Matthew 5:10

Well, good morning, Saylorville! If you brought a copy of Scripture with you this morning, you can find Matthew chapter 5 as we conclude our series, “Blessed” as we have been looking through the Beatitudes. As Jesus starts off his famous Sermon on the Mount with them. We get a brand new series in a couple of weeks, but we conclude with a very odd conclusion to these Beatitudes.

Let me just start by asking you how you’re doing today. Everybody doing okay here? I was waiting to hear someone say that they were blessed, because that’s been the whole thing, “blessed.” You know, congratulations and all the meaning, ‘Oh, how very happy…!’ Every Beatitude starts with “Blessed.” But every Beatitude is counterintuitive, isn’t it? “Blessed are the poor in spirit… Blessed are those who mourn…. Blessed are the meek…. Blessed are the ones who hunger and they thirst for righteousness…. Blessed are the merciful and those who are peace makers… Right? When somebody says they’re blessed, when you ask them, they, we know what they mean. Means life is good. Things going well… marriage is good…. Kids are behaving themselves… making lots of money. But I don’t want you to be a smart aleck like, but I almost feel like the next time somebody says ‘blessed,’ take him right here to Matthew 5 verse 10, which says,

Matthew 5:10, “Blessed are those who are (what?) persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Again, talk about brain twisters here. This is what the late John Stott said about the entirety of the Beatitudes and as he was honing his way to this one.

“The ways of the God of Scripture appear topsy-turvy to men. God exalts the humble and opposes the proud, calls the first last and the last first, ascribes greatness to the servant and sends the rich away empty handed, and declares the meek to be His heirs. The culture of the world and the counter-culture of Christ are at loggerheads with each other. In brief, Jesus congratulates, (remember, if you were with us at the beginning of this series, the word “blessed” carries, it carries the idea of congratulating somebody) Jesus congratulates those whom the world most pities and calls the world’s rejects “blessed.”” John Stott

And so with that we come to our final Beatitude. You’ve already seen it, let’s look at it again. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs… theirs… is the kingdom of heaven.” If you’ll recall, Jesus brackets this theme of the kingdom of heaven at the beginning and the end of these Beatitudes. The first Beatitude had it. This last one has it. It is the theme of Matthew. We come right out of the shoot in chapter three. John the Baptist says, “Repent.” Why? — because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That’s why! And in chapter four, Jesus virtually repeats what his cousin, John, had said earlier. And now Jesus says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’s sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.“

So just briefly in the Beatitude itself, you know, comprised in verse 10, let’s look at God’s blessing which resides and who it resides on. Very quickly, it resides “on those who are persecuted.” Right? That’s what it says. And I’ll elaborate on this a little bit further in a few moments.

Secondly, really, it’s on those who are persecuted “for righteousness’ sake.” Right? That’s the modifier here. Because not everybody is persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Even Christians will claim persecution when they’re not being persecuted at all. In fact, Peter’s epistle was written to those who were suffering, scattered abroad. They were being persecuted, and legitimately so, but some of them not so much. They were sort of taking on the persecution of others and claiming persecution. He had a word for them in chapter 4 where he says,

[1 Peter 4:14 (NLT)] “If you’re insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you’ll be blessed for the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. If you suffer, however, it must not be (watch this… but it can’t be) from murder, stealing, making trouble or prying and other people’s affairs.”

Do you know anybody who does that? Don’t point at any fingers!

Just the other day, in my own life, two self-professed Christians living in clearly disobedient lives, and suffering for their own sins that they’re committing, both proclaimed, almost word verbatim apart from one another to me, “I’m good with God. I don’t need others. I’m good with God.” But let me tell you something. If you’re good with God, you’ll be good with God’s people. And with the authorities that God puts into your life.

And please let me note that Jesus is not saying, ‘Blessed are the obnoxious.’ In the 1950s, an author Joseph Bailey wrote a book of modern Christian parables. It was a popular book and it was called The Gospel Blimp. And in it, he talked about a church that really wanted to reach its community, so they got a blimp to go over the town with Christian evangelism signs going over the town, and it was getting almost no one’s attention other than the fact that that’s a weird blimp above them. So then, they started dropping Gospel bombs, tracts all around the town, Gospel tracts, and people got really annoyed with that! Then, they got a loudspeaker to speak from the blimp, calling people to ‘Repent!’ — Until some townspeople got ahold of the loud speaker system and disabled it! And what did the church do? The church said, “We’re being persecuted!” That is ridiculous! God doesn’t say ‘Blessed are the obnoxious.’ And by the way, God’s children are peacemakers. They’re not troublemakers. And so that’s why he modifies this. “Blessed are the persecuted for righteousness’ sake.”

