The Happy Life: E7 The Persecuted for Righteousness Sake

Chris: Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: Well I everybody okay. Hey buddy, well welcome back to the Formed Podcast. ⁓ we hit record and we were just laughing, so ⁓ it is truly the happy life on the Formed Podcast today. We're just laughing to get us kicked off here. Welcome back. It's the l mm. I don't know. I have to go back and reevaluate. Yeah. ⁓ this is our last week of the Happy Life series, so if you haven't

Chris: We're here as perform podcast. We weren't ready yet. It is the happy life. Are are you are you in the happy life though, Jacob? With the It is. We're like jumpy, I think. We're giddy.

Jacob Creighton: If haven't done it, go ahead and ⁓ listen to all those all these episodes. They've been it's been really good for me at least. So we hope you enjoy this. Yeah. But ⁓ Chris, I am living the happy life. The the the Villanova Knicks overcame all odds last night. ⁓ I'm not even a Knicks fan, I'm a Cavs fan. He's a Celtics fan.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah, this has been a fun series to plan for, kinda kinda wrestle through. Ha. The villainova next. I am definitely not a Knicks fan, being a Celtics fan.

Jacob Creighton: But ⁓ I am a huge Villanova fan, so I've been I was even honestly I was pulling for the Knicks even against the Cavs and my friends were giving me you know, they were giving me crap for it, so

Chris: But a random factoid for all of our listeners, Jacob and I were at a conference in Austin, Texas, and we we scored tickets to the Spurs game for Wimby's first game. Yep.

Jacob Creighton: Yes, we were. Mm-hmm. Yep, Wemby's first game. They we took here's the best part of the story. We we we fly in or we fly in to Austin. I flew into Austin and rented a car and so we were supposed to, you know, have just a regular old car. And we got to the desk and she said, Hey, ⁓ is an electric car fine? And

Chris: Austin, yeah. Mm-hmm.

Jacob Creighton: If you can't tell Chris and I are vastly different human beings when it comes to this kind of thing. And I was like, I don't see why not. I mean, we're just gonna be buzzing around here. At that point we hadn't even gotten tickets to that g or no, we maybe we did. But anyway. So yeah, it was like, Yeah, we're just gonna be buzzing around here, sure, we'll get an electric car. So then we we ended up going there. It goes with Chris at the time drove like a what, a ninety nine F one fifty or something? F two hundred diesel.

Chris: Ha ha. We hadn't even talked about it. No, we haven't even decided yet. F two fifty diesel.

Jacob Creighton: And so I'm like, yeah, we'll be fine in an electric car. So then we decided to drive to San Antonio, which is an hour away, and we spent most of that trip standing in just empty parking lots, slow drip charging our car, because it wasn't a Tesla, it was like some random one. So good times. But that was not the happy life. It was fun seeing Wemby's first game, although, you know, we're talking about Blessed Are the Persecuted. He has been

Chris: Charging our car. ⁓ man. ⁓ happ that was not the happy life. That was not it was. It was.

Jacob Creighton: ⁓ a persecutor of my man Jalen Brunson pushing him in the back of the neck. But that's all right. Jalen Brunson's blessed with the three one lead.

Chris: We're going nowhere fast.

Jacob Creighton: Alright, we're get we're we're ⁓ we're we're diving in. That was our that was our precursor to this verse, which is not at all, you know, the context and what this is actually talking about, which we will talk we will talk about. ⁓ all right. Whew Matthew five. Matthew chapter five, the last beatitude, verse ten. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness.

Chris: We're getting into it. We're the happy life. Here's Yeah. No. Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: For the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness. For the kingdom of heaven is theirs. If you have your Bible, go ahead and open it. Matthew five. We're gonna be kind of in verses ten through twelve, just kind of talking about this ⁓ idea. And yeah, we'd love for you to follow along. So, ⁓ Chris, why don't you kick us off? You were you were talking a little bit about ⁓ just this beatitude and ⁓

Chris: The man.

