Privileged to Suffer #1

Biblical Christians will inevitably, and without exception, face persecution of some sort.

We tend to avoid suffering at all costs, and we want to be liked too. But as Pastor Don Green reminds us today, on the truth pulpit, Christians should expect at least some level of persecution and the derision of unbelievers against us. Hi there, I'm Bill Wright, and as Don continues to teach God's people God's word, we begin the series, When You're Rejected Because of Christ. And Don, when Jesus uses the term persecution, that does not refer only to being thrown to the lions and other extreme cases. That's right, Bill, and I think, my friend, that Bill has put his finger on something that is really the sweetest part of the Beatitudes in some ways to me personally. Christ realizes that we will suffer in different ways. Sometimes it's mild, somebody criticizes you.

Sometimes it's more severe. Scripture says that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, and that tells us to expect things to sometimes go against us, and we are going to help you be prepared for persecution on today's broadcast. Thanks, Don. And friend, with your Bible open to Matthew 5, verse 10, let's join our teacher now in the truth pulpit. There's six questions that I want to answer about persecution in the Christian life from this text.

We're going to look at three of them here today. The first question is this, and kind of in a yes or no fashion, will true Christians be persecuted? Will true Christians be persecuted?

This is kind of our fundamental starting point, and the answer to that question is yes. Biblical Christians will inevitably, and without exception, face persecution of some sort. Now, it's very important for us to talk about this freely, openly, calmly, in the midst of a relatively peaceful society that we have here today anyway, and it's important for us to talk about this in that context so that we're prepared for it when persecution comes. It's also important for us to teach on this in the context of an evangelical church, which over the past several decades, really, have taught people that there can be a Christianity without cost, that there can be discipleship without a cross, that you can have the crown without the cross.

That's not true. There is a cost to true discipleship to Christ, and we cannot offer Christ on false premises to people and say that the whole idea of Christianity is so that God would bless you, that God would give you whatever you want, blessing and health and prosperity. Just come, and while you're at it, toss a check in the offering plate on the way out, and everything will be good for you. That's not biblical Christianity, beloved, and Jesus makes that very plain. There is a cost to discipleship. And before we dive into the text, I want to point out a couple of passages to you that are really critical on this point. Go to the Gospel of Luke chapter 12. The Gospel of Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12, beginning in verse 51. Luke 12, verse 51.

Jesus said, Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division. For from now on, five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law. Jesus is saying that the devotion to me, discipleship under my lordship, will result in division in the closest of family relationships, even.

There's a cost that comes. People are not going to congratulate you for being a Christian. And so don't expect that. Don't come to discipleship with Christ. Don't live the Christian life with a false sense of expectation that everything is going to be roses and cream and lovely peacefulness with everyone around you. That is not true Christianity. If you look over at John chapter 15, you'll see how explicit and clear our Lord was about this very point. John 15.

I'll give you a moment to find it. John 15 verses 18 through 20. John 15 verses 18 through 20. Jesus, on the eve of his crucifixion, knowing that the greatest suffering ever known in a human body was about to be inflicted upon him as he bore the sins of everyone who would ever believe in him on the cross, knowing that he was about to be betrayed by Judas, knowing that Roman soldiers would nail him and lift him up and hoist him on a cross for you and me, knowing all of that, he turns to the disciples who had been with him for three years and he says to them, preparing them, and by extension us, preparing us, says, 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, because of this, 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. You see, Jesus tells us up front that to follow him is to separate yourself from the world. To belong to him is to not belong to the world. We're in the world but not of it.

And the world doesn't like it that way. The world would claim you, and when you step out apart from it, when you stand against it, when you declare even by the simplicity of a righteous life that I reject this world, I reject its values, I reject its mind, I reject what it loves, I live for another world, I live for another king, beloved, the world is going to react against that sooner or later. And so what you find here in Scripture, what you find in the Sermon on the Mount is our Lord Jesus Christ truthfully with the most profound of integrity stating up front what the cost of discipleship will be. Look at Matthew 5 verse 10 now as we return to our text. Matthew 5 verse 10.

