Rejoice...When You Suffer...On My Account

Let's start with this question.

What are you willing to suffer for?

What are you willing to suffer for?

My family and I, my family and me, we,

have been watching the qualifying trials for the Olympics.

Anybody else watching some of these stuff?

The gymnastics have been phenomenal, track and field, swimming.

And as I'm watching these athletes compete on the highest level,

it occurs to me, man, for them to do that,

they've got to suffer the loss of some stuff.

I doubt they like to eat or can eat chocolate cake as much as I do.

I doubt that they're making regular Culver's runs like I do.

Not only are they suffering loss, or so we think, in their diets,

could you imagine what it would be like for an Olympic-level swimmer,

how many laps every day someone of that caliber has to swim?

You know what?

It's like, how do you deal with the boredom?

Where does your mind go?

And then there's the kind of just physical pain.

Whether that's injury, one has to suffer,

or, I mean, if you're familiar with track and field at all,

the 400 is a grueling race on the human body.

Every race is agony.

Man.

They're willing to suffer.

What are you willing to suffer for?

Let me turn up the volume a little bit now.

These athletes suffer,

they willingly suffer the loss of something for gold and glory, right?

What are you willing to suffer harm for?

Not just the loss of something,

not just going without,

but what are you willing to suffer harm for?

What are you willing to be persecuted for?

When I talk about persecution,

and Jesus is going to talk about it,

it shows up three times that word persecute

in our passage today,

verses Matthew 5, 10, 11, and 12.

I'm approaching it generally like this.

Persecution is when someone is singled out and harassed for who they are or what they stand for.

So persecution, generally speaking,

is someone getting singled out and getting harassed for who they are or what they stand for.

What are you willing to be persecuted for?

What are you willing to suffer harm for?

Now throughout the ages,

people have been persecuted for a variety of reasons.

Good and evil,

all in between,

political,

social,

religious,

economic,

all sorts of different kinds of persecution.

It runs the gamut of human experience in history.

Which just goes to show,

it's a really sad commentary on the wickedness of the human heart.

We've been persecuting each other for a long time.

But this morning,

we are coming to the end of the Beatitudes.

Matthew 5, 10 is the last stop on the line in the Beatitudes.

And Jesus says,

blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus has something peculiar,

something particular in mind

when He's talking about persecution in Matthew 5, 10.

What He's basically saying is this.

If you have been called to follow Jesus,

you've been called to suffer for Jesus.

If you've been called to follow Jesus,

you've been called to suffer for Jesus.

And persecution is not an if,

it's a when.

It's not if.

It's when.

This morning, I want to help you see

who are those who are being persecuted for righteousness' sake.

And in order to do justice to this last Beatitude,

we need to delve into verses 11 and 12.

Because this is the only Beatitude Jesus elaborates on.

And so here we have the Beatitudes.

Close out in 5, 10.

And then He elaborates on the last one.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake.

In verses 11 and 12.

He really wants us to pay attention.

He's emphasizing this last one for a reason.

But just to be clear,

Jesus is not asking His followers in Matthew 5, 10.

He's not asking them,

hey, are you willing to suffer for me?

He's telling them,

you will suffer for me.

And above all, He says this,

when you suffer for me,

rejoice.

And be glad.

It's a command.

And it's surprising.

Your calling to follow Christ

was your calling to suffer for Christ.

And all of us,

if we're followers of Jesus,

if we're living out the Beatitudes,

if we are looking and smelling like Jesus,

we're going to suffer for Him.

For His sake.

And so in order to help you see this

from this passage,

I'm going to make three points this morning.

I want you to help you to see that

if you're a follower of Jesus,

you're called to suffer for Him.

And I want to help you see that three ways.

First, the structure of this passage.

It's emphatic.

There's something about the structure

that helps us see that Jesus is really serious

in what He's saying here.

And then I want to hit on the subject matter

of being persecuted.

Okay?

So structure, subject,

and then we hit the surprise of the passage.

There's actually two surprises here.

And so that's how we're going to cover

this passage this morning.

The structure, subject, and the surprise.

Let's turn to the structure of this passage

which emphasizes what Jesus is saying here.

So if you look at Matthew 5.10,

we read,

Blessed are those who are persecuted

for righteousness' sake.

