Well, I mentioned that we've been in a series on the Beatitudes for two months now. This is week eight. And if I can give a quick summary of Beatitude one through seven. So these are the first words of Jesus in what was his greatest sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, and starts in Matthew chapter five.
The sermon actually encompasses three chapters, chapter five, chapter six, and chapter seven. And each of these first seven Beatitudes are really talking about the character of the follower of Jesus. So what will happen in the heart of someone who is a follower of Jesus? Now what's fascinating is that for all of these character qualities, we don't pick and choose.
We can't say, well, I like one and three and five, but I'm not too big on two and four. No, they're all a part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus, similar to the fruit of the spirit. We don't pick on which of those nine fruit we like. They're all a part of the spirit in us.
Now what's interesting is that it's easy to see these first seven Beatitudes how their character qualities. So the poor in spirit of those who are seeking righteousness. But this eighth one is very unique and a little bit more of a challenge to understand because while the first seven are clearly about who we are as followers of Jesus, this eighth one is more about what we do as followers of Jesus. Now I think the way we'll want to see it is that it's a litmus test.
And if the first seven have become who we are, then the eighth Beatitude is going to be the test of whether it's real in us. Okay, so well, I think kind of bring this out as we describe this eighth Beatitude. But let's read it this morning. I'm in Matthew chapter five, verse 10.
Jesus said, blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now, Beatitude eight has a unique place among the eight for a number of reasons, including that it's the only one that Jesus gave an extended explanation for. So the other seven ended just like that one. But Jesus here goes on and gives an extended explanation in verse 11 and 12.
So let's read that. Look on the screen. Jesus said, blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Now, in some ways, this is the most striking Beatitude for a number of reasons. First of all, it's last. And the last in a list is always going to be significant. It's the longest of the Beatitudes.
When we add this extended explanation that Jesus just gave, it's the only one that includes a command, rejoice and be glad. It's the only one that is repeated by Jesus as we just saw. And it's the only one in which we are directly addressed as the reader. So here, Jesus moves into the second person, blessed are you.
So in each of the others, it's blessed are those. But here, Jesus moves into a direct address to us. You are blessed when. Now, it also holds the honor of being the blessing that no one wants to be persecuted.
Now persecuted in the Greek word is a word pronounced, dioko. And it means literally to pursue one as if they are fleeing. And it means to chase, to harass, to vex, to pressure. It was a word that was used for hunting down a criminal who was trying to escape.
Now, here, it's being used to describe those who lay hold of to oppress the blessed, the followers of Jesus. Now, it's important to clarify that Jesus doesn't say that you will be persecuted because you're annoying or obnoxious or offensive or overzealous. Jesus very specifically is saying that we're persecuted because of our righteousness. And what does that mean?
Well, we looked at that in one of the other beatitudes. Righteousness is living in a way that reflects Jesus in our life. So when we are living in a way that reflects Jesus, then persecution that grows out of that is what Jesus is talking about. Now, here's why that kind of living brings persecution.
Here's what Jesus said in John chapter 3 verse 19. Jesus says, light came into the world, but people love darkness more than light because their actions were evil. So what Jesus says is that light exposes sin and people don't like that. This is exactly why Jesus, who was perfect in every way, was crucified, who was placed on a cross and killed simply because he brought light to the world.
And those who have darkness in their hearts and their lives don't like when the light is shining on them. And persecution is the result. Now let's be clear. There are two important facts that I want to talk about in regards to persecution.
Let's start with this one. If we're living for Christ, we should expect persecution. That's the first thing I want us to see here. Now, let me show you what I mean by that.
So there are 12 original disciples. And according to church tradition, 10 of those died for their fate. They were killed as martyrs because they were followers of Jesus. So here's what we learned from church history.
Peter was crucified upside down. Andrew was scourged. So he was beaten like Jesus was. He, rather than being nailed to a cross, was tied to a cross because they wanted to extend his death.
And it took a full two days for him to die. James was beheaded, a very gruesome way to die. Philip was crucified as well in the 54 AD. Bartholomew was scanned alive and then beheaded.
Thomas angered religious authorities in India and was run through with the sword. Matthew was stabbed in the back in Ethiopia. James, at age 94, was stoned and clubbed to death in Jerusalem. Thaddeus was crucified in Turkey in 72 AD and Simon crucified in England in 74 AD.
