Intro
Persecution: Will we experience increased persecution in the days ahead? If so, will we be prepared and equipped to handle it well? These are questions that naturally arise as we read our text today. It’s found in Matthew 5:10--12: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”i
We are nearing the completion of our study in the Beatitudes. In these Beatitudes, Jesus has revealed to us the pathway of life. These are the qualities that attract the blessing of God. They are counter-intuitive and contrary to the carnal mind.ii They call us to humility rather than self-sufficiency and pride. They call us to mourning rather than partying and revelry. They call us to meekness and peacemaking rather than a pursuit of personal rights and privilege. In short, they define walking in the Spirit rather than walking in the flesh.iii To all those who will enter this straight and narrow pathway, God promises transformation that leads to life everlasting.iv That’s why we are so passionate about understanding these keys to the kingdom.
Each beatitude addresses an attribute of character that God desires in his children. The last attribute is stated more indirectly than the first seven. It addresses the persecution that will be experienced by those who are characterized by the first seven beatitudes. Then it provides instruction for responding to that experience and the blessing that follows: “for great is your reward in heaven.” The word blessed is used twice in this final beatitude.v We count it as the eighth beatitude because Jesus is pronouncing a blessing just as he has done in the previous.
There are others who do not count this as a beatitude, and some count it as two beatitudes. The important thing is that we understand what Jesus is saying and live accordingly.
The key to understanding these beatitudes is to get a scriptural revelation of each quality. How do we know that biblical mercy is not tolerance of evil? How do we know that it is not indiscriminate acceptance of evil? We examine Scripture as a whole on the subject of mercy and find limits that God sets on his exercise of mercy. For example, in Hebrews 10:26-29 we read: “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” There is a point when the longsuffering of God has been exhausted, the sinner’s heart is fully set on rejection of God’s grace, and nothing is left for that person but judgment. If I read into Matthew 5:7 a twisted concept of mercy, I am in danger of grave deception.
How do we know that biblical peacemaking addressees the issues and calls for repentance of sin? We know that by examining, in the Bible, how God makes peace. He does not appease rebels. In his love and grace, he provides forgiveness through the cross. He pays the ultimate price for peace; then he offers reconciliation through the gospel of peace. Biblical peacemaking does not abandon truth and justice. God’s peacemaking is more honorable than mere appeasement. And when we see the apostles proclaiming the gospel of peace, we find them confronting sin and calling people to repentance. Jesus’s concept of peacemaking would have been consistent with Scripture, and the apostles' method of peacemaking reflected Christ’s concept of the term.
If we approach the seventh beatitude with a concept of peacemaking that is simply appeasement and peace at any price, then we will completely misunderstand that beatitude. That’s why we have taken time in this study to make sure our understanding of the quality declared in each beatitude is consistent with the overall revelation of Scripture.
Without a biblical understanding of each quality (poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, etc.), we can make the Beatitudes say just about anything. One reason the Beatitudes are broadly acclaimed by many in the world is they are reading their own definitions into the key terms. They think they are meek because of a natural gentleness in their personality, but they are not surrendered to God and, therefore, do not qualify for the blessing pronounced by Jesus. Our first expression of meekness must be toward God and the authority of his word. Without that, we are not operating in biblical meekness. For example, God says in Isa 66:2, “But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit [poor in spirit], And who trembles at My word.” The Hindu who would not kill a cockroach considers himself meek. But his meekness is not consistent with biblical revelation. He has not surrendered himself to God’s way of salvation. He does not respect the authority of God’s word. He is meek by his own definition, but he is not meek according to biblical revelation. For each beatitude, we must begin with a clear understanding of Jesus’s concept of that characteristic.
So, our first order of business today is to examine:
I. THE NATURE OF THIS PERSECUTION IN OUR TEXT
The word translated persecuted is dioko. In this context, it means to pursue in a hostile manner, to harass, trouble, or mistreat a person.vi Have you ever experienced that kind of treatment?
