Blessed are those who are Persecuted
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Recap:
Remember that Jesus would say these in the context of the others
They weren’t meant to be understood as a group and not individually
Jesus is ushering in the kingdom of heaven, which would be quite different from what they were experiencing
Blessed are the poor in spirit
The are the people who come to God spiritually bankrupt
Remember the Pharisees were the ones to be known for being the “closest to God.”
So, the others that would be listening wouldn’t have all of the “notches in their belts”
They would likely come to God humbly with nothing to offer...
They come to God acknowledging who they are and who God is!
And in doing so, they are blessed!
Blessed are those who mourn
If you remember how we unpacked this that it really applied to those who are broken over sin...
This lines up nicely with the first one...
Those who come to God knowing that they have nothing to offer Him, often times come to Him as people who are broken over their sin...
When we sin, we are separated from God and should lead to mourning, which leads to repentance
Blessed are the meek
Meekness is not weakness!
It is power under control
It is knowing who is in charge of us and submitting to His authority
The meek, are not doormats, instead they are full of power and the wisdom to know when to use it
They are in tune with their leader and act out of obedience when they speak
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
One of the more difficult beatitudes is being a person who hungers and thirsts for righteousness.
Food and water is necessary for life!
When we are hungry or thirsty, we will go to extreme lengths to make sure that we are fed and our thirst is quenched....
Do we have this same zeal for righteousness?
Do we really hunger and thirst to do what is right in God’s eyes?
Blessed are the merciful
How quick are we to show mercy to others?
How quickly do we expect others to show mercy to us?
God is a merciful God and reciprocates the mercy that we show with showing us mercy!
Blessed are the pure in heart
The pure in heart are those that are positionally righteous before God
They recognize that they are separated from God by their sin
They accept God’s forgiveness and are saved from the eternal consequence of their sin…they are set free from the guilt
The pure in heart seek to keep in step with the righteousness of God!
Blessed are the peacemakers
This was one of the more difficult messages to preach!
Peacemakers and peacekeeper are different
Peacekeepers try to maintain the status quo
Peacemakers resolve issues to maintain right relationships with one another and with God
To be peacemakers, we need to actively resolve conflict with our brothers and sisters in Christ!
And, today we are finishing up the series with:
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 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.
Some commentators put these as two different beatitudes and some put them as one. For the sake of this series, we will treat them as one.
So, blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness
I want to start with some things that are implied by this beatitude, talk about some struggles, and end with some blessings
Implications:
1. Persecution
1. Persecution
The first implication here is also the obvious one - persecution
We know that
18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
And
17 Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.
20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Clearly, as Christians, we are not of this world.
We are strangers and aliens in this world.
The world hated Christ and likewise, will hate us as well
Because of this, persecution will come
How are we going to handle it?
How do you handle it when someone is coming at you?
Well, the rest of the sermon on the mount lays out how to live day in and day out...
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.
41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
So, when persecution comes, the ultimate culmination of the Christian walk is to become like God...
We are weird, we are called to be weird, we are called to be different...
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
The word mature in verse 13 is the greek word “telios” which is the same word used in Matthew 5:48 it means to be perfect, the perfection of God..complete...
That is our ultimate objective as a christian
some believe the goal of Christianity is salvation…but, you see, that is not the goal, it is the beginning!
The goal is to become like God...
When persecution came for Jesus, He kept his eyes on the higher purpose...
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
When persecution comes, we love our enemies, we pray for them, and we keep our focus on the higher purpose..
So, the first implication in this beatitude is persecution
The second is:
2. Persecuted because of Righteousness
2. Persecuted because of Righteousness
Righteousness is doing what is right in the eyes of God
We spent a whole beatitude discussing righteousness and so we won’t spend a whole lot of time unpacking it here
But, you see, because we are different, and quite frankly, right (of course when we are actually acting the way that Christ wants us to), people will persecute us
19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
When we do right, we will not be loved so much!
The third implication here is:
3. People know that we are living right
3. People know that we are living right
And this isn’t because we take a selfie of it and post it on social media...
People see that we are living in true righteousness...
You see, if you aren’t being persecuted, are you walking in righteousness?
If you have never been made fun of for being a Christian, than what are you acting like?
If you have never felt super awkward in a “worldly” situation, then are you separate from the world?
I am just curious: how many of you have lost friends simply because you are a Christian?
How many of you have stopped participating in activities or hanging out with a group of people because you have found that they are helping point you to Christ?
Now, this isn’t a legalistic thing...
It’s not about trying to make a list of things that you can and can’t do...
It is about either a conviction from the Holy Spirit or you just grow to no longer want to be apart of that environment anymore...
Garden City - athletic training - “F” bomb...
So, we have talked about the implications of this beatitude, let’s talk about some struggles of this blessing…these might sound a bit familiar...
Struggles:
1. Persecution
1. Persecution
It is not fun, but it will happen!
2. Living in Righteousness
2. Living in Righteousness
Walking in the righteousness of God is really really difficult...
It does seem to get easier the more we experience Jesus and the closer we get to Him, but it is certainly a challenge
How do we stay the course?
Spend time - lots of time in His word!
Spend time in prayer!
Spend time with His Church!
Put ourselves in situations that lead us closer to Him!
Finally, what are the blessings of persecution?
Yours is the kingdom of heaven
Yours is the kingdom of heaven
We get to walk in the kingdom of heaven!
We have the fruit of the Spirit living inside of us...
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness....
We have the comforter living inside of us!
We have the power that overcame the grave living inside of us!
We have a family that has our back and that is in unity!