Blessed when insulted
Notes
Transcript
Blessed are you when people insult you
Blessed are you when people insult you
Matthew 5:11:12
Matthew 5:11–12 (NIV84) “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.”
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
PRAYER
We see a systematic progression in this passage starting with insults. Which makes sense because in order to persecute someone you they have to first degrade them in other people’s eyes. Then to justify the persecution to themselves and others they have to make that person into someone less than human and even evil, thus the need to slander them with false accusations and evil words. We’ve seen it throughout history, for example in the 20th century; with the Nazi and the Jews, Mao and the culture revelation against the intellects such as doctors, lawyers, teachers, professors etc. and the list goes on. We’re seeing the beginnings of it today against conservatives and the cancel culture.
When you think of persecution what comes to mind? Jail, confiscation of property, not being allowed to buy or sell or own a business, fingernails being pulled out, tongue cut out, being burned at the stake like Fox’s book of Martyrs tells about, or even the cross like still happens in some parts of the world today.
Let’s be honest, this is a hard saying of Jesus. I don’t think anyone starts out being a follower of Christ saying hot dog I get to be persecuted. It’s important to remember that this doesn’t apply when we’re being stupid or making a fool of ourselves. I’m reminded of being on OSU campus and there was this man on the Oval who thought he was a preacher. He was calling the crowd whore mongrels and other inflammatory names and telling them they were going to hell. It they’d had stones handy I think they would have stoned him. That’s just being stupid and isn’t what Jesus is talking about.
We are told in verse
Matthew 5:12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Jesus uses what today we call a carrot and stick approach with the promise we will receive a great reward in heaven.
Matthew 10:38–39 “anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Jesus is making the point that if we are willing to die for him we are going to live with him forever in heaven plus we will receive a great reward. I personally like the idea of a great reward, but I’m not so excited about the persecution part.
1 Peter 4:13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.”
But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
I remember several years ago doing a street outreach at Halloween in Athens, Ohio. This college student came up to me and just started ripping me for trying to ruin their party. When he stopped for a second I said, thanking you, thank you, thank you and praising the Lord with my hands held high. He was shocked at my response and said, “Why are you thanking me?” I told him because the Bible tells us that when people ridicule us because of Jesus we receive a reward in heaven for it. You just got me a reward in heaven from Jesus, so thank you. He just shook his head and walked away.
All we have to do is watch the news for a short time and we can begin to see that our world today celebrates pride, arrogance, self-gratification, sexual sins of all kinds including by executive order allowing boys to use girl’s bathrooms and to participate in girls’ sports.
Jesus didn’t call his followers to be friends of the world and the world isn’t a friend to us. I don’t claim to be a prophet or the son of a prophet, but I believe that the signs of the times tell us persecution is coming to the believing church in America, at least for the next four years or more. Scripture tells us to expect it because our righteousness convicts the sinner of their sin.
Jesus had the same problem when he told people things they didn’t want to hear.
Luke 4:28–29 “All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff.”
All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff.
I remember being engaged in conversation with a lady who was working on our house. She had all the intellectual arguments down pat until I asked her how she gets rid of her sin, because she can’t get into heaven with sin. I told her someone has to pay for her sin. She could pay for it herself for all eternity in hell or she can let someone who never sinned pay for it by their death and give you their righteousness in exchange for your sin. She changed the subject not wanting to talk about sin.
I freely admit there are times recently when I, like James and John in Luke 9:54, want to call down fire from heaven on some of our politicians. Especially when I see executive orders being signed requiring our tax money to pay for abortions, not only in this country, but around the world. However that isn’t the Lord’s heart. His heart is for us to reconcile sinners to Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:18 “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:”
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
We are called to love the sinner without affirming the sin.
We here in the United States have been given a long season of grace where we haven’t had to go through persecution, but that isn’t the norm. I personally believe that we have escaped persecution because this nation was founded on Biblical principles and the Godly people who led us, through the years. However scripture tells us persecution is a part of the Christian life.
2 Timothy 3:12–13 (NIV84) “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
In other words don’t be deceived by people who say they are Christian and even go to church every Sunday but are impostors and supporting so many unbiblical things. Jesus tells us in
Matthew 7:20 “Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”
Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
We are to be fruit inspectors.
I’m praying and believing God for revival, but the signs are pointing to a time of persecution coming to the believing church in America. If so how do we prepare for it?
1. Develop a deep intimacy with the Lord Jesus.
I’ve read several accounts of people who have suffered great persecution and they all had a deep personal relationship with Jesus Christ that they could draw on. Starting with the first martyr Stephen in Acts 7 who saw Jesus as he was being stoned.
2. Teach your children about persecution without scaring them.
I remember hearing the story of Christian children in Iraq who were captured by ISIS and told to renounce Jesus and accept Allah. One-by-one they said no and had their head cut off. Their parents had prepared them for persecution. Children are better able to comprehend and understand things than most adults give them credit for. Talk to them about how Christians are being persecuted in the world today and are faithful to the end. Almost all Jesus disciples were martyrs; pain last only a short time, but hell and heaven are forever.
3. Children need to know that one day the antichrist will require everyone to take the mark of the beast referred to in Rev. 13 and anyone who takes the mark will end up in the lake of fire, no exceptions.
4. Develop a Godly understanding of fear.
Fear is false evidence that appears real. In 1967 I’d been in Vietnam a few months and we’d had a few mortar rounds come into the company area but nothing real serious. Although any mortar will kill you. I was transferred to another company and hadn’t been there long when we had an attack with 122 mm rockets, which is about 5” in diameter in the middle of the night. Everyone in our hooch scrambled into the bunker. After about 30 minutes of that there was a pause and a siren went off. I asked the platoon sergeant what the siren meant and he said we had Vietcong inside the wire and fear gripped me. I had all kinds of thoughts of how I was going to die including the VC throwing a fragmentation grenade into the bunker and killing us when some guy crawled in with a round pointed upside down funnel hat on and squatted just like the Vietnamese. I reached for my M16 and remembered I’d left it in the hooch. So I poked the guy beside me and pointed to the man I thought was VC. The man beside me pointed his M16 at him and said you in the gook hat, you better speak English and identify yourself, or you’re dead!’ The guy raised his head and said, “Who me?” That’s when I realized what fear would do to a person and I praised God I didn’t have a weapon or because of fear I would have killed an American GI. That’s when I prayed for the Lord to free me from fear.
5. Make up your mind before it happens that you are going to follow Jesus.
I have a friend who told me about his daughter getting ready to go on her first date. He sat her down and went through everything that he could think of that could happen on her date and said what are you going to do if he does this? The goal was she wouldn’t be caught off guard and just go along because she didn’t know what else to do. She had already made a decision before hand because she’d thought it through.
6. Finally, know and memorize the Word of God.
Ephesians 6:13 “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
It doesn’t say if the day of evil come it says when it comes. It will come and we need to be ready for it.