And by the way, getting on a tangent before I even get to the text, that's not too good. That doesn't bode well. To recognize this is to take all of the fear out of persecution. It takes all of the fear out of it.

The fear of rejection, the fear in other lands of being imprisoned, the fear of insults, the fear of family turning against you. This takes all of the fear out of it because you say, okay, Christ told me in advance. And you know what? I owe my soul to him. I owe my soul to his self-sacrifice. He's graciously forgiven all of my sins. He's graciously shared his kingdom with me. He's graciously going to bring me to heaven.

Of course my higher loyalties are going to be to him. And if the Lord sees fit to allow me to go through persecution, if the Lord sees fit to let me be rejected by some that were closest to me, if the Lord sees fit to bring that upon our church in times to come, we're not afraid of that. We don't shrink back from that. We love the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of our Lord.

If he suffered for us, if we would suffer a little bit on his behalf in a much lesser degree, then we're glad to share that with him, to share in the sufferings of Christ with him. So we're not afraid of it. We don't resent it. We don't hide from it.

We don't seek it. But when it comes, we accept it, knowing that this is part of the privilege and blessing of belonging to Christ. Let's go to Matthew 5-10 now. Jesus frames it in terms of blessing.

Jesus terms it as being on the receiving end of divine favor when he says in verse 10, blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Beloved, I get to say this one final time as we move out of the beatitudes, but here in the beatitudes Jesus is describing an exclusive group of people. When he says theirs is the kingdom of heaven, he's saying that these are the people who truly belong to me. These are the ones who are truly going to heaven.

No one else does. It's an emphatic, exclusive statement. Theirs and theirs alone is the kingdom of heaven, he says. And this is part of a multifaceted character, as we've said in the past, like the colors of a rainbow, seven different colors making up one rainbow. The eight beatitudes are describing eight different aspects of the same character of the one who has been born again, the one who belongs to his kingdom. And so in different degrees and different measures, all of these things are present, because each time Jesus pronounces a beatitude, he says theirs and theirs alone. These are the ones who are the real thing.

This is the real deal. And so he makes it clear for us and makes it easy for us to recognize the true from the false. And Jesus says only the persecuted will enter. Beloved, this is a universal trait of Christians just in the same way that being broken over sin is.

This comes with the territory. This is part of the service that we render to Christ is to have this come. You know, the Apostle Paul said the same thing in 2 Timothy 3, verse 12. He said, indeed, all those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. So over and over again, in multiple repeated passages, Scripture tells us that the one who follows Christ will pay a price for it. Now we step back and we realize, okay, that's pretty severe.

Severe may be not the right word. That's pretty stunning. That's sobering to realize. You know, how often, if you're not consistently in Scripture, who is telling you this except Jesus? Why don't they tell you that if it's true, if they're actually representing Christ? Scripture tells us that true Christians will pay a price for following Christ and it will come at the hands of those sometimes that are closest to us, those that we thought were friends, those that we thought were loved ones within our families, those who have moistened our cheeks with their kisses only to find that it was a Judas kiss in the end. Will true Christians be persecuted?

Yes. Scripture says it again and again and again. Sinclair Ferguson helpfully says, and I quote, Christians are persecuted for the sake of righteousness because of their loyalty to Christ. Real loyalty to him creates friction in the hearts of those who pay him only lip service. Loyalty arouses their consciences and leaves them with only two alternatives, follow Christ or silence him. Often their only way of silencing Christ is by silencing his servants. Persecution in subtle or less subtle forms is the result.

End quote. You see, beloved, what we have to understand is, as we're thinking through this and why does it happen, is that there is something more fundamental in the heart of an unsaved man than his personal relationship with you. Even in family, this is often going to be the case. Their love and commitment to sin is greater than their love and commitment to you. Their love and commitment to this world is something that puts them at hostility with Christ. And when you begin to live a life that is manifesting the righteousness of Christ, sooner or later you can expect that that's going to create friction, that that's going to cause sparks as the testimony of your lips, as the testimony of your life brings into conflict in their conscience and in their heart the reality that this is not something that they like. And it testifies to their conscience and it convicts their conscience in a way that makes them react against it.

