Blessed are the Persecuted Part 2
Notes
Transcript
Blessed are the Persecuted Part 2
Blessed are the Persecuted Part 2
We come here to the last of the Beatitudes in this section of scripture. These Beatitudes have really challenged the way I live my life. They have made me think about my personal Christian life and the way I live it out for others to see. I hope the same has been true for you.
But tonight we close this up with an extended commentary on verse 10. It’s interesting that Jesus repeats his self a little bit here in verses 11-12 from what He initially said in verse 10. So, verse 11-12 is an expanding on verse 10 if you will.
Let’s read the whole section here.
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
When you look at these verses, you really see Jesus expanding and explaining these verses in great detail. And at first, you wonder why he does this for these verses and not the others.
And like we said last time - If we live a life that glorifies God, WE WILL be persecuted. It will happen.
12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
That is a promise that the Bible makes us!
Three sections here: The Reproach We Endure, The Response We Give, & The Reward We Get
Three sections here: The Reproach We Endure, The Response We Give, & The Reward We Get
The Reproach We Endure
The Reproach We Endure
The Disciples Needed To Hear This
The Disciples Needed To Hear This
Remember - the primary audience for this Sermon on the Mount is the disciples. Jesus is explaining this in detail for the disciples here. Why did the disciples need to hear an expanded version of persecution here???
Listen to what happened to each of the disciples during their ministries after Jesus ascended to the Father.
Peter - Crucified upside down at his request because he didn’t feel worthy to be crucified in the same way Jesus was.
Paul - Beheaded by Nero
Andrew - Crucified on a gospel mission
Thomas - (doubting Thomas) Died by the spears of 4 soldiers that were persecuting him for preaching in Syria.
Philip - Tortured & killed while preaching in Syria.
Matthew - Stabbed to death in Ethiopia.
Bartholemew - Died from persecution while preaching in Armenia (cause unknown)
James - Stoned and clubbed to death in Syria while on mission
Simon the Zealot - Killed after refusing to worship the sun god.
Jude - Died with Simon the Zealot.
Matthias (replaced Judas) - Stoned and Beheaded while on a gospel mission
John - The only natural death in the group. He died while exiled on the island of Patmos where he wrote Revelation.
SLOW DOWN AND READ THESE VERSES.
18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.
Jesus was preparing them for what was coming. He was getting them ready for the persecution that they were about to endure. And likewise, He is preparing us for the persecution that we will endure. We may not face the persecution that these guys did, but we will face it nonetheless.
These men died for their faith in terrible ways. They lived their life in such a way that it caused persecution. They were DIFFERENT.
Let’s break these verses down a little bit more so we can see the specifics of what Jesus is telling us.
v.11) Blessed are YOU.
It’s personal now. Isn’t it always easier for us to hear of someone else that is going through some difficult experience than for us to go through it personally? It’s always a bigger deal to us when it happens to us personally.
v.11) Revile, persecute, utter all kinds of evil FALSELY.
Now - sometimes it’s really hard for us to hear someone say something about us that’s true. When something is true about us, and we don’t necessarily like that quality about ourselves - it’s always harder to hear it from someone else isn’t it?
But now, now we’ve got something that’s even worse! These are things that people are saying about us that AREN’T TRUE! They are lies! Ever had this happen to you?
Gossip and slander are terrible things to have in our lives. Sticks and stones aren’t the only things that can injure and hurt someone else. Many times the words we say last much longer than the hurt of the offense does. Words matter. Truth matters.
v.11) On my account.
Literally means because of me (Jesus). He means here that the reason they are being persecuted and slandered is because of their testimony of Jesus. It’s because they are followers of Christ that others are treating them this way.
20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.
That’s the Reproach We Endure
Next...
The Response We Give
The Response We Give
v.12) Rejoice and be glad
When you read this, you are thinking - “It’s bad enough that I have to endure this persecution, it’s bad enough that I have to endure these shameful things being said about me that aren’t true - That’s bad enough - NOW YOU’RE TELLING ME THAT I HAVE TO BE HAPPY ABOUT IT???
One commentator called this Beatitude “Happy are the harassed”
Not only are we to endure the persecution, but we are supposed to have a joyful attitude about it!
How can we give such a response? How is it possible?
Let’s look at some examples of this type of response.
40 and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.
“They rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for Jesus name”
Isn’t that remarkable?? That’s not a natural human response.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
Bless them? How can I bless them? They are persecuting ME!
How can we give this response? It’s only possible supernaturally. We cannot respond this way without God’s help in us to do this. It isn’t possible without divine help to bless those who persecute us.
Another way verse 12 is translated “leap for joy”
Our response to this persecution is to rejoice, to leap for joy.
How do we respond this way?
First of all I think we must remember how God responded to us while we were in this situation...
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
That means we were the ones persecuting Christ before we trusted in Him as saviour!
We were the ones who were persecuting Him! We were railing at Him! We were slandering those who were righteous! We were the ones!
13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
We were dead in our sins. Couldn’t be revived from our sinful state if Christ hadn’t paid the penalty for our sins.
9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him
We were the rebels!
So, how do we respond this way? How do we begin to rejoice and be glad that others are persecuting us?
The first thing we must remember is that God treated us with kindness and mercy when we persecuted him.
We must remember how as Paul describes himself “the chief of sinners”. That’s what we were before we were saved. So, we have to remember that when we are being persecuted for our faith.
First, The Reproach We Endure. Second, The Response We Give, now...
The Reward We Get
The Reward We Get
v.12) for your reward is great in heaven
This is where we really get the payoff. We don’t expect to hit it big in this life. We don’t expect “our best life now”.
What does Jesus promise us about this life?
33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”