PERSECUTION:  REWARDS AND A RESPONSE
Matthew 5:10-12

We have spent considerable time looking at the meaning of this powerful Beatitude that places a blessing upon persecution.  We have examined what persecution is and how God uses it to accomplish His purposes in our lives. 

Jesus proclaims that there is a great reward for those who experience persecution.
At times, those rewards might be received here on earth as well as in heaven.  One thinks of the rewards garnered by Joseph, after he had experienced immense persecution at the hands of his brothers who had sold him into slavery.  Joseph had also suffered false accusations from the wife of Potiphar because he had not submitted to her sexual advances.  For two long years he remained in prison, and yet God honored him and rewarded him with the second highest position in the land of Egypt. 

Our rewards might not be like those of Joseph, but God has promised us comfort, strength, joy, and the assurance that our service for the Lord is not in vain.  I am reminded of the calm assurance of Jan Hus, who went forth to the stake singing praises unto the Lord.  His attitude toward his martyrdom helped launch the Protestant Reformation.

But, whether we receive rewards here or not, we are assured of rewards in heaven.  Among the scenes described in the closing chapters of Revelation is this one:  I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge.  And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God.  They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands.  They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years  (Revelation 20:4). 

What is to be our response to persecution?  Jesus states in verse 12 of our text, that we are to rejoice and be glad.  Now this word “glad” comes from a Greek word which meant, “to skip and jump with happy excitement.”  I don’t know about you, but this would be hard.  I can be glad when my favorite team wins.  I can be glad when I have accomplished my goal.  I can be glad when things are going well in my life.  But, I am not sure how I would respond should my life be put on the line for the cause of Christ.  I am not certain how I would react to being imprisoned because I was a Christian.  But of this I am certain, when persecution comes there will no longer be any pretender believers.  You cannot continue being a hypocrite and suffer for Christ. 

Friends, as I have been restudying this text, I have been drawn to the words of Peter:  For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?  (1 Peter 4:17).  I believe that there will be a cleansing of Christ’s Church prior to His coming.  And those days of cleansing will not prove to be enjoyable, but will be necessary to separate the wheat from the chaff, the fruit from the weeds.  It is time that we ask ourselves, how ready am I to suffer for the cause of Christ?

Father, You have gripped our hearts these days about a topic we seldom focus upon.  In America we have virtually escaped persecution, but its presence is on our doorsteps.  We ask for strength and calm for those times when we are called upon to suffer for the cause of Christ.  We know of Your presence and we know of Your power.  Give us Your peace at those moments so that we might honor You well.  We pray this in the name of the One who suffered and died for us.  Amen. 

 

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