Persecution and Resurrection

We remain standing for just a little bit more. We'll be turning to the book

of Acts. Reading through Acts chapter 14,

Acts 14 · chapter mention

beginning with verse 1, I would remind you to just give careful attention to

what you're about to hear, because this is God's holy and inspired word.

Now at Iconium, they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in

such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord who bore witness

to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

But the people of the city were divided, some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles.

And when an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews with their rulers to

mistreat them and to stone them,

they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Durba, cities of Lyconia,

and to the surrounding country, and there they continued to preach the gospel.

Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet.

He was crippled from birth and he had never walked.

He listened to Paul speaking, and Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that

he had faith to be made well, said with a loud voice, stand upright on your feet.

And he sprang up and began walking. When the crowd saw what Paul had done,

they lifted up their voices, saying in Lyconium, The gods have come down to

us in the likeness of men.

Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.

And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city,

brought oxen and garland to the gates, and wanted to offer sacrifices with the crowds.

But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments

and rushed into the crowd saying, crying out, men, why are you doing these things?

We are also men of like nature with you, and we bring you good news that you

should turn from these vain things to a living God who made heaven and earth

and the sea and all that is in them.

In past generations, he has allowed nations to walk in their own ways.

Yet he did not leave them without a witness, for he did good by giving you rains

from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.

Even with these things, they were scarcely restrained, the people from bringing

offerings, sacrifices to them.

But Jews came to Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds,

they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.

But when the disciples gathered about, he rose up and entered the city,

and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.

When they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples,

they returned to Lystra and Iconium, to Antioch, strengthening the souls of

the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, in saying that through

many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

And when they had appointed elders for them in every church with prayer and

fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. And when they had spoken

the word in Perga, they went to Atalia.

And from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended with the

grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled.

And when they arrived and gathered in the church together, they declared all

that God had done with them and how He had opened a door of faith to Gentiles,

and they remained no little time with the disciples.

This is the word of the Lord. You can be seated.

Lord God, we pray now that you, by your Spirit, would speak to us and that we

would hear, that we would listen, and not merely hear words coming,

but listen with open hearts, intending to obey, to receive, and to love Jesus.

We pray in his name. Amen.

So chapter 14 is a continuation of Paul's life, and I think chapter 14,

as much as any, highlights that Paul's life is a paradox, not a paradox, a paradox.

We were told that in missionary training, how to remember what a paradox is

by two little ducks. But a paradox is as a statement or something that happens

that seems to contradict itself or seems to go against what you might expect.

Yet upon closer inflection or reflection or inspection of what you're looking

at, it actually ends up deepening a truth that's behind it.

That is what you would expect in terms of what you might hope to happen,

something contrary or opposite happens. And yet, in the opposition and in that

opposite happening, it deepens the truth of what is being taught.

You might expect that Paul, since he's really the greatest missionary in the

history of the world, one of the greatest theologians arguably,

wrote more books of the Bible than any other person in the New Testament.

You might expect that his life was a continued movement upwards to the plateau

of the great apostle Paul and the great missionary and the great father of all

the churches in the Gentile world. And he was.

But if you would have expected that that journey would have led him to a point

in which he kind of plateaus out. And I think as Americans, we have this view of life.

We have this understanding or expectation in life that's not true.

We tend to think, and it's all around us, and maybe someone tells you,

you'll be working in this place 20, 30 years, and then you'll reach retirement.

Hey, retirement. And then all of a sudden, retirement will be like a perpetual vacation.

And it seems like as Americans, we're always looking for that perpetual vacation

or that all-inclusive resort.

Have you ever been to an all-inclusive resort? Oh, my goodness.

We were blessed many, many years ago.

Someone sent us an all-inclusive resort to the Bahamas.

And it was awesome. And when you go to those all-inclusive resorts,

the moment you walk in the door, there's someone there with fruit juice.

Would you like this? Would you like champagne? And immediately,

just as soon as you walk in, you're like, maybe I will. Yes.

Drink champagne. It's 10 o'clock in the morning. But, you know,

I'm at an all-inclusive resort.

