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The blessing of persecution

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#12 in the Sermon on the Mount series

Persecution

I have put off writing about this Beatitude because it is uncomfortable to think about persecution as being part of God’s plan for me or my family. I would like to be able to subscribe to the belief that with enough faith, I can live a comfortable life without problems. This message of prosperity and comfort is the message of the TV preachers, but unfortunately, it is not the message of Jesus.

Jesus doesn’t promise unlimited blessings or comfort in this life. Jesus promises a cross, hardship and persecution. Continuing in the Sermon on the Mount he says:

Matthew 5:10–12 — 10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Notice that Jesus puts some qualifiers in his statement. First we are only blessed if the accusations are false. Christians are called to live exemplary lives and any accusations of evil should have no truth to them. In my lifetime many highly visible leaders and teachers in the church have fallen into sin and have been publicly disgraced and ridiculed. This ridicule is not a cause for reward.

Secondly, the persecution that is blessed comes from accurately representing Jesus Christ. Notice the phrase at the end of verse 11, “because of me.” Many things have been done in the name of Christ of which Jesus does not approve; these are justly condemned. For example, much of the rhetoric of Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas is contrary to Scripture and as Paul would say, “their condemnation is just.” These folks misrepresent the name of Christ and any persecution they receive is not a cause for rejoicing nor will it be rewarded in Heaven.

Why would God allow persecution of those He loves? This is a difficult question in general and it may be impossible to answer why any particular instance of persecution is permitted. Yet Scripture does give us some clues as to why we may be called to suffer.

Later in this same discourse, Jesus tells us that we are to allow the light of the Gospel that is within us to shine so that men may “see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). In the history of the church, those who have borne unjust persecution for the sake of Christ have demonstrated the good works of which Jesus speaks.

Because we live in a fallen world, everyone, believer and unbeliever alike, has to endure hardship and trials. How we respond to those trials is an indication of where our faith and hope are placed. When a Christian is falsely accused as a result of his faith, God can use the Christian’s response as a testimony to his accusers and the spectators of God’s power to change lives. The blessing comes as a result of being used by God as a light to draw others to Jesus.

While we may wish to live a quiet life free from conflict and hassle, Jesus tells us here that our desire may not be in his plan. No healthy person looks for suffering, but we should not be surprised if we find ourselves in hardship as a result of our relationship with Jesus.

In John 16:33 Jesus tells us “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” We can be blessed as a result of persecution because Jesus has overcome the world. In Christ we are on the winning side.

Purity of heart is the means of seeing God

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Number 10 in the Sermon on the Mount Series

Vision of GodAt one point in Jesus’ ministry he was accused by the Pharisees of allowing his disciples to break the tradition of the elders by eating with unwashed hands. This account is recorded In Matthew 15:1-20 and Mark 7:1-23. Jesus’ response is interesting when he declares that it is not what a man eats which defiles him, but the things which come out of his mouth are evidence of the defilement that is already inside.

Jesus is telling the Pharisees (and us) that it is the defiled heart which causes the wrong behavior. The behavior is a symptom and not a cause of impurity.

It is this context which makes the sixth Beatitude in Matthew 5:8 so interesting.

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

Practical Purity

In the Israel of Jesus’ day, there were many regulations regarding external purity. The nation had food regulations, commands concerning washing, laws about touching dead bodies, ceremonial cleansings and prescribed worship. When they complied with these regulations, they could claim that they had purity in their practice, or what I would call practical purity.

Modern day legalists operate in much the same way. We can have lists of things to avoid and things to do which are used as litmus tests to determine the level of purity or spirituality. If you’ve been around the church enough, you’re bound to have run into one or more of these modern day Pharisees.

This is not the purity of which Jesus is speaking of here. External purity can be produced by those who are impure in their motives. Jesus referred to them as white washed tombs that were clean on the outside but full of dead men’s bones (Matthew 23:27).

Positional purity

The purity to which Jesus refers is positional purity, or purity that is ascribed to us by God. Jeremiah tells us in Jer. 17:9 that “the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” David cried out in Psalm 51:10: “Create in me a clean heart, O God,”

We have a congenital defect, we are born with a sin nature and as A. T. Robertson tells us, “Sin befogs and beclouds the heart.” In Hebrews 12:14 we read that without purity no-one will see the Lord.

So how then can this Beatitude be fulfilled?

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that when we are in Christ, we exchange his righteousness for our sin. In other words, we trade our impurity for his purity. We are then viewed by God as being pure.

It is only after this transaction has taken place that positional purity comes to an individual heart. It is because of this positional purity of heart that we can see God.

The Promise

This is another promise that has an immediate and an ultimate fulfillment. In Ephesians 2:4-5 Paul tells us that though we started out life dead in our sins, we are made alive in Christ. Spiritually dead people cannot see or respond to God. In Christ, however, we can begin to see God in the sense that we are aware of his presence and work in our lives. This is the immediate fulfillment.

The ultimate fulfillment comes when believers stand before God. We read in 1 John 3:2–3 we will see Jesus just as he is in his entire deific splendor. We will then be fully know and be fully known by God (1 Corinthians 13:12). What a day that will be!

Until that day, we have to be satisfied with our intermediate experience of God as our down payment on the ultimate experience. When that happens, the good will be transformed into the best.

Muddy Waters, Mercy and the Fifth Beatitude

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Sermon on the Mount Series #9

MercyWhile Jesus was dining at a Pharisee’s house, a woman of questionable reputation came in and worshipped Jesus by washing his feet with her tears and anointing them with perfume. A dialog ensued between the Pharisee and Jesus as recorded in Luke 7:36-50. Jesus concludes his discussion with the Pharisee by informing him that those who have been forgiven much, love much. Those who have been forgiven little, love little.