Jacob Creighton: Honestly, my thoughts as as we've kinda jumped in is that this beatitude feels like it's the ⁓ kind of opposite. This is maybe the one where I feel like this is the opposite of how culture would find being blessed. and you talk about it as like this the social mirror. I'd love for you to unpack that for us as we get going.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no, I mean, I I I agree with you. I mean, I'm glad that you said that too. I ⁓ we were talking about that kind of in like pre-show, you know, run through and stuff. But yeah, this is like the this is one that's really hard to comprehend ⁓ in a cultural lens. Blessed are those who are persecuted. And you know, psychologists say that we have a social mirror that we we we don't know ourselves very well. We know ourselves through the lens of others, through the sh the social lens. And so I I think that's why personally I think social media is such a big deal in our culture. I I don't think it's a big deal because it's actually purposeful or even really, I think if you were to poll people, I don't think they would even tell you that social media is that that that helpful per se. What it does is it actually gives us an avenue for that dopamine hit of likes. ⁓ people liked my post, people

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Chris: you know, follow me. They it you know, there's this like this this mirror that comes. And so we we we build ourselves up based on how people respond to us and how they like us. If they like us, we feel secure. If they don't like us, we feel insecure. And you know, we kind of run that. And so, you know, the persecution piece, blessed are those who are persecuted. It's like, wait a minute, hold on. Start this over, Jesus, can you run this back for a second? And

Jacob Creighton: Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Chris: Know so we have to understand what he means when he says persecuted. Well, the the the word that he's using for persecuted is gonna kind of give the the image of being pursued or chased down or hunted like some type of like lion or you know, wild beast or something, or ⁓ you know, as I go hunting a deer, I'm I guess I'm persecuting that deer or something. Amen. But it we don't obviously don't experience the the the physical persecution and our potential.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Right. Mm. Right.

Chris: Particular culture, although that is experienced in other places in the world for Christianity. ⁓ but man, sometimes opposition in in the light of our social acceptable culture per se, not being light can feel as if we are being persecuted. And I think we have to acknowledge that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. At the very least, hated. Yeah. If we're not liked, well then we're the other thing and nobody likes us. Yeah. Yeah.

Chris: Well, and on their side, you know, I s I I've said before, in in our culture too, we have the other side of just people because of social media, they can say whatever they want. And so you have these influencers that aren't influencing for positive, they're influencing for negative in in the sense that they're just trying to make people mad and they're trying to stir the pot. And so they're they're like, Well, I get persecuted all the time. And it's like, well, no, you're you're pleasing a certain tribe or you're trying to attack a certain tribe.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Right.

Chris: So that that doesn't really count either in the sense. Now, I think all of this has to be cleared up because we have to read through the whole verse. And so it's not just blessed are the persecuted, because persecuted, like being persecuted, you don't we're not persecuted for the sake of persecution, we're persecuted for the sake of righteousness. And and that really begins to short circuit. ⁓ is and and because righteousness is we're persecuted not because of

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Right. Yeah.

Chris: us expressing ourselves a certain way or becoming who we think we should be. No, we're persecuted for the sake of righteousness. That is right standing with God. And if we're in right standing with God, we're doing, we're reflecting, we're becoming like Him. And that that changes that that that changes the script. That short circuits the cultural mind. ⁓

Jacob Creighton: Mm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah, the

Chris: purely carnal cultural mind.

Jacob Creighton: I think as as humans we desire acceptance and what how culture is wired is to say, Hey, your acceptance needs to come from everybody else. And if it doesn't, well then like what are you doing? And I I think that's how we feel it. ⁓ but Jesus is is essentially saying, like, acceptance is a good thing. ⁓ it's just a matter of where you're

Chris: Yeah. Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: looking for and getting it from? Is it ⁓ through culture and through ⁓ the world or is it through me? Because I am I am he's basically in this verse calling you you're like blessed already and what you can expect is persecution. What you can expect is pushback. You don't necessarily you don't need to go seek it out, but ⁓ you can expect that

Chris: Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: when you're committed to my ways and my righteousness, ⁓ you're gonna experience pushback and hate and ⁓ to his listeners, probably to the point of like public humiliation and death and torture. ⁓ for us. We don't experience that in Greenfield in our community. ⁓ but there's so there's there's a lot of levels to that I think that that this can go. So

Chris: Yeah. Yeah, no. ⁓ That is so good, man. What I I think, I mean, you gotta we gotta push that some. I think and I think that's where I mean I I again I this is where the word of God is so awesome. Cause I mean, I spent so much time studying this and I didn't I didn't pull that string right there. And if we sit in the in the truth that our righteousness is not earned by us. So it's not like we're doing something and God is being like, okay, now I'm pleased with you.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah, now it's it. Yeah.