And every step of the way through these resorts, whether they're in Bahamas

or Cancun or Caribbean, wherever they are, the direction of your whole stay

there is just towards service and satisfaction.

You walk to your room with, of course, someone else carrying all the luggage

and you see the fountains and multiple hot tubs, many pools.

There are bars and restaurants all across the beach so that all you have to

do is look over and there's a guy there who brings you something.

Would you like something? You're like, maybe one of those umbrella drinks.

Why not? Which one? I don't know, the blue one. You just get to the point where

your only concern is not to sleep in too late because breakfast closes at 10.

And you go into the breakfast thing and, you know, there's a Bahaman back there

with the tall two-foot white chef's hat.

It was like, good day on the island, man. You're like, yeah.

So you're just, he makes me my omelet and I eat bread pudding.

I got addicted to bread pudding that week. Never had that much bread pudding.

And my wife and I were there. And again, you're on the beach in your lounge

chair and they're looking to

see if they can serve you. And we kind of thought, ah, this is the life.

Honestly, and by the way, if you go, you need to take five days because the

first two are just unwinding days.

By day five, you're actually, sadly, used to living like that.

And you actually think, yeah, man, this is really how life should be.

But the problem with that is this is not how life is at all,

ever, except maybe on those five days at your all-inclusive vacation.

The story of Paul's life is interesting this way. It's a paradox because the

title of the sermon is Persecution and Resurrection.

And oftentimes we only want resurrection.

We don't want the persecution. We don't want the suffering. We don't want the hardships.

We want the all-inclusive kind of vacation understanding of life,

but that's never the way it is.

And that's exactly how Paul's life has been since we saw him.

And chapter 14 is a highlight of that kind of life.

And it's not just a highlight of Paul's life, but Paul, as he's going through

all the chapters of the books of Acts, he's highlighting for us what Peter's

life was like and what Jesus.

Expect because Paul's life is a beautiful, rich, and deep life filled with hardships.

He gets stoned in this chapter, and then the Lord raises him up,

and he moves on with joy and with gladness and a rich, beautiful,

textured life, and it didn't come because there were no hardships or difficulties. In,

Paul's life leads us to the hope we have in life through Jesus Christ and the

hope we can expect. He not only leads us to Christ and his preaching and teaching,

but the very structure of his life in the book of Acts is constantly driving us to Jesus Christ.

That's what we're going to look at. As we look at the story,

it's a great story. I'm actually, for the record, I'm going through one whole chapter in one sermon.

So some of you will be happy. I don't know. But chapter 14 starts out with a conflict in Iconium.

It says, now at Iconium, they entered together with the Jewish,

into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both

Jews and Greeks believed.

But, and this is always the contrast you're seeing, but the unbelieving Jews

stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds.

So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord who bore witness

to the word of his grace, granting them signs and wonders. The people of the city were divided.

There's that tension, that difficulty.

They don't know how long they were exactly in Iconium. It doesn't say,

but they were in there for some times. Could have been several weeks,

could have been several months.

Keep in mind, when Paul and Barnabas go to a place, they're not just street

preachers. They're not just on the corners with signs and shouting out sermons.

They are going into synagogues, gathering people, and starting churches.

Missionary efforts is not just about going someplace and doing something.

It's about starting churches. That's what Paul is doing.

So he's there for some time, and you'll notice he comes back through again.

And as he comes back through, he also establishes the church and organizes it

with elders in every church.

So Paul's, again, not just street preaching, he is organizing and planting churches.

So he meets up here with hard-hearted Jews, another common situation.

You'll notice, by the way, although the Jews and Gentiles get together,

the primary enemy of the growth of the church in Paul's ministry is Jewish leaders, Israel, Israel.

It's no small matter when you see what they're going to do when they take him

outside of the city to kill him.

And again, why is Paul always facing persecution? Why is Barnabas always facing

persecution? Why will we always face persecution?

You never find in here any record of Paul and Barnabas going around and gossiping.

Fighting against the civil authorities, trying to overturn a government.

You don't find any of that.

They're radicals, not in the sense that they're protesting constantly.

They're radicals because they go to the very root and heart of Jesus Christ and his rule as king.

