The Wisdom of God: Blessing
Notes
Transcript
05/02/21
Dominant Thought: Christ’s followers celebrate when they trade beatings for blessings.
Objectives:
I want my listeners to understand the blessing of persecution.
I want my listeners to rejoice and be glad when persecution comes.
I want my listeners to go to www.icommittopray.com, the website for the Voice of the Martyrs. Read one story of a Christian suffering persecution. Pray for that person for three consecutive days.
“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.
As we begin week 18 of Core 52 on blessing, our action step is to go to www.icommittopray.com, the website for the Voice of the Martyrs. Read one story of a Christian suffering persecution. Pray for that person for three consecutive days. Here is one of the the stories from that website from April 22, 2021.
A Muslim religious leader and professor named Hamed began chatting with Christians on a Christian broadcasting website. He was angry that someone would proclaim Jesus as the way and the truth. That conversation turned into Hamed writing in every day with questions. A week later, Hamed wrote to say that he had given his life to Christ secretly, but that he was afraid of the reaction of his family and workplace. “I felt so much peace after reading the Bible,” he said. “I studied the Bible thoroughly and searched online for more commentaries on it.” Hamed also said the content of what he was teaching his Islam students had changed, and they had noticed. His wife confronted him, and when he revealed he was following Jesus, she threatened to divorce him. “I am now a secret Christian and have to speak to you in private,” he wrote. “The most they can do is kill me, but they can’t take away my love for Jesus!” Pray that Hamed and other secret believers like him will stand firm in their faith and have a positive influence on those around them.
Let’s pray for Hamed. I’ve chosen to read one of the prayers that was posted on their website. The following prayer is from David B (USA): May Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ bless you and protect you as you work to advance God's kingdom. I pray that you feel His love and presence in extra measure, and that you feel the love of all your Christian brothers and sisters praying for you from around the world. Amen.
“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.
The sermon in a sentence would go something like the following: Christ’s followers celebrate when they trade beatings for blessings.
For the next few weeks, we are diving into one of the more popular teachings that Jesus preached that is commonly called the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7. As we look at look at Matthew 5.11-12, these two verses teach us two truths about the blessings from Christ.
First, Blessing comes in unexpected ways (Matthew 5.11). These opening verses in Matthew 5 seem very upside down. Listen to how Jesus teaches His followers: Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, and the persecuted. We generally don’t think it is a good thing to be poor sad or hungry. And yet, Jesus want His followers to know that blessing comes in unexpected ways.
In Matthew 5.11, Jesus list three different ways that His people could experience challenges: insults, persecution, and evil lies.
What causes people to insult Christians and speak evil against them? In his book, Between Two Trees, Shane Wood tells the story of his sister Tracy and an experience she had with her neighbor (pages 44-45). Tracy’s neighbor struggled with substance abuse and addiction.
One day, Tracy stepped out to grab the mail and saw her neighbor coming down off a high, slumping a bit, strung out on the steps of her front porch.
“You okay?” Tracy asked. “You doing all right?” Her neighbor slightly shook her head…Tracy sat down and put her arm around her neighbor and gently asked, “Is there anything I can do for you?”
Tears welled up involuntarily....”I don’t know,” she whispered.
After several moments of silence, Tracy’s neighbor asked, “What makes you so different?” What makes you so different from anyone else I know?”
Without hesitation, Tracy smiled, shrugged a bit, and said, “It’s Jesus.”
Without warning, her neighbor exploded, “Get the ___ of my law! Don’t bring your _____ judgmental religious ____ around me! Get the ____ out of here!”
Quickly, Tracy collected her kids and went back inside afraid. Overwhelmed. Confused.
In Matthew 5.14, Jesus says to his disciples, “You are the light of the world.” Do you remember the last time you were sleeping in a really dark room? You’re exhausted. You’ve pulled the curtains and you are fast asleep. Maybe you’re in the basement or maybe it’s really early. Someone comes in…parent, sibling, spouse? The flip on the light and say, “It’s time to get up.” You are not a morning person. You don’t want to get up. How do you react? You may say something…maybe even unkind. You retreat to the covers. Maybe you throw something.