(We’re going to start a new series in just a few weeks in Hebrews 11, and we’re going to be looking at individuals who were persecuted specifically for righteousness’ sake. But let’s move on.)

This blessing resides with those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, and on those who are persecuted proving they are sons of the kingdom of heaven. So this reminds us what we said at the very beginning. The Beatitudes, all of these Beatitudes are describing the lifestyle of those who are, or belong to, the kingdom of heaven, and I don’t assume you all belong to the kingdom of heaven, but if you do, this is what you should pursue.

But now, we’re talking about persecution, and I’m just going to be very candid with you. I struggle with this one! Living in this posh, cushy culture that we live in, listening to the whinings of Christians who claim to be persecuted, and they’re not being persecuted at all! I struggle with this one.

In 1998, I candidated to become the lead guy here, and they put me through the grind, and one of them was just an intense Q&A time, where I was asked what my philosophy of ministry was and I gave it to them then. It’s the same one that I have today, and it’s an obscure text, but it’s Romans 15:18, which says,

Romans 15:18, “I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, both in word and in deed.“

Have you ever read that?

It was D.L. Moody who said, “The great sin of his generation was men who were trafficking in un-lived truth.”

And I was 40 years old then, and there’s a lot of un-lived truth. I was articulating, but not necessarily living, because I couldn’t. I’d had some experiences. I’d suffered in some regard, but now, 26 years later, I’ve piled up a few experiences. Okay? But I haven’t experienced all of them. I’ve seen hundreds of people come to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, and I’ve seen dozens of people reject Him. I have watched people repent. I’ve watched them rebel. I’ve watched them get sick. I’ve watched them die. I’ve watched individual’s respond beautifully, graciously, and Godly under incredibly difficult circumstances, and they have inspired me just as I have seen others who name the name of Jesus who completely capitulate under fire. And personally, God has seen fit in my life in His kindness to always keep me limping in some way. And I believe that the reason is that He’s kept me from certain things. Remember Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12, he said,

2 Corinthians. 12:7, “So as to keep me from pride,” (he says this twice) “a messenger of Satan buffeted me (Remember that? Twice he says…) “to keep me from pride.”

And that’s the context of,

2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in your weakness. And I’ll glory, therefore, in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Right? And so I’ve always felt that whatever limping God puts in my life, He’s always seen fit to put some because He’s keeping me from some evil. And I thank Him for that. But persecution… This is a hard one for me. Whenever I read of or see today, or listen to the Voice of the Martyrs, (which I think everybody should have that magazine and listen to that podcast) I feel a tinge of guilt I’ll be honest. I mean, all of the Apostles were persecuted. 11 of the 12 were martyred, and millions more ever since then.

Just a couple of days before World War II would end and Germany would surrender, the man who would become a martyr was in prison, still praying for his persecutors and Dietrich Bonhoeffer would die. He said,

“Suffering is the badge of true discipleship.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

In the Lord’s Prayer, which many of you probably know by heart, it’s in the very next chapter. And you’re probably familiar with one part of it where Jesus says, [Matthew 6:9,12] ‘When you pray, pray, like this… forgive us our sins, (what?) as we forgive those who sin against us.’

Right? — or trespasses, however it’s translated. It’s Spurgeon called that the awful petition, because when you pray that and you mean it, you’re literally telling God, ‘God, forgive me in the exact same way I forgive somebody else,’ and I tell that to you because it’s the only aspect of the Lord’s prayer that Jesus doubles down on. It’s the only aspect of the Lord’s prayer where He picks it up. You can look at it in chapter 6, verse 15. Look at it real quick so you can see what Jesus says there. He says, verse 14,

Matthew 6:14, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.“

That’s the only one, that’s the only aspect of the Lord’s Prayer which He doubles down on and expands. Why do I tell you that? — because in the Beatitudes, this Beatitude, the Beatitude in Matthew 5:10, “Blessed are the persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

This is the only Beatitude that Jesus expands on. And I don’t know about you, but I’m really glad He does. Not that it takes all my guilt away, but it does inform me. It informs our understanding that there are variations of persecutions, and it especially helps us who live in the land of the free. So where is that? Well, look at the very end right after the Beatitude in verse 11. Here’s his expansion.