And that radicalizes the people against them. Remember, it says,

blessed are you who were persecuted for righteousness sake.

Keep emphasizing that, not because I think you need it, because I think we all need it.

We're too often fooled into thinking, if you do something that annoys someone,

oh, I'm persecuted for righteousness sake. May not be.

But these guys were actually persecuted for righteousness sake.

And as they preach the gospel, the enemies, it says, poisoned their mind.

This literally is a powerful word.

It's like to cause someone to have hostile feelings of dislike towards someone,

to turn someone against, to cause people to dislike. And the word is not just

mind. The word is psuche in Greek. It's soul.

They poisoned the souls. They did everything they could to get everyone around

them to hate these guys and hate the churches.

And so as a result of a plan, they left the town.

They planted. Remember, in verse 23 later, we'll say they're going to organize

these churches. They're not just preaching. they're organizing churches, and they go on to Lystra.

It says, they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Durba, cities of Lyconia,

and to the surrounding country, and they continued to preach there.

Paul now moves to Lystra, which was a fortified city.

Iconium was a city which had five roads.

Remember, Paul and Barnabas are choosing strategic cities for which they can

plant churches, and then roads out all throughout the Roman Empire,

the church can move into the hinterlands into the outer areas,

and they can plant churches.

That seems to be the model for what churches are supposed to be like.

So they go into Lystra. Again, what causes the conflict? Here again, what did Paul do?

Name call, make fun of people, start fights and quarrels? No, he healed a lame man.

Remember from last week's sermon or from before where we saw that light is the

goal of the church, to bring light into the darkness, but darkness will resist it.

That's all you need to do, by the way, to get the world angry at you is light

a light, and they'll hate you for it. That's exactly what happens.

Miracles at Iconium and Lystra place the work of Paul and Barnabas in continuity

with Jesus and the Twelve.

Now, I know you're hearing this, but I want to keep just beating this drum,

banging on and on, as the British say.

About this, the parallels, we have to see the parallels between what Jesus did,

what Peter did, and what Paul does, and what the church continues to do in the

resurrection power of Jesus Christ.

We are, as the church, the institution given by Christ and through these apostles,

the mission of continuing on what was happening in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.

And so we see this healing. Now, why is it that we see this healing?

Well, Peter healed a lame man right outside the gate of the temple.

Paul heals a lame man right outside the gate of the city.

They're at the entryway. The context indicates that they're at the gate of the city.

What's so important about this? Well, Jesus himself healed a lame man.

And when he did it, he made it clear that in that miracle, it wasn't just healing a lame man.

It was the power to which that healing pointed in the ministry of Jesus, which was what?

The forgiveness of sins. In that story, Jesus says himself, the Pharisees,

you know, they're quarreling. Who is this guy who thinks he can forgive sin?

What's he talking about?

So he says this, but that you may know that the son of man has the power on earth to forgive sins.

He said to the paralyzed man, I say to you, rise, take up your bed and go to

your house. And immediately he rose, took up his bed, and he walked.

And they were all amazed.

But Jesus made sure that we knew that the apostles who followed him weren't

just going around randomly creating miracles.

They were following his ministry. And these miracles, especially the lame walking,

was pointing to the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ and his church.

It was a true miracle, by the way, too. It wasn't just, I don't know if you've

seen these, but I've seen many, you can go on YouTube anytime and you see the

person walking up on the crutches, a little bit unstable, and then

the Pentecostal guy hits him with the blessing and wow, he throws the crutches

away and all of a sudden he's dancing. It wasn't like that at all.

This was a man who never walked his whole life.

Legs would have been atrophied, no possible, wouldn't have been even the ability

to kind of work. He would have, multiple months of physical therapy wouldn't have helped him.

Because he had no legs. His legs were dead.

He had no ability to do anything. And so he immediately springs to life,

just like the lame man at the temple.

He sprung to life and started leaping and walking and praising the Lord,

as we all would, as we all should when we connect that to the forgiveness of our sins.

But it reminds us of a story in the Old Testament where, again,

remember, Paul had already preached to the Jews that the coming of Jesus Christ

was the fulfillment of the kingdom of David.

