Blessed are those who are Persecuted for Righteousness' Sake (Part 1)
stephan challen
The Four Gospels • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 35:47
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· 6 viewsMorning 26 November 23
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5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. 6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
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Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Sermon
Sermon
Those who have the seven characteristics of the initial beatitudes will face such bitter and fierce opposition it will warrant being called persecution.
Persecution: systematic harassment and attack due to one’s religious belief
In a Netshell: Jesus was saying that as long we we live here on earth, as citizens of heaven, we can expect endless difficulties of one kind or another as Satan attacks us through the spiritual and human agencies under his control
The idea that being persecuted, insulted and slandered could cconsider themselves “blessed” would have sounded nonsensical.
The common perception (Jew & Gentile) was that any kind of suffering was a sign that the the recipient had incurred divine displeasure.
Superstition and ignorance
Example: When Paul was shipwrecked and on Malta...
When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”
After shaking off the snake...
They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.
Jews were had little difference...
And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
They went beyond biblical doctrine and labelled all human suffering as caused by sin.
They believed that even in the womb babies can sin, and considered this a dilema.
Jesus immediately dismissed both by telling them that neither the man not his parents were responsible
Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
“that the works of God might be displayed in him”
The Messiah: They believed would come and establish an earthly kingdom and end oppression, persecution and poverty, instead providing a time of unimaginable freedom, peace and prosperity.
Prosperity Gospel is not new
The idea that with enough faith you will have instant solutions to physical, material or economic issues.
They twist scripture as much as those who taught the Messiah would guarantee deliverance from all the woes that plague the lives of others.
Jesus provided a very different picture through the beatitudes
That the Messianic blessings were not for the nation of Israel as a whole, but rather for the unique group of people changed by the Grace of God
Blessing vastly different from those they imagined
It would make them poor in spirit; they would grieve over sin; they would meekly accept life’s circumstances; they would hunger and thirst for righteousness; they would be merciful to others; they would be pure in heart; and they would be known as peacemakers in society
And as a result of the transformed lives they will be persecuted and this too would make them blessed.
Why would virtue be met with vitriol and violence?
Kingdoms in Conflict
Kingdoms in Conflict
Persecution of God’s people is one of the best attested facts in history
The Beatitudes for Today Kingdoms in Conflict
According to the notable historian Kenneth Scott Latourette, ‘No other of the faiths of mankind, religious or political, has quite so extensive a record of violent and bitter opposition to its growth.’
Cain murdered Abel because God approved Abel’s obedience through his sacrifice (animal) and not Cains (vegetable)
Jesus picked up this point...
so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.
Jesus speaks of the persecution of “the prophets”, making it clear that none escaped
The persecution of the prophets was proverbial
Stephen at his own martyrdom courageously told his executioners that they were behaving true to form...
Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered,
James when providing an example for those being persecuted he wrote...
As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
The old testamant is full of exmples such as Samuel, David, Elijah, Nehemiah, Ezekiel
God encouraged Ezekiel ...
And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.
Jeremiah (beaten, out in stocksm thrown into a cistern of mud, threatended with execution and eventually martyred).
Some were high-profile names, but many were recorded anonymously honoured ...
Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
The New Testament intertwined with the general persecution of the Christian Church and the particular persecution of its preachers.
After penticost Peter & John were arrested and imprisoned
So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
Apostles persecuted...
they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.
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.
Stephen was stoned to death because...
And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.
On that same day…
And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
Thereafter every page of Acts outlines the persecution faced
56 instances of persecution in 28 chapters
Paul using irony contrasts the apostles’ experiences with the false claims made by some church members in Corinth
For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.
Tradition has it ...
Andrew was tied to a cross and left to die
Peter was crucified upside down
Some have suggested that every one of the apostles was executed except for John who died in lonely exile on the island of Patmos
Paul experienced a prolonged persecution ...
Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?
So much for the “prosperity gospel”!
The Long War against God
The Long War against God
Persecution was not limited to apostles, disciples and church leaders
Christinas were accused of atheism, cannibalism (lord’s supper), sacrificing their own children before eating their flesh, & being political outlaws (refusing to declare ‘Ceasar is Lord)
Pulic worship was dangerous
Persecution was personified in Nero (Roman Emperor for 14 years from AD 54)
Wrapped christians in pitch and set the alight and used as living torches to light his gardens
Sewed them in the skins of wild animals and set his hunting dogs on them to tear them apart
Tortures on the rack
scraped with pincers
molton lead poured on them
red hot brass plates affixed to tenderest parts of their bodies
eye torn out
parts of bodies cut off and roasted in front of them
hands and feet burned while cold water poured over them to lengthen the agony
It is chilling to consider such things but they serve as powerful reminders that the world is implacably oppposed to genuine Christianity and that God’s CHildren can expect no favour from those who set themselves against God.