So of the 12, original disciples only John died of natural causes. And he was exiled to an island named Patmos where he wrote the book of Revelation and died at the age of 94. Now the Apostle Paul also was killed as a martyr for his fate at the hands of the Roman emperor Nero. There were other legendary early church leaders who died martyrs deaths.
Let me just tell you about a few of those. We've got some paintings that illustrate this. A man by the name of Hippolytus in the third century Rome was killed by being torn apart by horses. This was called quartering and they tied a rope to each one of his limbs and the horses went off in four different directions.
St. Ignatius was eaten by wild animals in the Colosseum of Rome. St. Lawrence was grilled and toasted alive, placed close enough to the fire, to cook him, not so close that it would put him on fire.
A Catherine of Alexandria was put to death on a breaking wheel, which I won't describe because it's really too gruesome to describe. Now what's the point here? Am I trying to gross you out? No, but I'm trying to illustrate this is real.
This is real. And for many centuries, this was a part of the cost for what it meant to be a follower of Jesus. It wasn't the exception. It was the rule.
In fact, Peter, in his letter called First Peter, as we know, was predominantly right to Christians who were dealing with persecution and the threat of death that hung over them constantly. And here's what he wrote in 1 Peter, chapter 4, verse 12. He says, Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. So this entire letter of Peter's was written to Christians to encourage and embolden them to keep the faith even in the face of persecution.
Now why shouldn't we be surprised at persecution? Well we shouldn't be surprised because this is the nature of sin in people. It is disturbing and disgusting to see the creativity in which people have invented to kill other people. And I'm not trying to be sensational in describing what I just have to you.
I'm trying to give just a little picture of the dark creativity that mankind has shown in brutal ways against men. We shouldn't be surprised at that because this is the nature of sin. And we've seen it throughout history. We continue to see it today.
We shouldn't be surprised because this is also the reality of the spiritual battle. There's an enemy and he's working overtime to destroy the church, always has and always well. Now our question is what about today? Are we talking simply about ancient history?
Well here's the truth. We sit here in this comfortable and beautiful facility this morning insulated from real life persecution. And we live in America where we have 300 plus years of strong Christian influence and we suffer very little real life persecution. In fact lots of people don't even know it exists in the world and exists in the world it does.
Now our mainstream news media essentially does not cover it for a variety of reasons that we don't get into. But persecution is a real thing in the world today. So let me share a few statistics with you that might shock you. Here's an organization called Open Doors International which tracks Christian persecution globally and here's what they record that happened in 2024.
380 million Christians experienced persecution or discrimination worldwide. That's up 15 million from 2023. That's more by the way than the entire population of United States of America. 4476 Christians that we know of documented cases of Christians were killed for their faith.
3100 puts to death in Nigeria alone. That's 8 Christians who were martyred every single day in Nigeria in 2024. 4744 other Christians were arrested, detained without trial or imprisoned. India saw the sharpest increase in that regard.
1,629 believers detained over 500 sentenced. North Korea has now for 23 years topped the list of persecution of Christians. They on a regular basis execute torture and incarcerate in hard labor camps. We have no idea exactly what's happening in North Korea because it's such a closed country.
Now, what we've been talking about is not ancient history. What we've been talking about is happening right now today while we sit here in the lovely comfort of our Christian chairs in worship this morning. Now could it happen in America? I don't know.
I hope not and we'd like to think not. But we might be foolish to think that's the case. Because one thing we know is the 1950s are not coming back. And for decades now, we have been as a country moving consistently away from the kind of Christian values that epitomize our country for a very long time.
Now persecution doesn't start with beheadings. Persecution starts with marginalization. Persecution starts by being called a bigot because you believe what the Bible says about marriage. Persecution starts when a person loses their job for refusing to compromise their convictions.
Now one thing we know is that we can't be unprepared for persecution because the Bible says that we should expect persecution. Now here's the second fact. I want to talk about regards to persecution. And that is we should rejoice in persecution.
That's what Jesus said. And this is a hard one. We don't like it. And we really don't want to hear it.
Jesus doesn't say we should bear persecution or resent persecution or withstand persecution. He says we should rejoice in it. Now Peter repeated the same thing. Again, two people who were experiencing persecution in real life.
I mean, people whose brothers had been killed or parents had been imprisoned who almost everyone there knew firsthand if they hadn't experienced persecution themselves. New first-hand someone who had. Okay, so here's what Peter said to these people. But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian, praise God for the privilege of being called by his name.
Now this is a revolutionary concept to rejoice in persecution. Now why in the world should we do that? Well I think there's at least four good reasons why this actually makes sense and why we should do it. Again, we should rejoice in persecution because we have God's spirit in us and on us.