We should not be surprised as followers of Christ when we take the light of Christ into the darkness that people will flee away and speak against the light, because the light or truth may hurt. "For Tracy’s neighbor, the name of Jesus was that light, and its presence offered, to Tracy’s surprise, not peace but pain” (Between Two Trees, p. 45).
In Matthew 5.11, Jesus list three different ways that His people could experience challenges: insults, persecution, and evil lies. The common thread that ties these three experiences together is the last word of Matthew 5.11, “because of me.” Jesus is warning His followers that if you truly walk in my way, if you truly follow me, then you’re journey may mirror mine.
If you read the end of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus experienced insults, persecution, and lies.
In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
In addition to the insults on the cross, Jesue endured false testimony during His illegal trials at night.
Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree.
Should we be surprised that if we follow Jesus, we may end up where he ended? And yet, one of the prophets of the Old Testament reminds us not to fear those who insult us.
“Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have taken my instruction to heart: Do not fear the reproach of mere mortals or be terrified by their insults.
For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations.”
Second, Celebration comes in unseen ways (Matthew 5.12). Jesus commands His followers to rejoice and be glad when you experience slander, beatings, and evil lies. It is challenging to see the reward or those who have suffered before us, yet Christ still calls us to celebrate.
Here’s how Eugene Peterson paraphrases these verses in The Message.
“Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable.
You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.
Followers of Jesus can rejoice when persecution arrives because of the great reward that is in heaven. Jesus commands His followers to rejoice and be glad. They are similar words, but the second word seems to take the celebration to another level. It is displaying your joy in actions. Eugene Peterson said, “Cheer!” We may jump up and down, give someone a hug or high five. These are upside down responses to painful experiences. Listen to how the apostles responding to suffering for Christ.
The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
Jesus gives the reason for His followers to celebrate when persecution comes. Jesus said, “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.” The reward is not someone that is earned, but a gift. Earlier Jesus describes the gifts or rewards for those who follow His new way of life in Matthew 5.3-10: the kingdom of heaven, comfort, the earth, the hungry are filled, mercy, see God, called children of God. Great is your reward in heaven.
It appears that some of these gifts are given in the present and some in the future. It is both a present reality and a future hope.
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
In the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. If we go back over the past couple of weeks from our Core 52 study, we read from two prophets: Jeremiah and Daniel. Jeremiah’s ministry was met with death threats (Jeremiah 26.11). In Jeremiah 20.2, a priest had Jeremiah beaten and put in stocks overnight. On another time, Jeremiah was beaten, thrown into a dungeon where he remained “a long time” (Jeremiah 37.16). Still another time, Jeremiah was put into a cistern where he sank down into the mud (Jeremiah 38.6). People responded to the preaching of Jeremiah with anger, insults, and persecution.
Then, there’s Daniel. You recall that Daniel spent a night in the lions’ den (Daniel 6). But do you remember what led to his overnight stay with the lions? Daniel faithfully prayed to God three times a day (Daniel 6.10). But what landed him in the lions’ den was that members of the king’s administration passed legislation against the values of praying to God Almighty.
Jeremiah and Daniel are just two examples of what Jesus may have had in mind when He said, “in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Mark Moore summarizes these verses by saying, “happiness comes with having a higher purpose, not possessions or protection” (Core 52, page 124).
Week 18 in Core 52 by Mark Moore
(These daily guides accompany the book, Core 52 by Mark Moore.)
Day 1: Read the essay.
Day 2: Memorize Matthew 5.11-12.
Day 3: Read John 3.1-4.42.
Day 4: Meditate on James 1.2, 12; 4.10; 1 Peter 4.13-14.
Day 5: Go to www.icommittopray.com, the website for the Voice of the Martyrs. Read one story of a Christian suffering persecution. Pray for that person for three consecutive days.
Overachiever Challenge: Memorize James 4.10.
Bonus Read: James Hefley and Marti Hefley, By Their Blood: Christian Martyrs of the Twentieth Century.