And in the coming of the kingdom of David, an interesting event happened in

that kingdom at the inauguration of the kingdom where David was basically going

around like any king needed to do and destroying all his enemies,

killing warriors from the house of Saul and others who stood against him.

And yet his love for Jonathan and that relationship was there and tucked into

that story almost as if it just is just there and we move on is this story about

this strange fellow named Mephibosheth.

Mephibosheth, I know a lot of you love to use Old Testament names to name your

kids. Don't use that one. Mephibosheth literally means mouth of shame.

He was a man who was renamed after his birth because he fell and was crippled. It was Jonathan's son.

Jonathan, Saul's son had a son who was lame in his feet, it says.

2 Samuel 9. He was five years old.

When the news of Saul and Jonathan came to Jezreel, the nurse picked him up

and started running and he fell out and his legs were disabled.

And then later it says that David, when David was looking around at how to show

kindness for Jonathan's sake, he looked around and saw there's one person left, Mephibosheth.

So he said, call him to my house. Well, when Mephibosheth came,

he was expecting to get killed like every other enemy from the house against David.

But instead, David said that he was going to make him a servant in his house.

He's going to restore to him all the lands that were with his family.

And he was going to allow him to eat at the king's table. So Mephibosheth was forgiven.

That's why you should also not name your son there. Can't yell that one fast for supper.

So Mephibosheth was expecting judgment and rightly deserved it.

And yet from the kingdom of David came forgiveness, restoration,

and a welcome at his table.

And his response was, who am I as such a dead dog to receive this?

So tucked into the story of the kingdom of David is that with the kingdom of

David, central to that kingdom would come the forgiveness of sins illustrated

for us by a lame man who was restored to the table of the king.

Healing and forgiveness, particularly with regard to the lame who walk is centrally

connected to Jesus coming as well.

That's why Jesus said in Luke 5, when they were quarreling, which is easier

to say, your sins are forgiven or to rise up and walk?

But that you may know that the Son of Man has power to forgive sins on the earth,

I say to you, rise and walk. That connects both the kingdom of David and the

hope that was coming from the mercy of that kingdom to the lame man,

as well as now to the ministry of Jesus.

All of it links it to the forgiveness of sins, central to the coming of the kingdom of David.

And all through the Psalms, even Psalm 103 that we sang so eloquently today.

Says, bless the Lord, O my soul, all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Forget not all his benefits. You'll notice it says in parallel form,

who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.

Those were connected in the Old Testament because the covenant promises were

closely connected with physical health.

And physical health was connected both to curses through the plagues of Egypt,

and blessing in Deuteronomy if there was obedience.

It even says in Deuteronomy, the Lord will make the plague cling to you until

he has consumed you from the land which you're going to possess.

So healing is not ultimate. It never is in Acts. It never even is in the Old Testament.

Healing is not ultimate. Healing is pointing us to the forgiveness of sins and

the ministry of Jesus, which will roll back the curse of the fall,

the curses that came to the fall.

So keep that in mind as we're working through this.

So now the story, you see that when he heals the man, the pagans respond differently.

They're like, yay, hail Zeus, hail Hermes, they're pagans, and they completely,

misunderstand the nature and purpose of the healing.

It says, the gods that they said in Lyconium, that's why it looks like Paul

took a second, like, what's going on? They were speaking in a local language.

The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men. Barnabas,

they called Zeus, Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker,

and the crowd of pagans who want suddenly to make them gods and to sacrifice to them.

Paul had been preaching probably in Latin or Greek or maybe Hebrew,

so he wasn't understanding. As soon as he understood, he began to move in and

say, stop it, please stop this.

It's not surprising by the way, according to Kistri.

Ovid, the Roman poet, relates a legend that happened here in this city where

Zeus had come down with another god and looked around the city,

was trying to find some hospitality, and only an old couple named Bacchus and

Philemon actually gave them shelter.

And those two people were then hidden away when Zeus sent up floods to flood

the whole area, blah, blah, blah.

So they were expecting Zeus to visit them again, and they wanted to greet him

properly. So when they saw this, they're like, yes, an answer to the prayers of the gods.

It's also why later we'll find out as Paul goes through his ministry that very

quickly the church says, no, those gods are not true. Those gods are false.

