Blessed are the Persecuted (North OC)

Upside Down Blessing.

Uh, we are wrapping up today our last of our series of the Upside Down Blessings.

And if you weren't here for the last several weeks, what

are the Upside Down Blessings?

We're actually talking about the Beatitudes.

Probably the most famous sermon ever given by Jesus.

What was that sermon?

It was this.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they

will be shown, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

All of this we've been covering.

And you see this, and it's like, that's an amazing life to live.

And what it's actually defining, for us, is our character and actions.

The blessings that come from having a character and living

a life that demonstrates this.

But this is not where the Beatitudes end.

Because the next part of the blessing, of the upside down blessing, deals with

the blessing that will come from the world's response from living like this.

You think, well what's going to be the world's response for living this way?

Well, It's this.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for

theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all

kinds of evil against you because of me.

Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in

the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

If you live this way, God says, or Jesus says, you're blessed.

The upside down blessing.

That doesn't make sense.

Because when I read those qualities, a peacemaker, someone who's, who's in

mourning, someone who's meek, I don't think, yeah, I want to get that guy.

That's the guy I want to go after.

That's the person I want to persecute.

But that's what the world will do.

And not only will they do it, they've done it before.

To the prophets of old.

So let's dive into this.

Blessed are the persecuted because of righteousness for the kingdom of heaven.

Now, we're using a word here that is kind of a churchy word, persecuted.

And so I wanted to find it for us.

But because it's a churchy word and people don't often times use it

outside of a church context, I think it's sometimes helpful for a word

that we're familiar with but we don't often times know the full definition.

to kind of unpack it a little bit and here's why.

I want to first go with what it's not.

Because sometimes we can have the feeling, like, I know what that word

means, so let me go with what it's not.

And I think this will help us to better align ourselves with

what persecution really is.

So, what persecution is not?

It is not secularization.

It is not the removal of religious values, institutions, ideology from society.

Now, it can feel oppressive sometimes when a society becomes more secularized, but

that doesn't mean we're being persecuted.

Now, there are some groups who will use secularization to persecute, but that

doesn't mean it's directly persecution.

So, I don't want you to get offended this Christmas when someone says,

Happy Holidays, and you're like, It's Merry Christmas, I'm being persecuted.

No, that's not persecution.

Persecution is not also, in that vein, aligning ourselves with some kind

of political ideology inexplicably.

And we say, because of this political ideology, if you attack

my political ideology, you're persecuting me for my faith.

No.

They're not persecuting you for your faith.

They probably don't like your political ideology, but that's not what persecution

here that Jesus is talking about.

And in that vein, persecution is not when you browbeat.

and humiliate and, and share your faith in a way that spites people.

That's also, and their response to that is also not persecution.

The Bible says speak the love, speak truth in love, not speak truth in spite.

So if, if your response to people and sharing your faith is over

the top and hurtful, and, and purposely hurtful, in a way that's

not loving, well, their response may not necessarily be persecution.

It's also, not if someone just unfollows you.

Because you're kind of being weird on social media.

That's also not persecution.

I want to make sure that's clear.

Stop being weird on social media.

If the world calls out you're hypocrite, that's not persecution.

Stop being a hypocrite.

They're just calling you out.

That just means that I need to take a better look at myself and

my beliefs and go, Man, maybe I need to think of some things and

figure out some areas and repent.

And in that regard, persecution is not when a brother or sister helps

correct you or even rebukes you in love to help draw you back in your faith.

They're doing so out of love.

That's helpful.

In fact, you should thank them.

Because they are trying in the best form they can to help you better

align yourself with God's Word.

And finally, persecution is not just general suffering.

If you're going through a tough season in your life, I understand that.

But that doesn't mean you're being persecuted.

It just means that you're going through a tough season.

So, this is what persecution is not.

So then, what is persecution?

In the Greek, it actually used the word like chase or pursue.

It's the idea of pursuing somebody with repeated acts of hostility.

That's what persecution is.

So Jesus outlined some of them.

Verbal threats and slander.

That's persecution.

Oppression for the sake of Christ.

Persecution.

If you're rejected or ostracized because of your faith.

Persecution.

If you are suffering physical harm, even unto death.

That's persecution.

But it has to be for the sake of Christ.

In 1 Peter 4 it talks about if you're persecuted because you're a

thief, a murderer, or even just a meddler, that's not real persecution.

It's gotta be for the sake of Christ.

Now this is hard to hear.

And this last weekend, I spent a lot of time, uh, almost 3 4 hours

just reading about persecution.

From the past, our old prophets, even to today.

And this was a heavy thing for me, to be honest.

It really, you know, my wife looked at me and was like, Man, you feel sad?

I'm like, I feel sad, reading about some of this stuff.