And we've got to ask the question,

who are those those?

Who are the those

that Jesus is talking about here?

And that's where I want to help you

see something going on in this passage

that may feel like a little English lesson at first.

So bear with me.

Has anybody heard the words

literary structure before?

Literary structure.

You might have heard them

in two different contexts,

like literary, okay, words, structure,

I think of buildings, form,

but I don't tend to use those together, okay?

So what we're talking about

when it's literary structure

is the form these words are taking

in the Beatitudes.

And they say something.

The form says something.

Let me show you.

Look at Matthew 5.3,

the first Beatitude.

Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs, say it with me,

is the kingdom of heaven.

Now go down to 5.10.

5.10 says,

Blessed are those who are persecuted

for righteousness' sake,

and say it with me,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Do you see anything familiar there

between those two verses?

They're bookends.

And so those two last parts

of 5.3 and 5.10,

they serve as bookends

for what Jesus is talking about.

And so what that means for us is

Jesus is saying

everything that comes in between

is to be taken as a whole.

It's taken as a composite profile

of a citizen of heaven.

And so all of this,

all of the Beatitudes,

they describe one person,

a follower of Jesus,

all of them together.

And so he's saying,

in light of those kind of

blessed are the poor in spirit,

blessed are those who are persecuted

for righteousness' sake,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

You see that?

Those are bookends that help us

to see that Jesus is talking

about one person here.

So the those in 5.10

are the beautiful ones in God's eyes.

Those who are manifesting

the Beatitudes.

The blessed ones.

Those who are mourning their sin.

Those who are meek.

Those who are hungering, thirsting

for righteousness.

The merciful.

The pure in heart.

Those peacemakers.

That's the those.

So, all the citizens of heaven.

Those who have been transferred

from the kingdom of darkness

into the kingdom of the beloved Son

through the blood of the Son.

That's who Jesus is talking about

in 5.10.

Blessed are those

who are persecuted

for righteousness' sake.

Now, a couple other things

structurally

that I want you to see here.

So, there's that

those bookends, right?

But I've been telling you

all along here

when we've been going through

the Beatitudes

it's a progression.

They build on one another.

And so,

we've gotten to

the last Beatitude.

This is the thunder.

This is what Jesus

wants to leave us with.

And so,

this progression

because it ends on

blessed are those

who are persecuted

for righteousness' sake.

Jesus,

by its position

in the progression,

Jesus is emphasizing it.

And not just that,

He then elaborates on it

in 11 and 12.

And so,

He said,

just to be sure,

I want you to see something,

okay?

And so,

I want you to see

how Jesus

emphasizes this.

So,

verse 10,

blessed are those

who are persecuted

for righteousness' sake

for theirs is

the kingdom of heaven.

It's third person,

okay?

Those people,

this is what's going to happen.

This is what's true of them.

And then look what happens

in verse 11.

Jesus turns up the volume.

And this is how He does it.

He says,

blessed are you

when you,

when others revile you

and persecute you

and utter all kinds of evil

against you falsely

on my account.

You see what He did right there?

He goes from talking about them

to talking about you.

He dials it in on us.

He's emphasizing this.

So,

whatever this last beatitude is,

it's where Jesus

is closing out

and emphasizing

and we've got to know

what He's talking about.

It's important.

And so,

we've talked about this structure

that is emphasizing

this last beatitude

and it has to do

with persecution.

So,

let's talk about this

subject matter

of persecution.

Blessed are those

who are persecuted

for righteousness' sake.

What is persecution?

Well,

as I told you in the intro,

it's getting singled out

and harassed

for who you are

and what you stand for.

And what I want you

to see right now

is how it shows up

three times in this passage.

So,

verse 10,

blessed are those

who are persecuted

for righteousness' sake.

Verse 11,

blessed are you

when others revile you

and persecute you.

And then in verse 12,

rejoice and be glad

for your reward

is great in heaven

for so they

persecuted the prophets

who were before you.

Persecution is the subject matter

going on right here.

Jesus is wanting

to say something

to us about it.

to prepare us

to help us think

well about it.

Well,

we need to ask the question,

okay,

that's the definition

of persecution.

What does this persecution

look like?

