Matthew 5:10-12 - This is the way we suffer

Hurt so good—describes a situation where a painful sensation also gives a sense of pleasure or relief, making you want to endure the discomfort.

I know many of you know this.

You’re Bengal’s fans (Too soon).

We love things that give us that euphoric, eyes-crossing sense of relief.

Sun burn - Aloe

My friendship with David Wolf

Scratching your back

Then there’s those pains that just don’t seem to go away and you can’t quite find relief at all.

We tend to find ourselves trapped in situations where as Christians we know we’re to be joyful, but we’re discouraged and downcast.

We have the greatest news on the planet, but it’s hard for us to get passed a dark situation or pull ourselves out of a funk.

It just seems dark and you wonder where God went and if He has forgotten you.

The beatitudes have shown us the biography of a Christian

All of them have seemed super backwards.

To be blessed you have to be poor in spirit, mourning and meek.

To be blessed you have to be a merciful, peacemaker with a pure heart.

All of these seem backwards to culture and the world.

That’s because it is.

Jesus is going to tell us,

Big Idea: This is the Way…we suffer well

Stand to read

Matthew 5:10–12 ESV

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Leader: This is God’s Word.

Everyone: Thanks be to God.

Persecution is hostility on the basis of faith.

The people who Jesus are talking about here are those who are persecuted for being like Jesus.

The first seven beatitudes describe the character of a true believer.

Those who have been given a new identity in Christ and live separate from the world.

There are religious people who consider themselves persecuted, but not because they resemble Christ.

There are groups who rely heavily on the law when it comes to other people.

They go to events and “preach,” but don’t tell anyone of the death, burial, and resurrection.

Many Christians are persecuted—not because of their Christianity, but for their lack of it.

Real persecution occurs because world hates righteousness.

We know this because the world hated Jesus.

He came to bring light into the world, but He was rejected because the world loved the darkness.

We loved our sin and hated the idea of parting with it.

The world loves those who live in the pride of self-sufficiency: “I can do it myself.”

The world views humility and meekness as weakness.

The world is in rebellion to righteousness.

Jesus was murdered in the most humiliating and graphic way possible to forgive us of our sin and make us new creatures.

John 15:18 ESV

18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

He has given us His life by taking our death.

Now, we get to live in the world as Jesus lived in the world.

Through faith we get to live as lights in the darkness.

When we see the world as Jesus saw the world, the world will see us as it saw Jesus.

Jesus promised that we would be hated because of His name.

Church, what you need to know is

Following Jesus is hard

Cultural Christianity has deluded the gospel down to where we don’t even recognize biblical Christianity anymore.

This type of faith is usually characterized as being for “super Christians.”

There’s no such thing as super Christians.

There are Christians, and there are nonChristians.

There are those who trust in Jesus and hunger/thirst for righteousness

There are those who love their sin, live in the brokenness of the world, and want nothing to do with righteousness.

Those who follow Jesus, we can expect things to be hard.

Paul told 2 Timothy 3:12 “12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,”

If we’re going to follow Jesus, we can expect for things to be hard for us.

This is not new for believers.

The apostle Paul followed Jesus and got beat up everywhere he went.

But he knew the reward of verse 11

Those who follow Jesus, get the kingdom of heaven.

Think of Peter and John in Acts 5:41 “41 Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.”

Suffering is worth it because heaven is at stake.

When we value Jesus over everything in the world, suffering looks so little.

Pastor was being persecuted, beaten, interrogated in Romania.

He writes about how what God him through it was the confidence in God’s sovereignty that the soldiers couldn’t do any more to him than what God would allow them to do.

“One time, I was being interrogated by six men. I told my interrogators, ‘What is happening here is not an encounter between you and me, this is an encounter between my God and me.’

My interrogators looked puzzled.

I told them, ‘My God is teaching me a lesson through you. I don’t know what it is, maybe he wants to teach me several lessons. I only know, sirs, that you will do to me only what God wants you to do, and you will not go one inch further, because you are only and instrument of my God.’

