Introduction
So, we arrive at the eighth and final beatitude; it’s the only one that
Jesus expands and elaborates on, and coincidentally, perhaps the one we might most
wish he didn’t!
It might be nice if he said a
bit more on meekness or having a pure heart or making peace. But how many of us
here today would form an orderly queue to suffer a bit of harassment or discrimination?
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you,
persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same
way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Sometimes the Sermon on the
Mount (Matthew 5-7) is criticized as being too idealistic, even utopian, in its
vision of life. People say that is utterly unattainable for ordinary people.
Because Jesus says things like
this; “You know the Bible says not to sleep with another man’s wife? Remember
that? Well, if you a look at a pretty woman and think you’d like to it’s pretty
well the same thing.” “If someone hits you on the right cheek, offer the left
one.” “Love your enemies.”
And I guess some people hear
Jesus speaking blessing on those who are persecuted and they dismiss it with
the rest of this otherworldly Sermon on the Mount as not quite real life – but
Jesus is being absolutely serious here.
The former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, no less, said in the House of
Lords about five years ago, “The ethnic cleansing of Christians throughout the
Middle East is one of the crimes against humanity of our time. And I am
appalled that there has been little serious international protest.”
Two years’ later, Christians in
the Middle East, especially Iraq and Syria, were being singled out to be executed
in unimaginable numbers. Tens of thousands of them were targeted for
annihilation by Islamic State militants. It is estimated that before the wars
in Syria and Iraq about 10% of the population of those lands were Christian.
At the time of that slaughter,
our UK government allowed in fewer than 70 Christian refugees. It did project a
red image on the Palace of Westminster though. And they made a statement about
it on Twitter. But overall, our country, led by Parliament turned a blind eye; content
to stay uninformed and indifferent.
Hopefully, things are changing now. This month, you may have noticed
that the Foreign Secretary asked the Bishop of Truro to produce an
evidence-based report on Christian persecution.
He admitted that the UK
government had failed to do enough to oppose the systematic targeting of
Christians around the world. Let’s hope that this will lead to real change, but
the truth is that there is a very big tide to turn.
The headline of the report was
that 80% of religiously motivated violence is against believers in Jesus. Here
are some other highlights:
For the 17th consecutive year, North Korea is the
most dangerous place in the world to be a Christian. But, tragically, other
countries are catching up.
Eight of the top ten most dangerous places to be a
Christian are Islamic, the other two are Marxist.
More than 200 million believers in the 50 countries
where it is most difficult to be a Christian experience what are defined as high
levels of persecution because of their faith.
Over 3,000 Christians were known to have been killed
for their faith in 2018, more than twice as many as in the previous year, but
believed to be the tip of the iceberg.
Persecuted for Righteousness’ Sake (v10)
We should note carefully
what Jesus says about persecution here. You can hardly say that Jesus was
laying it on a bit thick. He said it with a straight face.
Remember, he said these
words to his disciples whom he called to him. Eleven of the twelve men he chose
as his apostles suffered violence against them and died as martyrs.
The word that appears here three times here (in
v10, v11 and v12) and which is translated “persecuted” is from the Greek dioukou and it derives from a root
meaning “aggressively chased”, “pursued” or “hunted down.”
It’s the sort of word they
would use to describe a pack of hounds tearing through the countryside and
closing in on a hapless fox.
But what does Jesus say about this persecution? He says in v10
that it’s “because of righteousness.” Not for being an idiot… Not for being
annoying...
Don’t let your dog foul
your neighbour’s lawn and then protest that you’re being persecuted when he complains
about it!
Some people wonder why
would Christians be persecuted for righteousness’ sake? Well, because the demonic
hates righteousness.
Satan always seeks to
silence and discredit and insult and slur when Christians make a stand for a
righteous cause.
Watch what happens when
Christians protest peacefully about abortion on demand, up to full term,
speaking up for those who have no voice.
