“Blessed
are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven.”
Matthew 5:10
Henry
Blackaby, the author of Experiencing God, one time prayed a prayer that many of
us have perhaps prayed at one time or another: “Lord, make me like You.” But
Blackaby shared that when he prayed those words, God directed him
to Isaiah 53 – the famous chapter that predicted that Jesus would be the
Suffering Servant who would bear our sins in His body. And he said it was as if
God’s Spirit was saying to him: “Do you really want to be like Me? – ‘a man of
sorrows, and acquainted with grief’; ‘despised and rejected by men’?”
That is
a good question – and a question that every one of us needs to face. For the
last couple of days, we have been studying the Beatitudes under the theme: “Happiness
in Jesus’ Style” We saw that if we want to be really happy we need to realize our
spiritual bankruptcy, we need to groan and mourn and agonize over our sin and
failure in violation of God's law and He'll provide the comfort of salvation. Also
we are to be meek about our condition, not proud. Along with that we are to stop hungering and
thirsting for things that don't fill and don't satisfy, and hunger and thirst
for the righteousness of God which He gives to those who believe in Christ. And
it goes further asking us to pursue mercy, pursue purity, and in the end be a
peacemaker. When we do all these we find true happiness.
Jesus
during the Last Supper in John 15:18 says "If the world hates you, you
know that it has hated Me before it hated you." And the basic principle is
if the world treated the most righteous person who ever lived the way they
treated Him, why should we expect any better treatment? If they hated Him, and
they did, they will hate us. And the reason they hate us is because we're not
part of them. If we were of the world, the world would love its known, verse
19. But we're not of the world, For Jesus says I've chosen you out of the world
therefore the world hates you.
Now this
verse is NOT a blanket promise of blessing for ALL who have been or are being
persecuted. If you read the text carefully, this verse is very specific in its
promise of blessing: it is a promise of blessing for those who are persecuted
“FOR the sake of righteousness.” This is an important provision. There are many
who are persecuted for their own stupidity or other poor decisions, or who are persecuted for other reasons. Jesus does not promise blessings for all
these here. The blessing He promises here is for those who are persecuted FOR
righteousness; for His sake.
The
time has come for some of us to decide if we are going to live for Christ, or
for the good opinions of people around us. As we come to the last Beatitude, the words of
the hymn written by Isaac Watts and composed by Ira David Sankey is noteworthy.
Am I a
soldier of the cross? A foll’wer of the Lamb?
And
shall I fear to own His cause, or blush to speak His name?
In the name, the precious name,
Of Him who died for me,
Through grace I’ll win the promised
crown,
Whate’er my cross may be.
Must I
be carried to the skies on flow’ry beds of ease,
While
others fought to win the prize, and sailed through bloody seas?
Sure,
I must fight if I would reign; increase my courage, Lord.
I’ll
bear the toil, endure the pain, supported by Thy word.
Dear
Friends This Lenten Season the beatitude passage calls us all the way from
being a broken, bankrupt, mourning, meek, hungry sinner to living a life that
so dramatically effects the world, that on the one hand they persecute us and on
the other hand there are some who believe our message and give glory to God.
And it is to that that the Lord calls us and it is in that, that we find our
true happiness.
Amen
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