And Christians very early on in the life of the church were called atheists,

because they denied the gods of the empire.

So Paul then begins to speak to him. Now it's interesting. There's not a large

theological sermon that he gives in all of chapter 14, unlike the previous one.

He gives us quickly, he's saying probably because he's running around trying

to calm everyone down and trying to say things to them, but he begins to set

the stage for something he'll elaborate on in Acts 17 when he goes to Athens.

He appeals to creation and common grace. He says, look, guys,

I know why you're doing this. I know why you're worshiping Zeus.

I know why you have all these false gods.

And for a long time, God has allowed his mercy to extend to you, but no more.

You should have seen the mercy every time the sun comes up and every time the

sun goes down, every time you can harvest, every time there's rain,

every time you go into home and you have a wife and children,

you should have known the blessings of the Lord God, but you haven't.

But now those days of mercy are over.

And he will point to, in Acts chapter 17, very particularly,

Acts 17 · chapter mention

but here our passage, he'll point to the resurrection.

The resurrection is the moment when God no longer tolerates the arrogance of

the nations, the rule of Satan over the nations, and he begins to push them

back with the power of the gospel.

Luke wants us to see Paul struggling to restrain the problems and to teach and preach the gospel.

In Acts chapter 17, Paul says something similar. He says, these times of ignorance

Acts 17 · chapter mention

God overlooked, but now he commends all men everywhere to repent because he

has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the

man whom he has ordained.

And he has given assurance of this by raising him from the dead.

So resurrection is central to this.

The only thing, The one thing that is central to this passage And as it unfolds

ongoingly Through the book of Acts Is resurrection, resurrection,

resurrection In their denial of the mythology Of the classical world They were

deemed atheists But God now.

Strikes Out at them through the Jews and the Gentiles And they confronted this

And as we've seen Have we not?

Are we together? Are we together?

All right As we have seen The confrontation of both Jews and Gentiles against

the church does not stop the church. In fact, the,

Every resistance, every challenge, every revolution blows it up even greater and bigger.

Amen. Why? Because of the resurrection.

You couldn't kill Jesus, and you can't kill the church because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Jews could not stop the progress of redemption. And what they did in trying

to do so is fascinating to me, because they took Paul and they stoned him.

But where did they do it? it says they took him outside the city,

outside the city. You say, well, that's just where they kill people.

Yeah, but that also has very potent meaning when connected to the Old Testament

and to what happened to Jesus and to what's happening now with Paul.

Outside the city, you'll notice in the Old Testament, everything that was considered

cursed was done outside the camp, outside the city.

Even certain sacrifices, Exodus 29, but the flesh of the bull with its skin

and awful, you shall burn with the fire outside the camp.

Leviticus 4.21, then you shall carry the bull outside the camp and burn it as

he burned the first bull. It's a sin offering.

It's also linked to the curses, Leviticus 6.

If someone is cursed, if someone is diagnosed as having something that makes

them unclean, you shall take off his garments, put on the garments and carry

the ashes outside the camp.

He shall be unclean all the days he has a sore, he is unclean and he shall dwell

alone outside the camp, outside the camp, Leviticus 16.

I won't say it too many times, but I want you to get the point.

Leviticus 16, the bull was made for the sin offering, the goat sin offering,

brought in to make atonement in the holy place. It shall be carried outside

the camp, and afterward he may come into the camp.

Those things which were considered cursed and unclean were outside the city.

And they were to remain out there until they were cleaned. It goes on and on.

Numbers 31, Deuteronomy 23, Leviticus 24, outside the camp, outside the camp, outside the camp.

So that anyone who would be familiar with the system, the ceremonial and sacrificial

system of the Old Testament, they knew that being taken outside the city,

outside the gates, outside the camp was a sign of being cursed.

That's why people who were stoned were taken outside the camp.

It's interesting even in the story of the parable of the unfaithful vineyard

dressers Remember it says that the vineyard owner sent a warning and sent a

warning They beat him up, they beat him up But finally he said,

let me send my son Let me send my son, they'll surely respect my son.

It says in the end, they saw the heir and they said, come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.

