How To Face Life’s Challenges Part IV.
NLF 6/10/2001 2 Chron 24;17-22 1 Peter 4:12-19 Text Matt 5:10-12
We have previously looked in our Bibles at Matthew chapter 5 verses 1-9. These verses have been called the Be-attitudes. Someone has said these are the attitudes that should be in us as we face the challenges that come our way in life. Now remember we said that Jesus had taken his disciples up on the mountain to give them this teachings. The beatitudes are for believers who are willing to go the extra mile to hear what Jesus wants to tell them.
You may also remember the word “blessed” means “happy” and “to be envied” so that other people will want to have what it is you’ve got. It has been said, that as you go through the nine “blessed” in this passage of Scripture, that they get a little bit harder along the way. It takes a little more commitment to Christ to be willing to stand firm. Let’s look at verse 10 and see what wonderful blessing the Lord has for us this afternoon.
It says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted, because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Uh-oh. There goes Jesus with his strange sense of humor again. Now to put this in everyday language it would read, “Blessed are you when you really get into trouble, because you did the right thing.” We like to think that when we do the right thing, God is going to be so happy with us, that He will not let anything happen to us. Have you ever said, “God I tried to do the right thing and look what happened.”
In our Old Testament reading, King Joash became a king at age 7. His grandmother, Athaliah, had killed all his brothers and sisters in order to become queen. Joash was hidden from her. Jehoida put his life on the line in a rebellion against Queen Athaliah, in order to put Joash rightfully on the throne. Jehoida, the priest, taught the king all about the Lord. King Joash followed the Lord for many years until Jehoida died. After that, the King began to serve idols, and turned the nation away from God. Jehoida’s son, a priest by the name of Zechariah, refused to do the politically correct thing and go along with everybody else. He told them flat out “what you’re doing is wrong, and it will lead to the Lord forsaking you.” Zechariah was persecuted for his stand, and King Joash killed the son of the man who had literally saved his life. Zechariah did the right thing, but he paid for it with his life.
We are living in a world today where taking a stand for righteousness is not taken to too kindly. We are told, “mind your own business”, “don’t get involved”, “let sleeping dogs lie”, and “nobody likes a goody two shoes.” What should we do, when we find out a co-worker is stealing from the job? What should we do when the company we work for is cheating people out of their money or making sloppy or dangerous products? What’s our responsibility when we go to the store and our friend comes out having stolen something and says look what I got, do you want some?
Then there are those even tougher issues. What do we do when we find out a father is sexually abusing one of his children, and that father happens to be a brother, a cousin, or even a spouse. We know if we go public with this, it will bring the wrath of the rest of the family upon us. Yet Jesus says, blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness. God is telling us to go ahead and do the right thing and pay the penalty for it. You see God has us where He has us in our homes, our families, our schools, and our jobs because He expects us to make a difference.
There are some topics that the world has labeled as politically incorrect for us to discuss, especially when we go against what society wants. No woman needs to be condemned for having an abortion, but we know abortion is the taking of a human life. It interrupts the very plans God has for a child that’s growing in a mother’s womb. The bible tells us that God is at work in us, even while we are in our mother’s womb, and He has a plan and a purpose for our lives, even before we see the first day of light. Abortion needs to be repented of in the same way as any other act against the will of God.
Many would say to me, what right do you have to tell a person what to do with her own body. The reality is that all of our bodies belong to God because God is Creator of us all. God can tell us what is allowed in each of our bodies, and we can all be a speaker for God in areas in which God has made known His will clearly in the word. Over 20 million people have died at the hand of the abortionist.
In the 70’s we were debating that an human embryo was just a bunch of cells thrown together. We were shown pictures of pig embryos, frog embryos, and others to show us how similar they all look. Therefore who was to say the embryo could be considered a human being. It looked just like all the others. Therefore it was justifiable to end it for any reason if the woman so chose to do so. I find it interesting that we always say a woman’s right to choose rather than a mother’s right to choose. It’s not a woman who is choosing, but a mother making the choice.
But today, nobody shows pictures of fully developed babies in the womb who have been targeted for death. There is no doubt this is a human being. Now we’re talking about killing a fully developed human being, as it comes out of its mother’s womb in partial birth abortion. If we call it killing of a child, society goes into an uproar. If we tell the truth, even in love, people are going to persecute us. We need to tell the truth anyways.
