Matthew 5:10-12

Matthew 5:10-12

Blessed Persecution

1. All who desire to live righteous lives in Christ will be persecuted, so we must expect to be persecuted for looking, living, and loving like Jesus (Vv. 10-11)

1. As Jesus concludes His Beatitudes which describe what the life of someone who truly belongs to Him should look like, He surprisingly tells us that the path to blessing is through persecution! However, what we must understand is that He is very specific about the reason for the persecution. The blessing of which He speaks only comes to those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness. So in this last Beatitude we see the full progression of Jesus’ teaching. The first three Beatitudes called for the realization of our desperate need for what we can’t obtain on our own which results in our poverty of spirit, mourning over sin, and meekness before God. The fourth Beatitude describes what we need and how to obtain it by hungering and thirsting for Jesus’ righteousness which alone satisfies. Beatitudes five through seven describe the mercy, purity, and desire for peace which must characterize our lives as a result of receiving Jesus’ righteousness. Now Jesus says that the natural and necessary result of a life which is lived to reflect the first seven Beatitudes is in such sharp contrast with the world around us that it will cause us problems with others. By “persecuted”, Jesus means being “pursued, chased, or harassed”. When we consider persecution our minds tend to go directly to physical abuse or torture, but Jesus says that we’re approved and affirmed by God when we endure persecution verbally, physically, and socially or emotionally. That includes being verbally insulted by others because of their anger, jealousy, or frustration. Enduring physical abuse in the form of assaults, aggression, or torture in imprisonment. And social or emotional persecution in the form of false accusations, social ostracizing, isolation, or threats and intimidation. Maybe you’ve experienced some of those things, but wonder why you didn’t also experience blessing as a result. We can’t expect blessing in life if we’re enduring mistreatment from others because we’re overbearing, hypocritical, and impossible to get along with, even if we profess to be acting in Jesus’ name. Our lives must be true examples of righteousness in Christ, which necessarily means a balance of truth and love. Jesus never sacrificed truth for love or love for truth, but He showed us true righteousness. He calls us to live righteously, provides for the way to righteousness, and holds us accountable for righteousness. He did all that as an expression of His love, to expose our sin and folly, and call us into relationship with Him through repentant faith. We’re to look like Jesus, live like Jesus, and love like Jesus, and the Beatitudes teach us what that looks like, how to do it, and what the results will be. When we live that way by His grace, His righteousness, truth, and love press up against the world and the lives of those who love sin more than righteousness, and must justify themselves. The dichotomy created between true righteousness and wickedness will create conviction, friction, and persecution. (Vv. 10-11; Matt. 24:9; Luke 6:22; John 3:16-21, 36; 15:18-25; Acts 14:22; Phil. 1:27-30; 1 Thess. 2:1-12; 2 Tim. 3:12; 1 Pet. 2:17-25; 3:14-17; 4:12-19)

2. All who desire to live righteous lives in Christ will be persecuted, so we must rejoice because nothing we endure or lose is worth more than what we have and who we are eternally in Christ (Vv. 10b, 12)

1. Jesus indicates that the blessing from suffering persecution for righteousness sake is that we receive the Kingdom of God. Because the concept of equating blessing with difficulty and persecution runs counter intuitive to our instincts, Jesus also gives us a command to “rejoice and be glad”. By giving us a command, Jesus is letting us know that this rejoicing and gladness isn’t something that comes naturally, but requires our focus and intentionality. He’s not calling us to rejoice in and be glad for the suffering, but to jump for joy over the reason and result of the persecution. This gives us the ability to test ourselves in difficult times with difficult people and determine whether we’re suffering for the persecution for the correct reason. If we can’t examine ourselves in difficulty, suffering, and persecution and find joy and gladness in the clear evidence that our lives look like, act like, and love like Jesus, then we’re either suffering for the wrong reasons, or we don’t value Jesus and His salvation more than lack of persecution. When we’re truly living for Christ, our lives are standing in stark contrast to the world around us, causing friction, and we suffer for it. God blesses us in those times by affirming our relationship with Christ as we share in His lifestyle and suffering, draws us closer to Him in relationship as we lean on Him for strength, grows us in even more in His righteousness, and reassures us that our certain future reward in eternity is multiplied through our faithful suffering. Suffering for Christ makes abstract faith concrete reality or exposes it as false. We find no greater depth of understanding the joy, peace, hope, purpose, and satisfaction in Christ than experiencing the reality that nothing we endure or lose in life is worth more than what we have and who we are eternally in Him! (Vv. 10b, 12; Matt. 6:19-21; 19:29; 23:37-39; Luke 6:24-26; Acts 5:40-41; 7:51-52; Rom. 5:1-11; 8:18-39; Cor. 4:7-18; 12:7-10; 2 Tim. 4:6-8; Heb. 11:26, 37-40; 1 Pet. 1:3-9; 5:6-11; Rev. 2:9-10)