Chris: Now you're acceptable. He he's like, no, okay, here, watch this. I'm gonna, I'm taking your shame, your guilt, your fear from you. I'm going to the cross. I'm going to break my body, pour out my blood as a substitutionary sacrifice to atone for your sin. Here's my righteousness, wear it well. And it's like, wait, but God, I didn't do anything. He's like, I know exactly. Just wear it well. I I approve of you now.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Right.

Chris: because of this righteousness. And it's like, wait, what? And so I I am accepting of you. You're in right standing with me. So whatever the world says, doesn't matter. Because I I I am approving and accepting of you. I mean, that is so good.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah, guess who sets the perfect st perfect example of this verse is Jesus Himself. And all of these beatitudes, I think that's the point of it. ⁓ but yeah, he is the one being persecuted ultimately, and he's perfectly walking in the righteousness of God and ⁓ he calls us blessed because of the work that he's done.

Chris: Yeah, exactly. Well and and all of these beatitudes are because of the work of Christ. Like we can be poor in spirit because Christ was poor in spirit. We can we can be pure in heart because Christ set the tone for being pure in heart. We can hunger and thirst for righteousness because Christ, even himself, as he went up on the mount and squirreled away time to go pray with God, he hunger and thirsted for righteousness.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah, right.

Chris: And I mean, there's ⁓ we can be peacemakers because he was a peacemaker. And so he it's like him, he's inviting us into his work, he's forming us and shaping us to look just like him. But man, that righteousness piece is good, man. Good gracious, bro. I'll preach, Jacob.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yep. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's dive in yeah. It is good. There we go. ⁓ yeah, let's dive into it a little bit. you know, obviously we gave the caveat of like, yeah, we're not being like publicly flogged in the streets of Greenfield because of, you know hopefully well, yeah.

Chris: Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: We're n it's just not our reality. But ⁓ there are ways that we can kinda press into this and and feel ⁓ where we kind of experience that pushback as we follow in in God's ways of righteousness. ⁓ Jackie Hill Perry has a quote to kind of kick us off into this section. ⁓ if God is Lord, then he has the right to define what is good and what is right and what is true.

Chris: Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: even when it contradicts everything our culture tells us to chase. So the question is and and we can kinda talk about these different examples, ⁓ what are those things that we as we pursue God and his righteousness and this the the way that he has designed us to operate, ⁓ where do we experience pushback from the world?

Chris: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think honestly the the ill the the opportunities to talk about this are endless. I mean, everybody has their own. ⁓ but a couple that I just kind of hit on, just kind of thinking about our congregation specifically. So yours may be a little bit different based on your your context, if you're listening from somewhere else. But you know, in our in our in our, we have a very high achieving congregation. And man, they're some of the brightest people, hardest working people ⁓ that there is. ⁓ they love deeply, but time is a big thing.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah, for sure. For sure.

Chris: You know, our culture talks about you you have to be productive with your time. You need to use it, monetize hobbies, ⁓ use every every second you get, maximize every every minute, don't waste your time. And it it's kind of like, okay, if I buy into this, then what do I end up getting in the end? And so, you know, as followers of Jesus, we're like, wait a minute, we have been given 24 hours a day.

Jacob Creighton: Don't waste it.

Chris: We're we have to spend some of that in our most vulnerable state sleeping. I we have to steward. We're invited to steward this other time. And it's like, it's not, it's not ours, it's his. So we're already looking at it from a different lens. And so we're like, you know what? Wait a minute. That like push for productivity. What if I leverage that time for worship? Or what if I actually use that to

Jacob Creighton: Yeah.

Chris: Rest or spend time in prayer or like sit and just be reminded of what the righteousness that God has has given me. I mean, I've heard people say like they do those kind of things and they're told, well, you're wasting your potential now.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah. Is Wasting your time, wasting your potential. Why would you do that for it? Go do something meaningful.

Chris: What would you do that for? What would you do that? How dare you? How dare you waste your time?

