I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 5:1-12
Matthew 5:1 Now when Jesus 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 children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of
righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute
you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and
be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they
persecuted the prophets who were before you.
-- this morning, we are finishing our sermon series on
the Beatitudes called “The Measure of a Christian” -- on that very first Sunday
that we started this series, I reminded you that these Beatitudes are the
attitudes and attributes that we should be seeking to develop in our lives if
we wanted to become more and more like Jesus and become mature Christians in
the faith
-- each Beatitude that Jesus gave us represented a step
of progression in our Christian lives -- we started with the call to be poor in
Spirit and respond to the grace that is offered us at the cross -- next, we
were made aware of our sins as we mourned them and began the arduous path of
sanctification
-- we learned to experience and express the power of the
Spirit in our lives through meekness -- not prideful of God’s presence in our
lives -- not boastful of our position -- but power in control -- power
exercised for our good and the good of others
-- next we talked about relationships -- first, our need
to hunger and thirst for righteousness as we tried to maintain a right
relationship with God -- and then we talked about our relationships with
others, as we learned to be merciful and to live as Christ to those around us,
especially those who have wronged us
-- we moved on to talk about a life
of purity -- a life of holiness -- where we are constantly cleansed through the
power of the Word and our lives display a direction and a devotion to Christ
and the things of Christ
-- and then, last week, we talked
about our need to be peace makers -- people who are actively involved in God’s
work of bringing hope and life and love to this world
-- this week, we finish up the
Beatitudes by learning that life is not over at death, but that our physical
deaths usher in the full experience of our spiritual lives as we enter into the
very presence of God
II. Persecution
-- in this eighth and longest
Beatitude, Jesus makes a promise that seems foreign to our modern-day American
ears -- let’s read verses 10-12 together
Matthew 5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted
because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute
you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and
be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they
persecuted the prophets who were before you.
-- when’s the last time you saw the
celebration of persecution on somebody’s Facebook status?
-- when’s the last time you heard
that message from the pulpit or from a preacher on the radio?
-- I guarantee you that it would be
rare to hear a church service end with these words, “If you come and believe in
Jesus and put your faith in Him, He will forgive you of all your sins and you
will start a new life with Him -- a life filled with trouble and tribulation --
a life filled with persecution and insults and lies -- a life that may lead to
your death -- come to Jesus this morning and die”
-- that is the very message that
Jesus gives us in this last Beatitude -- that is the call of every Christian
who truly wants to follow Jesus wherever He might lead -- “Come and suffer --
come and die,” Jesus says, “and you will be blessed”
-- remember the context of this passage
-- remember the setting -- this is early in Jesus’ ministry -- the people who
were originally going out to see John the Baptist are now flocking to hear Jesus along with
many others who have heard of the miracles -- great crowds of people are
following Jesus -- outside of the official temple in Jerusalem, Jesus has the
biggest and fastest growing church in the land -- by all accounts, He is a
success because that’s how we judge the quality of a church and its pastor,
isn’t it?
-- pastors like to see growing
churches -- they like to see large numbers on Sunday mornings -- it validates
them -- it lets them know that they’re doing good -- and so some pastors become
careful in their sermons so they don’t alienate the crowd -- so they don’t lose
what they’ve got -- they stay safe in their sermon topics and in their
teachings
-- so, when Jesus sees the crowd
here in Matthew 5 and goes up on top of a mountain to preach, that’s kind of
what you expect to hear -- that’s probably what his disciples expected to hear
-- but what does Jesus do?
