Blessed are the Persecuted

In 2019 there were approximately 329 million people living in the United States. For those of us living in small towns, that number is hard to even comprehend. The thing that I am noticing about our country right now is we have become quite consumed with ourselves. You would think, by listening to the news, that the 329 million people that live in the US are the only people who exist on planet earth. Conversations have revolved around the upcoming election, presidential debates, and political platforms. While we have been analyzing every little thing that the two candidates do in their public and personal life, we have lost sight that there are billions of other people out there who we happen to be sharing this planet with. We’ve lost sight of our neighbors, both near and far. And we’ve lost sight that the family of God which spans the entire length and width of this globe.

Something that took by breath away this week while preparing for this message is that

1. We have over 200 million brothers and sisters in Christ who live in heavily persecuted areas of the world.

This brings us to the last beatitude, “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.”

Persecution is defined as the infliction of suffering, injury, or death on another. And persecution is not a new thing for the people of God. It began in Genesis when Cain murdered Abel because God accepted Abel’s offering and not his. The Bible is filled with accounts of persecution from the Egyptians to the Babylonians. Then, as we turn to the New Testament we find that everything written on these sacred pages are to be read with the backdrop of persecution in mind.

2. Jesus was speaking to real people who were dealing with real persecution.

They were taken advantage of on a regular basis by the Roman government. Jesus came to usher in His Kingdom and establish His rule and reign on earth. This came in stark contrast with the Roman Empire and after Jesus ascended to Heaven, His followers took His teachings seriously and lived by the power of the Holy Spirit as citizens of this new Kingdom. Proclaiming one God and one Kingdom. It didn’t take long for the Empire to take notice of these Christians who had deep convictions and were convinced that there was only One God and all other false gods were demonized. This didn’t sit well with the Roman government so the Christians were targeted, persecuted and oftentimes killed for what they chose to believe and the way they chose to live. When we live this way, we will be persecuted at some point. You see, when we live proclaiming there is only one God, the world takes notice. The world and Satan would have us believe that there are multiple gods, the god of money, the god of sex, the god of power, the god of self, the god of food. And when we stop bowing down to these gods and take our One True God seriously, there will be consequences for our actions. And throughout history we can see that Christians have been persecuted and martyred for this exact thing.

I remember when I was in my early 20’s and I began to understand the persecution that people from around the world face on a daily basis. I was on an airplane reading a book called, “Hearts on Fire.” This book follows the stories of eight women from such nations as Pakistan, India, and China who have participated in underground worship and experienced persecution and hardship as a result of their Christian beliefs. As I read these stories I found myself weeping in the airplane. I wasn’t emotionally prepared to hear what these women went through because of their faith in Jesus. I also experienced another emotion, fear. Could I endure what they endured? Could I profess my faith if my life and the lives of my loved ones were on the line? Was I a true follower of Jesus if I couldn’t honestly answer those questions with a resounding yes?

I’ll be honest, in comparison with these women, I haven’t felt the pain of extreme persecution in my own life. I have had little nudges of it here and there, but I’ve never had to experience life or death situations due to my faith. I even struggled with this message because I felt ill-equipped. Then God reminded me, it is not about me. It is bringing to light the truth that His people are perishing today because of severe persecution.

Persecution according to Americans is having our churches closed for a while to avoid a deadly virus. It’s being asked to not sing during our worship services. It’s the false notion that kids aren’t allowed to pray or take their Bibles to school. After reading about these women and the persecution they endured, my heart was radically changed.

Jesus says, “blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness.” Let’s look at that phrase. He didn’t simply say that those who feel like they’re being persecuted will be blessed, He said that those who are being persecuted as a result of righteous living will ultimately live in the Kingdom of Heaven. Matthew 5 Verse 11 helps us understand what this righteous living looks like. He says that people who are persecuted because of Him will be blessed. So we can put these two verses together and determine that a righteous life is one that looks like Jesus’ life.

As citizens of Heaven we are considered to be Christ’s ambassadors on earth. “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20. He does not ask that we live as His ambassadors without being fully equipped and empowered to do so. We are given the gift of the Holy Spirit, we have His Word as a guide, and we have each other, our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus promised that He would always be with us and that we would have all we need to be His ambassadors, but He never promised it would be easy. “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Jesus calls us to live lives of radical faith, unconditional love, pure motives, and unending grace. He also calls us to live selflessly and with deep convictions.

3. When we live as citizens of heaven in this dark world, there will be a glaringly obvious contrast which often leads to contention.

One of the most famous martyrs of the early church was a young man named Stephen. You can find his story in Acts 6:8-15, He is first described as a “a man full of God’s grace and power, who performed great wonders and signs among the people.” It goes on to say that opposition arose from members of the Synagogue, but they ultimately couldn’t stand up to the wisdom the Spirit had given him as he spoke. These Jewish leaders went on to secretly persuade some men to give false witness and testify against Stephen. This stirred up the people and the elders and teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and accused him of speaking against the holy place and and against the law. They came up with this false accusation because they had heard him say that Jesus will destroy the holy place and change the customs Moses put in place. After this false witness was given, 15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.”

Stephen was described as a man full of God’s grace, power and wisdom. He did many wonders and signs among the people. He was clearly filled with the Holy Spirit and he represented the Kingdom of God in what he said and did. His face shone like an angel, which meant that he reflected God’s glory because he had spent time in His presence seeking Him. Nothing in this description sounds threatening, but the fact that he walked in the power of the Holy Spirit threatened the leaders of his day. They did not possess the same Spirit so they were not empowered to do the same things as Stephen did. And it made them mad. They resented this young man for the way he naturally lived a supernatural life. They envied his righteous life.

