrelevant and Extreme,” authors David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons share the following statistics:
60% of Americans believe that if you try to convert someone to your faith, it’s social extremism.
52% believe that if you pray for a stranger in public, it’s social extremism.
42% believe that if you leave a good job to pursue mission work, it’s social extremism.
25% of adults believe that if you save sex until marriage, that’s social extremism.
We’re not talking about abortion clinic bombers, or doomsday prophets. We’re talking about what amounts to biblical, normal Christianity.
THOUGHT: Christianity isn’t irrelevant AND extreme. By its very nature it is EITHER irrelevant OR extreme. By our very nature, we are called to be extreme. The reason we have become, at least to many, so irrelevant is because we have lost our edge.
Let’s get back to what Jesus said, we are picking up at verse 11:
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Jesus did not say “blessed are you IF others revile you,” BUT “WHEN others revile you.”
What Jesus says next, is important. Immediately after mentioning persecution, he lays out the basic nature of those who would follow him. I see these two lines of thought as being connected. We will be persecuted, why? Notice verse 13:
13“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.”
One of the main uses of salt in Jesus day was as a catalyst for fire. The salt they had was from the Dead Sea. It was not pure salt, sodium chloride, but had other minerals in it that were combustible. What Jesus is saying here is this, “You are here to start my fire on this earth.”
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Light was also fire. There was a disciple named Thomas; but his last name was not Edison.
Not destructive fire… but productive fire… it was the “fire” inside them…
The thing about fire is while some see it as dynamic, others see it as dangerous. While some will embrace the fire, others will oppose it.
Consider this as well: John the Baptist said that Jesus would baptize us with the Holy Spirit AND fire. Theologians have debated for centuries what is meant by “fire.” Some say it refers to the purifying work the Spirit does. Others have said it refers to the power of God in the life of a Christ-follower. Still others have said it refers to the result of what happens when a Spirit-drenched believer interacts with the world around him. I see all three at work here.
Here’s why this is important. John said that Jesus would immerse his followers with the Holy Spirit AND with fire. In the Sermon on the Mount, the first description Jesus gives of his followers is this: you’ll be FIRE.
For those who receive the message of the GOOD NEWS of Jesus, this fire is DYNAMIC. BUT, for those who reject the message, this fire is seen as DANGEROUS.
Whenever Jesus talked about his church, he talked about an active, invasive force:
Matthew 11:11-12, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.”
Something happened when John the Baptizer came on the scene. The promised Kingdom of God began to advance. A conflict of spiritual kingdoms was set in motion. That’s what Jesus was talking about here. Verse 12 is challenging to translate because of the Greek language. Since I don’t want to turn this message into a seminary class, let me just say that the most plausible interpretation of this last phrase would be “the kingdom of heaven has been going forward in strength, and violent men are trying to take it.”
The picture is one of two opposing armies hitting each other head on. ). Have any of you ever watched the competitive tv show “BATTLEBOTS?” In it, Competitors design and operate remote-controlled armed and armored machines designed to fight in an arena combat elimination tournament. That’s the picture Jesus is painting here: two opposing forces hitting each other head-on. Remember, Jesus came to “destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8)
Matthew 16:18, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Gates have a single purpose: to keep what’s on one side of the gate in, and what’s on the other side of it out. A gate is a defensive weapon. If we were having a rumble in the parking lot after church, you might bring an ax handle, or a baseball bat. You might bring a knife or even a gun. But nobody in their right mind would bring a gate. Here’s the picture Jesus is painting: His church would be an invasive, gate-taking, gate-breaking, gate-obliterating force! His intention has always been for his people to play OFFENSE, not DEFENSE. Here’s why the world the rejects the GOOD NEWS reacts like it does: when we sit back and play defense, we become IRRELEVANT. When we go on the offensive, then we are labeled EXTREMIST.
So, what are we to do with all of this? How do we go offensive, without becoming what so many of us in here disdain: the abortion bomber, the Facebook bomber—you know, that person who is hurling verbal salvos on social media to the point of being an embarrassment to the rest of us? How do we go on the offensive without becoming the hateful street preacher or the fundamentalist boycotter? What is Jesus’ strategy for us to step out and be STRONG, not STRANGE? Here’s what I want you to remember. Here is my challenge for you:
GO M.A.D.
Go Make A Difference.
1. Out Love
NOT: Out-politic… Out-maneuver… Out-complain… Out-argue… Out-boycott
2 Corinthians 5:14, “For the love of Christ controls (compels, compresses) us…”
2. Out Live
The main thing Jesus offered those who would follow him was LIFE. Without Christ, people are merely existing. That’s why they cling to their means of escaping the harsh realities of planet earth without Christ: alcohol, drugs, money, sex, popularity.
3. Out Last
We are empowered by the Holy Spirit with patient endurance. As we continue to out-love and out-live those who would oppose it, we will out-last them.
CONCLUSION:
Answer this question: if you had to place yourself in one of two categories, would you say you are IRRELEVANT, or would you say you are EXTREME. As followers of Jesus, every one of us is either one or the other.
In the 1950’s, a young missionary, Jim Elliott, was martyred by the Auca Indian tribe in Ecuador along with three of his missionary comrades. After his death, his journals began to be made public. In one of his entries, he made the following statement, that perhaps should become the prayer of some of us here today:
“Forgive me for being so ordinary while claiming to know so extraordinary a God.”