-- He gives them the Beatitudes --
He calls the people to do more than just come to church -- He calls them to
live out their faith -- He calls them to live holy and fruitful lives and to be
peacemakers -- and then He caps it with this final Beatitude -- “blessed are
you when you are persecuted -- blessed are you when you suffer for your faith
-- blessed are you when you come and die for Me”
-- now that’s hardly a sermon that
will win friends and influence people -- that’s hardly a message that will keep
the crowds coming and the church rolls filled -- I can just imagine Peter and
John standing there cringing as Jesus delivered these words -- “Come on, Jesus
-- we had them -- look at this crowd -- look at all these people -- we’re
finally getting somewhere and you had to go and ruin it all by telling them
that they will die if they follow you”
-- you’ve been there -- you invite
someone to church and they finally show up and that Sunday either the preacher
delivers a message that’s a dud or they start hammering people on sin and their
lifestyle and what’s wrong with Americans these days -- and you’re sitting
there cringing and saying, “Why that sermon? -- why this hard topic today of
all days?” -- and when you leave, you promise your guests that usually the
sermon is better -- usually the sermon is more uplifting and encouraging -- but
you know they’re not coming back
-- that’s what’s going on here at
the Sermon on the Mount -- Jesus didn’t preach to please the crowd -- He
preached to make people get real with God
-- as I was working on this message, I looked out into my
backyard and saw a bunch of chickens and one lonely pig -- and that reminded me
of a story I heard one time about a chicken and a pig who were walking down the
street -- and, as they passed by a restaurant, they noticed a sign in the
window that said, "eggs and bacon wanted" -- the chicken looked at
the pig and said, "we should go in and help" -- the pig said "I
don't think so" -- the chicken said, "why not?" -- the pig said,
"because for you it's a contribution -- for me it's a commitment"
-- that day, when Jesus looked out
over that great crowd of people who had come to hear Him, He knew that there
were a lot of chicken Christians out there -- people who had just come to Jesus
for what they could get -- people who were attracted to Jesus because of the
rewards of Christianity -- they liked the idea of salvation -- they didn’t mind
making a contribution -- but they were just not willing to pay the price that
Jesus demanded for holiness
-- so, Jesus used these Beatitudes
as a way to get the people to count the cost of following Him -- “if you want
to follow Me,” He says, “there is a price”
-- in these Beatitudes, Jesus isn’t
just asking for you to give Him part of your life -- He’s asking for you to
give Him everything -- body, mind, and spirit -- even your very life
-- that is the cost of discipleship
-- that is the price that must be paid if you are going to live for Him
-- the Bible tells us to expect
persecution -- I’m going to give several verses here, so you might want to jot
these down so you can look at them later
-- 1 Peter 4:12-13 says, “Dear
friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though
something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in
the sufferings of Christ’
-- in Acts 14:22, Paul and Barnabus
told the disciples in Asia, "We must go through many hardships to enter
the
-- Philippians 1:29 -- it has been
granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to
suffer for him
-- and 2 Timothy 3:12 -- everyone
who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted
-- persecution because of
righteousness -- persecution because of Jesus -- is the badge of the Christian
and the cost for following Him
-- this was something the early
church knew well -- from the moment that Jesus was arrested in the Garden of
Gethsemane and led to the cross at Calvary, the disciples and the other believers
lived in fear of persecution and in fear for their lives
-- even after the coming of the Holy
Spirit at Pentecost, persecution continued -- first from the Jews and later
from the Romans
-- in fact, all 11 of the remaining
apostles experienced hardship and persecution in their lives -- with 10 of them
ending up as martyrs of the faith
-- Matthew was killed by a sword in
-- we American Christians are quick
to cry, “persecution,” when the cashier says “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry
Christmas,” but that doesn’t come close to the reality of persecution our
brothers and sisters around the world experience daily -- right now, believers
around the world, especially those living in Muslim-dominated countries, live
in persecution daily and many give their very lives for their faith
-- right now, more people are being
martyred for believing in Jesus than at any other time in history, including
the intense persecution by Nero and Domitian and the other Roman emperors
-- for most Christians, their faith
means persecution and martyrdom
-- which kind of brings us to the
question, “Are we truly Christians if we are not facing suffering and insults
and persecution in our lives because of our faith?”
