Way back near the dawn of time-when I was in 6th grade at Star Hill Elementary School-I entered a speech contest. All 6th graders were invited to compete and it was called, “The Voice of Democracy Contest.” Pretty much all of my classmates entered motivated by the fact that the winner of this contest would receive a blue ribbon and a $5 gift certificate to a local bookstore. That may not sound like much but five dollars went a long way back then! Each contestant was to write and then deliver a ten-fifteen minute speech that dealt with the benefits of living in the good old U.S. of A. And it was a big deal at Star Hill Elementary School because the finalists were to deliver their speeches at a joint assembly of the entire school body.
Like Queen Esther, I made it past the prelims of this contest and was chosen as one of five finalists. So, while wearing my best suit, I delivered the speech I had worked so hard to prepare. It took about 10 minutes and guess what? I won!!!! I came in first place! And even though it was many years ago, I remember two things.
First, I remember the joy of winning. It really felt good to preach-I mean speak-and have people like what I had to say. I proudly pinned the blue ribbon to my lapel, anticipating the congratulations of my classmates as I walked down the halls and I also looked forward to spending that $5 bookstore gift certificate. I figured with that much money I could get twenty or thirty comic books!
But I also remember that my joy was short-lived, because later that day my speech-as good as it was-well, it gave a group of girls an opportunity to make fun of me. I remember having a 6th grade crush on one of these girls so I was especially heartbroken when she and her buddies taunted me and laughed about my speech and me. And it wasn’t that they didn’t like what I had to say. My content was fine. No, they made fun of the way I talked. In their opinion I had an odd accent. As they taunted me with their laughter, they said I sounded like someone from the Deep South. They said I talked like a hick.
Now, their criticism was somewhat justified because my parents were both from the Deep South and their speech is the example I learned to emulate. To a Delawarean, I’m sure I did have somewhat of a southern drawl. But these girls’ words, their verbal jabs, really hurt. And that’s the way it is when you are in 6th grade. We are particularly vulnerable to critical words from our peers during those “wonder years” of life, when we are on the brink of teenage-hood so their words did cut deep. I remember taking my ribbon off and shoving it in my notebook so as to avoid further “persecution” at the hand of my “Yankee” peers.
Let me ask you, have you ever been made to feel like that? Do you have any memories of childhood friends poking fun at you because of your glasses or your braces? Or, let’s move forward a bit in life. As a teen have you ever been ridiculed for acne or because you didn’t have the latest clothing styles or hair styles or due to your lack of athletic prowess? Adults, what about you? Has anyone ever put you down for your job performance or your political affiliation or your non-P.C. stance on some moral issue? How many of you have ever suffered any form of persecution or ridicule in life?
I imagine we all have. And since we all know how bad “persecution” for any reason feels, I think this last beatitude may sound a bit odd because you see, in it Jesus says people who are persecuted are blessed people-fortunate people-“makarios” people. He says the persecuted are to be congratulated!
Take your Bibles and turn with me once again to the Sermon on the Mount, and let’s read His words on this subject. Our text is Matthew 5:10-12. But as we have done in the past, let’s start with verse 1 and get a running start as a way of reviewing all we have learned thus far in our study of this sermon of sermons.
1 – Now when [Jesus] saw the crowds, He went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to Him, 2 – and He began to teach them, saying:
3 – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 – Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 – Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 – Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 – Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.
8 – Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 – Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God.
10 – 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.
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Now before we go any further I want to point out some interesting characteristics of this, the eighth and final beatitude. First, I want you to note that Jesus gives more space to it than He does to any of the others; three very full verses instead of one short phrase. And He also personalizes this beatitude. In all the others our Lord refers to blessed people in the third person but this last one is in the 2nd person. Here in verses 11-12 He says, “blessed are you” instead of “blessed are those”, as if to underscore the fact that persecution was inevitable something we’ll talk about more in a minute.
Another thing-this is the only beatitude that includes a command to “rejoice and be glad!” And it’s also the only one with an explanation. Jesus tells us why we are persecuted and why we should respond with joy and gladness.
