4 Aspects of Persecution:

1 The Reality Of It-

Notice in Matthew 5:11 Jesus says “Blessed are you when people insult you”.  It’s personal now.  This will happen to you.  He was no doubt making eye contact with His audience there on the mountainside.  Here is the reality:  We will be persecuted. 2 Timothy 3:12 puts it this way “In fact, everyone who wants to live a Godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

The essence of a Godly life is brokenness, mourning, meekness, hunger and thirsting after righteousness, mercifulness, purity of heart, and peacemaking.  Godliness has nothing to do with acting Godly or acting pious.  It is a matter of the heart.  And those who know and understand this from the heart will run into suffering.  This is not only a reality of kingdom life: it is also evidence that we are a part of it.  We all at times look for proof of our conversion.  And God at time supplies several like, peace we are forgiven.  But one evidence we don’t look for is conflict and persecution.  Paul put it like this (read Philippians 1:27-30).  It is interesting to note the opposition in Philippi came from legalist who had external focus.  And Paul said don’t be alarmed, their opposition signals two things.  First, it’s a sign that they are not a part of God’s kingdom. Second, it’s a strong sign that you are.

I’m sure your parents told you watch who you hang out with because you are known by the company you keep.  The Bile indicates the opposite.  We can tell many things about believers by who opposes them.  Who is on our side and who is against us.

If we’re not creating some kind of stir as individual believers or as a body in our community, we can rest assured that we are not advancing the kingdom in a way that we should.

Let’s take a look at how Paul saw himself in the ministry.(read 1 Corinthians 4:9)

The phrase “condemned to die” is a direct reference to parades that took place in Corinth.  As the Romans would march triumphantly through town, they would display the spoils of war.  At the back of the line was a group of people who had been captured in battle.  These prisoners were stripped, bound and sentenced to die.  And after the parade, the crowds would file into the arena to watch these people get eaten alive by animals or burned at the stake.

Paul’s perception was that when he gave his life to Christ, he laid his life on the line.  He signed up for a trip to the arena.  In the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in ‘The Cost of Discipleship’ “when Jesus bids a man to come, He bids him to come to die”.  There will always be opposition and persecution for those who follow Christ.

Contrast that with the evangelical culture of today which seems to be eager to sell God along with lollipops.  We promise prosperity “if you just believe and send your contribution”.  We parade celebrities, athletes, and entertainers before non-believers so they can rest assured that it is cool to be a Christian.

This seems to be a different spirit from which I sense in the apostle Paul; “When I came to Christ, I knew I was called to lay my life on the line and that I was condemned to die”.

If you’re a peacemaker and a truth bringer who confronts sin you will be opposed, guaranteed.

2 The Reason For Persecution:

Why would nice people like broken, mourning, gentle, and hungry people be slandered and opposed?  The text gives us the answer “for righteousness sake”.  But why would this cause conflict?

Think of a group of 5 people.  They are all acting very nice and pious, very spiritual and appropriate.  But one day one of them gets truly broken by God.  This brokenness turns to mourning.  Do you know what it does to the other 4?  It exposes them!  It will become clear very soon that something is missing in them.  If you have 5 people and one of them starts hungering for God, it will become obvious that the other 4 are not longing for God in the same manner.

Look at the story in Luke 6.  Jesus healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath.  In response to this miracle: “They were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.”(Luke 6:11)

Why were they filled with rage?  What did Jesus do that made them begin to plot His murder?  Was it the act of healing?  Was it the fact He did it on the Sabbath?  NO!  It is much deeper than that.   These teachers of the law hated Christ because His power revealed their absolute impotence.  With all their religiousity and knowledge, they could not help a crippled man regain use of his hand.  More than that there was nothing they could do for the spiritually crippled and spiritually blind.

One word of caution here, we sometimes confuse a false persecution with the real thing.  For instance, sometimes our presentation of Christ to the world is not in the context of brokenness and mourning.  Rather we confront the world with arrogance and superiority.  Then we get reviled for being superior and condescending and we call that being persecuted for righteousness.  Matthew 5:10-12 applies only to that persecution which results from the lifestyle of Matthew 5:3-9.

PERSECUTED CONTINUED TOMORROW

We were blessed Sunday by Pastor Nate’s message on “Need”.  It helped put things in perceptive as to what we really need in this life.  While there are physical things we all need on a daily bases to survive it’s great to know that God says “I know what you have need of”!! However, even the most important need for survival in this life are temporary compared to our “eternal” need.

The bible is clear that “In Him (Christ) we live and move and have our being”. Out of this basic spiritual need we find the answers to life’s most difficult questions.  I just want to encourage you this week to evaluate the “needs” and “wants” of your life and begin to sort out and prioritize each one in an orderly fashion.

It was refreshing to once again experience the Grace of God during our Praise and Worship.  As the congregation focused on the Goodness and Grace of God walls begin to crumble, barriers were broken and hearts were mended. At CLC we strive to allow the Holy Spirit opportunity to do His work in each individual heart.  We believe it’s important to allow time for people to respond during “ministry time” to what the Spirit is speaking.

I’m so glad that Sunday’s at CLC is more than just a religious church service.  Thank God we can gather together knowing that each of us need the Grace of God on a daily bases in order to cope with life’s challenges. This is what we call “Doing Life Together”.  Speaking of “Doing Life Together” I want to remind you of the new electives beginning this coming Wednesday night.  We will be starting a brand new NWA Healthy Marriage class and encourage couples to take advantage of the material that will be covered in this nine week course.  At the same time there will be a new class facilitated by Tom Chapman entitled “Path to Power”, this class will convene in room 201.

I pray that you will have a blessed week this week and that you will have an impact on your world.

Doing Life Together,

Pastor Terry

Persecution Here and Now:

It’s easy to look at Matthew 5:10-12 and assume it refers to others, reserved for the missionary or a person who lives in a hostile country and indeed it does celebrate those brave men and women.  So let’s look at this in a broader context.

Can you remember a time in your life when God began to deal with you?  The circumstances of your brokenness could have been a number of things.  Perhaps it was trouble in your marriage or a divorce.  Maybe, a public failure or a sin that overwhelmed you.  Even trying hard to please God and you ran out of energy and quit.  But eventually you came to Him and said “You God are my only hope”.

But in the middle of all of that pain you felt a real liberation.  Like something inside of you came to life.  Because you were truly broken, all your pretence was gone.  You began to mourn in ways that were embarrassing.  You dealt with your sin and stopped pretending everything was fine.  And something weird happened you began to notice other Christians pulling away from you.  When you got serious and pain came out it didn’t look very good.  In fact, it was messy.

But you didn’t allow the rejection of some believers to keep you from pursuing God. Your mourning made you meek and teachable, and the hunger and thirst for Christ’s righteousness over took you.  You developed a craving for God, His word and more of His power.  But once again you ran into believers who couldn’t relate to your intense longing after God.  They even may have seemed condescending towards you.  Some even said “You’ll get over it”.

Your next step was getting new eyes.  You began to see things you never saw before.  Things you used to think were spiritual don’t appear that way anymore.  People you once thought were deep Christians seem shallow to you now.  At one time you even aspired to be like them.  Then it wasn’t enough just to see these things so you started to say these things out loud.  The peacemaker moves into conflict and brings the truth of God into the situation.

When you began doing these things you probably got persecuted.  To persecute means-to chase, to pursue, to harass.  And you don’t have to be nailed to a cross or shot to feel that tension.  You even know what it is like to be reviled because that is defined as (having something thrown in your face).  You will be made fun of, and others will speak falsely of you in evil ways.  They will slander you behind your back.

Persecuted concluded tomorrow