And because of the envy and resentment they had towards him, he was falsely accused and persecuted by the Jews. After being asked if the allegations were true, Stephen masterfully paints a beautiful mosaic of the Jewish history, starting with Abraham and finishing with Jesus. At the end of his monologue, he finishes by saying, 51 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him—53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”

He gracefully but boldly called them out. They had started worshiping their traditions and their places of worship while leaving God behind. God’s presence had left the temple years before but they hadn’t noticed. God then released His Spirit upon His followers and Stephen stood as a physical representation of the Kingdom of God and confronted these Jewish leaders out of a desire to see them saved. Yet, instead of desiring the same Spirit Stephen had, they began yelling a screaming and plugging their ears to drown out Stephen’s testimony. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” The leaders quickly took Stephen out and stoned him. While being stoned, he said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.”

4. Being persecuted for living a righteous, Christ-like life results in blessings beyond measure.

Stephen witnessed Jesus rising from his throne to welcome him into eternity. Everywhere else we see Jesus seated next to the throne of God, so the image of Him standing to receive those He calls His own is stunning. Those who are persecuted, even to the point of death, will ultimately inherit the Kingdom of heaven. They are also promised a great reward upon arriving in heaven.

Saul, the one who oversaw and approved the death of Stephen, the one who made it his mission to persecute and destroy the early church. He’s the one who Jesus later confronted on the Road to Damascus and asked the question, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

5. Jesus takes persecution of His beloved personally.

When His people are mocked, mistreated, tortured, and killed, He takes it on Himself. He told His disciples that when they are persecuted, they shouldn’t take it personally because it is not them who are despised, but it is Him. He did not allow Saul to remain the persecutor, He divinely reversed his destiny and made him an apostle who would face harsh persecution himself.

Saul, who became Paul, was the great missionary, the one who had the greatest impact on expanding the Kingdom in his day. And this is what he had to say about persecution while being imprisoned for his faith, he wrote these words to the church in Philippi: Philippians 1:18-24, “Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. 20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.

So my question is, do we live as if Christ were actually living in us? Do we stand unswervingly to the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Do we live in such a way that we are in stark contrast to the world around us? Would people even know we love Jesus by the things we say and do?

We may not face persecution on such an extreme level, but we must remember that our faith and our Bible cost the lives of a multitude of faithful people who went before us. People like:

Stephen, James, Peter, Andrew, Philip, Matthew, Thomas, and many of the early disciples and apostles.

Men like Polycarp, who was a disciple of John and continued making disciples even though he had never met or heard Jesus himself. He was burned at the stake, where the flames wouldn’t consume his body, so he then was stabbed to death. He was perceived as a threat because of his faithfulness to Christ.

There have been so many people who stood up to the rulers of their day and fought for the rights of the church, they were usually killed, but through it all, the church endured.

Then there were men like William Tyndale who translated the Bible from Latin to English so that the common folk of the 1500’s could read it for themselves. This got him strangled and burned at the stake, but it gave us the beloved gift of our Bible’s today. His last words while being strangled were, “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”

Then there are people like Shama and Shehzad:

The village of Kot Radha Kishan in Punjab province of Pakistan saw great violence the night a mob came for Shama and Shehzad. There was a rumor that this Christian couple burned a copy of the Quran. The angry mob came for them even though their Christian witness was without repute. Shama also was pregnant with their fourth child. They were burned alive in the kiln at such a high temperature nothing remained. Their three children are now with relatives and the 10 other Christian families in the village have fled, seeking some retribution against similar accusations.

There are so many stories of people who have suffered for their faith. They’ve been excommunicated from family, they’ve been tortured and executed in some of the most painful and unimaginable ways. All because they chose Jesus.

A common thread is woven in the stories of these martyrs, it is the strong thread of overcoming, even in death. I have yet to read an account where the ones who are persecuted on account of their faith feel like victims. Somehow, they have learned that their identity, which is solely in Christ, is secure and will usher them into heaven when their time comes. And so very often, their last thoughts and words have to do with forgiving those who are persecuting them.

In our nation, we are not as harshly persecuted as our brothers and sisters in places like

1.North Korea

         2. Afghanistan

         3. Somalia

         4. Libya

         5. Pakistan

         6. Eritrea

         7. Sudan

         8. Yemen

         9. Iran

         10. India

These happen to be the top ten worst places for Christians to live at the moment. Those faithful brothers and sisters in Christ who find themselves living in such places face losing their lives on a daily basis. They are tortured, beheaded, and executed simply because they choose to follow Jesus and they live in such a way that goes against the moral fabric of their culture.

So what do we do with this knowledge?

We remember them: Hebrews 13:3, “Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.”

We pray for the persecuted. There are many passages in the Bible calling believers to pray for those who falsely accused, or persecuted for their faith. Paul was never shy in asking for prayer to withstand the persecution he faced.

We pray for those who are persecuting our brothers and sisters. We never know when God will divinely reverse a destiny just like he did with Paul. Who are we to condemn those who are persecuting the beloved of Christ, after all, Jesus wills that none should parish.

When we are persecuted, we respond as Christ responded. 1 Peter 2:20-23, “But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. 21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” 23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”

We do not take for granted the freedoms we have, instead we live as Spirit filled believers who stand boldly in opposition to the ways of this world and to our ultimate enemy, Satan himself.

The question is not if we will be persecuted, but when we will be persecuted. We must always be ready for such occasions. And we must never fear because we know where we are going, and it is so much more glorious than where we are now. May we live out these words: to live is Christ, to die is gain.

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