So they took him and cast him outside the vineyard and they killed him.

Certainly pointing to Jesus Christ. All those things are pointing to Jesus Christ

because Jesus Christ came specifically, it says in Galatians,

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law who having become a curse for us.

For as it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on the tree.

Christ was the one who went outside the camp for us in his humiliation.

His whole life was one of humiliation.

In being born, our catechism says, his humiliation was in being born and that

in a low condition, made under the law and undergoing all the miseries of this life, the wrath of God,

and the cursed death of the cross and being buried and continuing under the

power of death for a time.

Jesus Christ himself came so that he would be taken outside the city and killed

by his enemies so that he might be raised again from the dead.

And so Jesus became a curse for us on that cross.

And so likewise would Peter, and so likewise would Paul, and so likewise will we.

Will we as well, bearing the marks of that suffering of the cross,

bearing the marks of that curse.

It's a mark that Jesus wanted us to remember.

Those marks, those scars from his suffering being killed outside the camp.

John 20, remember Thomas, doubting Thomas, wanted to know more,

so Jesus said, peace to you.

And then he said, reach your finger here and look at my hands and reach your

hand here and put it on my side.

Do not be unbelieving, but believe. Those marks on the body of Jesus Christ

were to remind us and him what he suffered for us.

And Paul's experience at Iconium actually is interesting. He refers to this

different times, both in Acts and in other sections of the New Testament,

where Paul reminds other people of his marks.

The marks he bore on behalf of Christ.

2 Timothy 3.10 that we just read earlier says, but you have carefully followed

my doctrine, my manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering,

love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch,

at Iconium, and at Lystra. He reminds them of that.

And in our present passage, we're reminded of his persecution of being stoned

to death. I think he did die.

Some of you were like, no, it didn't. it says they supposed him to be dead. We're not sure.

It's a legitimate beef we can have. I think he actually died and the Lord raised him from the dead.

It's not unorthodox or heretical for me to say that, but either way,

he was as good as dead and assumed to be dead. So the resurrection,

the idea of resurrection, they went out, they all thought he was dead.

And when they went to him, it says he rose up.

He was raised up from death, from being stoned, which is a horrible way to die.

And another reason I think he died is because you don't normally make those

kinds of mistakes after hundreds of people pummel you with stones in the head

and the body, and you fall down and they assume that you're going to die or you're as good as dead.

And Paul would remind us in Galatians 6, he says, from now on,

let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The stigmata, some of you may be familiar with medieval history where monks

who prayed really hard and believed the Holy Spirit was on them would literally

begin to bleed from their hands and from their side and from their feet.

It was called the stigmata, the marks of Christ. Paul actually says,

not that he has those physical bleeding marks, but that he, in his life, bear those marks,

the marks of the cross, the stigma of the cross, the suffering of Jesus Christ.

And we're called by Paul, and we're called by Christ, you see it all throughout

the New Testament, that we also are going to take up that cross and to bear those marks.

You were hoping with the all-inclusive resort illustration, it might be a little cheerier.

We are called to take up the cross. Paul encouraged the church not by promising

a life free from sorrow or suffering or persecution or difficulty,

but a truly rich and glorious life filled with suffering, filled with persecution.

Yet at the center of that suffering is the resurrection hope of the Lord Jesus

Christ, which gives you the good life.

The good life is not just margaritas on the beach.

Nothing wrong with that once in a while if you're on vacation, but that's not life.

This is why Jesus can make what appears to be a rather odd statement in the

Beatitudes. Blessed are you.

You're so blessed when you're fill in the blank. Paradoxically,

we would not put in persecution. I wouldn't.

If I were making up a list of Beatitudes, it wouldn't be persecution.

I don't want people to hate me.

I want people to love me and so do most of us. But it says here,

blessed are you when you're persecuted for righteousness sake,

for yours is the kingdom of heaven.

Listen, and this is the only Beatitude that is elongated and elaborated on. None of the others are.

Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute. You can imagine as you're

going through this, no thanks, no thanks, no thanks.

But he says it. Blessed are you when they revile you, persecute you and say

all manner of evil against you falsely.

Rejoice and be exceedingly glad. You're living the good life.

