Happy are the Persecuted?
I've said it before; I believe the days of 'comfortable Christianity' are quickly coming to a close in our country. Following Jesus has always come with a price, but in our modern nation - living as a Christian has had very little risk. And as such, many have been lulled into a false sense of security thinking that life has always been that way for the believer.
We're continuing our series on the Beatitudes, so let's jump back to our text from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:1-10 (NIV)...
Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, (2) and he began to teach them, saying: (3) "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (4) Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. (5) Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. (6) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
(7) Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. (8) Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. (9) Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. (10) Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
Now, as I've shared before, the word translated as 'blessed' can also mean 'happy'. So Jesus is saying 'happy are the persecuted' – once again making a point that doesn't seem to make much sense at face value.
I wanted to share an account from "The Voice of the Martyrs" website. Wang Yi is the leader of Early Rain Covenant Church in China. Wang has been vocal in calling the state to uphold religious liberties. On Dec. 9th, 2018 police raided church members' homes. By the end of the week, about 150 church leaders and seminary students were in police custody, and the church had been forcibly closed. Wang was charged with "inciting subversion of state power" and "illegal business operations."
According to sources, prison authorities are holding Wang Yi in "closed" imprisonment. He's not allowed to meet or speak with other inmates, except for two criminal offenders who are charged with watching him. As of today, Wang Yi has been imprisoned for 2,101 days.
I'd encourage you to pray for Wang Yi, and you can even write him a letter of encouragement through "The Voice of the Martyrs" website "prisonalert.com". That link that will be posted on Deep River's website and Facebook page and emailed out to anyone who requests it. Click here.
Now most of us will probably never experience persecution for our beliefs as other Christians do in other countries. We are amazingly blessed in that sense, but I do want us to look this morning a bit at…
I. Persecution
Of course, Jesus is talking about persecution because of righteousness – for following His teachings. He explained this to His early disciples in John 15:18-19 (NIV)...
If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. (19) If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
When any Christian is persecuted for their commitment to Christ, it's not really a rejection of that person, but of Jesus. That doesn't always make it a whole lot less difficult to endure, but Jesus was always very clear about the cost of following Him. He didn't sugar coat it or promise it would be a bed of roses.
Over the ages there have been many who have understood this and have submitted their will to God's will. They've followed Jesus even to the point of death. And, of course, the name given to those people is…
A. Martyr
The first recorded martyr for his faith was a man named Stephen, who would not stop speaking the truth of Jesus. We find his account in Acts 7:55-60 (NIV)...
But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. (56) "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." (57) At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, (58) dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
(59) While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." (60) Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.
Acts chapter 8 tells of a great persecution that broke out against the Church at Jerusalem and according to "Foxes Book of Martyr's", about 2,000 Christians were killed in that short time period. Now according to statistics, since Jesus established His Church - over 70 million Christians have died for their faith. Currently the estimate worldwide is as high as 100,000 Christians a year who die for their faith.
Those numbers are almost too large to grasp as we sit here in our nice building free to worship without any fear of death. Now, although it takes a much more subtle form, persecution of Christians here seems to be rather effective in silencing some. Let's talk about persecution…
B. In America
Our nation was undeniably founded as a Christian nation. Freedom from religious persecution, freedom to worship God as directed by the Bible and conscience - those were major factors in the establishment of this country! But as time has passed, faith in God, a belief in Jesus – that's become less important to many. And for some - faith has even become something which should be actively rejected as 'old fashioned' and naive and even 'mean spirited'.
Do we have the freedom to gather and worship? Yes. Do I have the freedom to speak and preach about Jesus? Yes. Are we experiencing religious persecution in America..?
Religious persecution doesn't start in a 'Christian Nation' with mobs charging into worship services and arresting all the believers. It doesn't even start by aggressively attacking Christians - but by chipping away at the foundations of Christian values and teachings. It starts in more socially acceptable ways.
It starts as culture moves away from Godly values and embraces what God calls 'sin'. It starts by 'rebranding' sin. It's more palatable to call 'adultery' an 'affair'; and 'pornography' ' 'adult entertainment' - and calling a whole host of other sexual sins simply 'a personal choice'. By using nice sounding words, and twisting arguments to persuade others to reject God's truth, it's much easier to attack ideas first rather than taking a faithful believer out and stoning them.
It's the same tactic the devil used back in the Garden of Eden to persuade Eve to disobey God. "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" 'That sounds pretty restrictive...' "Did God really say marriage is only between a man and a woman? How can it be wrong to love anyone you want? Isn't God all about love?" "Does God really want men to dictate a woman's 'reproductive rights'? Is a 'fetus' really a person?"
