Expected Persecution

Matthew 5:10-12, "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."

The first seven beatitudes modeled for us the character that each Christian should embody. (Poverty of spirit, mourning over sin, meek, righteous, merciful, pure in heart, peacemaker) In the next couple of verses Jesus outlines for us the conflict that will ensue if we endeavor to embody these attitudes that “ought to be”. This beatitude is the longest, the only one associated with a command, the only one repeated by Jesus, the only one addressed directly to the reader, and perhaps the most striking of all them. I will discuss this beatitude in two parts since our Lord Jesus devoted more time to it as well. Verse 10 today and verses 11-12 next week..

It seems on the surface that the world would welcome those who genuinely desire to live a holy life and bless the earth with Christ-likeness. But Jesus tells us that sadly, it will not be the case and persecution will be the result of such “untypical” living standards. The Greek word for persecution (dioko) means to track down or pursue in order to harass, vex, or oppress. This persecution can be twofold involving on one hand a physical pursuing of the persecuted, and/or a personal attack with words as in the form of slander. Jesus tells us that living like Him will cause us to be emotionally and spiritually persecuted and in more remote places around the world physically persecuted.

Jesus says that it will be for “righteousness’ sake” that we will be persecuted. It is not suffering for you own sake, or for convictions’ sake but rather for the “Lord’s sake” that we will be persecuted. We shouldn’t try to bring hardship and suffering upon ourselves in order to win the Lord’s favor for this is not pleasing to God nor warrants his commendation. To actively seek persecution through obnoxious zeal is not the Lord’s will. He wants us to live righteously and simply understand that it will bring with it persecution.

Ray Pritchard says, “True believers have never been popular with the people of the world. Our righteousness intimidates them, our boldness annoys them, our refusal to participate in their sin infuriates them, and our love for God mystifies them. Because they don’t understand us, they hate us. Because they hate us, they oppose us. We seem like subversives, dangerous enemies who must be hunted down and destroyed. In the words of John Calvin, ‘We cannot be Christ’s soldiers on any condition but this, that the world will muchly rise up against us and pursue us even until death.’”

Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones emphasizes why citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven are persecuted writing that it is, “Because he is fundamentally different, and the non-Christian recognizes this. The Christian is not just like everybody else with a slight difference. He is essentially different; he has a different nature and he is a different man.”

This persecution is to be expected in every Christian's life and if not Jesus warned, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for in the same way their fathers used to treat the false prophets.” (Luke 6:26) What does this warning signify? It means that if you have never, ever experienced suffering for the sake of righteousness or His Name’s sake, then you need to examine your life more fully. If Christ is in you and His beatitudes are now your character, however imperfectly they may be manifest, then you will at some time and to some degree be persecuted for your righteous (not self righteous or judgmental) lifestyle in Christ which shines light on the dark deeds of the enemies of Christ. Persecution is the believer’s birthmark and is sure proof that you are part of the family of God.

Jesus said, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.” (John 15:18-20)

Jesus promises that the reward for living in and through such ways is the “kingdom of heaven.” It is this hope of the complete consummation of the kingdom of heaven that makes such persecution endurable. It was said about a man name Richard Sibbes, “Of this blest man, let this just praise be given: heaven was in him, before he was in heaven.” If you are in Christ, the kingdom of heaven is currently present in you, as you submit your will to his authority, and will someday be fully realized in its greatest extent in heaven.

I will elaborate in more detail next week where this persecution will come from, what history tells us of persecution, and the joy that persecution can bring. Meanwhile, live for the Lord, expect persecution, and focus on the kingdom of God!

Give Peace a Chance

Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

When we look around our world today it is easily understood that there is very little, if any peace. It has been said that out of the nearly 3500 years of recorded history, only 268 of them have seen no war. The newspapers and televisions are always littered with the most recent foreign and domestic conflicts. There are no shortages of men like Osama Bin Laden, Sadam Hussein, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Kim Jong-il who are always threatening or creating war. We know there should be peace and our hearts long for it, but it always seems to elude us and our world. What will it take for us, our families, country, and world to know peace? The answer is to be found within this twelve word verse.