Because when I,

I'm guessing,

when you think of being persecuted,

you think about people

getting burned at the stake.

You're thinking about

missionaries

from bygone eras

and even present times

who suffer the greatest cost

and they're put to death

for Jesus.

Well,

that's true.

That's part of

what persecution is.

But it's not just that.

And thanks be to God,

Jesus elaborates on this.

And so,

He talks about persecution

in 5.10

and then He comes back

in 5.11

and helps us get

the gamut

of persecution.

Would you look at 5.11?

Blessed are you

when others revile you.

That means throw insults at you.

When they persecute you,

that means press hard on you.

Pursue you.

Come after you.

It can have a physical connotation.

And utter all kinds of evil

against you

falsely on my account.

False accusations.

So when Jesus is talking

about being persecuted,

He's not just talking about

getting beat up and killed.

He's talking about

when people talk

behind your back.

When people make fun of you.

When people cast insults

on you

for being a Christ follower.

When people

accuse you falsely

for things,

evil things,

on account of Jesus.

And so,

what Jesus means

by persecution

is not just this narrow

kind of people

dying for Jesus.

It includes,

but it's so much more.

And I'm guessing

if you're a follower

of Jesus,

you can relate

to what He's talking about.

You've suffered it.

You've suffered

the behind the back talking.

You've suffered

missing job promotions

because you won't do

certain things

in the workplace.

So,

we've been talking

about this subject matter

of persecution.

What it is.

Now,

I want to be clear

on that you see

who this is for.

Jesus does not say,

blessed are all

who are persecuted,

period.

He does not say that.

He says,

blessed are those

who are persecuted

for righteousness' sake.

What does righteousness' sake mean?

Well,

it's what He's been talking about

in the Beatitudes

that precede it.

Those who are poor in spirit,

those who mourn their sin,

those who are meek,

hunger and thirst

after righteousness,

merciful,

pure in heart,

peacemakers,

those,

that's the righteousness' sake.

It's very Christ-like.

If you start looking

at those Beatitudes,

you start seeing

a profile of Jesus Himself.

If you live that way,

you start smelling

and acting like Jesus.

But then,

Jesus,

if there's any question,

He elaborates on this.

So,

in verse 11,

He says this,

blessed are you

when others revile you

and persecute you

and utter all kinds

of evil against you falsely.

I don't know

what your version says.

It may say,

for my sake.

My version,

the ESV says,

on my account.

The righteousness' sake

ultimately

is Jesus' righteousness

for His sake.

And so,

what Jesus is saying here,

those who are blessed,

those who are happy

when persecuted,

those who rejoice

and can be glad

are those

who are suffering,

being singled out

and harassed

for Jesus.

He says,

says it's going to happen.

For righteousness' sake

is the equivalent

of saying

for Jesus' sake.

You might be like,

hmm,

you know,

nobody told me that

when I became a Christian.

That would have been

good information

when I became a Christian.

In Luke 14,

Jesus is talking

to these crowds

about the cost

of following Him.

And do you know

what He says to them?

Hey,

before you follow me,

just make sure

you do the math.

He says,

hey,

before you follow me,

you want to be like

the person

that when they build

their house,

they make sure

they have enough money

to cover it.

You want to be like

those kings

who go out to battle

but before they go out,

they send out envoys

to make sure

that if they engage

in battle

with this other army

that they can actually

beat it.

And what Jesus

is saying there is

make sure you know

what you're getting into

when you follow me.

And so if you're not

a Christian

in this room,

you need to realize

that following Jesus

is costly.

You suffer for Him.

There's great joy

in it.

And if you're someone

who'd become a Christian

and you didn't realize it,

it's like,

hello!

Surprise!

You're going to suffer.

What the New Testament

says over and over again

is that

to suffer for Jesus

is to be expected.

It's not if,

it's when.

Can I show you

some passages

where it's very clear?

In 2 Timothy 3.12,

Jesus says this,

oh, Jesus,

Paul says this,

indeed,

all who desire

to live a godly life

in Christ Jesus

will be persecuted.

No exceptions.

If you want to turn

in your Bible

to the book of John,

John 15,

and, you know,

when you hear John 15,

you're like,

oh, yes, Jesus.