One last thing I want you to note is that this is the only beatitude that is repeated. In this last one Jesus uses this word that we’ve spent so much time with these past months. He uses “makarios” or “blessed” two times. It is as if our Lord is saying, “You are doubly blessed when you are persecuted.” Well, as I said, doesn’t that sound odd to you? Have you ever felt singly-much less doubly-blessed by persecution? Have you ever considered your self especially fortunate because you were ridiculed? Did you ever think, “Yippee! Someone insulted me!?” Well, to help us understand this seeming paradox, I want to point out three things.
(1) First, I want you to note that Jesus says persecution in the life of a Christian is a reality.
In other words, Jesus says it’s going to happen. He says, “Blessed are you when-not if-people persecute you.” As I said a moment ago, I think this is one reason he put this in the 2nd person. In my mind Jesus personalized this beatitude as if to say, “Persecution for being a Christian is not something that you will say happened to some impersonal group-some .’them.’ No, it will be something that will happen to you.”
You should remember that in our last message on the beatitudes we learned about the applause that comes from heaven when we strive to make peace in the midst of conflict. And, it may seem out of place that Jesus would move straight from talking about peacemaking to talking about persecution. It might strike you as odd that He would go from harmony to hostility. But you see, not all attempts at reconciliation succeed, and no matter how hard we try to make peace, there are some people who will refuse to live at peace with us. And in this beatitude Jesus refers to these “harmony-hating” people.
In essence our Lord is saying that if you and I follow Him, there are people in this sinful, fallen world who aren’t going to approve of that lifestyle choice; they’re not going to like it. Jesus is telling us that if we live by these beatitudes that we’ve been studying all these months we can expect some people to be upset enough to give us a hard time. Let me put it this way. The reality is if we live according to the first seven Beatitudes, we will automatically experience the “blessing” of the eighth. It’s like an algebraic equation. If you are a person who lives out the truth of verses 3-9 you are also a person who will experience the persecution of verses 10-12.
For example, if you are “poor in spirit,” some will rebuke you and say that you are just being self-righteous. When you “mourn” over sin, others will be made to feel uncomfortable for embracing their own sinful actions and therefore will not want you around. If you are meek, well, the meek usually get run over in this proud, self-centered world of ours. When you break out of the spiritual status quo and “hunger and thirst” for God above all else, some will label you a religious fanatic. You’ll be the brunt of comments like those from Rosie O’Donnell who said this week that radical Christians are just as dangerous as radical Muslims. Be “merciful” these days and there are people will call you gullible. Strive to be “pure in heart” and you will feel the rebuke of a world that thrives on lust-a world that uses sex to sell everything from fresh fruit to automobiles. Work to be a “peacemaker” and get ready for war in this world that so often embraces conflict.
We need to understand that in this last beatitude, one thing Jesus is doing is pointing to the reality of the fact that if you live a Christian life you will endure persecution and hardship. He’s saying there is a cost to be paid for following Him. Living like Jesus makes us stand out-and this world doesn’t like people who stand out. This fallen world attacks non-conformists like the antibodies in our blood stream attack a foreign body like a splinter or a bacterial cell.
In his classic book, The Cost of Discipleship, Deitrich Bonhoeffer referred to this reality as the “extra-ordinariness” of the Christian life. He said,
“With every beatitude the gulf is widened between the disciples and the people, and their call to come forth from the people becomes increasingly manifest.”
Well, Bonhoeffer is right. People don’t like people who “come forth.” They resist people who live counter-culturally. So, the fact is, if you live, really live, the Christian life, some form of persecution is inevitable. It is a reality. It’s going to happen. Persecution is as normal a mark of genuine discipleship as mercy is. And the Sermon on the Mount is not the only time Jesus taught this. Our Lord repeatedly told His followers that they could expect hardship and difficulty.
In his commentary on this text William Barclay writes,
“One of the outstanding qualities of Jesus was His sheer honesty. He never left men in any doubt as to what would happen to them if they chose to follow Him. He was clear that He had come ‘not to make life easy, but to make men great.”