What? Okay. Blessed are you.

For they persecuted the prophets who were before you, and that's how they persecuted

Jesus, and that's how they persecuted Paul, and that's how they will continue

to persecute the church.

So much so that Peter says, beloved, don't think this is strange.

Again, if you have, we learned in Africa from the very beginning,

the key to enjoying certain miserable situations is just lower your expectations, right?

No air conditioning, no running water, just lower your expectations.

So if you get any cool air or any fresh water, oh, that's great. It's awesome.

So Peter is saying, look guys, if you think you want to avoid persecution and

avoid suffering, don't think that it's strange when fiery trials come to you

as though something strange is happening.

He's saying this is the norm, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of

Christ's suffering. There it is again. Paul partook of the sufferings of Christ

and said, I bear the marks. I've seen it. I've been stoned. I've been shipwrecked.

I've been through all of this, and I have joy in it because of the resurrection hope of Jesus Christ.

He says, you must partake of the Christ's suffering, that when the glory is

revealed, there it is, you may be glad with exceeding joy. Our hearts and our

eyes are not to this earth and not to the suffering, but to the glory of the resurrection.

Blessed are you, for the Spirit of God rests upon you. Wow. Don't be surprised.

Philippians 1 29 says, for to you it has been granted.

You notice the strange way it says this because this is not like my birthday's

in a couple of weeks right,

and i wouldn't ask for like persecution and suffering on my birthday but this is it's funny,

he's paul says in philippians great guess what guys guess what god has gifted

you with god has granted you with

on behalf not only to believe in him yay but to suffer for his sake oh.

Having the same conflict which you saw in men and now here is in me and was

in Peter and was in Christ and was in the prophets before them.

That's the way of the Lord. But thanks be to God that through it all,

Christ didn't remain under the persecution.

He didn't remain under the power of death. He was raised from the dead on the third day.

And that's what infuses into this strange paradox of suffering and persecution,

the hope of glory, the hope of life.

Jesus in Hebrews 13, therefore Jesus also that he might sanctify his people

with his own blood suffered outside the gate.

Therefore, are you ready for this? Let us go to him outside the gate. Uh-oh.

And says it specifically bearing his reproach. Bearing his reproach.

It's a powerful call from Paul's life and ministry here. It's not the call I

didn't wake up last week and start saying, oh man, I hope that we can really

focus on suffering this week because that's going to cheer everyone up.

But that's the call. But it's not a call without hope because it's a call.

The persecution and the suffering and the hardship and the difficulty that comes

our way when it's not our fault is coming to us that we might bear the marks

of Jesus' cross in our lives as we bear this suffering with Christ in mind,

and with his glory in mind and with the resurrection power to do it.

Amen. The resurrection power, that's what helps us to bear it up.

And that's what compels the church forward in our mission and gives us joy to

sing praise to the Lord, no matter what the circumstances.

That's why Paul can say in 2 Corinthians 4, 8, we are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed.

Notice how he, and by the way, Paul's not just one of these,

he's not just one of these positive thinking guys.

Well, if you think it can, or you think it can't, you're right.

You know, he's not one of these guys at a hotel room, you know,

had all these guys, positive thinkers, businessmen and salesmen always go to

these sales. You're going to do it. You can, no, listen to what he says.

Hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed. And he doesn't say it like you

can do it, yet not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair,

persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed.

Why? Because Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead, never destroyed.

Always, listen to this again, always caring about in the body,

the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ, that the life also may be manifested in our body.

For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake,

that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh.

Amen? Let's pray together.

Lord God, these are hard things to hear. And yet, Lord, as we close this,

we haven't just heard that we will suffer and be persecuted and hated,

but we're about to take the Lord's Supper.

And Lord, we rejoice and we're happy and be glad. This is the Eucharist.

This is a thanksgiving meal, not merely that we suffer for his sake,

but though we suffer, we are never crushed.

And though we're perplexed, we never despair. We're never forsaken and never

struck down because Jesus Christ has given his body and blood and has been raised

from the dead on the third day.

And even now, he's seated at the right hand of God the Father to call us forward

in this difficult but greatly blessed life.

Help us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.