-- Kyle Idleman puts it this way in
his book, “I am not a Fan” -- “When is the last time that following Jesus cost
you something? When is the last time it
cost you a relationship? When is the
last time following Jesus cost you a promotion?
When is the last time it cost you a vacation? When is the last time you were mocked for
your faith?”
-- shouldn’t there be a cost to
following Christ? -- if the Bible tells us to expect persecution, shouldn’t we
at least be a little uncomfortable as Christians? -- could it be that we are
not living the committed lives that Jesus has called us to? -- could it be that
we are just part of the crowd?
III. Committed Christians
-- C.T. Studd said, "If Jesus
Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice is too great for me to give for
Him" -- Jesus is looking for men and women who are willing to sacrifice
themselves for Him -- men and women not willing to settle -- men and women who
are willing to stand up and pay the cost and follow Him -- men and women who
consider a reward in Heaven as worth more than a cost here on earth
-- the question, then, is how do we
become men and women who are committed to Christ? -- how do we become people of
faith who have given all that we have so that we might be blessed in Him and
receive the kingdom of heaven?
-- to answer that, we have to turn
over a little farther in the book of Matthew -- to Matthew 16:24-27
Matthew 16:24
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny
themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save
their life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their
soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man
is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward
each person according to what they have done.
-- in these verses, we read the
steps to commitment -- to becoming a mature Christian -- someone who lives out
the Beatitudes daily -- someone who is truly living out their faith in Christ,
even though it might lead to suffering and hardships and persecution
-- the first thing we see in verse
24 is that this call to commitment is just that -- it is a call -- it is an
invitation -- Jesus says, “if” -- if you want to come after Me -- if you
want to truly follow Me -- if you want to walk the way of the committed
Christian
-- Jesus is not going to force anyone
to come to Him -- He’s not going to force anyone to love Him and to obey Him --
He’s just going to invite us to come and follow Him, but only after we are made
aware of the cost of being a Christian -- it is a decision that we have to make
on our own
-- every single one of the
Beatitudes we have looked at include both a blessing and a promise -- Jesus
tells us up front that the cost to follow Him is high -- but He also says that
if we follow Him, these are the rewards we can expect -- the kingdom of heaven
-- comfort -- satisfaction -- mercy -- He says that we will inherit the earth
and will be called sons and daughters of God
-- these are the rewards...IF -- if
we choose to live out our faith in this way or not
-- the choice is up to you whether you
will be part of the crowd or part of the committed -- the choice is up to you
whether you will just be a pew-warmer or if you will be on the front lines of
faith
-- next, Jesus tells us that we must
come after Him -- to come after Jesus means that we follow Him -- it actually
implies that we follow hard after Jesus -- we pursue Him -- we chase Him -- we
go where He goes -- we follow His footsteps and His path regardless of where
they might lead
-- to come after Jesus means that we
daily make the choice to follow Him and not the world -- to follow Him and not
our flesh -- to follow Him and not our own wants and desires and wishes
-- to come after Jesus means that we
let the Holy Spirit work through us and in us to transform us from the inside
out into the person God has called us to be
-- Eph 1:4 says that God chose us to
be holy and blameless in His eyes -- 1 Pet 1:16 says, "be holy because I
am holy" -- When Jesus tells us to “come after Him”, He is calling us to follow
Him and His ways so we can become holy like Him
-- Jesus never wanted us to be
satisfied with just being saved -- He never wanted us to be satisfied with
being part of the crowd -- He wants us to become committed Christians, sold out
for Him -- regardless of the cost
-- the next step on this path to
commitment is to deny ourselves -- now this means more than just choosing to
lay aside our wants and wishes and desires -- we already do that when we choose
to come after Jesus
-- no, to deny ourselves means to go
one step farther -- it means to disappear -- it means to forget about ourselves
-- “to not even acknowledge or recognize our own existence” -- as John the