And Barclay is right. In spite of what you may hear people like Joel Olsteen say, Jesus did not teach a prosperity gospel, but rather a persecution gospel. He said it so often and so plainly that I could “barrage” you with Scriptural support. In fact, that’s what I’m about to do. Here’s goes. Listen to these, the words of Jesus:
John 15:20 – “If the world persecuted Me, they will persecute you also.”
Luke 9:23 –“If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”
Luke 14:27 –“Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.”
John 16:33 – “In this world you will have trouble.”
Matthew 24:9 –“You will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death and you will be hated by all nations because of Me.”
And then, in 2 Timothy 3:12, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul sums it all up by saying, “everyone who lives a Godly life will be persecuted.”
So Jesus taught the reality that Christians will be face difficulty simply for being Christians. In fact, He gets very specific here in this beatitude and says, we can expect verbal insults and false accusations, and even intense persecution. And this is exactly what has happened for two thousand years now. Eleven of the first 12 disciples of Jesus died-were martyred for their faith. Only John died an old man-and he did that while in exile for his faith on the isle of Patmos.
History also tells how early Christians were forced to follow the first disciple’s example. Roman emperors like Nero persecuted them- the emperor who blamed the burning of Rome on Jesus’ followers. And then to punish them, he threw them to the lions or hung them on poles and doused them with oil before setting them on fire to illuminate the paths of his gardens.
Now, some people say, “Well, that was then but this is now. Today mankind is more civilized more tolerant. Christians aren’t persecuted as they used to be.” Well, friends I’m sorry to say that is just not true. The fact is our society is more resistant to Christianity than ever. Our culture brags about its tolerance of other faiths but the reality is our culture is tolerant of anything but Christianity. And in countries around the world this intolerance is seen in the suffering of believers who are persecuted more today than every before.
In her book, In the Lion’s Den, author Nina Shea reports that more Christians have been martyred for their faith in this century alone, more than in the previous nineteen centuries of church history combined. And she’s right. According to the World Christian Encyclopedia right now in the age of “tolerance,”
- 2.2 billion people in 79 countries live under significant restrictions of their religious freedom.
- 225 million Christians live in countries where it is a crime to name the name of Christ and assemble to worship Him.
I could share hundreds of stories of individuals in our day and age who endure persecution for their Christian faith, but I came across one this week that really spoke to me. It’s told by a Texas pastor named Jim Denison. When he was in college, he served as a summer missionary in East Malaysia. While there he attended a small church. At one of the church’s worship services, a teenage girl came forward to announce her decision to follow Christ and be baptized. During the service, Denison noticed some worn-out luggage leaning against the wall of the church building. He asked the pastor about it. The pastor pointed to the girl who had just been baptized and told Denison, “Her father said that if she was baptized as a Christian she could never go home again. So she brought her luggage.”
Now, you may or may not have had to pay a price like this for your faith in Christ, but chances are a number of you have been marginalized by friends or co-workers who couldn’t understand why you wouldn’t party with them, or why you didn’t find humor in their crude jokes, or why you chose to attend church instead of playing golf. I know of many believers, some in this church, who have suffered persecution on the job in which they were denied promotions, or salary increases, or even being laid off or fired because they refused to be unethical in some way. And I can guarantee you, that if you take a stand for Christ and your convictions, you will suffer some form of persecution. Some people will think you’re a nut case.
John MacArthur put it this way, “Every faithful believer will have some resistance and ridicule from the world, while others, for God’s own purposes, will endure extreme suffering.”
So one thing Jesus teaches us here is that persecution for our faith is a reality it’s going to happen
(2) But He also tells us the reason we will be persecuted.
And it is important that we understand this because it is possible to suffer “persecution” for the wrong reasons.
Some Christians are ostracized because they are rude and obnoxious.
Some believers are ridiculed because they are as self-righteous and holier-than-thou as the Pharisees were in Jesus’ day.
Some are “persecuted” because their evangelistic methods are crude and disrespectful.
