Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro;

With this message today, we will reach the conclusion of our focus on the culture of the Kingdom and what incredible revelation God has brought during this time.

I know preachers have a tendency to exaggerate but I truly believe this series has been one that has laid a foundation as to what God expects of us as His children.

Just in the last few weeks we have seen that purity in heart brings to us a fresh revelation of Jesus Christ.

This revelation in turn leads to the desire for peace and the determination to live at peace which ultimately leads to a recognition by others of us as children of God!

With that recognition, unfortunately, there are times when conviction will strike the hearts of those that are far from God and this will ultimately result in some form of persecution leveled against those who are pure in heart and are openly known to be a child of God.

I acknowledge that living in the United States of America, it is difficult to understand the persecution and the pain that these first century Christians endured so understand this;

The penalties which a Christian had to suffer were terrible beyond description.

All the world knows of the Christians who were flung to the lions or burned at the stake; but these were kindly deaths.

Nero wrapped the Christians in pitch and set them alight, and used them as living torches to light his gardens.

He sewed them in the skins of wild animals and set his hunting dogs upon them to tear them to death.

They were tortured on the rack; they were scraped with pincers; molten lead was poured hissing upon them; red hot brass plates were affixed to the tenderest parts of their bodies; eyes were torn out; parts of their bodies were cut off and roasted before their eyes; their hands and feet were burned while cold water was poured over them to lengthen the agony.

These things are not pleasant to think about, but these are the things a man had to be prepared for, if he took his stand with Christ.

We may well ask why the Romans persecuted the Christians.

It seems an extraordinary thing that anyone living a Christian life should seem a fit victim for persecution and death.

There were two reasons.

(i) There were certain slanders which were spread abroad about the Christians, slanders for which the Jews were in no small measure responsible.

(a) The Christians were accused of cannibalism.

The words of the Last Supper--"This is my body."

"This cup is the New Testament in my blood"--were taken and twisted into a story that the Christians sacrificed a child and ate the flesh.

(b) The Christians were accused of immoral practices, and their meetings were said to be orgies of lust.

The Christian weekly meeting was called the Agape, the Love Feast; and the name was grossly misinterpreted.

Christians greeted each other with the kiss of peace; and the kiss of peace became a ground on which to build the slanderous accusations.

(c) The Christians were accused of being incendiaries.

It is true that they spoke of the coming end of the world, and they clothed their message in the apocalyptic pictures of the end of the world in flames.

Their slanderers took these words and twisted them into threats of political and revolutionary incendiarism.

(d) The Christians were accused of tampering with family relationships.

Christianity did in fact split families as we have seen; and so Christianity was represented as something which divided man and wife, and disrupted the home.

There were slanders enough waiting to be invented by malicious-minded men.

This was the context in which the early Christians would have read these words of Jesus - “Blessed are the persecuted...”

One might think that persecution is an ancient issue but according to the Lifeway Research group 1 in 7 Global Christians faced persecution in 2021 with 16 believers being killed every day totaling nearly 6,000 worldwide martyrs in 2021.

I want you to notice one very important distinction in this research and the reason for the persecution - FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST!

The Cause

We are so incredibly spoiled with so many rights in this country, we have a twisted perspective of what persecution really is and often incorrectly misdiagnose disagreement for persecution.

The blessing is not in the persecution itself but rather in the reason we are being persecuted

While much of the persecution we face will not be physical, we will have to endure many insults and be greatly misunderstood by the world!

The first century Christians even dealt with this in a couple of different ways;

When they would partake of communion, the world would accuse them of cannibalism - “This is my body...”

They were all accused of immoral practices as their weekly gathering was called the Agape (The Love Feast)

There are many ways the Church/Believer are still misunderstood to this day;

When standing for the Biblical definition of marriage - we are labeled haters, narrow-minded, and bigots

When standing for the sanctity of life - we are accused of having antiquated views that are out of touch with reality

There are many ways we are often accused of the very things those that are far from God are actually guilty of!

May we never be rightly accused of and found guilty of anything other than living in righteousness, the preaching of holiness, and proclaiming Jesus as THE way, THE truth, and THE life!

Do it in love!

The Command

“Rejoice and be glad...”

Anyone can rejoice in good times - Can you rejoice in the hard times?

Can you rejoice in the midst of false accusations?

Can you rejoice in the midst of the trial?

Why rejoice?

My hope is not dependent on my circumstances

The JOY of the LORD is my strength - I have to choose to have the joy of the LORD or I might not make it through!

I understand the sufferings of this life are but for a moment, I will enjoy the pleasure of the presence of the LORD for ETERNITY!

Eternity in heaven is the ULTIMATE reward!

The Communion

The blessing in persecution is in the fact that in it we are identified with great men and women of God that have gone on before us and ULTIMATELY it identifies us with Christ!

Understand this - Communion was more than a religious ritual - NO, it was one of the ways by which they distinguished themselves as believers!

This was such a vital part of their lives as believers, Paul provided instruction and clarification for them in 1 Cor 11

With that being said - today we are going to partake in holy communion;

To remember the sacrifice Jesus made upon the Cross and give thanks (1 Corinthians 11:23-26)

To examine ourselves (1 Corinthians 11:27-29)

To identify ourselves once more as believers!

(2 Peter 1:4)