He's the vine,

we're the branches,

we abide in Him

and He in us,

and then we bear

Jesus' fruit,

fruit that is,

smells and tastes,

feels like Jesus.

That's right.

That's the passage.

And then,

a little later on,

in verses 18 through 21,

in the same passage,

Jesus says this,

if the world hates you,

know that it has hated me

before it hated you.

If you were of the world,

the world would love you

as its own,

but because you're not

of the world,

because I chose you

out of the world,

therefore,

because you're mine,

therefore,

the world hates you.

Remember the word

that I said to you,

a servant is not greater

than his master.

If they persecuted me,

they will also persecute you.

You're going to get singled out

and you're going to get harassed

because you're a follower

of Jesus.

Expect it.

But all these things

they will do to you

on account of my name.

Verse 21.

Let me bring you

to one more passage.

1 Peter.

1 Peter.

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

Chapter 4.

1 Peter.

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

Chapter 4.

Starting in verse 12.

Beloved,

do not be surprised

at the fire trial

when it comes upon you

to test you

as though something strange

were happening to you.

but rejoice

insofar as you share

Christ's sufferings

that you may also

rejoice and be glad

when His glory is revealed.

If you are insulted

for the name of Christ,

you are blessed

because of the spirit

of glory

and of God

rests upon you.

And then he says,

but let none of you

suffer as a murderer

or a thief

or an evildoer

or as a meddler,

someone who sticks their nose

into other people's business.

Yet if anyone suffers

as a Christian,

let him not be ashamed,

but let him glorify God

in that name.

I'm not sure

if you noticed this,

but Peter says

that you may also rejoice

and be glad

when His glory is revealed.

If you are insulted

for the name of Christ,

you are blessed.

Do you know why

Peter sang that?

Peter was right there

listening to Jesus

during the Sermon on the Mount

when Jesus is talking

about the Beatitudes.

So when Jesus says,

blessed are those

who are persecuted,

that burned into Peter's mind.

And he knew that firsthand.

When he says,

rejoice and be glad,

it shows up here.

It burned into his mind.

So what I want to show you there

is that the Apostle Paul,

John, Peter,

all these guys say

that Christians will suffer

persecutions for Christ.

Jesus did.

This subject matter

is really important to get.

Especially where we are right now

as a culture.

None of us

are being threatened

with being killed.

At least no real threats.

We had something this past week

that was pretty interesting.

But what I want to make clear

is that Jesus is saying here,

it's not if you will suffer,

but when you will suffer

persecution for my sake.

If you've been called

to follow Christ,

you are called

to suffer for Christ.

Now I want you to see

the surprise.

There are actually

two surprises

in Matthew 5,

10 through 12.

Two surprises.

The first one is this.

You start feeling it

when you go from 5.9

to 5.10.

And so in verse 9,

you're like,

blessed are the peacemakers

for they shall be called

sons of God.

And you're kind of like this.

You read that and you're like,

oh yeah, let's rock.

Yeah, let's rock.

You know those college football games

where the football team

is running out to the field

through the tunnel

and they got that thing

up above them

that says win one

for the gipper

and they're like,

yeah, yeah, yeah,

hit it, hit it, hit it.

Let's go out.

Woo, woo, woo, woo.

You know, on our doors

we have,

you are now going out

into your mission field.

Go be peacemakers.

And we leave last week,

we're like,

yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hit it, hit it, hit it, hit it.

Peacemaking mission.

Woo.

Beep, beep, beep, beep.

And then you read verse 10.

Go, baby.

Go be a peacemaker

and get persecuted for it.

Go.

Woo.

It's a little bit of a surprise.

It's a little bit of a twist.

You're kind of thinking,

well, I wasn't expecting that.

In fact, in my flesh,

I would say seven beatitudes

are enough.

Seven beatitudes are cool.

Poor poverty of spirit, sweet.

Mourn, sin, great.

Meek, hunger, thirst, God.

Merciful, pure in heart,

I want that.

Peacemakers, okay, that's good.

Okay, five, nine.

Okay, let's just kind of scratch out

10, 11, and 12.

We can go from five, nine

to being salt and light in the world.

That would be great.

But Jesus doesn't let us do that.

He says there's going to be a cost

to your peacemaking,

just as there was a cost

to my making peace with you.