Because it's hard to hear.

But it was also really enlightening.

Let me give you a different perspective here.

I was baptized in 1994.

That's when I became a Christian.

And there's an organization called Open Doors.

And Open Doors tracks countries based upon the level of persecution for

people who profess the name of the Lord.

of our Jesus.

That's who they follow.

Is if you're in an area where you live in a country where you're professing

to believe in Jesus, they track is you know, is it a high, very high,

or extreme levels of persecution.

Now I also know looking in this room not all of us have geography majors so

I just want to remind us where we are.

Just in case.

I know, I'm here for you, I understand this.

But notice in 1994 when I was baptized, all the persecution was over there.

That's where I was.

Far removed from where I'm at.

And there's 40 nations that were on this list in Open Doors in 1994.

In 2023 it's now 76 nations.

Almost doubled since I became a Christian.

And notice, it's starting to come to our shores.

It's coming.

It's more than doubled in the time I've been a Christian.

Where will it be in another 30 years?

Persecution will come.

And when I say persecution, what am I meaning?

492 people every month are killed for their belief in Jesus.

Every month in the world.

214 churches are burned or destroyed every month around the world.

And 772 forms of violence are committed against people.

who profess to be believers around the world, and that includes raped,

forced marriages, acid thrown on their face, tortured, and abused every month.

And that's what I spent a reading about.

And I was like, man, that is heavy.

That is heavy on a Sunday.

And yet, this is our reality.

This is the reality of Christians all over the world.

It may not feel like this for us here in a public school.

But around the world, this is unique.

This is what it looks like around the world.

This is a church that's been bombed.

These are the deaths because of it.

These are the protests happening around the world where people have to walk

around with signs saying Stop Killing Us.

Why?

Because they're being killed.

Today.

In fact, there are more people dying for the profession of faith today

than at any time in our human history.

Today.

It's just happening someplace else.

And so we don't always perceive it.

We don't always think about it.

Because we're far removed from this type of persecution.

That doesn't mean we don't suffer our own persecution.

But this is hard for us to grasp.

But this is real.

And it's today, and it's happening someplace.

Paul will say to this in his letter to Timothy, indeed all who

desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

All, every one of us who desires to live this life will be persecuted.

Now why is Paul saying this?

Paul's saying this for a few reasons, I believe.

One, Paul was a Pharisee amongst Pharisees.

He was someone who knew Biblical history.

And if you go back in Biblical history, it's been this way since the beginning.

In the very beginning, Adam and Eve had two sons.

Cain and Abel.

Both sacrificed to God, except Abel's sacrifice was more righteous.

Because it was the first fruits.

And that's all he did.

He just gave more out of a heart that just said, I just want to,

I just want to give to you God.

And the response of Cain was to kill his own brother.

Persecution has been with us since the beginning for people who want

to follow Christ, who want to devote their lives to Christ, who wanted

to give their everything to God.

It's been this way since the beginning.

And the other reason why I think Paul is so confident when he says

all will suffer persecution because he also knows the words of Jesus.

And Jesus says this in John 15 verse 18 to 20.

John 15:18–20

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.

If you belong to the world, it will love you as its own.

As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.

That is why the world hates you.

Remember what I told you, a servant is not greater than his master.

If they persecute me, They will persecute you also.

Paul knew Jesus words.

If they persecuted me, we follow a Lord in Christ who went to the cross and he

tells us to take up our cross daily.

Be willing to be persecuted.

He knew Jesus words.

And why are we being persecuted?

For living this way.

As a Christian, if we want to be poor in spirit, meek, hunger and thirst

for righteousness, merciful, we will be persecuted, living this way.

And how do I know this?

Because this describes Jesus.

Poor in spirit, was anyone more humble than Jesus to God?

Morning, Isaiah responds to the Messiah, he says, he will be a man of sorrows.

Certainly, he was meek in a controlled, submissive way, and certainly

in submission to us and to God.

He hungered and thirsted for righteousness.

He was merciful, pure, and was there any more of a sight of a peacemaker than one

who dies for us to give us peace with God?

Jesus lived this out, and the world hated him for it.

And I was thinking, when I look at these qualities, I

think, why does the world hate?

This.

So much.

Why?

I had to go back to God's Word and to Jesus.

Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into light

for fear their deeds will be exposed.

When you live a life that is righteous, that emulates the qualities

of Jesus, you expose the world.

That's what a righteous life does.

Exposes the world.

If you're merciful, you expose the world's malevolence.

If you demonstrate chastity, you show the world's immorality.

If you're trying to live a life that says, you know what, I'm going

to wait till marriage to have sex.

Because I want to be chaste, I want to be pure.

See what the world will say about that.