Persecution can involve any number of physical actions. At one extreme, it could mean martyrdom. All the apostles except John were killed because of their testimony of Christ. Peter was crucified upside down.vii Thomas was speared to death, and James, the son of Alpheus, was clubbed to death. Sometimes persecution comes as a physical attack.viii It may involve beatings or imprisonment. Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown into prison in Acts 16:23. So, persecution may come in the form of physical mistreatment.
But persecution can also be verbal. Jesus makes this clear in Matthew 5:11: "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.” The persecution that obtains this blessing has two characteristics. First, the accusations are false. Jesus is referring to people who are living a godly life and are falsely accused. If the person is actually doing the wrong that he is being accused of, that does not qualify for the blessing in this eighth beatitude. Secondly, the persecution comes because of our commitment to Christ: “for My sake.” The man who robs the convenience store and is in prison because of the wrongdoing is not blessed. He is simply paying his debt to society.
Most of the persecution we experience currently comes as social pressure. We may lose friends because of our testimony of Christ. Sometimes family members don’t want to associate with us because of the light that shines in us. A Christian may lose a potential promotion because an ungodly manager is uncomfortable with the Christian’s testimony. Whether physical, verbal, or social, persecution can range from mild to severe. Managing mild persecution in godly way can train us for dealing with more severe forms if necessary.
The key stipulation that Jesus states in verse 10 is that the persecution is “for righteousness' sake.” We can easily bring troubles on ourselves through unwise words and actions. If I lose my job because I was lazy, I am not being persecuted “for righteousness' sake.” If I am causing division in a church, and the pastor confronts me for the behavior, I am not being persecuted “for righteousness' sake.” The persecution in this eighth beatitude is a response to our witness for Christ either by word or example.
In last week's message, we addressed one question: Why is the result of living according to the first seven beatitudes persecution? One explanation is that the light of Christ in us disturbs the conscience of the ungodly. If the sinner chooses darkness rather than light, he may strike out against the light. The crucifixion of Christ is clear proof of that. In John 3:19-20 Jesus explained, “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” That is one explanation for the persecution.
Additionally, we saw that biblical peacemaking typically provokes a response of repentance or persecution. The gospel of peace confronts the unbeliever’s sinful condition and calls him to repentance. Before the gospel can be good news it is bad news. The bad news for the ungodly is that they are under condemnation for their rebellion against God.ix That is a very disturbing aspect of the gospel of peace. The good news is that God has provided salvation through the cross and resurrection of Christ. The decision is this: Will you acknowledge your sin and embrace God’s provision of salvation? Will you turn from your sinful way of life and surrender to the Lord as a follower of Jesus? When the sinner chooses to repent and receive God’s gift of eternal life, there is great joy in heaven.x When the sinner chooses to resist God, he typically rejects the messenger of the Good News along with his message.
So, the persecution Jesus is addressing in Matthew 5:10 is “for righteousness' sake.”xi Peter was probably building on this beatitude when he wrote, “For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. 21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps” (1 Pet. 2:19-21).
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The persecution is evidence that you are part of God’s kingdom. If you were of the world, the world would love its own.xii But Christ has called you out of the world into his kingdom, and a Christ-rejecting world persecutes Christ’s representatives. Now look at Matthew 5:12.
II. OUR RESPONSE TO THE PERSECUTION
How are we to respond to unjust treatment? What are we to do when we are “persecuted for righteousness' sake”?
(1) Jesus tells us to REJOICE and be exceedingly glad. Matthew 5:12: “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
You are in good company when you experience persecution for righteousness’ sake. The Old Testament prophets had the same experience. John the Baptist was beheaded because he confronted Herod about his sin.xiii Jesus was crucified. Paul was beaten, stoned, and imprisoned.
In Acts 16 Paul and Silas followed Jesus’s instruction in our text. The results were amazing. They came into the area preaching Christ. When they delivered a young woman from a spirit of divination, the city went into an uproar. Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown into prison.