Blessed are the peacemakers.

Blessed are those who are persecuted

for righteousness' sake.

The irony is,

those who are seeking to make peace

get persecuted for making peace.

They get singled out and harassed.

Persecution is like the opposite of peace.

You know, it's like this.

All right, okay.

Why would anyone want to hurt,

injure one of Jesus' peacemakers?

Why would anyone want to do that?

I mean, they're just trying to be nice.

Well, let me help you with that.

The kind of peace

that God is seeking to make with sinners

that He sought to make with us,

the kind of peace that God is seeking to make

requires that sinners,

the sinfulness of a sinner's heart

gets exposed.

The peacemaking that we're called to do

for God to make His appeal through us,

2 Corinthians 5,

that appeal to sinners is

you are a sinner

and you need to be reconciled to God

through the blood of Jesus.

And so the peacemaking that we're called to

is not to kind of ignore sin

or sweep sin

or to appease sin

or to minimize sin.

It's to actually expose sin.

Just as my sin got exposed,

when I first came to Christ.

So God,

through the peacemaking gospel

of Jesus Christ,

confronts a sinner's sinfulness.

If you're starting to talk to people

about their sin,

you know what?

Some of them say,

oh man, thank you so much

for letting me know that.

Others will be like,

will you shut up?

You're a freak.

Get out of here.

Okay, alright.

Why would anyone want to hurt

one of Jesus' peacemakers?

Why would anyone want to hurt Jesus,

the ultimate peacemaker?

Think about it.

Jesus showed up,

the God-man,

the Prince of Peace,

showed up,

and by His very presence

and His poignant teaching,

He exposed sin in sinners.

Some of them fell at His feet.

Others called for His crucifixion.

By the time that Jesus was crucified,

the Pharisees,

those leaders and teachers of the law

in Jesus' day,

they hated what Jesus was saying.

They hated what He was teaching.

He was contradicting these men.

Calling them to account.

And in a couple weeks,

we're going to get into that.

We're going to see what Jesus says.

He's like,

you have heard it say this,

but I say.

And He did it publicly.

And so those guys,

He offended them.

And they hated Him for it.

Check it out.

Like,

these men felt threatened

by the Prince of Peace.

They felt attacked

by the Prince of Peace.

And they persecuted Him

for who He claimed to be

and what He taught.

Remember,

the Beatitudes are a corporate profile,

a composite profile

of being a citizen of heaven.

And as you grow

in these Beatitudes

and you become more and more beautiful

in God's sight,

you're becoming more and more

Christ-like in His sight.

And so as you take on Christ's character

and as you take on His cause,

you're going to be more offensive

to people,

though more beautiful in God's sight.

Brothers and sisters,

when you take responsibility

for your own sin against God

and you mourn over it,

you talk about it

with other people,

that can tick people off.

And you're like,

well, why?

What's wrong with that?

Because your honest dealing

with your own sin

ends up exposing the sin

in them.

and there's a good chance

they're not going to like that.

Alright, I'm going to give you

two examples here

of what this could look like

and what I'm guessing

some of you have already experienced.

Just to kind of

flesh this out.

Guys,

let's say you're with other guys

and the topic of pornography

comes up.

And these other guys

are not necessarily followers

of Jesus.

And so they start joking about it.

They start making fun of stuff.

They start laughing about it.

And it becomes very obvious

that they're laughing about it,

but you're kind of like,

I don't know,

what do I,

this is awkward.

And they notice

that you're not joining them.

So what do they do?

You don't think this is funny?

Hey, Mike,

you don't think this is funny?

And then,

you know,

you say something like,

well,

I don't.

Well, why not?

Well,

I think pornography

is the exploitation of women

and men.

I think that

it's wrong.

Oh.

Okay.

What else?

Is there any other reason

why you don't

think this is funny?

And then it comes out.

My Savior doesn't think

it's funny.

My King

thinks this is grievous.

My King,

my Lord,

the one I follow,

the one I want to be like,

if He were here,

He wouldn't look at pornography.

He would call it exploitation.

He would call it sin

and wrong.

If you say anything like that

in a group like that,

you know what happened?

You know what may happen?

