Blessed Are the Persecuted

 Matthew 5:10-12:

¹⁰ Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹ Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. ¹² Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

It may seem at first that these words of Christ are irrelevant for us today. We, in our Western society, don’t experience persecutions and torture like in the days of Nero. But Christ makes it clear that we wills be persecuted too. He says in John 15:20, “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.”

Paul echoes this statement in 2 Timothy 3:12, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” See also Acts 14:22; Matthew 10:25.

How can Jesus and Paul be so sure that all godly men will be persecuted? Both are convinced that there is an inevitable tension between Christians and the world that will never allow them to be peaceable.

They’re right. It’s because of the contrasting natures of the sinner and of the believer. That doesn’t change. It is still true today.  Millions of Christians around the world are being outwardly persecuted. Millions of Christians are being restricted because of their belief. Thousands are being killed.

Your attitude of earnestly putting God first in your work, leisure, home and school life will cause you to meet with some persecution.

Notice the beatitude: ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.’ Only those who are persecuted for their righteousness will be blessed. A way to find out more about this righteousness is to look at the parallels between verses 10 and 11. Verse 10 says the persecution is on account of righteousness, verse 11 says it is for Christ’s sake. So true righteousness involves a relationship with Jesus.

Why is this so offensive? Why are so many people around the world persecuted for loving Jesus?

Christ Himself explains this in Luke 16:14-15. In verse 13 He had said, “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Then in the next verses He suffers persecution from the Pharisees, “Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him.” Jesus replied, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”

The Pharisees persecuted Christ because He condemned their love of money. Jesus’ attack on love of money resulted in an attack on Jesus Himself. That’s the root of persecution.

A life of righteousness and godliness will result in persecution. For those who are temperate, your life will be an attack on people’s love of alcohol. Those who are humble will show the evil of pride. Those who value life will be making a statement about the death-loving people around them. Those who are spiritually minded will expose the worldly-mindedness of others.

That’s why the righteous are persecuted. Others who are not righteous get offended by the righteousness of others and persecute them. If you don’t feel like you’re being persecuted, you must not be making it clear that you are righteous and godly. You must not be triggering the impulses of the ungodly. You may not be temperate. You may not be humble. You may not value life. You may not be openly spiritually minded. For then you will not suffer persecution.

Verse 10: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” Verse 11: “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you.” Yes, you are blessed if you are persecuted. Jesus even tells us to ‘Rejoice and be exceedingly glad’.

How are we to do that? How do we rejoice when we are mocked, tortured and even killed? Yes, and Jesus is thinking of the murdering of saints. See Matthew 23:30; 1 Kings 18:13; 19:10; Nehemiah 9:26; Jeremiah 26:23. This is what they did to the prophets. That is what they will do to the disciples (Matthew 24:9).

How does Christ justify his statement to rejoice in tribulation and persecution? He explains it by His next words, ‘for great is your reward in heaven.’ Jesus knows that the reward of heaven will more than compensate for any suffering on this earth. Looking towards this great reward will cause our hearts to rejoice.

However, we must believe that there is a reward. That’s where faith comes in. Faith gives us the confidence that there is a heavenly reward waiting for us. Faith gave the martyrs the impulse to rejoice in martyrdom. By faith we too can suffer mocking, scourging, chains and imprisonment, just as the saints did in the Old Testament (Hebrews 11:36-38).

Blessed are those who suffer persecution for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Rejoice and be exceedingly glad!

See the full series on The Beatitudes here.