Jacob Creighton: How dare you like sit and pray about this, man? Like go do something that's actually gonna change it, you know, as though yeah. But we function on a different scale. Like we we know and believe, and it's the truth is that ⁓ God is the the one who created and sustaining and is working and is active and and so us even taking time to sit and get away and slow down and pray.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ not Exactly.

Jacob Creighton: We're partnering with him. We're asking him to act. ⁓ and he's doing it. Yeah.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Another one was ⁓ was obviously money. Okay, here goes the pastor again talking about money. But I found this quote by ⁓ Tim Jackson, who's an economist, and he says, In our culture, all right, that and I don't from what I can tell, this fella is not a follower of Jesus. So I don't think he's in like a this isn't coming from like a church Christian mindset, ⁓ Christian worldview. He's saying in our culture, we're being persuaded to spend money we don't have on things we don't need. to create impressions that won't last on people we don't care about. So that's the expectation. And, you know, I I I gave the example that we've we had a a young woman in our church, just small act, actually no longer at our church, but having to move away for her job, but she came out of college and she became a follower of Jesus while she was in college. Her parents had access to her bank account as she came out of college and began to work her first job. And they were appalled at how much she was sacrificially given to the church. And let her know about that. And man, it, you know, obviously she wasn't flogged in the streets of Greenfield, as you said. But I mean, she faced obs ⁓ opposition from people that she loved dearly. And and it it hurt her. And yeah, I mean, it's just fascinating. I mean, she she decided hey, I'm gonna live out and live from this righteousness that I've been given. I'm gonna be sacrificial with the

Jacob Creighton: Right. Yeah.

Chris: the the allotment that I have been given. And she got pushback from people that she loves.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah.

Chris: So another one I was talking about was parenting. I mean, I think parents, we have a lot of young parents in our in our church and it is insane to me, you know, having kids now. I just my oldest just turned 14 and my youngest about to turn 12. So, you know, I've been out of like the younger stage for a while, but man, it's it's crazy to see how parents basically use their children to build a resume. And either they're living vicariously through them or they're just they they want their child to ⁓ you know take advantage of every ⁓ academic opportunity or athletic or social standing or whatever it can be and you know some of our parents have said like hey i really do value the spiritual formation of my child and in various social circles man that there's passive aggressive comments there's side eyes there's exclusion and

Jacob Creighton: Yeah.

Chris: They're just trying to value the spiritual formation of their child. They're trying to live from the righteousness that they received from God. And it's like, whoa. You know, another one we talked about was just this our sexuality ⁓ is something that I think in our culture is if you don't align with the cultural views of sexuality, there is going to be a price that is paid for that. How dare you?

Jacob Creighton: Right. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Chris: step out of line with the cultural's understanding of of how we use our bodies, what what constitutes a a place where it is safe to ⁓ are are are able to have like a sexual relationship, a physical relationship. And and you know God sets standards for that. And and his creation dictates various ⁓ standards that we hold to very dearly. And and not as a way that we we

Jacob Creighton: Right. Mm-hmm. Right. Yeah.

Chris: you know, accuse the other side or or or trash the other side either, but in a way that we hold this convictional stance on sexuality, the way that we express our sexuality, ⁓ in a way that's God honoring, that's living from the righteousness that we've received. And man, there there's there's opposition that will come from that. ⁓ you know, same goes with ⁓ politics, man. That is something that, you know,

Jacob Creighton: For sure, for sure.

Chris: I don't think Jesus would would claim the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. Like I just don't think that would be his case. And and I think as our as a church, that's we we stand, we we stand with that in the sense that, man, we love the country that we're in. We are situated in the United States of America. I am so thankful for the freedoms that we have. I don't think those freedoms supersede our confession that Jesus Christ is Lord. And

Jacob Creighton: Yeah.

Chris: You know, that's fun to say on Sunday. You know, we can raise our hands and we can cry out, Jesus is Lord. But what happens on what happens on Tuesday when our political tribe

Jacob Creighton: Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Chris: you know, stand like has a different ⁓ different belief than than what Christ would tell us to do. some opposition may come. And again, I think we could keep going, but I mean I think this is where, you know, when we look at these things, I think this is where like the rubber begins to meet the road. I mean, if you look at all these other beatitudes, you know, if we're if if if Christ is calling us out to live in righteousness, to be poor in spirit, to ⁓

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Mm.