I’m reminded of Joseph Bayly’s imaginary story about Christian witnessing called “The Gospel Blimp.” He tells of believers in an imaginary town conceive the idea of witnessing by means of a blimp which is to fly over the town trailing gospel signs and dropping tracts and leaflets called “bombs.” It is a silly idea and no one is ever converted by it. But for a while at least the town is tolerant. The tolerance of the community changes to hostility, however, when the promoters of the project add sound equipment to the blimp and begin bombarding their neighbors with high volume gospel services broadcast from the air. At this point, according to Bayly’s story, the “persecution” begins.
Well, the point of this satire is that when we shove the gospel down someone’s throat, we can expect to be scorned and I think deserve to be. Jesus never forced someone to follow Him.
And then some disciples have a hard time in life simply because they live in sin-they ignore God’s loving laws and when the painful consequences come they ask,
“Why did God do this to me?” Well, their difficulty, their “persecution,” isn’t God’s fault. It’s theirs. They sinned. They chose to disobey God. Peter talks about this in 1 Peter 4:15 when he says, “If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler.” Any one out there “persecuted” for meddling?
Well, in this final beatitude Jesus is not saying that people who suffer for any of these wrong reasons are blessed. No, the kind of people He promises to bless are people who suffer for righteousness’ sake, people who live out the principles of the beatitudes, people who suffer because they identify themselves with our Lord. Jesus is saying, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the right reason-people who suffer because by God’s grace they are determined to live as I live.”
In his commentary on this text, Warren Weirsbe warns, “We must be careful to distinguish between punishment and persecution. We are punished by good men for doing evil and persecuted by bad men for doing good.”
And Weirsbe is right. The persecution Jesus is talking about here is the persecution that comes as a result of our professing to be followers of Jesus Christ. And if you make that profession, and live out that profession, its going to be tough. We will be persecuted when we live a Godly life in a godless culture. Let me put it this way. The more positive you are, the more negative people are going to hate you.
You know, when I was a little boy my dad broke down one hot summer day and bought us an above ground swimming pool. It wasn’t huge just about three feet deep and round with a diameter of about 30 feet but we loved that pool. And so did the neighbors! I remember being amazed at how many more friends I suddenly had once that pool was installed! Sometimes we’d all stand at the wall of the pool and begin walking as fast as we could in the same direction, and before long we had a very fast current going after “stirring” the pool in this way. We’d get it going real fast and then we’d all pull our knees up to our chests and let the water drag us around and around-kind of like a liquid merry go round. Now, as long as we put up no resistance, things were great. It was fun to be pulled around by the current. But the moment I would stand up and try to go the other way I encountered both the resistance of the moving water and also the resistance of my friends as they bumped into me while they rode along with the flow.
Well the kind of persecution Jesus is talking about here is the persecution that comes when you and I go against the flow of this fallen world of ours. When we stand up and graciously say, “I don’t believe that is right ” when every one else says it is, we are going to face resistance that often comes in the form of persecution and rebuke.
Remember, in John 15:18, 20 Jesus said, “The world hates Me because I testify that what it does is evil. If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first.”
John Piper writes,
“If you cherish chastity, your life will be an attack on people’s love of free sex. If you embrace temperance, your life will be a statement against the love of alcohol. If you pursue self-control, your life will indict excess eating. If you live simply and happily, you will show the folly of luxury. If you walk humbly with God, you will expose the evil of pride. If you are punctual and thorough in your dealings, you will lay open the inferiority of laziness and negligence. If you speak with compassion, you will throw callousness into sharp relief. If you are earnest you will make the flippant look flippant instead of clever. If you are spiritually-minded you will expose the worldly-mindedness of those around you.”
Do you understand what Jesus is saying about righteous living? As long as you go with the flow, you will have no problem. But the moment you go against the flow persecution in one form or another will come.