So don't be surprised when that happens. You see, there's far more at stake than just you being a nice person. Your godly life is testifying to a world that loves sin, that sin ultimately results in judgment. Scripture tells us that our lives are like an aroma of life to those who are being saved, and it is an aroma of death to those who are not saved.

And you know what? The aroma of death is like to them a stench. And what do you do with a stench? You get rid of it.

You wave it off so that you don't have to smell that. Persecution is the way that unbelievers try to get rid of the stench that comes to their own nostrils as a godly life convicts them that they do not truly belong to Christ. And so, in answer to our first question, will true Christians be persecuted? Yes, it is inevitable.

Second question, then. When will persecution come? When will persecution come? And the answer to that question is, based on the text that we're going to look at, when will persecution come? There's no way to know.

There's no way to know. The language that Jesus uses makes this really obvious. Look at verses 10 and 11. Jesus says, Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

There's a couple of aspects. There's some grammar here in the passage. It's very important for your understanding that evident in the Greek text and not necessarily as obvious in the English text, but you can see it as it's there. Verse 10, look at it there with me.

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness. Now, for those of you that know a little bit of a Greek, this is the Greek perfect tense that's being described here. It describes something that has happened in the past and has continuing effects into the present, even if it's not actually going on right now. It's expressing, and what Jesus is describing here is a reality of past persecution that lingers in its effects to the present.

So something happens in the past and then it continues on. So, for example, in the context that we're talking about here, maybe in times past someone has broken a relationship with you because they didn't want anything to do with your testimony of Christ. And despite your efforts at reconciliation, reaching out to them in love, they want nothing to do with you. I know some of you are in that position.

That's an illustration of what's happening. Maybe they're not actively condemning you now, actively making life difficult for you now, but you feel the effects of it from the fact that a relationship that you used to have is no longer in place because they broke off contact with you. My point here is that's an example of what Jesus is talking about with this perfect tense, a past action with continuing results into the present, a broken relationship that has never been restored, even if they're not causing problems for you right now. Jesus says the blessing is upon those who have been persecuted.

In other words, this is so very important for you to understand. This is very important for you to understand, and I'm eager as your pastor to help you grasp this and embrace it. There are sometimes those who would speak about persecution in a way that makes you think, if you're not presently being persecuted, that something's wrong with you. That's not what Jesus is saying here. Jesus does not say, blessed are those who are being persecuted right now because only they belong to the kingdom of heaven. This verbal distinction may seem subtle, but it's very clear and important. See, Jesus recognizes that there are times in the past where we've suffered for him.

We feel the effects of it now, even if we're not going through anything actively at the moment. Jesus is pronouncing blessing on that, not restricting it more narrowly to only those who are feeling the effects at the very moment at which he speaks. I have been persecuted for Christ, you might say, but right now I don't feel the weight of that. Jesus isn't excluding you from that blessing. He recognizes that persecution will come and persecution will go.

Now, there's another aspect of this, this verbal aspect. Remember, we're answering the question, when will persecution come? Look at verse 11 with me. Jesus says, blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you.

Look at it again. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you. This is speaking about persecution in an indefinite sense. He's saying, whenever this happens, is kind of the sense of it, he's not prescribing a timeframe in which it'll happen. He's not giving you indications in which you would know that it happens.

It's general. Whenever this happens, whenever you're insulted for Christ, whenever people speak falsely about you, whenever people abandon you in a relationship because of your commitment to righteousness, whenever that happens, understand that you're blessed. And so the idea here is that Jesus takes this and leaves the door open for future trouble. He recognizes it in the past. Maybe it's part of the present.