Before we tackle trying to make peace in the world, we must first make peace with God. Man has been taking part in a continual war with God since Genesis 3, with absolutely no years in which there has not been enmity. The Bible considers us enemies of God until we join his side and make peace. The only way we can do that is through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Romans 5:8-11, “But God demonstrates His love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”

Because of God’s holiness and shear otherness, you could not make a truce with Him on your own; therefore Jesus provided the only white flag opportunity between God and man. By faith in the wonderful work of Jesus we can become sons and daughters of God instead of His enemies.

The healed breach with God, though key, does not end our endeavors to make peace. He has asked us to join in on the peace-making process. I see this process as three-fold: making peace with yourself, bringing others to make peace with God, and you making peace with others. This equation consists of our upward relationship (God), our inward relationship (ourselves), and our outward relationships (others).

First, concerning making peace with yourself, Jesus said, “he who the Son makes free, he is free indeed.” (John 8:23) As Christians, we are free from the guilt that Satan would have us forever burdened under. Satan’s desire is to keep you suppressed and minimized your entire life. He would have you to believe the lies that there is too much wickedness in your past and that your present sin will never be overcome. Do not believe it! Jesus has broken your bonds and wants you to walk around with your head held high in victory. Forgive yourself, release your guilt, and become whole!

Secondly, in regards to making peace with others, people often misinterpret what being a peace-maker is all about. William Barclay alludes to that possible misinterpretation writing that, “It very often happens that if a man loves peace in the wrong way, he succeeds in making trouble and not peace. We may, for instance, allow a threatening and dangerous situation to develop, and our defense is that for peace’s sake we do not want to take any action. There is many a person who thinks that he is loving peace, when in fact he is piling up trouble for the future, because he refuses to face the situation and to take the action which the situation demands. The peace which the Bible calls blessed does not come from the evasion of issues; it comes from facing them, dealing with them, and conquering them. What this beatitude demands is not the passive acceptance of things because we are afraid of the trouble of doing anything about them, but the active facing of things, and the making of peace, even when the way to peace is through struggle.”

Being a peace-maker is active in orientation. If you are having a disagreement with someone, do not avoid the conflict but rather actively seek resolution. Jesus says, “If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you leave your offering there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.” (Matthew 5:23-24)

The writer of Hebrews adds, “Pursue peace with all men, and sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.” (Hebrew 12:14) And the Apostle Paul states, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.” (Romans 12:18)

The last part of the peace-making puzzle is bringing others into a relationship of peace with God. Paul sums up this point better than I ever could by saying, “the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, Who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-21)

Jesus one day will restore true peace to the world, but until that day comes, it is up to us to be God’s ambassadors on this earth, spreading the message of hope, reconciliation, and peace to a world at enmity with God and with each other.

Are you a peacemaker? If not, give peace a chance!

Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

Let us continue our study of the “the attitudes that ought to be” as we look at what it means to live out of a heart of purity.

William Barclay explains that the word “pure” (Greek- kathoros) had several meanings that will help us to understand this verse: “originally it simply meant clean as washed clothes are clean from being soiled. It also could be used to understand an army that has been purged of all discontented, cowardly, unwilling and inefficient solders, and which is a force composed solely of first class fighting men. Lastly, it can be used to describe milk or wine which is unadulterated with water, or of metal which has in it no tinge of alloy.” So the basic meaning of purity describes a person that is unmixed, undivided, and unadulterated in motives, allegiance, and desires.

The Pharisees of Jesus day were very familiar with the “being clean” aspect of purity and were o.k. with Jesus’ idea of “blessed are the pure” as long as the outward interpretation was all that was implied. The Pharisees scored an A+ on being outwardly pure but they flunked the course when it came to Jesus’ true meaning of the verse. This is what He said to them, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside cup of the dish, but inside you are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Mt 23:25-28)

From this verse it is easy to see that God is far more interested in what we are on the inside than what we do on the outside. Can you imagine being told to that you are full of dead men’s bones? On a side note, often people think Jesus was just some nice prophet walking around the Judean countryside passing out flowers and whispering sweet nothings into people’s ears, but often His words were piercing and right to the point as it was in this specific case.