Chris: To to even grieve sin, to to to grieve and mourn, ⁓ to be peacemakers, to be pure in heart, to hunger and thirst for righteousness. This is where it meets this is where the rubber meets the road when that persecution happens.

Jacob Creighton: Mm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love how he continues on in in verse eleven and twelve he says, You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you, and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me. So be glad and rejoice because your reward your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Chris: Yeah. Yep.

Jacob Creighton: ⁓ again, just like doubling down on that blessed nature of and you're you're already accepted and greater's your reward gonna be in heaven. And so this isn't the end. When you experience persecution, it's not the end. It's not even what defined you in the first place. ⁓ I do think kinda to to hit the other side of the the coin

Chris: Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: We I I think I feel this n sometimes we might feel the temptation or the urge to not step out in faithfulness in ways of of righteousness because of fear of persecution or fear of, you know,

Chris: Yeah. ⁓ yeah.

Jacob Creighton: my parents look at my bank account statement and they ask me w what's going on. Like, man, I don't want that to happen. you know, my fr my kid's ⁓ friend's parent is we're having an uncomforta comfortable station. I kinda wanna avoid that. ⁓ yeah, I I I just wonder maybe there's just an encouragement ⁓ from the ending of these verses eleven and twelve is

Chris: ⁓ huh. Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: ⁓ to to press on in faithfulness to God's standard and and righteousness. ⁓ your rewards in heaven. Yeah.

Chris: ⁓ yeah. Well, and I think that's the thing. I I think your reward is in heaven, but I think there's also a tangible reality that that we live in in this world too. And that's why the kingdom of heaven is ours. Like we're invited into that kingdom now, not just not just later. But I even mentioned it in the in the sermon, but th there's a witness that that happens when we live out, when we live from the righteousness that we receive from Christ.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Right. Mm-hmm.

Chris: regardless of of persecution. And I shared a story of a guy who was a who was a like a pretty like respected atheist that was going to be a pastor, became an atheist, but he saw everyday ordinary people that went through really hard things, that didn't lose their faith, that still had hope, that rejoiced, they were glad, they were Still sacrificial. They were still loving. And he was like, that right there is something that atheism can't bring me. And so these people, in the midst of their persecution for righteousness' sake, demonstrated the kingdom of God in a tangible way to someone who said there was no God. Now, granted, the reward in heaven is great.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah, for sure. For sure. Yeah.

Chris: But man, when we live it out, there is also a witness that we're doing here and people are watching. You talk about a stark difference. I mean, we tell people, Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, and we're like, wait, what? You know, like that's so far off. But when you actually live it out, it can be breathtaking, man.

Jacob Creighton: For sure. Yeah, yeah. That's good. Kinda to close this out, you ⁓ you ask the question and it's challenging me even right now reading it. will you choose the kingdom even if it costs you the approval of the world? You insert the scenario here and there. you know, even if even as things now are as things are now in our culture, will you choose the kingdom even if it costs you approval?

Chris: That's good. Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: ⁓ approval rating down. ⁓ will you choose the kingdom if things culturally get disastrous, you know? ⁓ and so like will you choose the kingdom and faithfulness of God and ⁓ just know that that you're accepted, your award is in heaven, your witness is great now, ⁓ even as you experience persecution. ⁓ yeah. It's the the challenge to

Chris: Yeah. Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: leave us here with today. Any any thoughts on that?

Chris: Man, I I that's that's that that's a question that even haunts me. I'm I'm a pastor because I have this together. But man, will I choose the kingdom even if it costs me the approval of the world? That's something to wrestle with right there.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Well, thank you for joining us on this series of the happy life. ⁓ we started out laughing and we ended ⁓ really contemplating every area of our lives. So that's how it's supposed go. So ⁓ leave us a comment. ⁓ go ahead and share this with your friends, coworkers, family. ⁓ join us for church on Sunday at Steel City Church. We'd love to see you and ⁓ we'd love to connect with you. So ⁓ leave us a comment and we'll see you next time.

Chris: Yeah. That's it. See ya, see ya soon. That's it.

Jacob Creighton: Formed podcasts. See you soon.