Here we come to the last blessing of the Beatitudes similar to Matthew 5. Blessed are the persecuted. In the Beatitudes, Jesus is blueprinting the Christian life for His disciples. The blessings outline what a Christian life looks like and it does include persecution. However, persecution doesn’t come at the beginning. First, you must be edified internally before facing external persecution. The Chistian fully depends on Jesus by being poor in spirit, mourning over sin, thirsty and hungry for righteousness. These are the internal driving forces behind sanctification. Once the joy of sanctification fills you and gives you strength, then you will face persecution, which is also a blessing.
Persecution is not pleasant and often unexpected. Take John Mark who went along Apostle Paul’s missionary journey. He might have initially been excited to serve with Paul and Barnabas, but after the harsh reality of their missionary journey, he abandoned them. He wasn’t ready to face such persecution. Demas too, forsook Christ for the world because he was unwilling to face persecution. It shows that he wasn’t truly poor in spirit. The first 3 Beatitudes are preparatory.
It is a little strange that Jesus says those who are persecuted are blessed. The word you must remember while being persecuted is that you are blessed. The believer is truly happy regardless of their circumstance because there is peace in their heart.
Persecution is expected The word persecution has roots in ‘pursued’, ‘chased down’ and is defined as ‘harassed evilly’. Persecution is not a joyful word. Especially in America we face little persecution so it is a little difficult for us to relate. However in Afghanistan and other countries, Christians are being beaten and killed for their faith. Still, we must realize that America is not a Christian country and we are living in a post Christian era. Norman Geisler explains the transition “Eventually, a post-Christian society moves from assuming Christian values to ignoring them, to resenting them, to repressing them, and eventually to persecuting them. What was once Christian and is now post-Christian will eventually become anti-Christian.” We are heading towards persecution and it can come suddenly. However our response should not be surprise or frustration. It says in 1 John 3:13 “Do not be surprised if the world hates you.” Since the beginning of mankind, the unrighteous have attacked the righteous. (1 John 3:12)
Expecting persecution doesn’t mean it becomes a blessing. The reason we can face it joyfully is because it also happened to Christ. Jesus is not like us, he did not make any mistakes, he was not flawed. We as sinners might deserve persecution, but not Jesus. He was perfect man, yet the world still hated Him and crucified Him (Isaiah 53:9). It wasn’t only on the cross, but from the beginning Jesus was persecuted. From King Saul trying to kill David (Jesus’ ancestor) to Herod trying to kill Jesus as a baby. Even his own family ostracized him. Jesus constantly faced persecution (Mark 3:6;John 11:8;Matthew 26:55)
If Jesus was constantly persecuted then should we not also be persecuted? We always say we want to be like Christ, but does that include His persecution? As Christians, if we are not persecuted then it might signal that something is wrong with our faith. That is because the world hates you not because of who you are but because you have Jesus (John 15:18).
When you face your adversaries, remember God is with you. Jesus accused Saul of persecuting Him. This means Jesus takes the persecution of the church as His own persecution. Your persecution is also Christ’s and He is with you.
Persecution is a blessing because the end of persecution is exaltation. In Philippians 2:9-12 Jesus was obedient unto death but one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus as Lord! Our persecution will one day result in exaltation. We follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
What is true Biblical persecution? To be honest, most people are persecuted because they brought it on themselves, because they acted wrongly. This is not true Biblical persecution. True persecution starts with hatred. Like how Esau hated Jacob (Genesis 27:41) Why has the Christian baker been sued 3 times? Are there no other bakeries in Colorado? It is because they hate the baker for his faith.
Christians are also abandoned by the world because of their faith. The academic world especially excludes Christians and their beliefs. Christians are insulted and slandered when it comes to science yet we have the truth and true knowledge. Many Christians have benefitted the world with their study in science, like Isaac Newton. Still, they insult and exclude us.
Finally, they scorn. They call us evil and act out on their hatred by imprisoning and killing Christians. This is the process that happened towards the Jews that eventually led to the Holocaust. It started with changing a few laws and eventually it ended with branding them as enemies of the people and allowing any sort of violence against them. Christians are now that target.
Who will persecute the Christian? In short, the world. It can be the government grabbing for power. It can be other religions, like what’s happening in Afghanistan. Other false beliefs and religions have constantly persecuted Christians in the past because we are the true faith and claim Jesus is the only way. Even nominal Christians will also persecute faithful Christians. Even today, there are Christians spreading CRT (Critical Race Theory) as an addition to the gospel. While doing so, they attack those who deny CRT, calling them racist and white supremists.
Why do we get persecuted? One reason is to test our true faith. This will be explained more next time. Matthew 5:10 also explains that it is because we are pursuing righteousness in an unrighteous world (Romans 3:11). The Christian is different from the world (2 Timothy 3:12). There is a conflict between the righteous and unrighteous. The righteous Christian will be persecuted because they stand out. We stand out because we have gospel conviction. We have the death and resurrection of Jesus and we proclaim it to an unrighteous world (Acts 24:21). Apostle Paul was imprisoned and put on trial because He proclaimed Jesus is alive. We are different because we fear God above anyone else (Acts 4:19). While the world fears or respects man, disease, wealth, authority, knowledge or anything, we fear God. All these things differentiates the believer from the world and so the world persecutes.
What will you do when you get persecuted? Many Christians around the world throughout history endured persecution with a faithful passion. What’s amazing is that the church grew during those times. They proved that the persecuted are blessed. We are called to prove the same.
BIBLE COMMUNITY CHURCH 
Leave a comment