Matthew 5:11, “Blessed are you when others revile you, and persecute you (that’s the same word as the one back before. We’ll come back to) and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.”

We’ll just stop there. So there’s the expansion. He lays out three forms of persecution. And you see him right there in the text. Blessed are you when they revile you. This is a powerful word. The word “revile”, the Greek word, literally means “to show the teeth.” Have you ever had anybody show their teeth at you? I have! —and it wasn’t their breath I was afraid of! When somebody shows their teeth, they are angry at you! They are mad at you! They are responding aggressively towards you! The word means “to insult.” It means “to mock.” I can relate to this! I was insulted just the other day, in print no less. Then he says, “Persecute you.” There’s the word that we are more familiar with when it comes to suffering, and I should say, the meaning of this word is what we usually go to in our minds. This is a strong word! It literally means “to hunt someone down.” It means “to aggressively go after them.” It’s not the only form of persecution, but it is the form that more often than not comes to our minds. Right? We think of those who are persecuted, and there are hundreds of thousands of Christians in the world today, not where you live, that are being persecuted like this, and giving their lives, they live under threat constantly. Someone has said,

“Sometimes the only way to silence our Savior is to silence his servants.” Unnamed

Tertullian, one of the early church’s fathers more famously said, “The blood of the saints is the seed of the church.”

Similarly, Martin Mosesbach, who wrote a book called “21“. “The book is a powerful depiction of the lives of 21 Coptic Christians who were kidnapped from Egypt, taken to Libya along the shores of the Mediterranean, all who loved Jesus and were beheaded right there on the shore. Mosesbach said this,

“Martyrdom is the secret of the success of the church.” Martin Mosesbach

What ISIS that day did not squelch Christendom, not even in the least. But I’ll come back to this.

Revile, persecute, and then “Blessed are you, when they utter all kinds of evil against you falsely.” That’s there in the text in verse 11. I can’t count the number of times I’ve experienced what David said.

Psalm 56:5, “Every day they distort my words.”

This is when people take your words out of context, when they speak evil against you, when they make up things, when they manufacture stuff that isn’t true about you. Have you ever had that happen to you? That’s a form of persecution. That’s why again Stott wrote,

“Persecution is simply the clash between two irreconcilable value systems.” Stott

And that’s a true statement right there. That’s why we shouldn’t expect anything less than resistance. When our worldview, those of us who know Jesus, clashes with theirs, because it always will clash. It’s why Jesus said in Luke 6,

Luke 6:26, “Woe unto you when all men speak well of you…”

Have you ever read that? — or when the apostle Paul said in

2 Timothy 3:12, “Yes, all (he’s all inclusive… ALL) who live godly in Christ Jesus (watch this) will suffer persecution.”

So that’s a given. I don’t know if you’re getting any form of persecution or not, because some of you remember the message last week. Blessed are the peace makers, not peace lovers, and it’s not that there’s anything against loving peace. We all want world peace, right? Every Miss America pageant said that since it ever began! (congregation laughing) But the peace makers are the ones who end up getting into the rub, experiencing friction and, at times, of persecution. All of these Beatitudes weave together.

So what do you do when you’re persecuted in any one of these forms? …The  . It’s very counterintuitive when Jesus says,

[Matthew 5:12] “Rejoice and be glad.”

Yeah, that’s what I do! That’s what He told us to do! In fact, just the other day, somebody very dear to me was genuinely persecuted for their love for God, their faith and their righteous living, and they were attacked viciously in print. And I sent to this individual a word of encouragement and then I added these words. “Rejoice and be glad.” And I said to this person, “I know you don’t feel like it, but this is the command of your Savior.”

The families of the 21 in the picture I showed you earlier… listen to this… when they were, (this is in 2015 when that happened. And I know that this means some of you parents are gonna have to go home and do some [explaining.] I don’t care, you need to do that!) The families of the 21 who were interviewed after their husbands, their fathers and their friends were killed for their faith. Get ahold of this! (And I listened to these testimonies.) Not one of them complained about ISIS, the brutality or the beheading. Every one of them rejoiced. They rejoiced! They rejoiced in the reward that their fathers and their husbands and their friends received! They rejoiced that they had a calm faith. They rejoiced that they didn’t wiggle and squirm and complain or deny the name of Jesus. Not a one of them!