The next day,

you might get emails

with links to porn sites

just to mock you,

just to tempt you,

because you're a follower

of Jesus

and you're seeking

to walk through this world

in a way that pleases Him.

and you suffer for Him.

You're reviled.

Evil accusations.

You see how this can work?

Let me bring another subject up.

Single women.

You're in a group

with other single women,

non-Christian friends,

and maybe some Christian friends,

and the topic of sex comes up.

And it becomes evident

that everybody

is having sex

except you.

And someone asks you,

why are you being so quiet?

And you have to say something like,

well,

I'm not having sex.

And then you start getting

these kinds of questions.

Are you afraid of getting an STD?

And you're kind of like,

well,

that's a good point,

but no,

that's not the driving reason.

Do you not think

that would be enjoyable?

No, no,

that's not it.

Did something happen

in your past?

And you're thinking

in your mind,

yes,

something did happen.

The Prince of Peace

came and saved me.

Called me to Himself.

Called me to live

in a way that

is like Him

and for Him.

And then so you have to

end up saying something like,

no,

I don't do that.

I want to obey my Savior

and live for Him

and live for Him

in every area of my life,

including my sexuality.

And so for me

to fully obey Him,

if I'm not married,

I'm celibate.

That's the way it goes.

And I know that pleases Him.

And so one of these other ladies

says something like this to you.

So what you're saying is,

because I'm sleeping

with my boyfriend right now,

you think I'm a sinner.

And you have to say

something like this.

Well, you know,

what God actually says,

and then you're interrupted

with something like,

whoa, whoa, whoa,

wait, wait, wait.

Wait, wait, wait.

Wait.

You are saying

that this guy

who lived 2,000 years ago,

died and was

quote, unquote,

raised from the dead,

is commanding you

to abstain from sex now

because you're not married.

Is that what you're saying?

Seriously?

Is that what you're saying?

And you have to say

something like,

that's a pretty good summary.

Yeah?

And then you hear

under this lady's breath,

wait until the other girls

hear about this.

You are such a self-righteous prude.

Anybody experience

anything like that before?

Because you're a follower of Jesus.

It comes out.

You're walking away

that pleases Him.

You're beautiful in His eyes,

but you're offensive

in the eyes of other people.

And you get singled out

and you get harassed for it.

Know that Jesus is like,

you are beautiful, darling.

Keep on keeping on.

Blessed are you.

So what we see,

the surprise here is

that those who are blessed,

poor in spirit,

pure in heart,

peacemakers,

surprise,

you get persecuted for it

on account of Jesus.

Blessed are you

when others revile you

and persecute you

and utter all kinds of evil

against you falsely

on my account.

That's surprise one.

Let me point you

to surprise two.

But before I do,

do you know what flack is?

Flack?

In World War II,

B-17 flying fortresses,

flying out of Britain,

over Europe,

over Germany,

they would have

hundreds of pounds

of bombs

and they would fly over

German industry

in order to kind of

wipe out

the production of war.

Planes like

Hell's Angels

or Sons of Fury,

Memphis Bell,

all B-17s,

crews of 10.

Well, I'm not sure

if you realize this,

but when they would fly over

their bomb target,

they would have to,

the pilot would have to

level out

and create a stable

flight platform

in order for the

bombardier to line up

his Norden bombsite.

And so for at least

five to seven minutes,

they would fly

straight as an arrow,

making no maneuvers

to avoid enemy attack.

They exposed themselves

to injury

in order to fulfill

their mission.

And I'm not sharing this

because we're going to

drop bombs on

our non-Christian family

and friends.

That's not why

I'm sharing this.

I'm sharing it

because God has called us

to fly straight

and to open ourselves

up to injury

for his glory,

for his sake.

And what would happen

is they would,

German,

the Nazis would fire up

what's called flack.

And so they would

launch these things up

with cannon

and there would be bombs

that would explode

and so this melting

hot metal would explode

and it was designed

to fly through machines

and men.

Just ravage anything

within its explosion.

So could you imagine

these flight crews

of ten flying for five

or ten minutes

over a flight

over a target zone

getting hammered

by flack?

We're going to get flack.

If you're a follower

of Jesus,

you're going to get flack

for it.

Superheated metal

designed to hurt you

with words.

