Beatitudes

Matthew 5:10-12

a. Blessed are the persecuted (5:10-11)

b. Rejoice in your reward (5:12)

1. INTRODUCTION

2. BODY

a. Blessed are the persecuted (5:10-11)

i. Jesus starts verse 10 by telling us another category of people who are blessed. In verse 10, Jesus writes blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness. This is different than verse 6 because verse 6 speaks of those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, meaning, they are wanting to see justice executed. These people are wanting to see those who are just receive what they deserve.

ii. Here in verse 10, it speaks of something totally different. These people are blessed for being persecuted for being righteous. Verse 11 extends this idea that you are blessed when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.

iii. When we take what Jesus is saying here, Jesus tells His listeners and He is also telling us that when we choose to live like Jesus, when we choose to follow Him, the world will persecute us because we choose to follow Him.

iv. What Jesus is making clear here is that when you are different than the world, when you choose not to follow in the path of the world, they will persecute you, they will falsely say evil things about you and insult you.

v. We can see that peace making is the result here for their persecution. Following Jesus’s message in verse 9, because we are seeking to reconcile, to seek peace, they are facing persecution. So what does this look like? It’s the idea here that when we get into a fight, we choose to reconcile with them, rather than continuing to fight with them.

vi. What Jesus is teaching is instead of responding to this situation how the world would respond, you are to be different. You are to seek righteousness, not self righteousness. So what does Jesus mean by telling us that we are blessed for being persecuted for righteousness?

vii. One of the lessons I have learned in life is that if you are different, people will insult you and make fun of you. I think one of those areas of life is in the way we forgive. John MacArthur said, that the closest we can be like God is when we forgive. I agree with that statement but this is an extremely difficult thing to do. What do I mean by this?

viii. I think we can all agree that forgiveness is what separates the world and Christianity. The world knows nothing about forgiveness but instead of forgiveness, we must do what other people deserve. The world’s philosophy is that we should enact to people what they deserve and if they do something wrong to us, then we should give them what they deserve.

ix. Sometimes Christians are clouded to think like this. We think to ourselves that if someone did something wrong to us, we should get even with them. Because they have wronged us, they have said wrong things about us, the temptation is to defend ourselves or to even go after this person for what they did. But what Jesus is saying here is blessed is the person who doesn’t go after this person. Blessed is the person who is able to rise above the norm.

x. I am asked this question, how much do I have to take? In verse 11, Jesus says blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you falsely. This is difficult to sustain and we come to a place where we think how much more do I have to deal with this? I am trying to be righteous, but this is too much for me. When is this too much? Those are legitimate questions, but Matthew 5:10-11 tells us the answer to these questions. The person who is blessed is the person who seeks to be like Jesus. We must seek to be righteous, we must seek to do what God has told us in His word. We must not respond and retaliate those who persecute us, but rather, we must respond to them by forgiveness and mercy. We must continue to be righteous.

xi. What is difficult about this passage is that, Jesus is not teaching a philosophy. He is not just teaching what righteousness is. Rather, He is teaching what righteousness is by telling how you display righteousness by our actions. Many people think righteousness is something philosophical, but Jesus explains the practical implications of righteousness. Righteousness in Jesus’s words are not simply something that we know, but something that we practice in our own lives.

xii. What is the motivation for seeking this righteousness? We see that Jesus healed people of their sickness, so we could understand that these people would respect Him and love Him for healing them. Similarly for us, we seek righteousness because of His love for us and dying for us on the cross, spilling His blood on our behalf that we might be forgiven of our sins. The healing that we saw in 4:23-25 shows us that we have also been healed. This is why we do what He commands us to do, because of what Jesus says in John 14:15. If you love me, You will keep my commandments.

xiii. The person who keeps His commandments, is ultimately the blessed person. The blessed person is the person who seeks to imitate Jesus not just by knowledge, but by lifestyle.

b. Rejoice in your reward (5:12)

i. So verse 12, Jesus concludes the Beatitudes by calling all believers to rejoice and be glad. Why? How can we rejoice and be glad when we receive persecution for following Jesus? What is the motivation for living this way? We always have to view in mind that all those in Christ are primarily blessed and because of that blessing, there is this requirement. The beatitudes are not simply a calling to do something, but to do this because of our position as children of God. If you are a child of God, these beatitudes call us to live this way.

ii. But why do we live this way? Why and how do we rejoice when we are persecuted? This promise brings to surface our hope. It helps us to inform us of our purpose. But Jesus concludes by saying that you are to rejoice just like the prophets who came before us. The reality is, just as the prophets were persecuted for their righteous life, we woo will also be persecuted. 1 Peter makes this clear as well. 1 Peter 3:14 tells us that even if we are to suffer for righteousness, do not be troubled but to sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts.

iii. This gives us a better glimpse of our motivation. We are to understand that we are serving Christ as Lord, by seeking righteousness, but also, it tells us that our home is not here, but in Heaven. Our motivation is that we are looking to Christ and being with Christ. Our goal is not in this world, but rather, to bring joy to Christ because He is our Lord. Our actions here reveal where our loyalty is, and by rejoicing and being glad, we see that we are following in the path of our Lord.

iv. This is the heart of the matter. Why do we rejoice in the face of persecution? Because we recognize this is my realization of who I am, where I am headed, and what is waiting for me when I get there. This helps us to understand where and what our true hope is found in.

3. CONCLUSION