And just the other day in our own community group when these tornadoes went through our area here just last week, and a number of lives were taken. There was discussion as to whether or not some of them might have been Christians, and we don’t know if they were or they weren’t. But somebody in our community group said, And I quote,

“For the Christian, the worst thing would be the best thing!”           Undisclosed

And they were right! But we don’t think like that. True followers of Jesus know this irony, that the worst becomes the best when somebody dies. We that know Jesus, we don’t mourn for them, or we shouldn’t. We mourn for ourselves! We mourn for the surviving families. Right? —not for the one who gets their reward!

And so Jesus said when you are persecuted for righteousness sake, not only are you given the designation that you are part of the kingdom of heaven, but you in the process, in the here and now, in this life, should rejoice… and be glad! Rejoicing is something you will do regardless. Being glad, I mean, that literally carries an attitude behind it! You don’t, ‘Well, I’m rejoicing in spite of everything that’s happened.’ That’s not what He’s saying! Rejoice and be glad… We do have examples of this… here’s just one, after the disciples are persecuted and they are beaten for their faith, in Acts chapter 5 verse 41 it says,

Acts 5:41, “and they left the presence of the council (that’s after being beaten… what? Doing what? say it) rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor, for the name of Jesus.”

What is it anyway that draws us to the heroes of the faith? What draws us to them? What inspires us? Is it their brilliance? Is it their giftedness? Is it their boldness? Yes, boldness inspires us! — but more often than not, it’s how they suffer and how they suffered well. Isn’t it? This is why the writer of Revelation said that in the midst of the horrible days still to come we’re told that the people of God will overcome Satan,

Romans 12:11, “…by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they will not love their lives to the death.”

In other words, they don’t care if they have to die, because they have a great reward! That’s why. And so those 21 Christians that died along the shores of Libya, they were not well-known men. They were, by and large, uneducated, simple farmers who literally loved Jesus to the death. So why rejoice? Why rejoice? I mean, the command here is to rejoice and be glad. Thank you. “Tell us why.” And He does! Thank you very much! Verse 12,

Matthew 5:12, “Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.“

So you rejoice for two reasons, right there, in part because your reward is great in heaven. There are a couple of ways to say “great” in the Greek New Testament. One is the word “megaloice.” You hear the word “mega.” That means “big,” “great,” “wow!” That’s not the word here. This is a different word. I only bring it up because it means, this word, “great” means “much in number.” So rejoice for your reward is much in number in heaven. That’s what Jesus is saying. The Greek scholar Lenski said,

“They knew, as we should, that wounds and hurts are metals of honor.” Lenski

And by the way, may I just say that it’s not wrong for those of us who know Jesus, it’s not wrong to be motivated about the rewards that are forthcoming in heaven. I don’t get this pseudo-spirituality, who says, ‘Oh, our only reward is Jesus.’ What is that all about? Of course He’s our reward! Of course, He’s the ultimate reward, but He Himself tells us repeatedly, and I would just say to you, if future rewards were not intended to be a motivation for living for Jesus on earth, then why are they presented as such in Scripture, because they are? He has much to give us! He is a good God. Amen? — Who wants to be gracious in this life, and how much more in the next?

Well, the other reason to rejoice that Jesus gives us is the company we join when we are persecuted. There it is again at the end.

Matthew 5:12b, “…for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you,” including the greatest prophet of all, the Lord Jesus, who said in John 15:18, ‘If they hate you, hey, they hated Me first, okay? So get over it!’ You’re joining the greatest prophet of them all. So just as peacemaking is messy business that we talked about last week, so persecution for righteousness’ sake is messy business, because it’s God’s people who are getting messed up in the process.

So how does suffering righteously look like? Right now, in our own little posh cookie, cushie, cookie… (I don’t know why I said that) generation, suffering righteously will occur when believers (real simple) live righteously. “Well, duh!” You’re not gonna get saved by living righteously, but you will be an ongoing declaration that you are a follower of Jesus. Jesus said,

John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep My commandments.”

And just as obedience is the validation of our devotion to Jesus, so persecution in its various forms is the validation of our commitment level to Him. This is why the apostle Paul said to the Phiippians… Remember, he’s in prison! He’s chained to a Roman soldier and he says, ‘No worries!’ He says ‘The Roman Praetorian Guard is coming to know Jesus because of me.’ Wow!… I mean, he’s in a prison! He’s not, [indistinguishable] in the midst of it, he says,

Philippians 1:20 “According to my earnest expectation in hope that in nothing will I be ashamed, that with all boldness, as always, so even now, Christ may be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.” (And then his famous line that some of you know by heart.)