Abortion leaves behind it, at least four victims. The child, the mother, the person who performed it, and all those who say its okay and does not matter. None of us can participate in a wrongful act and not be affected by it. God’s offer of forgiveness is available to the mother, the abortionist, and all who simply go along with it.
God has a righteous standard when it comes to the issue of sex. If you speak for that righteous standard, you will be persecuted. The word of God clearly states that God has a wonderful purpose for sex. It is to enrich the lives of two people in such a way that it draws them closer to each other, and draws them closer to God. God is delighted and pleased with their sexual experience. But God’s word teaches that sex is to be practiced inside the bonds of a marriage relationship. Sex should flow out of the life long commitment two people have made before God and society. Simply calling it pre-marital sex or extra-marital sex does not make it any less wrong in the eyes of God. Simply saying this is mutually consenting act between adults does not cancel the righteousness of God or the standards in His word.
We have a serious problem not only in the society, but in the church as well. Some 38% of people who call themselves Christians believe it is okay to live together outside of marriage and engage in sex. Either they have rejected the clear teaching of Scripture, or they never have made Christ Lord of their lives. . God says in Hebrews, “Keep the marriage bed pure and undefiled, because God will judge all those who commit adultery as well as those who have sex outside of marriage.” Some of us are already paying a price for the decisions we made concerning sex. Not all of God’s judgments come after we die. He allows us to reap things from our behaviors.
Today, to call homosexuality anything less than an alternative lifestyle is to make oneself , a self-proclaimed homo-phobic bigot. Yet yesterday, the bible condemned it along with all other sex outside of marriage. It is still as wrong as all of the other sexual behaviors. God’s word says in Romans, that homosexuality came about because of a rejection of the word of God. When sin entered the world it affected everything. Some people are born with a greater desire to lust than others, to lie than others, to steal than others and some are born with a desire toward homosexuality. We need not treat any of them differently, but seek to bring them all to Christ.
Now I do not believe we should have any civil laws against homosexuality any different than those against heterosexuals who are engaging in sex outside of marriage. God considers the behaviors of both groups wrong and states, those who practice sexual immorality will not inherit the kingdom of God. Christ offers love, acceptance, and a change in lifestyle to the person caught in sexual sin whether they or homosexual or two people of the opposite sex.
There are times when we all have feelings or desires for sexual temptation. Having the desire does not exclude us from being part of the family of God. We have to choose to not act upon those desires. It is part of Jesus’ call to deny ourselves and to follow Christ. That denial is going to take different forms in different peoples lives depending on where they are weak. The word of God teaches that some of the first Christians were from all types of sexual backgrounds and sexual desires, but the power of Christ delivered them out of it.
Yet today we are not free to take a stand for righteousness when it comes to sexual standards without being called a host of names. It is easy to not be persecuted. All we have to do is to keep our beliefs to ourselves. Just pretend God’s word does not exist, and let people do their own thing. But then that would not be love. How can we know someone is heading down a road with a bridge out, without at least giving them a warning? In God’s word, in the last book in the last chapter, after telling us what heaven is going to look like, there is a warning. It tells us that those who practice sexual immorality will be allowed into the city of heaven.
The positive thing about this persecution for standing for righteousness is that we receive the kingdom of heaven. Persecution reminds us, that this is not our final destination for living. It tells us to keep our eyes open and quit believing everybody is going to like us. At some point we have to decide, the love of Jesus Christ is more important to us than being accepted by others. Otherwise we will have serious problems with the next verse.
Verse 11 says Mat 5:11-12 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” It does not matter how you read this verse, it appears to have a lot in it that we do not want to receive. One thing for sure, if the first eight blessed’s are not a part of our lives, we will not do to well with this one.
The persecution here comes not so much from taking a stand, as it comes from having a relationship to Jesus Christ. You see there are people who do not know Christ, who are persecuted for taking a righteous stand. They do not receive the kingdom of heaven, but they are people of conviction who can be role models for us to a degree. But this verse deals with whether or not we are willing to suffer just for being a believer.
How many of us are good at taking an insult? This word insult comes from the word that means to make fun of, to taunt, to have somebody do an in your face kind of action. Ever have anyone in your family or circle say, “ahh look out here come Ms. Christian or Mr. Holy man. The preacher is here. Look out you’re getting ready to here a sermon. Here comes Miss I don’t do that. Here comes somebody who needs a crutch.” Nobody likes to be made fun of and nobody likes for others to laugh at them because of who they are. Jesus’ last day on earth before going to the cross was spent having people laughing at him, because of His beliefs, His appearance, and His claims.