Those who choose to do that
can expect to be ostracised, silenced or talked over in the media, refused
access to our universities, rebuffed at job interviews, passed over for
promotions they deserve.
In some cases, you can
expect to be prosecuted by politically correct truth- regulation. The message
is “You will embrace and celebrate what we say or you will have to face name
calling, shaming and blacklisting.”
It was George Orwell who said, prophetically I think, in the early
half of the 20th Century, “The further a society drifts from the truth, the
more it will hate those that speak it.”
The same is happening at
the moment when anyone challenges or even questions the ideology of transgender
(and this is not limited to Christians either of course). But Christians can expect
to be pursued or hunted down for righteousness’ sake.
Three or four years ago, an
evangelical Christian MP, Tim Farron, rose to become leader of one of our
political parties. During the general election campaign, he was constantly ambushed,
harassed and ensnared by a line of questioning about homosexuality.
Certain personalities in
the media decided that this issue must define him, whatever he said and
whatever his voting record on the matter might be.
Tim had the patience of a
saint I think, and seemed determined to not play the victim, but I do wonder if
he reflected on Jesus’ words here after his inevitable resignation as party
leader: “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Insulted and Falsely Accused (v11)
In v11, Jesus describes this persecution as being insulted
and falsely having all kinds of evil said against you because of him. So again,
he isn’t talking about people justifiably objecting to Christians being obnoxious
and antisocial.
If you play worship music
on full blast at 3 o’clock in the morning don’t then tell the police that your
neighbour is falsely having all kinds of evil said against you when they make
you turn it down.
“Blessed are you when people
insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me,” says Jesus.
As John Wimber once said, “The good news is
that Jesus is praying for us. The bad news is that we are going to need it!”
It’s not because you happen
to hold different views to everyone else; it’s because you belong to the King
whose kingdom is not of this world. It has been this way in every age.
In the third century AD, there was a great revival taking
place all around Rome. It was said that, ‘All of Rome were becoming
Christians.’ At that time lived a man named Laurence and he was a deacon in
charge of the finances of the church.
Because of the revival, a great persecution broke out under
the Emperor Valerian in around the year AD 250. Christians who owned property
distributed all the church’s money and treasures to the city’s poor to help
them survive the onslaught against the church.
Valerian ordered all bishops, priests and deacons to be
arrested and executed. But, hearing that Laurence was in charge of the money, he
offered him a way out. Laurence would be spared if he would show the
authorities where all the church’s treasures were located.
Laurence asked for three days to gather it into one central
place. He brought together the blind, the poor, the disabled, the sick, the elderly,
and the widows and orphans. When Valerian arrived, Laurence flung open the
doors and said, ‘These are the treasures of the church!’
The Emperor was so angry that he decided beheading was not
terrifying enough for Laurence. He ordered that this courageous man be roasted alive
on a gridiron. That is how Laurence died on 10 August AD 258.
Apparently, he even joked with his executioners, ‘You may
turn me over now. I’m done on this side.’
His courage made such an impression that the revival in
Rome only accelerated, with many people becoming Christians including several
senators who witnessed his execution.
It is extremely unlikely
that any of us will face that kind of persecution. It is usually more creeping
and more subtle in the West.
But last month, it came to light that handwritten
letters threatening petrol bomb attacks and mass stabbings had been sent to 15
churches in the UK over the previous two months.
One letter, sent to a
church in Sheffield, said, “Stop all your services straight away. If you don’t,
your church will be petrol bombed while in service. Continue behind closed
doors and your congregation members will be stabbed one by one. Blood on your
hands. You have been warned.”
The letters, all
originating from the Midlands, have been handed to the police. There is an
ongoing investigation and protection has been increased at the churches affected.
But how would you feel if All
Saints’ had been one of the 15 churches targeted? Would you be intimidated by
it? Would you think twice about being on the electoral roll? Would you still be
here this morning?