Baptist put it, “I must decrease so He can increase”
-- Kyle Idleman writes about the
time he preached in a tribal area in
-- the next day, these men showed up
at the house where Kyle was staying with bags on their shoulders stuffed with
everything they owned -- Kyle asked the local missionary what was going on --
the missionary explained that by accepting Christ, these men “would no longer
be welcomed by their families or in their village”
-- they were going to cease to exist
for all intents and purposes -- by coming to Christ, they were giving all, even
to the point of denying themselves and being shunned by their families and
friends and society forever
-- next we are told to take up our
cross -- in our society, the cross has become just a symbol -- something that
we wear around our necks or use as decorations -- true, it is a symbol of
Christ -- but we have forgotten its true meaning
-- to take up your cross was to die
-- the cross was the Roman’s most cruel form of execution, reserved for those
criminals and rebels who they wanted to make an example of -- who they wanted
to humiliate and shame even as they died
-- no one would willingly offer to
go to the cross -- no one would ever think of taking up a cross -- this was
something that was forced upon them -- to the people who heard these words of
Jesus, the cross was a symbol of suffering and death -- certainly not an
ornament to be taken up and lightly worn around our necks
-- Jesus is making it clear here --
to follow Him is to die -- to follow Him is to suffer hardships and trials and
persecution -- to follow Him is to give everything that we have, even our very
lives
-- C.S. Lewis puts it this way:
“Christ
says, ‘Give me all -- I don’t want so much of your time and so much
of your money and so much of your work -- I want you. -- ‘I have not
come to torment your natural self, but to kill it -- ‘No half-measures are any
good -- I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there -- I want to
have the whole tree down -- I don’t want to drill the tooth -- or crown it --
or stop it -- but to have it out”
-- when Jesus tells us to take up
our cross, He is telling us to agree to pay the price -- any price -- any cost
-- that there may be to follow Him
-- it may cost us our job -- it may
cost us a promotion -- it may cost us a good grade in school -- or a good
report on our personnel evaluations
-- it may cost us friends -- or
Facebook likes -- or social isolation
-- it may cost us our finances and
our resources and our family -- it may even cost us our life -- but this is the
price to follow Him
-- finally, after we have died --
after we have taken up our cross -- Jesus tells us, “Now you are ready to
follow Me” -- you are ready to walk the pilgrim’s way -- you are ready to be My
disciple
-- this is the pinnacle of the
Beatitudes -- this is where that arduous path to sanctification was leading --
to the place where we truly become committed followers of Christ -- men and
women who have counted the cost and who have paid the price and who stand with
Christ despite what the world may throw at us
IV. Closing
-- Nathan Schaeffer wrote, "at
the close of life, the question will not be, "how much have you gotten? But how much have you given? -- not how much
have you won, but how much have you done? -- not how much have you saved but
how much have you sacrificed -- it will be how much you loved and served -- not
how much were you honored?”
-- the life of a Christian may not
be glamorous -- despite what some well-known preachers will tell you, it won’t
be a bed of roses -- it won’t be all wealth and health and prosperity
-- Jesus promises that your life
will be filled with hardships and trials and persecutions -- He tells you that
you will be insulted and persecuted and have all manner of lies and falsehoods
spoken against you
-- but He tells us to rejoice and be
glad because great is our reward in heaven and great is His name
-- as I close today, I want to issue
you a very specific call -- I want to invite you to come and die -- I want to
invite you to leave behind half-hearted religion -- to separate yourself from
the crowd -- and to come after Jesus, and deny yourself and take up your cross
and follow Him
-- He expects nothing less from you
-- He demands nothing less from those who call themselves Christian
-- so, as I close in prayer, join
with me and give yourself to Him wholly and completely so that you may truly
reflect His character and nature in your life from this point on
-- let us pray
2 comments:
Pastor Greg
Great Message as usual.
I appreciate you
David
Thank you, David. You are very kind! I really appreciate you reading and commenting.
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