This verse teaches that sometimes people are going to be mean to us simply because we are believers in Christ. We will not have to do anything to deserve it. It comes as a reminder that we are not truly a part of this world, and as long as we hold our views to the word of God, we will be considered intolerant. Sometimes when Christ comes into our lives, He brings with it a division between us and others with whom we have been close. Even best friends relationships change when one person gets saved and another one does not.
Some of us can handle the insults, some of us can deal with the persecution, but then this third thing is very difficult for us to swallow. Jesus said we are blessed when people tell evil and vicious lies about us because of Him. There is something about somebody lying on us that we just want to go find them and get it straightened out. Now the blessing is not in others speaking evil of us and it being true. If we are guilty of some behavior or some crime and others keep talking about it and it makes the news, this verse does not apply to the situation. We are not suffering because of the name of Christ, we are suffering for our own actions.
In the early church, Christians were accused of eating people’s flesh and drinking their blood, sometimes even killing their own children to do so. This evil report got started all because of them sharing in communion. Somebody heard them talking about eating the body of Christ and drinking his blood and twisted it in such a way that Christians became baby killers. Now there was no truth whatsoever to the rumors, but many believers had this evil report spread about them simply because of their commitment to Jesus Christ.
One other thing that makes this beatitude somewhat different from the others is that Jesus goes from the generality of all believers to the specific “you” of the disciples. It is as though Jesus is telling the disciples, this is going to happen specifically to you. Anyone who is a leader, should be prepared for persecution he or she does not deserve. People are going to tell evil and malicious lies about you. It cannot be escaped, yet all of us are shocked and hurt when it happens. We often pray, “Lord make us more like you”, and when He does, we complain, “Lord what in the world is going on here.” Jesus says, “whatever they did to me, they will do it to you.”
Lots of people think, “boy wouldn’t it have been great to be one of the twelve disciples of Jesus.” Well it all depends on when you’re looking at them. When Jesus was preaching to crowds, it would have been great. When Jesus was marching on Palm Sunday, it would have been great. On the day of Pentecost when the Spirit fell it would have been great. But what about on the day when they had to choose between life and dying for Jesus. James, son of Zebeedee had his head cut off. Phillip, Andrew, Jude, Bartholomew, Simon and Peter were all crucified. James the less at age 94 was beaten and had his brains dashed out. Thomas was thrust through with a spear. None of them were guilty of any crime except they loved Jesus. They did not die with great crowds around them, but often alone in obscurity.
Now Jesus tells us to rejoice and be glad, when we are persecuted for His name sake. One translation says “be happy about it”, “be very glad”. The difference between the two is this. Suppose you got a phone call from a lawyer saying you had been named in a will and you were to get $3,000. You would be happy about it. But suppose the lawyer called back an hour later and said, “He apologized for the mistake, because you will actually be getting, $300,000. Would you not be very glad?
Jesus is telling us here, the greater the persecution, the greater the reward we will receive in heaven. We will have demonstrated that we are on the same side as the prophets who were persecuted before us. Now if we do not have an eternal perspective on life, this verse will be meaningless to us. If we live and act as though this is where our home truly is, the thought of a reward in heaven is not going to impact us very much. If we are not serious about standing before God in heaven to give an account, chances are we will not be serious about our faith for Christ now.
The reality of heaven is what gives us the assurance, that our sacrifices, our stands for righteousness, and our willingness to endure the harassment of others for the cause of Jesus Christ will not be in vain. The Lord knows what it is we are going through. If we handle it in the way He wants us to handle it, we will be blessed and we will be rewarded for doing it.