Let me give some additional examples. If you go with the flow and say that Christianity is but one of many pathways to God, you’ll be applauded. But the moment you say, “You can believe that if you want, but I believe the Bible is absolute truth. I believe it is the sole source of authority in life and it teaches that Jesus Christ is the only way and the only truth and the only life.” Well, when you go against the flow in this way you will be reviled. If you go with the flow and preach a message that God would never pour out His wrath and consign someone to eternal damnation, you’ll be applauded. But the moment you stand up and go the other way, preaching a message about the necessity of repentance and that the gate into the kingdom is narrow, and that Jesus is the only “door ” you’ll be written off as a judgmental bigot. If you stand with Jesus and against sin that is no longer viewed as sin, you will feel the “current” pulling against you!
Back in 2002, when Ron Brown was a University of Nebraska Assistant Football Coach, The Daily Nebraskan reported that he was denied the head-coaching job at Stanford University because of his religious beliefs. Of particular concern was his candid belief that homosexual behavior is a sin. Alan Glenn, Stanford’s assistant athletic director said that Brown’s religion “was definitely something that had to be considered. We’re a very diverse community with a diverse alumni.” Brown says he was shocked at both the decision and the school’s candor. He said, “If I’d been discriminated against for being black, which of course would be wrong, well, they would’ve never told me that but they had no problem telling me I was not hired because of my Christian beliefs.” Brown also said the Stanford rejection wouldn’t silence those beliefs because of his conviction that you should never compromise truth for any job.
Surprisingly, several newspapers applauded the university for its decision, including San Francisco Chronicle columnist Mark Simon, who said that Stanford was right not to hire such an outspoken Christian. Apparently the “tolerance” that insures no one is denied a job because he or she is a homosexual isn’t extended to Christians.
You see Brown, stood up for righteousness sake. He went against the flow. He never said he wouldn’t put a homosexual player on the team. He just said he believed that life style was wrong. He identified himself as a follower of Jesus Christ and he lost a job because of that stance.
Well, let me ask have you ever suffered for going against the flow? Have you ever risked speaking out for what you knew was right? Have you ever identified yourself as a Christ-follower? In fact, how many people even know you are a Christian? If life is easy for you, could it be because you’re just “floating along in the pool current” like everyone else? Could it be due to the fact that you don’t live any different than anyone else? Could it be because no one sees Jesus living in you?
To review-in this final beatitude Jesus tells us about the reality of persecution and the reason for persecution,
(3) but our Lord also tells us what our response to persecution should be.
In verse 12 He says we are to what? “rejoice and be glad!” And in Greek this phrase literally means, “to jump and skip with glee and excitement.” How can Jesus day this? How can He say, “When you are insulted and slandered and even forced to face death because you follow Me, rejoice!?”
Well, the fact is there are several reasons to rejoice in times of persecution.
A. First, the fact that we are being persecuted often shows we are on the right side!
Persecution for righteous living is like a litmus test that shows we are walking down the right path, the narrow path! Think of it this way. If you lived in 1862 and were opposed to slavery and found yourself fighting on the side of the guys in the navy blue uniforms then you know you’re on the right side. Being persecuted in a godless world is like that. It’s like a thermometer. It shows us how much we are being like Jesus.
B. We also rejoice in times of persecution, because our response draws lost people to Jesus.
When we follow Jesus’ example when we respond to persecution in obedience to Scriptural commands like Matthew 5:44 where our Lord says, “Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you ” and Romans 12:17 &19 where it says, “If someone does evil to you, don’t pay him back with evil ” well, when we “lift Jesus up” in this way, it draws people to Him.