So back to this letter from 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 14. Peter says if you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed for the glorious spirit of God rests upon you. Okay, so with simple fact, bears a reminder, when we become a Christian, that means that God's spirit moves into our hearts and resides within us. So Peter says very clearly that when we are persecuted, he says the glorious spirit of God rests upon you.
Now does that mean if we suffer persecution, we get more of God's spirit? Maybe, maybe. Does it mean that we have a deeper identification with Christ? Absolutely.
Does it mean that we can have a deeper appreciation for the sacrifice that Jesus paid for us? That's the point. That when we suffer persecution, we truly understand that this is real, that Jesus was killed not for anything that he did, but for bringing light to the world and offering salvation to those who needed it. And Paul said it like this in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 8 to 10.
He said we are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed, we're perplexed, but not driven to despair. He said we're hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we're not destroyed through suffering. Our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
So there is some kind of spiritual connection that happens whenever we suffer as a result of our faith. And that's clear. So why should we rejoice in persecution? Because something happens spiritually when we do.
Here's the second reason why should we rejoice when we're persecuted? We join a distinguished list. You know, there are lots of distinguished lists. They're just a very limited number of Rhodes scholars.
We've had an America Nobel Prize winners. We could talk about the Major League Baseball 600 Home Run Club or the NFL's 2000 Yard Running Back Club. But here's another list. Jesus says Matthew 512, and remember the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.
Now, we don't often discuss the Old Testament prophets on Sunday morning. They're tough and there's a lot of history involved in it. But there's a prophet by the name of Jeremiah. And Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet because his life was characterized by pain.
He was persecuted by his very own people relentlessly and habitually. They cursed him. They beat him. They threw him in prison.
Not the enemies that lived near them, but the friends who were a part of his own faith persecuted. And his treatment wasn't the exception, but it was the rule. It was how they treated the prophets of God through history. So from Jeremiah to Jesus to the disciples to 100 Nigerian Christians who lost their lives last year.
When we're persecuted for our faith, we join a very distinguished list, which is why we should rejoice if we have persecution. Number three, why should we rejoice in persecution? Because it builds our character. Now let's read in Romans 5 or 3 and 4.
As Paul says, we can rejoice too when we run into problems and trials before we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. Now let's understand. When we're going through struggles, the last thing we want to hear from somebody is, well, you know, God's building your character.
That just makes you mad, right? It's like, shut up! I don't want to hear that, okay? We don't want to hear that.
But it doesn't change the fact that there's some truth to that. And there's a lot of things we don't necessarily want to hear, but maybe we need to hear. But here's the truth. A major part of our purpose as a Christian is to develop our character.
Why? Because God's preparing us for heaven. And we need to have the kind of character that those in heaven are going to have. And so God is developing our character.
As a Christian, we're called to emulate Christ. And that's not a surface kind of mimicking. That's a real character that's depth. And this is a part of what it means.
And it's easy to practice Christianity when everything's smooth and easy and fun. Well, how could anybody do that? It's hard to practice being a follower of Jesus when you're suffering for it and being persecuted for it. And your faith is being challenged for it.
And you're being called into question because of it. Now problems and trials aid. They help. That's what Paul says.
Problems and trials that we go through. They help in this process of transformation. But here's the point. Persecution.
Fast tracks it. When we go through struggles and challenges, that develops our character. But if we're truly persecuted for Christ's sake because of the righteousness that light in our life, then that fast tracks this development of real Christian character. So Jesus was clear that he didn't come to make life easy.
He came to make him in and women great. And this is how that happens when we build our character. Now here's the fourth reason why we should rejoice in persecution. And that is that we'll be rewarded.
So here's what Jesus said. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now that's an interesting phrase. Let's talk about it for a second.
Kingdom of heaven. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Have you ever thought about what that means? What does it mean?
If we're given the kingdom of heaven. Well, let's talk about it for a second. Because it has kind of two aspects. And one, it's a present gift.
What does it mean to have the kingdom of heaven? Well, you have it. Now if you're a follower of Jesus, if you become a Christian, the Holy Spirit lives in you. And so the kingdom of heaven is in you.
Christ spirit is in you. You are part of God's family. You've been transformed in your spirit in the kingdom of heaven lives in you. So it's a present gift.
It's not something just that we'll get one day. It's something you have right now. But there is also an element of a future promise there as well. For all who suffer for the good news, the message is the best is yet to come.