21 “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

We like to go to that “die is gain” thing real quick. But Paul in this context was already assuming he was gonna live. Remember… ‘I think I’m gonna get out of this deal.’ You can read it for yourself. So I’m focusing on the front half of that famous line in Philippians 1:21. “For me to live is Christ.” So if you want to make a difference in this world, suffering righteously under various forms of persecution, then live righteously.

Secondly, love genuinely. When I see what God is doing at our latest church plant on the north side, they’re going into people’s yards and houses and fixing roofs and eaves and cleaning up yards, cutting up trees, fixing windows. They are loving genuinely, whether  these people come to know Jesus or not. In our own church, we have several points whereby you who are followers of Jesus can serve him in what we call Heart for Des Moines. You can do it with foster care. You can do it with the homeless. You can do it with the local schools in this area. There’s lots of ways you can serve and love genuinely. And not the least of which is just befriending the lost. Remember, Jesus doesn’t say “blessed are the obnoxious.’ You know, we’re not supposed to be standing before parades like one guy who stood before an LGBTQ parade reading scripture. What is that all about? That doesn’t even make sense to me! Why not befriend your friend in that community. Hang out with them. Get to know him. Just the other day I befriended somebody, barely know him, but I know him a lot more now. Not a Christian, but we hung out. We shared a lunch together. We talked back and forth. He shared his view of God. I shared my view. He clearly is not a follower of God. But I learned all kinds of stuff about him. I kind of like him! I don’t know if he likes me. But this is what you do when you love people genuinely, you get in their lives before you get into their business. And I know what some of you are thinking. ‘Well, I mean, aren’t we setting ourselves up for disappointment and heartache? Of course you are! This is what we do! This is what we do in loving genuinely!

So live righteously, love genuinely, and look continually. And when I say look continually, I don’t mean just to Jesus. Yes, you must look to Him, but Jesus is telling us in the text, look to those who went before you! You have a trail of changed lives and martyrs and those who have suffered for the cause of Jesus down through the centuries. Let them inspire you! Hebrews chapter 12 says,

Hebrews 12:1-2, ‘Seeing that we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, those who have all gone before us, let us lay aside every weight, the sin which so easily weighs us down and look to Jesus, the author, the finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before Him despised the cross endured the pain and sat down at the right hand of God.’ Look to Him and look continuously to Him!

And finally, lay down willingly. I don’t see how that’s gonna happen in our culture, but I tell you right now, if the grid went down, and I’m not saying it will, but if the grid went down, we would be Haiti overnight. And what would you do then? And what are you willing to do now? Are you willing to lay your life down for Him? Jesus said in

John 10:18, ‘I lay my life down willingly.’

Will you? After all, He laid down His life for you. It’s the very least you can do to lay your life down for Him.

In the second century, one of the early church fathers actually discipled by the Apostle John himself, was Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna. They went after him. They hunted him down like the word “persecute” means, brought him into the arena, hurled all kinds of threats at him. The guy was 86 years old! And literally he said that… he goes, “86 now, 86 years I’ve served Him, and He’s done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?” They said, “Well, we’ll burn you!” And here’s what he He said.

“You threaten me with fire that burns for an hour and is extinguished, but you know nothing of the fire of coming judgment and eternal punishment reserved for the ungodly.” Polycarp

And so I say to you that are here who have never, ever repented of your sin and surrendered to Jesus Christ who died for you and rose again for you, if you’ve never trusted Him alone as your Savior, there is no excruciating punishment this world and all the diabolical minds that have lived in it can come up with that can inflict pain on somebody in this world, that can compare to what’s waiting for you if you don’t go to the One who suffered for you.

The other day I talked to somebody who said to me, “If your kids came before you and kneeled down to worship you, you’d tell them to go off and play. I mean, isn’t that pretty narcissistic of God to demand worship?” And I said, “Well, He did create you. He does have it coming.” I said, “But, let me give you another motivation. That same God actually came down from His throne and laid down for you and took it all and died on the cross because He loves you. That’s the God I have no problem kneeling before.” Some of you still need to do that today, and those of you who know Jesus, He laid His life down for you, would you do so for Him?

Our Father in Heaven, thank You for this series and this instruction on what it means to be blessed and to be reminded, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” May we take something today, those of us who know You, and be challenged to live for You regardless the cost. It’s so worth it! And I pray for those who don’t know You in this room… watching online, if that’s you, dear friend, would you see the love of God in Jesus who was persecuted unto death because He loved you and receive Him as your Savior? Would you do that? So we commit this series, this message, this moment to you Lord. Do with it what You will. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen. Let’s stand.