Persecution starts in a Christian nation by changing social norms and then misusing words like love, equality, justice, and choice to then force change - to attempt to force a Christian believer to betray their conscience by complying with laws that go directly against God's Word. The tactic is intolerant of any dissent - and once a nation moves far enough away from God's truth - then physical persecution and arrests begin.
A minister in Toronto, Canada was arrested on June 4th, 2019 for breaking 'hate speech laws' by publicly preaching the Gospel. In January of this year, in the United Kingdom, a woman singing 'Amazing Grace' was confronted by police and told she wasn't allowed to sing 'Church songs' outside of Church grounds. One month later, police cracked down on street preachers for 'illegally' quoting from 1st Corinthians chapter 6.
But that could never happen in America, right? A street preacher in Wisconsin was arrested for "disorderly conduct, engaged in fighting," but the charges were dropped after an official review of video evidence. In the near future - as a preacher, will I legally be able to call sin 'sin'? Now of course as Christians we're not to judge or condemn anyone – that's not our job. But we are to teach what the Bible clearly says whether it's popular or not.
Persecution has taken a very different form in America to this point, but will it lead to persecution like that in Iran or China or North Korea or many other countries where Christians are jailed and even killed because of their faith? What should be...
II. Our response to persecution
Now there are plenty of political battles to be fought in our nation - and I feel very strongly that as Christians we do have a responsibility to vote and to support those who promote Christian morals and values and freedoms – but I'm not here to preach politics. What should our personal response be to persecution?
When I head off to work in the morning after telling my wife and kids goodbye, I occasionally shout on the way out the door, "If I don't make it home, avenge my death!" It's a joke; however, I just shared this passage last week from Romans 12:17-21 (NIV)...
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. (18) If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. (19) Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.
I remember hearing the Christian singer Rich Mullins say, "God says, 'vengeance is mine', but sometimes I just want to be about the Lord's work real bad."
When we're persecuted, when people do harm to us, or criticize or call us 'bigoted' or 'hate filled' – the natural response is to fight back; to hit back just as hard. However, we are called to do a more difficult task – we're challenged to...
A. Pray
Not as a last ditch effort, but as a first response. A perfect example of some who understood this is found in Acts 16:22-25 (NIV)...
The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. (23) After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. (24) Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. (25) About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
Paul and Silas were beaten and jailed for preaching and how did they respond? - They prayed and sang to God. They understood that the people who beat them were not the enemy. Jesus had died for their sins just as much as He had died for Paul and Silas' sins. They gave the situation to God and trusted that He would handle things.
Now I'm not suggesting that our response to persecution should simply be a passive one. There are plenty of things that we can do to stand for God's truth, and ultimately our response must be one of active prayer!
We need to stand for truth - AND understand that those who oppose us; anyone who persecutes Christians, needs our compassion! Our goal is not simply to win a fight with people, but to ultimately win them over to Jesus Christ! And responding to persecution in this way may not be our natural response, but it is a 'Christ like' response. Jesus said, in Matthew 5:43-45 (NIV)...
You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' (44) But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (45) that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
As difficult as it may be, we need to continue to pray for those who oppose God's Church - here and in other countries. We need to pray for all our leaders in government, whether we voted for them or not. Ultimately our response to persecution must be to…
B. Trust God
God is very much aware of persecution in this world. In some situations He responds miraculously and delivers His people. In other situations, He allows evil men to do evil things. I don't know why – but I do know that God is big enough to handle anything! David wrote in Psalms 37:7-10 (NIV)...
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. (8) Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret--it leads only to evil. (9) For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land. (10) A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found.
We can trust God completely because we know how history will end – Jesus will return and His followers who endure will receive the reward of Heaven. Jesus said to His first disciples, in Matthew 24:6-13 (NIV)...
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. (7) Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. (8) All these are the beginning of birth pains. (9) Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
(10) At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, (11) and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. (12) Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, (13) but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
So What?
What if, in following Jesus and submitting to His will - you're not called to die for Christ? And that appears to be the case for most Christians throughout history. We will all suffer in one way or another for following - but we're apparently not all called to die as martyrs. We should be willing to give our lives for the faith - but not everyone will be called to do so. However, many times it's easier to perhaps unintentionally reject Christ in the everyday mundane day to day.
My point is - dying for Jesus only takes a moment of immense strength and commitment. I don't want to in any way diminish the sacrifice of those who have given their lives - but living for Jesus is an every day test of faith and endurance. We may not all be called to die for Christ, but we all have been called to live for Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (NIV)
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.