Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
The year was AD 177.
The city was Lyons, Gaul, modern day France.
Persecution of Christians had been growing steadily over the last couple of years.
Pothinus, a disciple of Polycarp, had been sent to Lyons around AD 152 to bring the gospel, and many who heard the gospel believed.
As Christianity grew, so did the anger of the non-believers.
Christians were hated as many thought the gods were punishing the city for allowing Christians to dwell there.
In an effort to rid the city, Christians were thrown out of businesses and even some out of their own homes.
Once, when there was a mass arrest of Christians, some non-believers were inadvertently taken into custody, and to prove they were not of the Way, they gave false testimony against those who were.
In the end, many of the Christians were martyred in the arena.
Their tortures had become entertainment for the crowds.
Pothinus, the man who originally brought the gospel to the city and was now bishop at 92 years of age, was tortured in the arena and died in his cell two days later— a cell no larger than your dishwasher at home.
(Blandina: A Faithful Witness, Christianity.com)
The jailers who did the torturing within the prison and led them to the arena were heard wondering aloud, “Who are these Christians?
They go willingly and cheerfully to their deaths.”
(Trial and Triumph, Hannula, 22)
As we close out the Beatitudes this morning, we are answering that question and explaining their response of willingness and cheerfulness.
As we look at the text this morning, I want us to focus our attention on four aspects of persecution that directly linked to our being willing to suffer and be cheerful in suffering.
The first aspect of persecution that I want us to focus in on is the variety of persecution.
Second, I want us to focus in on the validity of persecution.
The third aspect we need to place our attention on is the value of persecution.
Finally, the verification of persecution.
The Variety of Persecution
The Validity of Persecution
The Value of Persecution
The Verification of Persecution
The Variety of Persecution
If we are wanting to be able to face persecution willingly and cheerfully, then we first need to focus on the fact that persecution comes in a variety of ways.
Notice the four categories that Jesus gave when it comes to persecution.
There is first a hatred.
This word for hatred is miseo (mih SEH oh).
If you’ve ever heard the word misogyny—a hatred of women—then you may get the idea of this kind of hatred.
It’s a deeply ingrained hatred.
One that tends to be prejudicial; it’s often illogical, but not always.
In Revelation, Jesus stated that the church hated the works of the Nicolaitans, and he also hates them.
But in this case, we see that there is a hatred that people will have toward those who are disciples of Jesus.
That’s the first persecution.
But it usually will manifest itself in the other forms of persecution.
Such as an exclusion of the believer.
This word could also be translated as excommunicate.
In other words, it is to separate from the believer.
Earlier, I spoke about how the people of Lyons would not allow the Christians inside their businesses.
Families would often throw them out onto the streets.
Which Jesus actually warned about:
We talked about this story in Sunday School, but in John 9 Jesus healed a man who was born blind.
This infuriated the Pharisees because it was done on the Sabbath Day.
They demanded answers, and so they questioned him, then his parents.
But his parents didn’t want to say too much.
So they questioned the man again.
And after repeatedly telling them what happened, their response is recorded in
These are different words that what Luke recorded here, but the idea is the same.
Jesus said that this would certainly be one of the variety of ways that disciples would be persecuted.
Another way is revilement.
In other words, they will insult you.
They will insult your intelligence, insult your beliefs, insult your lifestyle.
They will insult your God.
They will insult how you have reared your children and how you dress.
You may have heard of the term, “New Atheism,” It used to be that atheists would stay silent or only share their views in private.
But New Atheism is much more outspoken and militant and proselytizing.
New Atheism seeks to shame and mock and insult those who believe in the supernatural.
It’s not just Christians that they do this to, but Christians are often their targets because Christianity is all about evangelism and missions.
Abraham Piper, John Piper’s son, is this way.
If you’ve ever read any of his posts or seen his TikTok videos, you will find him maligning, insulting, and shaming those of faith.
Then, finally, we see a fourth type of persecution.
The spurning of the name.
Literally, Luke wrote that the name is thrown out as evil.
In essence, we’re slandered.
Because we abide in Christ and his teachings, we are called evil.
Homophobes, transphobes, misogynists, and the list goes on.
Jesus spoke of other ways that persecution can come as well, later on.
Of course, there is the ultimate persecution of death.
But what is the point?
The point is that there are many ways that people can and will come against us as Christians.
There isn’t just one way.
Nor is there a sense in which we are to compare our persecution with another’s persecution.
It’s tempting to do that—to compare our suffering with someone else’s.
Yes, people are being mean to me, but I’m not being buried alive like those in North Korea.
They call me a homophobe, but that’s nothing compared to being sent to reeducation camps like those in China.
Are there degrees of persecution?
Certainly.
But it is God who determines what type of suffering and what type of persecution we receive.
It is not good for us to compare our persecution to our brother or sister’s somewhere else.
We can look to them as shining examples of faith and courage, and perhaps gain courage ourselves, but to pretend like what we suffer is not persecution does not lead to facing it willingly or cheerfully.
The Validity of Persecution
So the first aspect of persecution that we need to focus on is the variety of persecution.
Not everyone will be persecuted in the same way, but every believer will face it.
The second aspect that we need to focus on is the validity of persecution.
There is valid persecution and invalid persecution.
Notice in the verse what makes persecution valid.
Our persecution is only valid when it is on account of the Son of Man.
In other words, the hatred that people have toward us, the exclusions and insults and name-calling, are only valid if it’s because of our stance with Christ.
I know it is shocking to believe, but Christians can be jerks at times.
Let me give you some low-hanging fruit as an example.
There is one specific “Baptist” Church.
This group of people call themselves a church but spew all manner of hatred and pride and all-around jerkery.
They exist to antagonize any and everyone.
They protest everything they can see, from military funerals to our own Southern Baptist Conventions.
And people, not surprisingly, hate them.
They call them names.
They mock them and no one wants them around.
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