How did they respond to the unjust persecution? Acts 16:25 says, “. . . at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.” The persecution did not silence them. They began to sing and rejoice in the Lord. The other prisoners were listening to their praise. And God was so pleased that he shook the foundations of the prisons. The doors fell open. The jailer thought the prisoners had escaped, and he would be killed for failing to keep them incarcerated. Instead, Paul and Silas hung around and led the jailer to the Lord, and his whole family. Responding rightly opened the door for God’s plan to unfold. The devil meant their persecution for evil. But God always outsmarts the devil. God worked all things together for the advancement of his kingdom.
Do not miss the importance in this story of Paul’s response to the persecution. The result was the salvation of the jailer and his family. Paul was able to establish a church at Philippi because he did it God’s way. A lot depends on us responding correctly. That’s why this teaching is so important.
Why are we to rejoice? Is it because we like to be beaten? Is it because we like to be unpopular? No, it is because we live with a heavenly perspective. “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.” Persecution is evidence that we are indeed the children of God. It is evidence that we are not a part of the wicked world system. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” In Romans 8:18 Paul wrote, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” And in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 he said, “. . . our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” We are only able to rejoice in persecution if we have an eternal perspective. We must be able to lift our eyes above the immediate discomfort and rejoice in the reward God has in mind for us in eternity.
It is a privilege to suffer for Christ’s sake. When the Sanhedrin imprisoned the apostles, beat them, and eventually let them go., the apostles were rejoicing in the experience because God had counted them worthy to suffer for Christ’s sake. Acts 5:41: “So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.”
What we must see in these passages is the kind of thinking that enables us to rejoice during persecution. It is thinking that looks beyond the comforts of this temporary world into the eternal bliss and glory of heaven. It is thinking that flows out of a heart of love toward Christ, counting it an honor to be reproached for his name’s sake. If we’re not thinking that way, we will probably not rejoice when we experience persecution. We may even grumble and complain. We may even compromise our testimony in order to avoid further persecution.xiv
(2) In times of persecution, we must RELY of the Lord’s system of justice.
We must entrust ourselves to his care. When mistreated we must not respond in like kind to our persecutors. In his first epistle, Peter reminds us to follow Christ’s example. In 1 Peter 2:23 he says “when He [Jesus] was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.” Tucked in that statement is a key to handling persecution well. When you are persecuted, commit yourself to God “who judges righteously.” Commit the outcome to the Lord. Don’t verbally attack the person who is attacking you. Don’t threaten that person. Turn the other cheek and let God be your defense.xv
(3) When being persecuted, we BLESS our oppressors.
“Love your enemies,” Jesus said in Matthew 5:44. “bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” In that verse are four actions we must take:
> We must love our enemies. This is the attitude of heart that empowers the other three actions. But love is a choice. It’s not just a feeling. It is choosing to seek the highest good for that person. Of course, that would include their salvation.
> We must bless those who curse us.
> “Do good to those who hate you.” They are doing bad things to you. You do good things for them. The neighbor throws his trash in your yard. You not only pick up that trash without complaint, but the next time you see trash in his yard, you clean it up for him. It will blow his mind. That is not the response he expected to get from you.
> We must pray for those who spitefully use us and persecute us. They don’t just use you. They do it with malice in their heart toward you. They mistreat you. And what are you to do? Pray for them. Don’t pray for their destruction. Pray for their salvation. Pray that God will reveal himself to them.
Paul also talks about blessing those who curse. In 1 Corinthians 4:12 he offers his own example for believers to follow in this. There he wrote, “And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure.” Then in verse 13 he adds, “being defamed, we entreat.” The NLT says, “We respond gently when evil things are said about us.”
That is not what our flesh wants to do. If we are walking in the flesh, we will become defensive, we may even strike back at our persecutors. Instead of turning the other cheek, we may give them a knuckle sandwich in the face, or at least say something derogatory to them. When we are cursed, we are to bless.