J. This Beatitude Is Different Because Of You
1. Leaders Should Be Prepared for It
2. Do We Pray, “Lord Make Us Like You”
3. Great To Be One Of The 12—When
4. Large Crowds, Palm Sunday, Pentecost
5. What About When It Truly Counted
K. The Disciples Take A Stand For Christ
1. James Son Of Zebedee---Head Cut Off
2. Phillip, Andrew, Jude, Bartholomew,
& Peter—Crucified
3. James The Less At 94 –Beaten—Brains
4. Thomas—The Spear
5. John—In Exile
L. Jesus Rejoice And Be Glad
1. NLT Be Happy & Very Glad
2. Difference Phone Call From A Lawyer
3. Greater Persecution—Greater Reward
4. Identified On The Right Team
M. Must Have Eternal View Of Life To Endure
1. If We Think This World Is Our Home….
2. Live Knowing We Are Going To Give Account
3. Reality Of Heaven Is What Makes It Worthwhile
4. Lord Know We Are Going Through
5. Handle It To Be Blessed.
Sermon Outline Pastor Rick NLF 6/10/2001
How To Face Life’s Challenges Part IV
2 Chron 24:17-22 1 Peter 4:12-19 Text Matt 5:10-12
A. Began In Matthew5:1-9
1. The Beatitudes— The Be Attitudes
2. Jesus On The Mountain Disciples Extra Mile
3. Blessed—Happy To Be Envied 9 Up & Harder
Mat 5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
B. Jesus And A Wonderful Sense Of Humor
1. Blessed When You Get Into Trouble
2. Shouldn’t Right Thing Bring God’s Protection
3. Priest Jehoida, Queen Athaliah, King Joash,
4. Jehoida’s Son—Zechariah
5. Death, Rebellion, Zechariah’s Stand—Death
C. When Taking A Stand For Righteous Not Popular
1. MYOB, Don’t Get Involved, Let Sleeping Dogs…
2. Co-Working Stealing, Company Cheating, Bad
Products—Friend Out The Store
3. When Sexual Abuse Enters The Family
4. Father, Son, Brother, Uncle---Family Wrath
5. Doing The Right Thing
D. Standing For Righteous In The Society Today
1. No Condemnation Needed—But Abortion
2. Interruption In The Plan Of God In The Womb
3. Chosen, Working, Before Light Of Day
4. What Rights Do We Have—God Final Say So
On Our Bodies As Creator Of Us All
5. 70’s Embryos, Frog, Pig, Human, Dog
6. Not Human—Justifiable
7. Why Woman’s Right & Not Mother’s Right
8. No Pictures Today For Fully Developed
9. Don’t Say Killing---Speak The Truth-
10. Four Victims Are Left Behind
11. God’s Forgiveness Available For 3 Of The 4
E. The Righteous Stand For Sexual Behavior
1. God Thinks Sex Is Wonderful—His Idea
2. God Purpose For Sex—Place For Sex
3. Pre-Marital & Exrta Marital Sound Harmless But
4. Problem In The Church 38% Say Its Okay
5. Rejection Of Scripture—Rejection Of Lordship
Heb 13:4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
6. Not All Judgment Comes After Death
7. Reap What We Sow
F. What About Homosexuality Or Gay Lifestyle
1. Alternative Lifestyle—Homophobic Bigot
2. The Bible Speaks On The Issue
3. Accepted After A Rejection Of God
4. Creation Fell And Everything Affected By Sin
5. We Are All Born With Different Degrees Of
Desire For Different Things
6. Stealing, Lying, Lusting, --All To Christ
7. Do Difference In Civil Laws—Both Wrong
8. Practice Immorality Will Not Inherit
1 Cor 6:9-11 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Cor 6:11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
9. Today To Take A Stand Cost—Name Calling
10. Can Avoid Persecution—But At A Cost
11. Duty To Warn That The Bridge Is Out
12. Revelations—Last Chance—Will Not Enter
G. Persecutions Have Their Benefits
1. Receive The Kingdom Of Heaven
2. Not Our Final Destination
3. Choice Between Love & Like
Mat 5:11-12 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
4. No Matter How You Read It—Bad Things
5. If First 8 Not Present—Forget 9
H. Persecution Solely Because Of Jesus
1. Can Take A Righteous Stand Apart From Jesus
2. Suffering Simply Because Of Relationship
3. Who Can Take The Insult—Laugh, Taunt, Fun Of
4. Here Comes Mr. Holy, The Preacher, The Sermon
5. Jesus Last Day Made Fun Of—Beliefs,
Appearance, Claims
6. Identify With Christ And It Will Come
7. Nothing To Deserve It
8. When Christ Comes—Separations Occur
I. Insults, Persecutions—But Vicious Lies
1. Many Find The Lies Too Much To Bear
2. Blessed Only If The Evil Spoken Is False
3. Early Christians—Baby Killers & Eaters
