Study Guide: "Happy are the Harassed"

Matthew 5:10-12

Open:

The first question I would like to take up this morning is whether Jesus' words about persecution are relevant in these days.  Has modern society become so tolerant that talk of persecution is outdated?  My answer is that these verses are very relevant and not at all outdated.  Let me mention two reasons why this teaching on persecution is still relevant today.

1. The first reason comes from a global perspective.  

2. My second reason for saying that these words about persecution are relevant today is taken from the words of Paul in 2 Timothy 3:12, "In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."

So these words of Jesus about persecution are relevant for today not only because millions of Christians in our global village are being persecuted for their faith this very day, but also because to one degree or another all of you who are in dead earnest about putting God first in your work and home and school and leisure will bump into some form of opposition sooner or later. And none of us knows when our freedoms may cease or when we may be called by God to go to a dangerous place or take a stand here that will cause many to dislike us.

Now what is this teaching of Jesus?

I.  The Cause of Persecution (v. 10)

    1.  This Beatitude seems to be singled out from the other seven.

• It is repeated several different ways in verse 10-12.
• The person is changed in verse 11 from ‘they’ to ‘you.’
• It’s the very last Beatitude-it’s as if it’s the pinnacle, the climax, of what the Lord has been saying to his disciples and the others listening to the Sermon on the Mount.
• The word “persecute” comes from the Greek idea of ‘to pursue.’  A good translation of this word is to ‘harass.’  “Blessed are they who are harassed.”

    2.  Now, let's focus on why the persecutions come. This is important because not all persecuted people are blessed - only those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. Verse 10: "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness.”

So we can see why a life devoted to righteousness or godliness will be persecuted or reviled or spoken against.

When you desire to be godly in all your affairs and relationships -- when you follow the righteousness of Jesus in his strength and for his glory -- there are two possible responses people can have who stay around you. These are described in John 3:20-21: “For every one who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light, for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God."

• But, we ask, what about all the unbelievers in my life who are neither converted nor persecuting -- who are just civil, or even polite? There are at least two possible explanations:

1)  One is that your light is under a bushel. You are keeping the stumbling block of the cross well concealed (Galatians 5:11; 6:12-13). You don't let your distinctive values show.

2)   The other is that you are letting them show and the people around you are moving toward one or the other of these two polls: persecution or conversion.  Neither of these must happen immediately. There are all kinds of factors that can hinder expressions of persecution.

So we should all examine ourselves to see if we are playing a kind of cowardly Christian incognito. And if so we should repent and resolve to be more sincere in the expression of who we really are.

All of this leads us to another consideration this morning:

II.  The Blessedness of the Persecuted (vv. 10-12)

(v. 11) "Blessed -- fortunate -- are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad..."

    1.  Now this is a shocking piece of counsel. What can possibly justify the command to be glad when we are hated, and mocked and tortured and killed?

• And make no mistake about it -- Jesus does have death in view here. This is what they did to the prophets (Matthew 23:30; 1 Kings 18:13; 19:10; Nehemiah 9:26; Jeremiah 26:23). This is what they would do to the disciples. So he says in Matthew 24:9, "Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and put you to death; and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake."
• What can justify such counsel to people in pain? -- "Rejoice and be glad!?" I see two possibilities:

1)   Either this is the talk of an insensitive, sophomoric, ivory tower theologian who has never known what it is to scream with pain.

2)   Or this is the talk of one who has seen something and tasted something and knows something about a reality that most people have never tasted or glimpsed.

·    This is the Lord speaking.  It is not some pastoral novice that blunders into a funeral home slapping people on the back, saying, "Praise God, anyhow." This is the Lord. And he says to his disciples, most of whom will drink the cup of martyrdom, "Rejoice and be glad" when you are persecuted, when you suffer. How can he say this?

    2.  He can say it because he knows beyond any shadow of a doubt that the reward of heaven will more than compensate for any suffering we must endure in the service of Christ. "Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven."

• There is a mystery here -- the mystery of joy in the midst of agony; the mystery of gladness in the midst of misery and groaning. And this mystery is contained in a miracle, namely, the miracle of faith -- the bedrock assurance that heaven is a hundredfold compensation for every pain.
• To the degree that you believe what Jesus sees in heaven, to that degree you will be able to rejoice and be glad in suffering. "Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven."

    3.  But this raises a question: In order to rejoice and be glad in the suffering of persecution must you not believe that the suffering itself enlarges your reward in heaven? If the same reward in heaven could be obtained without suffering, would we not cry out against the uselessness of suffering rather than being glad to embrace it?

• I think the answer is that the more your faith is tested through suffering the greater will be your reward. I think this is taught in Matthew 19:29: "And every one who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life."  

I close by pressing home one of the clear implications of this text . . .

III.  The Reward of Heaven.

Jesus wills for us to have our treasure in heaven not on earth (Matthew 6:19-20). Jesus wills for your heart to be so set on heaven that to leave this earth is a cause of rejoicing. Not without tears! -- as Paul said, "As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing," and as Jesus sweat blood in Gethsemane in the face of his own pain, but for the joy set before him endured the cross.

CLOSE:

Sooner or later a deeply God-centered Christian will be mistreated for the things he believes or the life he lives.

So what shall we do? How shall we keep our hearts in heaven?

• Make a regular practice of your life to consider the prophets of old who were persecuted and killed for the cause of God and righteousness. Turn often to Hebrews 11:36-38 and read how by faith they suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated -- of whom the world was not worthy!
• Go often to these great men and women of old and get inside their hearts. Put yourself on the rack with them and learn how to love heaven with them. Listen as they say, "Abuse suffered for the Christ is greater wealth than all the treasures of Egypt, for we look to the reward" (Hebrews 11:26).
• Read the testimonies of those who have given their all for Christ.

 "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."                                            Jim Elliot, martyr
(Dr. Dane Fowlkes, pastor)