In 2005, a Vietnamese pastor known as Silas was told by local authorities that he could expect to see trouble if his church continued to operate without a permit. “Be careful,” one official told him. “Watch out.” This was a threat as much as a warning. In Vietnam, like in many other Communist (and some Islamic) countries, governments commonly deny or delay church permits, then jail Christians for meeting without a permit. Silas shot back: “I don’t have to watch out or be careful; God will care for us.” He went on to thank the official for the harassment and opposition that Vietnamese authorities had meted out, as he felt it had unified the country’s Christians. “Your persecution has made us stronger,” he told the officer. He also told him that he loved him. “You can shut down our churches, jail us, and torture us. It doesn’t matter, because we’ll still love you. We’ll love you, because God loves you and wants to see you come to know Christ’s salvation.” Then he delivered the final, loving blow, asking the official if he didn’t feel badly about mistreating Christians. Silas said he suspected it was tearing the official up inside. The official stalked away. Late one night, he came back. When Silas heard him knock on the door, he assumed he was going to be hauled off to jail. But the official’s manner was more like that of Nicodemus visiting Jesus. He needed to talk. He was depressed. Silas invited him in, and in tears the officer told him how he did, indeed, feel badly about forcibly restraining Christians from worship. Most upsetting, though, was that he feared for his job if he did not beat and otherwise harm Christians. He himself felt mistreated at the office; peers who were lesser officers than he looked down their noses at him, advancing through the ranks by purchasing successively higher positions. The force was rife with such corruption. Silas told him that God had a plan for his life, and that he would care for him and guide him if he would only follow His Son, Jesus. Before the night was over, the official prayed to receive Jesus. The next miracle was that the official advanced to a high position-without bribes. He was promoted high enough to know when church raids were about to take place, so he could tip off Silas. Silas reported, “He would tell us on Saturday that the police were coming on Sunday morning, so they’d come and find nobody there. Then we’d meet for worship in the afternoon.”
I don’t know about you, but stories like that encourage me to stand up for Jesus. If believers around the world can risk their lives to follow our Lord, I have no excuse for not living righteously here in America. The difficulty I face is nothing in comparison.
And, there’s one more reason we can rejoice and be glad in the midst of persecution.
C. We can do so because of the eternal reward that we know awaits us.
Look back at our text. Jesus says, that the kingdom of heaven belongs to people who are persecuted for righteousness. In verse 12 He says that we should rejoice and be glad in tough times, ” because great is your reward in heaven!” In other words, we can respond to persecution with joy because we know it won’t last long and our eternal reward will. And it will more than compensate for our suffering.
As 2nd Corinthians 4:17 says, “ our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all . What is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
History records that in the moment of their martyrdom many believers acknowledged this fact. I mean, what gave Rowland Taylor and Bishop Ridley and John Bradford the impulse to kiss the stakes at which they were burned for their faith? What moved Obadiah Holmes, after 90 lashes turned his back to jelly for Jesus to say to the magistrates, “You have struck me with roses?” Why did Thomas Hardcastle say that his persecution was “a precious season of grace?” On the way to the hangman’s noose, why did Deitrich Bonhoeffer say, “This is the end but for me the beginning of life?” These men said these things because they knew the glories of heaven were near.
So if you are suffering for the right reasons count yourself fortunate, because it means you’re on the right side. Be glad, because God might use your response to lead someone to faith. Rejoice, because when you get to heaven you’ll be glad you did. In fact, you won’t be there five minutes before you say, “Why didn’t I stand up more? Why didn’t I make my life count for more?!”
Friends, the beatitudes are not easy to live-and perhaps that’s our problem. We’ve made the Christian life way too painless. So often we take the broad and painless path. And because we do, we miss out on the blessing of a makarios life.
Let us pray.
Father God,
Forgive us for all the times we have avoided the hardship that comes from striving to life a Godly life in a godless culture. Forgive us for so often going along just to get along. Fill us with the courage necessary to obey You even when it’s unpopular to do so. Help us to live such that we are recognized as Your children. And then, give us the compassion to respond as Jesus did, a compassion that leads us to pray for and forgive our persecutors, a love that draws lost people to You.
And then God, I pray that You will be especially close to our brothers and sisters around the world who are even now experiencing intense persecution. Protect them, encourage them, and most of all use their temporary pain for Your eternal glory. I ask all this in Jesus’ name. AMEN
We are going to stand now and sing about following Jesus wherever He leads. As we sing if you sense Him calling you to make a public decision, walk forward and share it with me.
Benediction:
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts since as members of one body you were called to peace. Let the word Of Christ dwell in you richly and whatever you do in word or in deed Do it all in the name of Christ giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
AMEN