When teaching Jesus’s beatitude about persecution Luke wrote: “Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you [there is the social expression of persecution], And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man's sake [for righteousness’ sake]. 23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets” (Luke 6:22-23).
Then in verse 26 Jesus provides a contrast to the verbal persecution. Luke 6:26: “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, For so did their fathers to the false prophets.” Isn’t that interesting? We naturally want people to like us. We naturally want people to speak well of us. But Jesus warns that the popularity we so desire may, in fact, be a bad sign: “For in like manner their fathers did to the false prophets.” People reviled and persecuted Jeremiah. At the same time, they celebrated the false prophets who told them what they wanted to hear. Of course, we do not purposely alienate anyone. But the truth can be very unpopular. That’s why we must not measure what’s right by using the general consensus. We go to the word of God and find out what God has revealed on the subject. We embrace that truth in Scripture whether it is popular or unpopular.
Paul told Timothy, “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths” (2 Tim. 4:2-4 NIV).
So how do we respond to people who curse us? We bless them (Lk. 6:28). When they pronounce evil on us, we pronounce God’s mercy and grace on them. When people mocked and cursed Christ on the cross, he prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”xvi
Stephen followed Christ’s example when he was being stoned. His dying prayer was, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin” (Acts 7:60). What if Stephen had cursed his persecutors instead of forgiving them? His witness may not have convicted Saul of Tarsus. Stephen’s response to persecution was part of God’s plan for the conversion of Paul. That’s why understanding how to respond to persecution is so important. Through your response, God may reach others for Christ.
How do we respond to persecution? In 1 Corinthians 4:12 Paul said, “Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure.” So here is additional insight on how to respond.
(4) We ENDURE. We “endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Tim. 2:3).
In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus cautioned about those who would not endure persecution. In Matthew13:5-6 he said, “Some [seed] fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root” (NIV). He explained this in verses 20-21: “The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away” (NIV).
One reason we are taking time with the subject of persecution is to make sure that doesn’t happen to any of us. The Pseudo-Christianity that is popular in many circles does not equip people to endure persecution. They are offered a Christianity of candy and fun. The ground they are established in is very shallow. Self-help and the American Dream are preached from the pulpit. The preaching of the cross is neglected, and without the message of the cross, people are ill-equipped for persecution.
The message I am preaching today is not a popular message. I know that. But it is a necessary preparation for enduring persecution. We have to know what the persecution is all about. We have to know the benefits of it. We have to know how to respond to it. Otherwise, when the heat gets on, we are tempted to fall away.
During persecution, we enter into the fellowship of Christ’s suffering. In Philippians 3, Paul stated his desire to know the Lord more fully. He said in verse 8, “. . . I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord,” adding in verse 10, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. . . .” We easily understand why he wanted to know “the power of His resurrection.” But he also wanted to know “the fellowship of His sufferings.” Enduring persecution is a part of that. There are depths in that statement that is beyond my experience.
But I do know this: True Christianity according to Mark 8:34 requires me to deny myself, take up MY cross and follow Christ. The hymnwriter, Thomas Shepherd, understood that when he wrote,
Must Jesus bear the cross alone
And all the world go free?
No, there’s a cross for every one
And there’s cross for me.xvii
Does your Christianity have a cross at its center? Does it include a cross of redemption that only Jesus could bear?xviii Does it have a personal cross that is necessary for your sanctification? That’s the kind of Christianity that endures persecution. We will talk more about that next week.
Conclusion:
There are forces at work that indicate increased persecution in the days ahead. Next week we will talk about how to prepare ourselves for such a possibility. Today we have talked about how to respond to persecution. Having examined several passages on the subject, we should have a sense of the kind of response God wants in us during times of persecution.
It is not a passive response. There are actions we are to take. We are to rejoice, knowing the suffering is not in vain. We are to rely on the Lord: Trust him for the outcome. We are to bless those who curse us. In the context of loving our enemies, we are to do good to those who spitefully use and abuse us. We are to pray for our oppressors. And we are to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. All of that is anything but passive.