In the years which followed, successive Emperors, continued the policy of ruthless persecution.
As the Roman Empire declined so did the wholesale systematic attacks on the Christian Church
But, there has been no significant period since been free from shocking examples of brutality towards God’s People
14th Century - John Wycliffe and his followers
15th Century - great reformer Jan Hus burned at the stake
16th Century
thousands of anabaptists slaughtered in Europe
Martin Luther outlawed, William Tyndale strangled and burned to death
Mary Tudor’s persecution of the church burning hundreds of Christians at the stake
17th Century - Puritans and Pilgrim Fathers persecuted
18th Century - Whitefield and Wesley and pioneer missionaries including Hudson Taylor
19th Century
Believers arrest and imprisoned, Bibles and homes destroyed
Lenin, based on Karl Marx’ philosophies, banned religion causing hundreds of thousands of Christians to be imprisoned, tortured, persecuted and executed by those who embraced their philosophies.
20th Century - there were more Christian martyrs in the centure than in any other
in 1915 the Ottomon Empire / Caliphate killed 700,000 Armenians
World Christian Encyclopaedia (David Barrett, 1982) stated that 1:200 christians workers are were being killed on the mission fields of the world
21st Century - average of 300,000 martyred for their faith
The Hallmark
The Hallmark
Second major lesson: persecution of one kind or another is on of God’s promises to His people
Paul did not gloss over the problems...
strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
Hardships: translates the Greek thlipsis, a word which speaks of tribulation, trouble, distress, affliction, anguish and pressure
Churches in Thessalonica ...
And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,
Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.
Churches in Macedonia...
for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.
Paul did not consider these trials surprising ...
that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know.
Jesus’ promise to his disciples...
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.”
Genuine Christianiy will always attract persecution!
The Beatitudes for Today The Hallmark
J C Ryle commented: ‘Persecution … is like the goldsmith’s hallmark on real silver and gold; it is one of the marks of a converted man.
This is far from the concept of moden preaching often heard today in which Christianity is offered as an instant solution to the pressures and problems of modern life, offering a guarantee of uninterupted pleasure and happiness.
In a US survey 3 out of 10 professiong Christians agreed that “Nothing in life is more important than having fun and being happy”
This philosophy bears no resemblance to the Bible
John Blanchard wrote..
The Beatitudes for Today The Hallmark
The idea that genuine Christianity can happily and cosily co-exist with common human values, ethics and life-styles is a travesty of the truth.
The Beatitudes for Today The Hallmark
John MacArthur is right on the mark in saying, ‘When the world runs into Christianity there is always conflict, conviction, guilt, resentment and persecution.’
Why is it that the people most likely to be persecuted are the humble, the meek, the pure in heart, and those who sincerely seek to be peacemakers?
Beacuse every one of those Characteristics grates against the spirit of the world
Poverty of spirit clashes headlong with human pride.
Mourning for sin is anathema to the happy-go-lucky.
Meekness is derided by the self-assertive.
Hungering and thirsting for righteousness makes nonsense in today’s permissive culture.
A merciful spirit conflicts with hard-headed self-centredness.
Purity of heart is the exact opposite of hypocrisy and compromise.
Peacemaking is scorned by the contentious and argumentative.
At every point, genuine Christianity is at odds with the world and by implication condemns hypocrisy and godlessness alike.
The virtues which Jesus dignified, the world derides. The characteristics of the godly are living protests against common standards in modern society and the backlash is inevitable.
The Beatitudes for Today The Hallmark
John Stott puts it, ‘Persecution is simply the clash between two irreconcilable value-systems.’
The Beatitudes for Today The Hallmark
The only way for a professing Christian to escape persecution in any form is to go along with the world, raise no objection when it mocks God, laughs at sin, glories in self-indulgence and deifies materialism; but in doing so he forfeits any right to be called a Christian.
By the same token, the professing Christian who never faces persecution of any kind should ask why this is so when persecution is guaranteed to the godly.
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Doxology
Doxology