Because here's what Jesus goes on to say. He says in verse 12, be happy about it. Be very glad for a great reward awaits you in heaven. Now what exactly does that mean?
I don't know. That's enough for me though. You know that there's a reward in heaven. I'm going to trust that.
It's going to be a good one in something that's worthwhile. Not something purely disappointing. Now, here's the reality. So we're talking about persecution since serious stuff.
Now when a person's suffering persecution, let's just be clear. There's no fairness in it. Evil's winning. There's no justice.
The godless are flaunting their present power. But a Christian believes in God's justice. This is part of what it means, that the righteous will be rewarded and that the unrighteous will be judged, ultimately by the creator and God. So what does that do?
Well, if I believe that, that gives me the heroic temperament that I need to withstand persecution. Because I know I don't have to defend myself or prove myself because in the end, justice will prevail. First Peter, chapter 3, verse 13, back to this letter that Peter wrote to people who are dealing with us every day. Now, who will want to harm you if you're eager to do good?
But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don't worry or be afraid of their threats. Now let's be honest. Most of us in this room are never going to be in prison for our faith.
We're not going to be tortured. And we're not going to face what millions of people around the world are facing right now today. But all of us do need to ask the question, what would I do if I were confronted with that? What if my faith really did cost me something?
What would I do? Remember I said the first seven of the Beatitudes are a reflection of the character of the follower of Jesus. One though is about what we would do. And see, I think it's the litmus test is what we say we believe just something we say or is it something that we would be willing to give our lives for.
And there and we find the true character in this eighth Beatitude. Now, I want to show you 21 men who had to answer that question. It's not easy to watch, but it is important. Let's take a look.
It is a very dangerous time to be a Christian. Torture beheadings, destruction of the highest level of persecution of Christians. A church congregation barricades themselves in from hundreds of riot police. They're enduring attacks for their faith.
Longer for the savage kidnappings of Christian schools, the Nigeria by Boko Haram and the burning of images of violence dominated headlines. Christians are being warned to have a choice, convert to Islam, pay a very steep price, or face death. Surely a new video showing to be heading of 21 Egyptian Christians. Beheading of 21 Christians.
21 Christian men beheaded by Islamic State. The title of the video is a message signed with blood to the nation of the cross. The sharpest jump in violent attacks against Christians. We need to make the persecuted church an issue of prayer.
That happened in 2015 and those men in the arms jumpsuit were not dramatizing that. Those were the men whose names you saw and who a few moments after the picture that you saw lost their lives because there were followers of Jesus who refused to say that they would have been in their faith. Now, why? Why would they do that?
Why not just say the words but deny Christ with their lips but hold on to him in their hearts? Well, because they knew something. They knew something that maybe we forget every day because our faith is easy. They knew that this world is not our home.
They knew that this life is not all that there is. And when that awful moment came, when they had to really determine if their faith was real, they didn't flinch. I don't know if it's going to cost you anything to follow Jesus. Maybe it won't.
And I hope that it doesn't cost anything to you or to me. But maybe it will cost you something. Maybe it already has. Maybe you've lost a promotion because you refused to compromise your integrity.
Or maybe it cost you a friendship because you stiffer wet, you believed was right. Or maybe it will cost you your pride because you're going to reverse course on something that you've taken a stand on. Now if that's you, if following Jesus cost you something, then I want you to hear this. You're blessed.
You're not cursed. I'm not unlucky. You're not a victim. You are blessed.
That's what Jesus said. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for this call to make our faith truly real.
We don't want to be people who are soft because it's easy for us to be followers of Jesus. So God, we pray this morning for those around the world, for whom their faith means the threat of death. God, we pray for those around the world who this week will face the real threat of being arrested, of being imprisoned. Who to go to a Bible study for them is a true risk of their lives.
God, thank you. So we can pray for them today. And I pray that you would protect and encourage each of those. And God, for us, I pray that you would help us to have a sense of just how real it is to have a commitment to Jesus.
And God help us to know and truly understand that part of what it means to have real faith is that we are willing to lay down our life for what we believe. So we're followers of Jesus today. We proclaim that. We rejoice in that.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve you in a culture where we can do that without threat of harm of our life. But God, that doesn't mean that we don't face the persecution that comes from really living out the light and living out our lives as Jesus would. So I pray your courage for each and everyone here today to live out on the life of Jesus each and every day. Help us to do it with a true sense of humility and a true sense of seriousness.
A true sense of joy for it's in Jesus' name we pray.