Read Matthew 5
Here are the
first two verses of this chapter.
And seeing
the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples
came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:
Do you know
what’s different in these two verses, as opposed to the other 46 verses? Those other 46 are all in red in my Bible. In
fact, those red letters continued unbroken until the end of chapter 7. This is
how 7 ends.
And so it
was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His
teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Jesus taught
with authority. If you are a learner who does best when reading or listening,
then these red-letter words are just what you need. Just meditate upon the
words of your Master. You really don’t need a sermon. You’re getting one, but
the Sermon on the Mount is always available to you.
We all know
this chapter. It contains the beatitudes, is about salt and light, and is about
Jesus fulfilling the law.
You know the
beatitudes. Blessed are the poor, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger
and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, and the
peacemakers.
It’s about Jesus
coming to fulfill the law. It’s about following the law unless you can exceed
the righteousness of the Pharisees. What does that mean? I thought the
Pharisees were a bunch of hypocrites.
They were,
but they followed the law. So, we have to follow the law?
Yes, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees.
What
happened to being saved by grace?
You know, the gift of God. How could the ordinary person follow everything in the law?
They can’t,
at least alone, but in our profession of faith, the righteousness of God is
imputed to us. That’s some top-shelf righteousness right there.
That’s way
more than the Pharisees.
Jesus talked
about what’s going on in our hearts. He said the anger, hatred, or lust in our
hearts is the same as far as sin goes as the actual manifestation of these
things in our physical world. God sees the heart.
This is the
chapter about turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, and loving our
enemies.
Jesus discussed a lot in this chapter, but I intentionally skipped over one item. Let’s
dig into verses 10-12 as a stand-alone package of counsel.
Blessed are those who are persecuted
for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they revile and
persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so
they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
If you are
persecuted because you follow Jesus, try to live God’s way, or just
reject all that is unholy and give only God first place, that’s a good thing,
at least according to Jesus.
On the
surface, it doesn’t seem to be a blessing.
How can being persecuted be a blessing?
It’s not if
it’s because you were unwise. That’s just your boss chewing you out.
It’s not a
blessing if you are persecuted by the police because you stole your neighbor’s
car. That’s not persecution. That’s pursuit followed by prosecution. By the way, most law-abiding citizens like
this.
It’s not a
blessing if the hurt you receive is from a hold my beer experience.
That’s just stupidity.
It is a
blessing if the world rejects you as its own. If the world does not recognize
you as one of its children and persecutes you for being a stranger, that’s a
blessing. We are strangers in this world.
That’s being
disowned by the world because you belong to God. That’s good stuff.
That’s the if
you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to
convict you sort of stuff, and you stand guilty as charged for being known
by your love.
The godless
of the world are telling us that we are guilty of following the one true God,
whom we know best in Jesus, and the Spirit that lives within us.
Jesus tells
us that when we are persecuted—in whatever form that takes in this modern
century—and the persecution is because we follow him, then we are in good
company.
The world came after the prophets, too. You are in good company.
The price
might seem very high in the moment; however, in the context of eternity,
knowing that God’s grace is enough for us, persecution is momentary in
its inconvenience and eternal in its rewards.
Being
attacked, scorned, and otherwise hated because you belong to Christ is a good
thing. You think it’s a good thing when
you reject the ways of a sinful world, right?
Is it not
also a good thing when the sinful world hates you because you look too much
like the One they reject?
Is it not a
good thing when you are known by your love and not by the rules of those who
have so willingly conformed themselves to the world?
Is it not a
good thing for the world not to want you as opposed to hearing our Master say,
“Depart from me. I never knew you.”
Persecution
by the world is just it’s way of disowning us. If the world tells us “Depart
from me. I never knew you,” just say hallelujah, praise the Lord, and amen.
Consider our
trials as minor—I know that seems to be a stretch sometimes—consider them as
minor inconveniences on our way to eternal joy.
I’ll close
with the words of the Master. Let’s take those with us above everything else we
covered.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say
all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly
glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets
who were before you.
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for
great is your reward in heaven.
So, when you
are persecuted because you follow Jesus, go here:
·
God’s grace is enough.
·
You can handle whatever it is at the moment. It’s momentary.
·
Great is your reward in heaven. The world has disowned you because
you belong completely to the Lord.
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for
great is your reward in heaven.
Amen.
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