Matthew 5:10-12 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 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.
Many reject the Good News that God alone is the Creator who should be worshipped and honored. They despise his authority or any entity that regulates their lives. As covenant breakers or law breakers people do not want to accept the Good News. The Good News declares we have a God to serve who has made all things. He desires children in his household who are willing to choose him over everything else they see or know. Of course, the Good News for all Christians rests in serving his son, Jesus. We come under the name of Jesus, under his authority and influence, allowing him to make new creatures that fit comfortably into eternity. Created in his image, we are now eternal beings. God is the Good News; his love is the Good News; his desire to be with us forever is the Good News. But as in the days of the prophets, the majority of the people reject what Jesus told Satan when He was tempted in the wilderness: Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only. (Matthew 4:10) The prophets railed against lifestyles and choices that were failing to serve a righteous God with total commitment. They believed God deserved to be loved intensely, wholeheartedly, with passion and dedication. These voices in the wilderness were persecuted and even killed for saying people were straying from God, that they were choosing their own lifestyles over righteousness, that they were choosing idols to serve, dead images that would allow them to do unrighteous acts such as aberrant sexual activity. As with today, people who try to align their lifestyle with God’s righteousness are mocked and isolated. People do not want believers at their parties, do not want to associate with people who serve God wholeheartedly, for they reveal that someone else should be served other than their own fleshly desires. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Young Christians in our schools often find rejection prevalent in their community. To find a friend who is not influenced by the waywardness of our society is often hard. To date a boy or girl with a strong faith becomes a difficult task, for our society is permeated by sin, especially in our day of the internet. We find that people do their own thing, go their own way, determine what is right in their own eyes. But what was true with the prophets of old remains true: there are right lifestyles and wrong lifestyles. God wants us to serve him, to live for Jesus, trusting and serving him with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. If we praise God in the workplace, at school, and in the home we may attract persecution, rejection, and estrangement; for there are those who reject Jesus and use his name only as a curse word. But we know: Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. As we openly commit to Christ, in spite of insults or rage against us, Jesus will never leave us or forsake us, and He will remain with us when we feel isolated or downtrodden. God will bless his people.
We do live in a world that avoids righteousness, choosing unwholesome living, failing to serve God first. Through the ages, there never has been an ideal time for Christians. Believers have always been ostracized, persecuted, and chastised from the beginning of the church. Historical accounts since the time of Jesus moving forward reveal horrific stories of the persecution and death of Christians for naming the name of Jesus Christ. In all lands, even today in some areas of the world, people are pressured to recant their faith, to step away from serving Jesus Christ or face prison or worse. Many times, Christians have been but sheep to be slaughtered. As Paul expressed, even within the flock, wolves would come to devour the sheep, do destroy their complete trust in Christ, to lead them to another pasture, one where the name of Christ is not honored above any other name. Today, we have ministries that accentuate the name of a person above the name of Christ. Christian books are sold by highlighting the name of a man or woman, honoring them with a picture on the cover. They are the ones to follow, their words are important, their presence is of value, not the Spirit of God who is resident in every Christian. As with the days of the prophets, men and women reject the God of creation, worshipping people, heavenly bodies, idols, nature, animals, anything but God. People will align themselves with a celebrity leader or personality before they will follow the name of Jesus Christ. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. (Acts 20:29-31) Jesus understood the sheep would be scattered by the sinfulness of men, but He encouraged his followers to be steadfast, telling those who endured to the end they would be blessed by God. God knows his own and their faithfulness. They are the ones who reject this world and everything in it. As John said, Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2:15-17) You cannot serve two masters; you will love one or the other. You cannot be partially married to Jesus; either you will love him wholeheartedly or love your lifestyle above him. A Christian will be persecuted by the world, at the least by isolation in the workplace, at school, or in the community where he or she functions. This is the price for serving Jesus Christ completely. However, Jesus says rejoice: Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. We are to be glad for naming the name of Jesus Christ before men. They might think of us as fools, but to God we are great treasures that He will bless.
Dear friends, we are lights. Even though many do not want to recognize Jesus as the Son of God, they need us among them, for we shine in the darkness to guide them. Without Christ in each community, the world would become extremely dark, far worse than today. Before the flood, God said mankind had become so evil and violent that He had to wipe them out of existence, but because Noah was a righteous man, He saved Noah and his family. As believers we are the righteous men and women in our communities. We too withhold God’s wrath against the world’s inhabitants. We are leading people out of darkness into the light of God by directing them to Jesus Christ, Savior of the world. He holds back God’s wrath on a wayward creation, enemies to God. Today, humans, in their search to replace the God of creation, are seeking through science a way to elevate themselves above God. Rather than being merely finite, existing for a short period of time, we are investigating through science how we can extend our lives to immortality. If we can eat of the tree of life, we can be God. Consequently, there will be no entity to serve but ourselves. As we read in the book of Genesis, when Adam rebelled, he and Eve had to be removed from the Garden. If not, they would eat of the Tree of Life, then they would be a cancer on eternity. Their sinfulness would corrupt even the eternal domain. God removed them from the Garden, preventing them from eating of the Tree of Life. The Tower of Babel is another account of men trying be like God. God confused them with different languages, keeping them from working together to achieve their aim of being as God. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” (Genesis 11:6-7) Rebellious man is a covenant breaker, desiring to do what is right in his own eyes. He cannot be trusted, for he will swear allegiance to God, but readily break his word. He chaffs under God’s authority. As Christians we become servants to all, doing what God desires of us. We serve him by serving people; we love him by loving others. We love God with all our heart, soul, mind, strength; and equal to that, we love our neighbor as ourselves. The carnal mind refuses these ideas because the flesh wants to serve itself first before considering others. But God is love, Jesus Christ is love, and He demonstrated that love by dying on the cross for his enemies. The crusty nature of man wants to control and manipulate others for his or her own benefit. Even married couples divorce because one or the other does not treat his or her mate right: God’s love does not reign in the home. Jesus said, the world would hate those who follow him. Persecution will come to the believer because the world loves darkness rather than light: This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. (John 3:19-21) Breakfast friends, speak of the light, live in the light, as you trust in Jesus. Do not fear the lions that roar against you, for they cannot harm your eternal soul. Yes, people love darkness more than the light, for the light reveals the evil in their souls. Your light might save their souls for eternity. God is in the business of blessing, and He will bless you for not hiding your light under a bushel, but instead putting it on a lamp stand for all to see. Amen!
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