The danger is that we would respond to persecution in the flesh rather than in the Spirit. In our passion for right and justice, we can make the mistake of taking matters into our own hands—fighting fire with fire—persecuting those who persecute us—reviling those who revile us—using carnal means to accomplish a worthy objective.xix
Notice the actions we’re not told to do as we study this subject. We are not told to slander the other party since they are telling lies about us. We are not told to shoot abortion providers. We are not told to burn down abortion clinics. We are not told to storm the United States capital and take over the government. Is it tempting to fight fire with fire? Yes, but when we do that, we are fighting a spiritual battle with carnal weapons.xx And when we do that, we will not win.
I am not a pacifist. But I am very cautious about the way I respond to persecution. I want to make sure it lines up with Scripture. I want to make sure I’m not getting caught up in my own emotions and doing something contrary to God’s ways. By obeying Jesus’s directives about responding to persecution, the early church was able to win multitudes to Christ; Stephen set the stage for Paul’s conversion; and believers turned the world upside down with their message of love and redemption through the cross.xxi That is the example we want to follow.
ENDNOTES:
i All Scripture quotes are from the New King James Version unless indicated otherwise.
ii For this reason, these beatitudes can seem offensive to those who insist on living life according to their own terms. The Beatitudes require the follower of Christ to deny himself, take up his cross, and put to death the deeds and desires of the flesh (Matt. 16:24-25; Rom. 8:13; Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:5).
iii Cf. Rom. 8:1-8; -Gal. 5:16-26.
iv Cf. Matt. 7:13-14; Rom. 2:6-8.
v For the difference between the United Kingdom pronunciation of “blessed” and the American pronunciation see: Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary, “How to Pronounce Blessed.” Accessed at https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/blessed.
vi Depending on the context, dioko is also used in a good sense as an earnest pursuit of a goal as in 1 Cor. 14:1 and Phil. 3:14. Strong’s Concordance, NT: 1377.
vii Eusebius Pamphilus, The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilus, C. F. Cruse, trans., Book III, 1955 (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1981), 82. Kent Curtis, “What Happened to the Twelve Apostles?” Christianity.com. Accessed at https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1-300/whatever-happened-to-the-twelve-apostles-11629558.html. These statements are supported by historic tradition and questioned by some.
viii Acts 12:2 records the martyrdom of James, the brother of Jesus.
ix Cf. John 3:17; Rom. 1:18-19. The message of the cross is not good news to the person who thinks he is going to heaven without it. Who cares if there is a Savior if I can save myself. Before a person can be saved, he must recognize that he needs to be saved: that he needs a Savior. He must first become “poor in spirit” and “mourn” over his sin unto repentance.
x Cf. Luke 15:10.
xi See 1 Peter 4:15-16.
xii Cf. John 15:19; 1 John 4:4-6; Richard W. Tow, Authentic Christianity: Studies in 1 John (Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press, 2019), 243-245.
xiii See Matthew 14:3-10.
xiv Cf. Matt. 26:73-74; Gal. 6:12.
xv Cf. Matt. 5:39; Rom. 12:17-21.
xvi Luke 23:34.
xvii Thomas Shepherd, “Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone?” in Hymns of the Spirit, C. B. Hall, ed. (Cleveland, TN: Pathway Press, 1969), 61.
xviii The sufferings of Christ at Calvary for our redemption is something he did alone. Our only part in that is to receive the benefits he gained for us through his death. But the New Testament calls believers to a crucified life of self-denial in which we put to death the deeds of the flesh (Rom. 8:12-13) and walk in the Spirit (Rom. 8:4-5). Cf. 2 Cor. 5:14-15; Gal. 2:20; 5:25
xix A study of church history verifies this concern. Too often groups that had suffered persecution responded by persecuting the persecutors.
xx Cf. 2 Cor. 10:4; Eph. 6:12.
xxi Cf. Acts 17:6.