Gossip.

We shouldn't be surprised

that peacemakers

for Jesus

are going to be

persecuted for Jesus.

Surprise too.

It's the command.

Verse 12.

Rejoice and be glad.

When you are getting flack,

Jesus says,

don't ignore the pain.

Pain's real.

It's kind of scary.

But then he says,

rejoice and be glad.

Rejoice and be glad.

Blessed are you

who are persecuted

for my name's sake.

Rejoice and be glad.

They're the only commands

in the Beatitudes.

This is the only command

in the Beatitudes.

It's emphasis.

Jesus, it's popping it.

It's like rejoice,

be glad when you suffer

for me.

And in order to wrap us up

this morning,

I want to give you

three reasons to rejoice

when the flack comes.

It might come today.

It might come tomorrow.

It's coming.

Three reasons to rejoice.

The reason number one,

to rejoice

when persecuted for Jesus,

is found in verse 12.

You're among good company.

So they persecuted the prophets

who were before you.

You're in good company.

Moses,

David,

Daniel,

Isaiah,

Jeremiah,

Job even.

All these prophets suffered

for righteousness' sake.

And it just doesn't end

in the Bible.

It's all throughout

church history.

Hudson Taylor,

John Huss,

John Patton,

Henry Morden,

Amy Carmichael,

Hudson Taylor,

Adoniram Judson,

all these suffered

flack for Jesus.

You're in good company.

You're in good company.

You're in great company.

Because Jesus suffered too.

Who for the joy set before Him

endured the cross.

He knows mocking firsthand.

He knows it.

You're in good company.

Rejoice when you suffer.

You're suffering with good company.

Second, rejoice.

Persecution is proof positive

of your heavenly citizenship.

It proves it.

If you are willing

to suffer for Jesus,

it shows that you're legit.

Your citizenship

is not in this world,

but in a world yet to come.

In Matthew 5.10,

Jesus says,

Blessed are those

who are persecuted

for righteousness' sake,

for theirs is

the kingdom of heaven.

You've got a passport

that says,

Kingdom Citizen,

and it's stamped

with the blood of Jesus.

Legit!

So when you suffer for Jesus,

and it's clear it's for Him,

it demonstrates

that your citizenship

is no longer in this world,

but in the world to come.

If you're taking notes,

write down Hebrews 11,

Hebrews 11:13–16

verses 13-16,

and be encouraged by that.

Reason number three.

This is where Jesus goes

in verse 12.

Rejoice and be glad

for your reward

is great in heaven.

Reward.

Rejoice.

There's reward.

When you suffer now,

there's going to be reward then.

Now when you think of reward,

I'm guessing you think

of material things.

And yes,

if you're a follower of Jesus,

you probably do have a mansion

on the boulevard

in the New Jerusalem.

Okay?

Just saying.

But,

that's not the greatest reward.

Let me try to capture

the greatest reward.

Just imagine hearing this

with your name in it.

Michael.

Well done.

Well done,

good and faithful servant.

Enter the joy

of your master.

Come on in.

Come on in.

Enjoy what I have for you

and with you.

The greatest reward

in heaven

is Jesus.

He's there.

Jesus Himself.

Well done,

good and faithful servant.

enter the joy

of your master.

That's the second surprise.

It's weird.

Could you imagine

what happens

when a Christian

who suffers for Jesus

starts to rejoice?

Do you know what happens?

People notice.

And those who persecute us

get a taste of the gospel

that they would have

never known otherwise.

We love those

who persecute us.

When you suffer flack

for Jesus,

rejoice.

You're in good company.

You're a citizen.

And your Savior awaits.

We've looked at the structure.

We've looked at the subject.

We've looked at the surprises.

This morning,

remember,

your call to follow Jesus

is a call to rejoice

in suffering for Him.

Let's pray.

God in heaven,

thank You so much

that You would call us

to share in the sufferings

of Jesus.

We're not interested.

We're not masochists.

We're not seeking it out.

God,

we would pray for peace.

We would ask,

God,

for our leaders

would govern in such a way

that we can live

in peaceful ways,

making peace.

But God,

I do pray that You would

give us the grace

to be faithful to You

and to even rejoice

when we catch flack

for our Savior.

In Your name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.