This is the final message on the Beatitudes, the Birthmarks of the Believers. Jesus was the Messiah, but He was not the Messiah everyone was expecting. The Jews were in bondage. They believed that when He came, He was going to come as a mighty warrior. They were not as interested in being saved from their sins as they were in being saved from bondage.
When Jesus came and began to work miracles, the crowds fell in behind Him. Jesus never was impressed with crowds. People who follow because of miracles are not very dependable. Jesus knew this; you can’t build a kingdom on miracle seekers. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is setting their thinking straight on what it means to be His disciples. Every one of these statements that Jesus makes is directly opposite to what people thought. So, He is thinning out the ranks. He wants it all to be very clear, Luke 14:25-33.
Jesus comes to this final beatitude, in verses 10-12. Jesus was completely honest. I wonder how you would go about starting a new religion. You’re just a peasant, a newcomer, a nobody, and you want to attract people to follow you. You would probably paint a beautiful picture. Yet Jesus did exactly the opposite. He was completely honest about what would happen to His followers, Luke 9:57-58, John 6:60-66, Matthew 5:10.
This is the only Beatitude that Jesus repeated. It takes up three verses. This lies beyond the thinking of most of us. One of the characteristics of the believer is that he will be persecuted. Not really a characteristic of the world. Suppose you find a man who has all of the first seven characteristics what does the word do? They persecute him.
If you follow Jesus, not everyone is going to love you. They will persecute you. Three things about persecution.
I. The Reality of Persecution
1. It is real, verses 11, “When” not “if”. The only doubt about persecution is when.
2. Jesus didn’t just say it here, but in many other places in scripture.
a. John 15:17-20, Romans 8:17, 2 Corinthians 4:17
b. Philippians 1:29, Colossians 1:24, 1 Peter 4:12-13
3. 2 Timothy 3:12, that is a dogmatic statement: “All”
a. I sometimes worry because I fear we do not really understand persecution.
b. There is great persecution in the world.
4. Acts 5:40-41, we say we are not persecuted because God loves us. No, I think we are not, “worthy.”
5. Today it seems if our faith begins to inconvenience us a little bit, we’re gone. Not so with these early Christians.
a. People today quit because someone didn’t speak.
b. So and so hurt my feelings, I’m so persecuted.
6. Any time my experience doesn’t match the word of God, there is something wrong with my experience not the word of God. 2 Timothy 3:12
7. I believe the day is coming in this country when it will cost you something to be a follower of Jesus.
II. What Kind of Persecution is Jesus Talking About?
1. He gives three kinds of sufferings that a Christian who follows Jesus will endure.
2. First, they will revile you.
a. Revile means to disgrace or dishonor or to discredit.
b. One of the Devil’s tactics is to dishonor and discredit.
3. If a Christian does something wrong, it makes headlines. If the bartender does the same thing, nobody says a word.
4. Do you know who the Devil’s greatest colleagues are? You are here because you will believe anything anybody tells you about somebody else.
5. I guarantee you if somebody came to you and told you some filthy story about your pastor, some of you would disregard everything I have done in four years, and you would believe it in a minute.
6. Have you ever noticed how eager we are to believe the worst? We don’t even consider who is saying it. The world will revile you.
7. Then He says persecute: to pursue, follow after. Persecution is when the world is on your trail all the time, watching for you to make a mistake.
8. Matthew 12:1-2, Now what do you suppose a bunch of Pharisees were doing in a corn field on the sabbath day? They were persecuting Jesus.
9. That’s what the world does to you. As soon as you let them know you are a Christian, they begin to pursue you.
10. Verse 11, “Say all manner of evil against you falsely.” That’s the last resort, 2 Timothy 3:12.
III. The Reason for this Persecution
1. “For righteousness’ sake.” And “for my sake.” Verses 10-11
2. Jesus is not saying, “Blessed are you when you are persecuted for a cause or a doctrine.” But for righteousness’ sake or my sake.
3. Don’t quote this scripture when you are mistreated for some cause, it is because you are righteous.
4. Jesus is saying, “Blessed are you when you are persecuted because you bear the seven other birthmarks.” This means if I’m like Jesus, I’ll be persecuted.
5. Why did they persecute Jesus? Not because he was good, but because He was different.
6. The world expects goodness. Do you know why the world does not persecute us? We are not different. We are just like they are.
7. The world cannot stand someone who is different. Jesus was different.
a. He would not think like they thought.
b. Live the way they lived, worship their way.
c. He would not sacrifice the truth of God.
d. He wasn’t trying to impress anyone.
e. He put God above all, He was different.
8. They had to do one of two things; follow Him or kill him and they chose to kill him.
9. When you are like Jesus, the world will persecute you “for Jesus’ sake.”
IV. What is to be our Reaction to Persecution?
1. How are we to react? Rejoice! That means to jump up and down with joy!
2. We have it pretty easy following Jesus.
3. Paul asks, “What would it take to move or stop you?” Acts 20:22-24
4. The minute your faith begins to cost you something, that is your opportunity to be more like Jesus than at any other time.
5. That’s what He says in verse 12, you are in good company.
6. What is it in your life tonight that you are not obedient to.
a. Witnessing an inconvenience.
b. Tithing, I’ll have to do without.
7. If you will go over your points of disobedience tonight, you will find they are there because you are not willing to count all things loss for Christ.
8. We’re willing to have our Christianity so long as it doesn’t cost us anything or inconvenience us any.
a. It cost you something to live for Christ, teens.
b. It cost you something to live for Christ, adults.
9. I find we are so glad we are saved by grace and not by works. I think this is one thing Jude 4 means. Dragging His grace through the mud.
10. I don’t have a persecution complex, but I sure would like to be able to stand with these in Matthew 5:12.