Now back to the issue. God told Samuel in reference to him anointing the next future king of Israel, David, “do not judge the outward appearance. The Lord doesn’t make decisions the way you do! People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7) It was because of David’s singleness and purity of heart that God considered him worthy of being anointed King and leading His people. God saw what David was on the inside!

Naturally speaking our hearts are not like David’s and are in pretty bad shape. Jeremiah describes our hearts as “continuously deceitful and desperately wicked.” (Jer 17:9) Jesus gives this assessment of our hearts, “out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and slanders. These are the things which defile a man.” (Mat 15:19-20)

Is there any hope against the natural darkness of our hearts and our tendencies to cover it up with a clean outward façade? Is purity a possability?

We often read of beautiful actresses that want to be identified by those who cast roles for movies as more than just a sex figure. They want to be noted for their acting ability but often get type-cast because of roles they have played in the earlier years of their careers. Fortunately God does not cast people for heaven like this. The part that we must play is purity and it isn’t something we can act, it is something we have to be. The Director/Producer (God) can pierce through our acting abilities and discover who we are on the inside and it will be up to Him whether or not we qualify for the role and rewarded with the part. He has seen many actors with great outward abilities, who on the outside seem “successful” but they were deemed disqualified because they were trying to play a part that no man can play by himself. The Director/Producer cast Himself as an Actor in this wonderful role called life. And it is only through mimicking his lifestyle and accepting him as the great Type-Cast that we can play the role and rewarded, “we shall see God.”

If we desire this role, we must agree with David and say to the Lord, “create in me a clean heart, Oh God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10)

In order to continue playing this role, we must fellowship with others who are playing the role. The apostle Paul says, to have pure heart, fellowship and be accountable to those who have one, “Now flee from youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” (2 Tim 2:22)

God challenges us to live pure lives and the result of this purity will be a deep, meaningful experience with God the Father, the Savior Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. We will see God! We will see Him at work in the world, through His word, through our circumstances, through relationships, and ultimately face to face. (1 Jn 3:2) Amen.

To test whether you are reading these devotions all of the way through :) and to challenge you, I would like to receive your comments concerning these two statements: What we are will determine what we see! What we see will be only be what we are looking for!

Ch P

Mercy Me

Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”

As we continue our study in the Beatitudes it is important to remember the makeup of the crowd Jesus was speaking too. Many of them were the religious Scribes and Pharisees who suppressed the people and were merciless in their enforcement of the laws that were for the most part outside the realm of Biblical tradition. They added hundreds of laws, traditions, and statutes to God's word and put an unnecessary burden upon the people to keep these laws to the letter. These religious leaders had become so self-satisfied with their own religious attainments that they did not sense their dangerous condition of total spiritual bankruptcy and their desperate need for God’s mercy. Jesus warns them in Matthew 23:23, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.”

Being merciful constitutes a lot of things. It means having an active compassion that desires to alleviate the pain and heartache of others. It also carries the meaning of offering forgiveness to those who do not necessarily deserve it. Still further it means speaking life and healing into situations by kind words and prayer. Mercy is something we give and merciful is who we are! Charles Swindoll comments, “It does not mean only to sympathize with a person in the popular sense of the term; it does not mean simply to feel sorry for someone in trouble. It means the ability to get right inside the other person’s skin. Clearly this is much more than an emotional wave of pity; this demands a deliberate effort of the mind and of the will. It denotes a sympathy which is not given, as it were, from the outside, but which comes from a deliberate identification with the other person, until we see things as he sees them, and feel things as he feels them.”

In no better way do we imitate Christ as when we show mercy. Jesus says in Luke 6:35-36, “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” God could have left us in our sins but rather he showed great mercy to us by sending His Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins, in order to cancel the debt that was against us. (Romans 5:10)

Showing mercy does not make us believers because we know only faith can do that (Eph 2:8), but showing mercy demonstrates we are believers. We bestow mercy because we have received so much of it. Ephesians 2:1-7 says, “You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

If we cannot fully understand how merciful God is towards us and how there is nothing we can do to alleviate the debt that we have accumulated due to our sin, we can never fully offer mercy to other people.