If you want to show diligence in life, you'll expose the world's laziness.

If you are brave for God.

If you show the world's caroling ness.

If you demonstrate self control, you show its self indulgence.

And if you are humble, you show the world's pride.

You expose it.

And the world hates to be exposed.

Jesus goes on in Luke to kind of further explain this ideology, and I'll, I'll

I'll unpack this for you a little bit.

It says no one can serve two masters.

Either you'll hate the one and love the others, or you'll be devoted

to one and despise the other.

You cannot serve both God and money.

The Pharisees who loved money heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.

Notice, instantly, the persecution's coming.

They're sneering at Jesus for this statement.

Jesus says to them, You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes

of others, but God knows your heart.

What people value highly is detestable in God's sight.

In order to justify ourselves in the world, they will persecute you.

Because if you expose their self indulgence, if you expose their

cowardliness, if you expose their pride, just by living a godly life, to justify

themselves, they will persecute you.

How do I know this?

Because they persecuted Jesus for it.

Just for living the life.

Which means we cannot be people who hide.

We cannot put our light under the bushel.

We can't do it.

We have to be willing to expose the world.

We have to be willing to bring the light.

And that just means living the life.

We have to be willing to.

Because I know the temptation, because I feel it too.

The last thing I want is people to hate me.

I don't want it.

I really don't.

And I know when people say stuff to me, there's times where I feel like

I want to give an answer that will get me out of the situation, that

they'll think more highly of me than actually to speak the truth and love.

We cannot hide our lights.

Because if we do, God says, I'll raise up rocks and stones to preach for

me if you're going to cast me aside.

Through many tribulations, We must enter the kingdom of God.

If you want to enter the kingdom of God, it will be through many tribulations.

It's a promise of God.

We love promises of God.

There's books about promises of God.

Here's one.

It's funny how you never see this one in any of the other

promises books in the Bible.

You know, when people write these promises of God, you're going to be persecuted.

Promise one, mm, I don't like that one.

Let me get a different promise of God.

I don't like this promise.

But it'll be through many tribulations we'll enter the God's kingdom.

So what's our reply?

What is our response to all of this?

Here on this Sunday morning.

What should we do with this?

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for

theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all

kinds of evil against you because of me.

Rejoice!

And be glad!

I don't hear a lot of rejoicing me laddie.

I know, exactly.

It doesn't even feel like those words should be there.

Feels like that's a mistype.

I knew it.

Someone messed this up.

No, we're to rejoice and be glad.

Why?

Because great is your reward in heaven.

The upside down blessing.

Because great is your reward in heaven.

Now, I'm going to be honest.

I don't even know what that means.

I don't.

But I know what Peter says.

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on

you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

But rejoice in as much as you participate in the sufferings of

Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the

spirit of glory of God rests on you.

God's Spirit.

will be with you when you are persecuted.

It will rest upon you.

Rejoice and be glad because as we glory in the suffering that

suffering produces endurance and that endurance builds character

and that character produces hope.

It's amazing how we want to grow in our character but we don't want to suffer.

We want to grow in more hope but we don't want to suffer.

And yet suffering produces this.

That's why we glory in it.

We want to skip.

But if you want to develop a faith that works when life doesn't,

you must glory in the suffering.

Because that will increase your faith.

It will strengthen who you are.

There's also something I learned recently in this.

When I looked at this, rejoice and be glad because this, because

great is your reward in heaven.

I thought heaven was the reward.

But great is your reward in heaven.

That means there's an extra reward in heaven.

I don't even know what that means.

In Greek, this is the only time this is mentioned, by the way.

In the New Testament, this is the only time this phrase is

mentioned in the New Testament.

And again, I looked at this and I'm like, what's the extra reward?

Do I get, like, an extra house?

Like, what does it mean?

Is there, like, my own golf course?

Like, what does it mean?

Do I have to use the public golf course or do I get my own?

You know, what does this mean?

And again, I don't know.

But I know the reward that we get in heaven.

Or I know the reward we get here.

And that's this reward.

Philippians 3, 10 and 11.

This is what Paul says.

Paul says this.

I want to know Christ.

Yes, to know the power of His resurrection.

It's amazing how much we love to talk about the power of His resurrection.

How amazing that is for our lives.

I love the power of His resurrection.

Oh, there's an and there.

Dang it.

Yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings.

Becoming like Him in His death, so somehow attaining to the

resurrection from the dead.

To know Christ, if you really want to know Christ, you've got to know

the power of his resurrection and the participation in his sufferings.

This past summer, uh, I was in Rome.

And being in Rome, you know, it sparked me to want to study out Paul a bit more.

And if you study Paul's life, you see that this is not a theologian who's talking

about persecution from the abstract.

