Happy are those who are persecuted. Count it all joy when you fall into many temptations or testings. In this world there will be persecution. Paul even asked, “Why do I suffer persecution?”
What about forgiveness, peace, joy, and all the good things that are promised in the Word of God. Have we missed something or is there something much more important that we need to learn..
In a Christianity Today column entitled “Blessed are the Persecuted,” Clarence Jordan is quoted as saying,
“We wonder why Christians today get off so easily. Is it because unchristian Americans are that much better than unchristian Romans, or is our light so dim that the tormentor can’t see it?
What are the things we do that are worth persecuting?” If persecution is guaranteed to the righteous, then what does not being persecuted say about our righteousness? Does it mean that we are not righteous? Can it be that we are not righteous enough? How much righteousness is enough?
Paul said to the Thessalonian Christians,
2Th 1:5 Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:
6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
The word that is translated “persecuted” in Matthew and in Thessalonians has the base meaning of “to pursue.” In some way persecution involves “pursuit.” The same word is used when it talks about “pursuing hospitality,” “pursuing peace,” and many other good pursuits. It is incredible that a word that talks about good pursuits means the same thing as the word that means “to persecute.”
One day my good Korean friend, Pak Chai Man, said to me, “Come, I want you to meet a woman whose testimony will bless you.” As we drove out to the river where the women of the village were doing their wash, Chai Man told me about the lady we were going to see. He said that she had a husband who had been killed in the Police action. She had three sons who were killed in the fighting. She had only one son living and he was missing in action. I began to think that I did not want to meet this lady and hear all the burdens of her life. When we arrived at the river, she was there beating her cloths on the rocks to clean them. She looked up at me with radiance in her face and a light in her eyes. She started to tell me how good God had been to her.
I thought to myself , “If that is what being good is there is something that I don’t understand.” Pak Chai Man was right. She was a blessing to me that day. I learned that persecution and tribulation are used by God to help us mature in our Christlikeness. The radiance that I saw cried out, “God knows what He is doing and what He is doing will be for my good.”
In America, we live in a country that is free, and that freedom allows us to live, worship, and serve the living God. We are thankful for that freedom, but does that very freedom put us in jeopardy of not having the blessing of persecution. No one in his right mind will wish for persecution, but is it possible that our lives should be lived in such a way that invites it. It invites it by its very character and purity. It does not invite it by being so bad, but it does so by being so good.
Paul said to those Thessalonian Christians that they could be “counted worthy of the kingdom of God.” They were worthy because they had suffered persecution. God promised that he would take care of the persecutors, and he would bless the persecuted.
Peter made it clear that our suffering and persecution were signs of our identification with the Savior. He said in I Peter 2:19-24,
For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.
For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
It is time that we started living lives that can result in suffering. It will not come by being nasty and antagonistic, but it will come by being righteous and good. The world understands what it means to be nasty, pushy, and self-serving. It does not understand what it means to be forgiving, kind, loving, peaceful, and pure. Jesus was all of that and more, and they put Him to death. They could not stand His goodness. It was too threatening in a self-serving world.
Is goodness still threatening today? It is. Our Christian world is predominated by a secular humanistic philosophy that glorifies man, minimizes God, and denounces godliness. It is building a new “tower of babel” to carry men to the god they don’t know and that does not exist.
If someone speaks of the right to life or any other moral questions, they are accused of being bigots and castigating everyone who does not believe them. There are more serious consequences than this in many countries around the world where Christians are imprisoned, killed, or made cast-offs simply because they believe the Gospel message.
That sounds like what Jesus was talking about. We should be thankful that we live in a society where there is more toleration. It is a society which has been influenced by the Gospel, but that strong influence is so old that now society does not mind if we believe the Gospel. We just shouldn’t take it too seriously. John gives us a significant piece of spiritual advice about becoming righteous. He says in I John 3:7,
Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
If we reverse the order of that verse we find that: 1. Jesus is righteous. 2. When we are righteous we become like Him. 3. If we become righteous, we practice righteousness in our lives. It is that righteousness that is persecuted by the world.
The strange thing is that the child of God should be the very best citizen of the society in which he/she lives. It is God’s requirement that those who love Him should obey the rulers above them. We should not be known as people who are disobedient to the authorities, but we should be obedient right up to the point where we are told to disobey God.
Jesus told His disciples that the righteous would take care of the needs of those who had nothing. He indicated in Matthew 25 that they were the righteous and cared for the needs of those who were thirsty, hungry, and naked. He said to them in Matthew 25:40,
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Luke gave insight into the righteous person when he reported about Zacharias and Elisabeth in Luke 1:6,
And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
They obeyed God and they were not phonies. Luke says that they were righteous. There is a pretty important lesson in that. If we are going to be righteous then we will be obedient and we will obey both in our hearts and in our actions. The world may not like us, but they will know that we are real when we are consistent with what God says we should be.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
(Matthew 5:10-12)
What about forgiveness, peace, joy, and all the good things that are promised in the Word of God. Have we missed something or is there something much more important that we need to learn..
