The Beatitudes; The Persecuted

Introduction

Recap Series

Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

Blessed are those who mourn

Blessed are the Meek

Blessed are those who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness

Blessed are the merciful

Blessed are the Pure in Heart

Blessed are the Peacemakers

Today, The Persecuted

Matthew 5:10-12 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. 11 “You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me. 12 Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Do we expect persecution?

I think that sometimes we run from it…

we constantly pray for people to be safe, and we ourselves run to safety,

when in Jesus’ teachings throughout scripture, we will be persecuted for living for God.

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 4320 Wesley’s Expectation of Persecution

John Wesley was riding along a road one day when it dawned on him that three whole days had passed in which he had suffered no persecution. Not a brick or an egg had been thrown at him for three days.

Alarmed, he stopped his horse, and exclaimed, “Can it be that I have sinned, and am backslidden?”

Slipping from his horse, Wesley went down on his knees and began interceding with God to show him where, if any, there had been a fault.

A rough fellow, on the other side of the hedge, hearing the prayer, looked across and recognized the preacher. “I’ll fix that Methodist preacher,” he said, picking up a brick and tossing it over at him. It missed its mark, and fell harmlessly beside John. Whereupon Wesley leaped to his feet joyfully exclaiming, “Thank God, it’s all right. I still have His presence.”

We live in a safe place… to be a Christian in this world, we live in a very safe place

some might say that it is to safe, and we have become to comfortable

we do not know what it means to suffer persecution as they do in most other parts of the world

my goal is not to make you feel bad and tug on the heart strings for those around the world

I can attempt to make you feel bad

about churches that are raided in china for not preaching communism instead of the gospel,

about muslim converts who die shortly after their decision to follow Christ because their family or their community hear of their conversion

this will do know good if we do not look at our own faith,

would we be found guilty of being a christian that is found worthy to be persecuted

do we know what persecution is to even recognize it, that we might be able to stand against it

Is the reward of standing firm in the face of persecution worth it

Pray

True Faith

Preaching on a false belief

seems to be a theme

Jesus constantly on the Pharisees case about a true faith, not works

I do not want anyone to hear me preach and stand before God saying they did not know

Matthew 5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

Blessed are those persecuted… this does not seem to make sense…

blessed… happy or favored

are we really to believe that we are favored because we are being persecuted

James 1:2-3 Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials. Because you know the testing of your faith builds endurance.

the opposite then would be true… without trials our faith would not grow

we should not run from persecution, there is a blessing in it…

why are they persecuted…

righteousness… one preacher… If you live a righteous life, they will persecute you. Why is that? Well, the word righteous comes from a root word that means “to divide.” If you are righteous, you are going to be different. And, if you’re different, they’re going to persecute you.

another way of saying righteousness is right standing with God

We seek the righteousness, not the persecution

hunger and thirst for righteousness

beggarly hungry and thirsty, that you believe that you will die without the nourishment to come

How we obtain righteousness…

2 Corinthians 5:17; 21 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come… 21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The gospel… that is how we can have righteousness

Righteous means to fulfill the expectations or the requirements in a relationship

God set his requirements and we have all broke them

that is sin

we may do our best, but we still fail…

Jesus lived the perfect life we could not, and took the death we deserve

whoever believes in him...

puts on his righteousness

Why would we be persecuted for this

simple answer, the world hates Jesus

John 15:18-19 “If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you.

This is a part of counting the cost of being a believer

we preachers make it sound so good… so easy to be saved

understand, if you follow Jesus, you will be persecuted

True Persecution

Are we really persecuted in our country…

an illustration in the Presbyterian Survey I saw in a dream that I was in the Celestial City—though when and how I got there I could not tell. I was one of a great multitude which no man could number, from all countries and peoples and times and ages. Somehow I found that the saint who stood next to me had been in Heaven more than 1,860 years. “Who are you?” I said to him. (We both spoke the same language of heavenly Canaan, so that I understood him and he me.) “I,” said he, “was a Roman Christian; I lived in the days of the Apostle Paul, I was one of those who died in Nero’s persecutions. I was covered with pitch and fastened to a stake and set on fire to light up Nero’s gardens.” “How awful!” I exclaimed. “No,” he said, “I was glad to do something for Jesus. He died on the cross for me.” The man on the other side then spoke: “I have been in Heaven only a few hundred years. I came from an island in the South Seas—Erromanga. John Williams, a missionary, came and told me about Jesus, and I too learned to love Him. My fellow-countrymen killed the missionary, and they caught and bound me. I was beaten until I fainted and they thought I was dead, but I revived. Then next day they knocked me on the head, cooked and ate me.” “How terrible!” I said.“No,” he answered, “I was glad to die as a Christian. You see the missionaries had told me that Jesus was scourged and crowned with thorns for me.”Then they both turned to me and said, “What did you suffer for Him? Or did you sell what you had for the money which sent men like John Williams to tell the heathen about Jesus?”And I was speechless. And while they both were looking at me with sorrowful eyes, I awoke, and it was a dream! But I lay on my soft bed awake for hours, thinking of the money I had wasted on my own pleasures; or my extra clothing, and costly car, and many luxuries; and I realized that I did not know what the words of Jesus meant: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me”

Matthew 5:11 “You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me.

I think that we do not understand what persecution is...

What is persecution

personal insults

Laughing or mocking…

mocked Jesus when he told the mourners that the little girl was not dead

when he was on the cross…

beaten after being arrested, “prophesy, who is hitting you!”

putting a purple robe on him and crown of thorns then bowing to him while laughing

Intimidation

intimidation is using power or size in attempt to silence or change behavior

show video of man arrested at abortion clinic

a government can absolutely persecute

I do not think that our government was persecuting Christians with the stay at home orders…

they were general not specific

you speak to some of our local health officials, and you know there heart was to protect people not close down churches

Verbal abuse…

when you are lied about, talked about around the coffeepot because of your faith

What persecution is not

punishment for disobedience

“We are punished by good people for doing wrong, we are persecuted by evil people for doing right.” Adrian Rogers

“It is not the suffering, but the cause.” Matthew Henry

We cannot claim persecution because we are jerks

Westboro Baptist Church - The Equality House

We cannot claim that we are persecuted when we sit in judgment of others

does this mean we do not judge sin to be wrong

no… we must be solid on what we believe and stand on the truths of scripture

their message is God hates you because of your sin… our message is God loves you in spite of your sin and sent his son to die for you

that you can be cleansed from all sin if you repent

Acts 5:41…

they rejoiced that they were counted worthy of being persecuted

why would they do that…

James 1:3 because you know the testing of your faith produces endurance.

Matthew 24:13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

We do not run to persecution, but we do not run from it either!

True Reward

My struggle with reward…

I am not an “everybody gets a trophy guy”

Does this really mean reward...

mithos… reward, wages

meaning it is something you earn

Matthew 5:12 Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Why would we want not want a reward from Jesus

my pride… even if a false pride

Why do we get a reward

this is not something that everyone gets

this is something a believer receives when they live for Christ and are persecuted for it

What is the reward

the kingdom of heaven

it is hearing the words well done as you are ushered in

crowns…

Crown of Righteousness 2 Timothy 4:8

Crown of Life James 1:12

Crown of Glory 1 Peter 5:4

Revelation tells us that we will lay these crowns at the feet of Jesus

We end the beatitudes the way we began…

blessed… the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

when we are beggarly poor in our spirit, live for the Lord, we will be persecuted

but you are blessed and will enter the dwelling place that God has made for you while hearing the words, “Well done, thy good and faithful servant.”