He's someone who lived it.

He was imprisoned.

He was flogged for his faith.

Forty lashes minus one.

He suffered that five different times.

He was beat with rods three times.

He was stoned.

He was shipwrecked three different times.

He faced hardship for Christ.

Many times.

So when he's saying I want to know the participation of sufferings, he lived it.

And he lived it unto death.

When my wife and I were in Rome, we were at the very spot that

they believe Paul was, was killed.

And I stood there, and I prayed.

Because I thought, would I be willing to be here too?

Is this where I want my life to end up?

And then I had to think, how much do I really want to know Christ?

Because this is why Paul was so willing to walk to the end.

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

And I walked through the catacombs in Rome, where they put the martyrs.

And I was asking about, you know, do they come, do they have church down

here, do they have celebrations?

And they said yes, they would always come and celebrate the day of the death.

Because that's what they called their birthday.

That was the birthday they celebrated.

The day they died and were united with Christ.

That was the birthday they were so hopeful for.

To be born anew, to know the power of the resurrection, and to receive

that great reward that was promised.

For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before

you, this is not new information.

This has been going on since the beginning.

And if you read about the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah,

Ezekiel, Daniel, Micah, Amos, what you'll read about is persecution.

And many of them also died.

And if you want to read about the Apostles life, what you'll read about?

Persecution.

And 11 out of 12 of them were also killed for their faith.

Wow, this is a cheery Sunday morning.

And yet we're to listen, read all this, and rejoice and be glad.

Because it's a promise that great will be our reward.

Hebrews 11, 35 38.

There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released.

And it's amazing that the Bible just said others.

Who refused to be released, so they might gain an even better resurrection.

Again, I don't know what that means.

How do you get a better resurrection?

Is there more lights?

I don't know.

Ears and flogging and even chains and imprisonment.

They were put to death by stoning.

They were sawed in two.

They were killed by the sword.

They went about sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted, and mistreated.

The world was not worthy of them.

How amazing would that be?

We oftentimes think when we die, we want to see Jesus and Him to go,

well done, good and faithful servant.

How amazing would it be to see God at the end of our life and him to

say the world was not worthy of you.

I'm glad you're home.

We are here such a short time, and we're there forever.

This should motivate us.

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

Jim Elliott, another guy who died for his faith.

I'll close out with a story from Daniel, from the Old Testament.

Daniel chapter 3, three guys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Daniel 3 · chapter mention

Three Jewish people living in Babylon.

And King Nebuchadnezzar was there, he oversaw it, and he said, No,

we're gonna build a monument to me, and I want everyone to worship me.

And then, during that time, these three guys said, Nope, we're not gonna do that.

We're not gonna, we're not gonna, we're not gonna sacrifice our God for this idol.

We're not gonna give it up.

And King Nebuchadnezzar pulls him aside so angry at them that he

throws them in a fire, bound to die.

And the fire was so hot that the guards who put them in the fire, they died

just being on the outside of the flames.

And then King Nebuchadnezzar looked inside at those three

men and says, Look what I see.

There were three men thrown in the fire, bound and chained up.

And now they're free and walking about.

And there looks to be a fourth with them that looks like the son of the gods.

And he pulls them out.

And from their response he says, You, servants of the Most High God.

The king went from seeing himself as God to recognizing they served the true God.

But why do you see that?

Because they were willing to walk in the fire.

God never said He would not put us through the fire.

What He said was He'd be with us through it.

He's gone before us and He'll be with us now.

So as we get ready for communion I want you to consider this for the joy set

before Him, the joy Set before him.

This was, he was not a victim of the cross.

Just as a fireman's not a victim when he goes into the fire to save lives.

They're not victims.

Jesus was never a victim.

We are not victims.

For the joy set before us, he endured the cross, scorning its shame.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness.

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Let's pray.

Fathers, we come before you now.

And we think about what the death and resurrection of that, of Jesus

means to us in our lives right now.

Father, we are grateful for the power of the resurrection.

We are grateful to be called children of the Most High God.

But we're also grateful that we get to know Christ through the

participation of the sufferings.

And Father, I pray that we will rejoice and be glad as the

persecution comes in our lives.

Whether it's spoken, if the tongue Or whether it's physical by the hand.

We will gladly endure.

Knowing that endurance will produce character and that character hope.

And that hope is that great reward in heaven.

That we can't even fathom right now.

But we know it's true and exists because your son said so.

So as we take the implements of this communion.

The bread that represents his body that was crushed and died.

And the blood that was spilt.

We know that it's because of this and this suffering.

That the power of resurrection came.

And as we take it, we know that we, too, will also be, uh, be

renewed and resurrected as well.

We pray this in your Son's name.

Thank you, God.

Amen.