In a Christianity Today column entitled “Blessed are the Persecuted,” Clarence Jordan is quoted as saying,
“We wonder why Christians today get off so easily. Is it because unchristian Americans are that much better than unchristian Romans, or is our light so dim that the tormentor can’t see it?
What are the things we do that are worth persecuting?” If persecution is guaranteed to the righteous, then what does not being persecuted say about our righteousness? Does it mean that we are not righteous? Can it be that we are not righteous enough? How much righteousness is enough?
Paul said to the Thessalonian Christians,
2Th 1:5 Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:
6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
The word that is translated “persecuted” in Matthew and in Thessalonians has the base meaning of “to pursue.” In some way persecution involves “pursuit.” The same word is used when it talks about “pursuing hospitality,” “pursuing peace,” and many other good pursuits. It is incredible that a word that talks about good pursuits means the same thing as the word that means “to persecute.”
One day my good Korean friend, Pak Chai Man, said to me, “Come, I want you to meet a woman whose testimony will bless you.” As we drove out to the river where the women of the village were doing their wash, Chai Man told me about the lady we were going to see. He said that she had a husband who had been killed in the Police action. She had three sons who were killed in the fighting. She had only one son living and he was missing in action. I began to think that I did not want to meet this lady and hear all the burdens of her life. When we arrived at the river, she was there beating her cloths on the rocks to clean them. She looked up at me with radiance in her face and a light in her eyes. She started to tell me how good God had been to her.
I thought to myself , “If that is what being good is there is something that I don’t understand.” Pak Chai Man was right. She was a blessing to me that day. I learned that persecution and tribulation are used by God to help us mature in our Christlikeness. The radiance that I saw cried out, “God knows what He is doing and what He is doing will be for my good.”
In America, we live in a country that is free, and that freedom allows us to live, worship, and serve the living God. We are thankful for that freedom, but does that very freedom put us in jeopardy of not having the blessing of persecution. No one in his right mind will wish for persecution, but is it possible that our lives should be lived in such a way that invites it. It invites it by its very character and purity. It does not invite it by being so bad, but it does so by being so good.
Paul said to those Thessalonian Christians that they could be “counted worthy of the kingdom of God.” They were worthy because they had suffered persecution. God promised that he would take care of the persecutors, and he would bless the persecuted.
Peter made it clear that our suffering and persecution were signs of our identification with the Savior. He said in I Peter 2:19-24,
For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.
For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
It is time that we started living lives that can result in suffering. It will not come by being nasty and antagonistic, but it will come by being righteous and good. The world understands what it means to be nasty, pushy, and self-serving. It does not understand what it means to be forgiving, kind, loving, peaceful, and pure. Jesus was all of that and more, and they put Him to death. They could not stand His goodness. It was too threatening in a self-serving world.
Is goodness still threatening today? It is. Our Christian world is predominated by a secular humanistic philosophy that glorifies man, minimizes God, and denounces godliness. It is building a new “tower of babel” to carry men to the god they don’t know and that does not exist.
If someone speaks of the right to life or any other moral questions, they are accused of being bigots and castigating everyone who does not believe them. There are more serious consequences than this in many countries around the world where Christians are imprisoned, killed, or made cast-offs simply because they believe the Gospel message.
That sounds like what Jesus was talking about. We should be thankful that we live in a society where there is more toleration. It is a society which has been influenced by the Gospel, but that strong influence is so old that now society does not mind if we believe the Gospel. We just shouldn’t take it too seriously. John gives us a significant piece of spiritual advice about becoming righteous. He says in I John 3:7,
Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
If we reverse the order of that verse we find that: 1. Jesus is righteous. 2. When we are righteous we become like Him. 3. If we become righteous, we practice righteousness in our lives. It is that righteousness that is persecuted by the world.
The strange thing is that the child of God should be the very best citizen of the society in which he/she lives. It is God’s requirement that those who love Him should obey the rulers above them. We should not be known as people who are disobedient to the authorities, but we should be obedient right up to the point where we are told to disobey God.
Jesus told His disciples that the righteous would take care of the needs of those who had nothing. He indicated in Matthew 25 that they were the righteous and cared for the needs of those who were thirsty, hungry, and naked. He said to them in Matthew 25:40,
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Luke gave insight into the righteous person when he reported about Zacharias and Elisabeth in Luke 1:6,
And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
They obeyed God and they were not phonies. Luke says that they were righteous. There is a pretty important lesson in that. If we are going to be righteous then we will be obedient and we will obey both in our hearts and in our actions. The world may not like us, but they will know that we are real when we are consistent with what God says we should be.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
(Matthew 5:10-12)
No comments:
Post a Comment