Maybe it's going to come in the future. He doesn't define the timeframe. He simply tells us that this is an aspect of Christian living and it's going to come in one form or another sooner or later.

That's all the more definite that he gets about it. And so what he's doing here is he is preparing you for persecution without telling you when it will occur or how it will occur in your particular circumstances. Jesus describes those persecuted in the past, feeling the effects of it now.

And here's the point, beloved. Almost a little bit counterintuitive, but important for you to understand. We need to know what to expect from the Christian life. We need to know how to interpret what happens around us. Times of comparative peace or when affliction comes and people manifest their hostility, we need to know how to think and respond to that. And what I'm about to say, I think, is important for your understanding. Persecution, beloved, will not be necessarily the unbroken pattern of life for all believers everywhere under all circumstances. Let me say it again.

Every adverb in that is important. Persecution will not necessarily be the unbroken pattern of life for all believers everywhere under all circumstances. That's not what Jesus is describing here. He says when this happens, whenever it might happen, if you have been persecuted, even though maybe now you're not, Jesus speaks to a reality that is embedded in Christian life but which doesn't manifest itself at all times.

And so, beloved, here's the point. Maybe, maybe you're not suffering for Christ right now. That does not mean that you have to worry about your lack of spirituality.

Maybe God has given you a time of peace and comfort and respite from the hostility of the world. What's true of individuals is true of churches. Churches go through times of peace, comparative prosperity, sometimes they go through hostility. What I want you to see is, especially in a place where, you know, we live in a land of comparative peace and prosperity, I don't want you to wrongly question your salvation simply because, well, right now life seems pretty good. That's not what Jesus is teaching. He's not saying it's the unbroken pattern for all time, but he is saying this, it is inevitable. It does happen.

It may be brief and mild, it may be prolonged and painful. And so Jesus tells us to expect it. Having said that, looking for balance in what we say here, if you've claimed to be a Christian for any length of time at all and you would look at your life and say, I have never, ever, once, ever tasted any kind of opposition for being a Christian, you might want to step back and reexamine your whole spiritual life. If it has never cost you in any way, shape, or form, in any conversation whatsoever, speaking at the most basic, broad level, and it's never cost you, no one's ever reacted against your claim to know Christ, maybe you need to reconsider whether you're really in the faith.

Because Jesus says, blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs, and theirs alone, is the kingdom of heaven. And that's just especially so important when a weak gospel dominates the church today. When it is made so simple for people supposedly to come to Christ.

Raise your hand and we won't ask you any questions later. And people are conditioned to think about Christianity in the most minimalistic way that never impacts their life. Jesus doesn't teach you Christianity like that. That's a false gospel. And in an environment where people have been conditioned to think that way, we need to bring the full weight of scripture to bear, and scripture says, those who love Christ will pay a price for it.

And if that is the biblical reality of salvation, then we ask ourselves, have I tasted something of that or not? That's Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, with part one of a message titled, Privileged to Suffer, the latest installment of our series, When You're Rejected Because of Christ. Don will have part two on our next broadcast, so join us then here on The Truth Pulpit.

Right now, though, Don's back in studio with some closing words. Well, my friend, as we bring today's broadcast to a close, I want to offer you a very special gift, a special resource as a gift from our ministry. It's my series called, Trusting God in Trying Times.

And this series over the years has proven to be the most popular set of messages that I've ever done. It helps you know how to trust God as you're going through the deep sorrows that sometimes come to us in life. It comes from the book of Habakkuk in the Old Testament, and it comes from some very deep sorrows of my own that were present early in my Christian life. It's very personal. It's very helpful. It's very biblical.

And I would love to see you have it in your hands. It's available in CD album or by download. Transcripts are available if you prefer that. My friend Bill is going to give you information on how to find it. Just visit TheTruthPulpit.com, where you can also learn about podcasts and free CDs of Don's teaching. That's TheTruthPulpit.com. And now for Don Green, I'm Bill Wright, inviting you back next time when Don teaches God's people God's Word from the Truth Pulpit.