The fifth Beatitude tells us that those who are merciful will receive mercy. At first reading this sounds right to us. If you do good to others they will do good to you. It seem natural, like the popular concept of karma.

Yet reality tells us that on a strictly human level, this beatitude often proves false. Did those who hid the Jews receive mercy from the Nazis? How many missionaries and social workers have been wounded or killed while trying to treat disease and bring comfort to the suffering? How many parents have been torn apart by wayward children that they nurtured? How many children have been wounded by parents while trying to be good boys or girls?

To validate the truth of this Beatitude we must look beyond our physical existence to a larger reality. We can’t make it work in a purely naturalistic understanding of the world. I don’t even know how you arrive at a concept of mercy in a purely naturalistic system.

If nature is indeed red in tooth and claw then why place a value on mercy? Why were Hitler and Stalin wrong if naturalism is the explanation of the world? Naturalism tells us that we are products of random electro-chemical reactions and that the way we are is determined by our DNA. If this is the case, why worry about being merciful or loving? If the world is the product of random reactions and I have the power to give or withhold mercy why should one value one choice over the other?

I am not arguing that atheists cannot be merciful and moral. I’ve known many that have compassion that puts me to shame. I am arguing that you cannot find an intellectual basis or motivation to mercy in naturalism. Ayn Rand would seem to agree since in her novels she portrays mercy as a weakness and selfishness as a virtue.

Circle back to the opening story. The prostitute’s worship is accepted by Jesus. Jesus pronounced her forgiven and on the basis of this forgiveness, she had a greater love for the one who had forgiven her.

Without the work of Jesus on our behalf, we should not expect mercy from God or from anyone else. We cannot earn the mercy from God, it is a gift. But on the basis of the mercy that we have received, we are called to exhibit that mercy to others. Therefore I understand this Beatitude to be saying that display of mercy is evidence of having received mercy. Those who display mercy have gotten and will continue to get mercy both as a cause and a result.

As Muddy Waters said in an old blues song, “you can’t spend what you ain’t got.” It is difficult to show mercy if you’ve never received it. If you’d like to receive God’s mercy, drop me a line and I will tell you how. Then you will indeed be blessed.

Hunger and Thirst for the Right Thing

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#8 in the Sermon on the Mount Series

Matthew 5:6 reads this way in the NASB:

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Hunger is Natural

In this Beatitude, the word translated hunger speaks of an avid, strong desire. The word translated thirst speaks of intense longing. Hunger and thirst are part of our common experience of life. They are drives that are built into us so that we draw in the water and nutrition we need to keep our bodies going.

Jesus uses language that we can all understand. All of us have experience hunger for food and thirst for water. As he did with the woman at the well in John 4, Jesus is pointing us beyond our natural hunger and thirst to a higher spiritual reality. He is saying that in the same way we need food and water to be physically healthy; we need righteousness to be spiritually healthy.

The verbs translated hunger and thirst are in the present tense. Jesus is not referring to an event in the past on which we can rest our hope, nor is it an event only in the future. The present tense indicates current, ongoing action. He is saying, “Blessed are those who continue hungering and thirsting after righteousness.”

What is Righteousness Anyway?

Growing up, I always understood this beatitude to be encouraging us toward right actions. In other words, hunger and thirst after doing the right thing. I now think that this is not the primary emphasis.

Keep in mind that among the hearers of Jesus were the Pharisees. They would hear this beatitude and think themselves to be already achieving this. They did many “righteous” acts. Yet later in the sermon, Jesus tells us that “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20) So, this beatitude cannot be primarily focused on righteous acts.

What then is the righteousness to which Jesus refers? The righteousness we are encouraged to pursue is right standing before God. This is a righteousness that begins on the inside and works its way out in actions.

Righteousness has three aspects:

  1. Right legal standing before God – those in Christ have been declared righteous (Romans 8:1)
  2. Right heart attitude (see Psalm 51)
  3. Right actions which result from 1 and 2 (see James 2:14-26)

The Source of Righteousness

The Apostle Paul, in Ephesians 2:1-10, tells us that we are born dead in our “trespasses and sins.” But through faith in Jesus Christ, God gives us spiritual life. As a result, we are no longer trapped in our selfish, sinful lifestyle. We have the option to use the freedom given to us to walk away from our sins.

Apart from Christ, we may clean ourselves up on the outside, but we would then be like the Pharisees who were condemned by Jesus as “white washed tombs” (Matthew 23:27). A whitewashed tomb may look nice on the outside but inside it is full of rottenness and decay.

Jesus Christ is the only source of true righteousness available to us.

The Promise

Jesus tells us that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. The word literally means eat until full.

This filling is a certainty because anyone who has this desire has Jesus waiting to embrace him. There is no chance of rejection. If righteousness is your desire, if you’re tired of your current lifestyle and want something better, Jesus will accept you. Jesus invites all who are “weary and burdened” to come to him and he will give them rest (Matthew 11:28). There are no exceptions, no-one is rejected.

I love that no matter how bad I mess up, if my desire is for righteousness, that desire will be satisfied. It will be done, not in my strength, but by Jesus Christ. Paul tells us in Philippians 1:6 that God began the process in me and he will see it through to the end. I do not have to worry about the outcome, I simply need to trust in God and he will direct where and how I should go (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Are you hungry and thirsty for righteousness? Jesus is waiting for you.

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