God wants those of us who have received mercy to show mercy to others. Problem is that when we’ve been hurt or wronged, being merciful and forgiving isn’t the first thing that comes to our minds. We want to get back. Like the man who went to the doctor and the doctor told him he had rabies. The man immediately took out a piece of paper and a pen and started writing feverishly. The doctor thought he was writing his will so he said, “Wait a minute. No need to write your will. You’re not going to die.” The man replied, “Doc, I’m not writing my will. I’m making a list of people I want to go bite.” (Matt 18:21-35) The Lord’s Prayer says, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”

Consider for a moment what Jesus said the merciful would receive as their blessing. What is promised for the merciful? MERCY! Each of the blessings Jesus offers in the beatitudes is given by God undeservedly. In response we must apply the words of Micah 6:8 where he says, “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly to love mercy and to walk humble with your God.”

Are You Hungry?

Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

Few of us know what it really means to be truly hungry and thirsty. We live in a society of plenty of which only the poorest of the poor go through a day without having the opportunity of being well nourished. But we know that in other locations in the world there are plenty of people who know all too regularly the pangs of hunger.

The starving person has a single minded, all-consuming passion for food and water. All other desires pale in comparison. You can show him diamonds and money, houses and land, but if he is starving, his only desire will be for food. It is a matter of life and death. His very existence depends on that one cup of water, or that one morsel of bread.

Jesus uses the metaphor of “hunger and thirst” to teach us an invaluable lesson. As a starving person desires only to assuage the hunger that he feels and that is the singleness of his purpose, so we must hunger and thirst after righteousness.

Kent Hughes states, “The fourth Beatitude is a call to pursue conformity to God’s will stated in the most extreme of terms. The intensity of the expression is difficult for us to feel because if we are thirsty today, all we need to do is turn on the tap for cold, refreshing water; or if we are hungry, we just open the refrigerator. However, to the ancient Israeli the expression was terribly alive because he was never far from the possibility of dehydration or starvation. It is not a comfortable picture. Jesus is far from recommending a genteel desire for spiritual nourishment, but rather a starvation for righteousness, a desperate hungering to be conformed to God’s will.”

The structure of this verse is written in the present tense, meaning that we should pursue the lifestyle of hungering and thirsting for righteousness daily. We could not last for long on one physical meal and so we cannot last on one spiritual fulfilling moment. There can be no perfect righteousness/performances on this earth as we know only God is perfectly righteous and capable. However, our goal and our quest must be a continual pursuit of His righteousness manifest in and through us as we live our lives in the power of His Spirit for His glory.

There is the need for some serious soul searching when it comes to this verse. If you are not honest with yourself you will not be able to see the desperate need and hungering of your soul. Forget the fact of what you profess and your church membership. Ask yourself what it is that means more to you than anything else? What is it that you must have, it drives your life, consumes your thoughts, directs your impulse? This will give you an accurate picture of your heart. You may be guilty of as I have, of idolatry, if your god is anything other than the true God. Is he alone the desire of your heart?

Phil Newton answers this way, “What you hunger for reveals the character of your heart. You can mask your outward performance. You can churn out Christian lingo, and put on a happy face, but you know what you really desire. Multitudes flock into churches each week with “Christian masks” that hide the reality that their appetite is not for Jesus Christ but for the things of the world. But Jesus tells us that only those who have the spiritual appetite to hunger and thirst for righteousness will find satisfaction.”

We need the attitude of the psalmist Asaph in Psalm 73:25, 26 who writes, “Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And besides Thee, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

A devoted follower of Socrates asked him the best way to acquire knowledge. Socrates responded by leading him to a river and plunging him beneath the surface. The man struggled to free himself, but Socrates kept his head submerged. Finally, after much effort, the man was able to break loose and emerge from the water. Socrates then asked, “when you thought you were drowning, what one thing did you want most of all?” Still gasping for breath, the man exclaimed, “I wanted air” The philosopher wisely commented, “When you want knowledge as much as you wanted air, then you will get it!” The same is true with our desire for righteousness. (Daily Bread)

This is God’s invitation to you, written by the Prophet Isaiah some 700 years before Jesus’ invitation, “Lo! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance.” (Isaiah 55:1, 2)