Every day, I saw these men as nothing more than my Father’s instruments.”

This is death-defying reliance on Jesus.

This is the type of faith that takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’.

This is the type of faith that recognizes just what we have been delivered from.

Gospel presentation

At one time in our lives, we loved the darkness.

We deserved to be separated from God for all eternity.

But Jesus came and endured our sin for us.

Jesus paid for our sin when all the wrath of God was poured out on Jesus on the cross.

He gave up His life to cover your sin in His blood.

Then Jesus rose again from the dead, declaring victory over sin and death.

Now, when we trust in Jesus, we take part in His victory!

He won for us!

There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God now!

What can this world do to us? Kill us?

We get Christ!!

If you’re not a Christian, you can have this victorious life in Christ.

You can be saved from your sins and walk in the freedom that Jesus offers.

Trust in Jesus and turn away from everything that keeps you from Him.

Will life be easier? No. It’s not easy now.

But life will be eternal, because you get God.

If you’re a Christian, stop being surprised when it feels like the world is against you—because it is.

We have a real enemy that seeks to steal, kill, and destroy.

Our only hope is to trust in Jesus for salvation and to follow Him, even if it means suffering.

Jesus is worth suffering for.

Church, what you need to know

Following Jesus leads us to joy.

Those who are persecuted know elite joy.

Will it be hard, yes. But there is so much joy to be had because we get Jesus.

Jesus gives us this command to “rejoice”

Matthew 5:12 ESV

12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

If you are persecuted, you’re in good company.

Those who have gone before us have underwent persecution and spilled blood for the sake of righteousness.

The prophets in the Old Testament, the disciples in the New.

Church history, Christians have suffered for the sake of the gospel because the sufferings in this world can’t be compared to the eternal delight we will have in heaven!

If we are going to follow Jesus, we can expect things to get hard for us, but that shouldn’t lead us to despair.

That Romanian pastor told another story.

“During an earlier interrogation, I had told an officer who was threatening to kill me:

‘Sir, let me tell you how I see this issue. Your supreme weapon is killing; my supreme weapon is dying. Here’s how it works: You know my sermons on tape have spread all over the country. If you kill me, those sermons will be sprinkled with my blood. Everyone will know that I died for my preaching. And everyone who has a tape will pick it up and say, “I’d better listen again to what this man preached, because he really meant it. He sealed it with his life.” So sir, my sermon will speak 10x louder than ever before. I will actually rejoice in this supreme victory if you kill me.’

‘After I had said this, the interrogator sent me home.

Those officers were interrogating another pastor, ‘We know that the other pastor would love to be a martyr, but we are not so foolish to fulfill his wish.’

“I stopped to consider the meaning of that statement. I remembered how for many years I had been afraid of dying. I kept a low profile. I wanted badly to live—I had wasted my life in activity. But now that I had placed my life on the gospel, they were telling me they would not kill me. I could go wherever I wanted in the country and preach whatever I wanted.

As long as I tried to save my life, I was losing it.

Now that I was willing to lose my life, I found it.

His next step was recognizing that Jesus was worth suffering for.

Following Jesus is hard, but this is the way to joy

Take the Next Step

Identify what you’re living for.

Are you seeking the comfortable life in this world?

Are you living for the kingdom?

Does your life reflect these beatitudes?

What is robbing you of joy in Jesus?

How are you going to put Jesus first in your life (whatever the cost)?

Community Group Questions:

Matthew 5:10-12

How is it blessed to suffer for righteousness sake?

Why would anyone want to follow Jesus if it means that we might be persecuted?

What is the value of following Jesus?

2 Timothy 3:12 “12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,”

Why is this?

What does persecution look like in America?

What is real persecution?

Following Jesus is hard

What does it mean to follow Jesus?

What makes following Jesus so hard?

Tell of a time you felt like following Jesus was hard.

Following Jesus leads to joy.

What beatitude do you find to be most difficult in your life?

What in you needs to change?

How does persecution/suffering lead to joy?