Hopefully, there’ll
be arrests and prosecutions over that and it’ll all blow over.
We’re
far more likely to meet the kind of attitude in the following testimony by the
Christian author and university professor John Lennox, from when he was an
undergraduate at Cambridge University.
“I found myself at a
formal college dinner sitting beside a Nobel Prize winner. I had never met a
scientist of such distinction before and, in order to gain the most from the
conversation, I tried to ask him some questions.
For instance, how did
his science shape his worldview - his big picture of the status and meaning of
the universe? In particular, I was interested in whether his wide-ranging
studies had led him to reflect on the existence of God.
It was clear that he
was not comfortable with that question, and I immediately backed off. However,
at the end of the meal, he invited me to come to his study. He had also invited
two or three other senior academics but no other students. I was invited to sit
and… they remained standing.
He said, “Lennox, do
you want a career in science?”
“Yes, sir,” I
replied.
“Then,” he said, “in
front of witnesses, tonight, you must give up this childish faith in God. If
you do not, then it will cripple you intellectually and you will suffer by
comparison with your peers. You simply will not make it.”
I sat in the chair
paralyzed and shocked by the effrontery and unexpectedness of the onslaught. I
didn’t really know what to say, but eventually I managed to blurt out, “Sir,
what have you got to offer me that is better than what I have got?” In
response, he offered me the concept of “Creative Evolution” put forward in 1907
by French philosopher Henri Bergson.
In fact, thanks to C.
S. Lewis, I knew a little about Bergson and replied that I could not see how
Bergson’s philosophy was enough to base an entire worldview upon and provide a
foundation for meaning, morality and life.
With a shaking voice,
and as respectfully as I could, I told the group standing around me that I
found the biblical worldview vastly more enriching and the evidence for its
truth compelling, and so, with all due respect, I would take the risk and stick
with it.
It was a remarkable
situation. Here was a brilliant scientist trying to bully me into giving up
Christianity. I have thought many times since that, if it had been the other
way around, and I had been an atheist in the chair surrounded by Christian
academics pressurizing me to give up my atheism, it would have caused
reverberations around the university, and probably have ended with disciplinary
proceedings against the professors involved.”
Well, John Lennox has gone
on to have a very blessed and successful career – and I don’t think he would
call himself persecuted. Marginalised perhaps.
Rejoice and Be Glad (v12)
Perhaps the strangest thing about these verses is
not being called blessed when persecuted, because God blesses whoever he
pleases. Maybe the strangest thing is what Jesus says our attitude should be if
we should find ourselves hard pressed for belonging to Jesus.
Verse 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.”
Last Summer, Kathie and I
spent a few days in Oxford and I was determined to walk up to Broad Street by Balliol
College, just north of the former city wall. There is something I had wanted to
see there for a very long time.
In the centre of the road, there is a cross of brick
and granite set into the tarmac, marking the exact location where Hugh Latimer,
Nicolas Ridley and Thomas Cranmer were burnt at the stake in 1555 and 1556 for
their faith in Christ.
It is said, that Latimer called
out, as they lit the fire, “Be of good comfort, and play the man, Master
Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I
trust shall never be put out.” In fact, Ridley burned extremely slowly and he suffered
excruciating agonies.
Down the years, persecuted Christians
have not sought vengeance on their oppressors. Like Jesus, the record books
show that they pray more for perseverance, to stay and stand under the strain, than
for deliverance.
Testimonies of severe persecution often tell of the
sweet experience of the presence of God. Sometimes those being crushed for
Christ’s sake overflow with joy. Jesus feels near, heaven feels real. And the suffering
seems so light and trivial compared with that.
When Paul wrote in 2
Corinthians 4 “For our light and temporary affliction is producing for us an
eternal glory that far outweighs our troubles” this is what he meant.
Remember Paul and Silas after
(the Bible says) being “stripped, beaten and severely flogged”, singing hymns
at midnight in prison as they awaited their trial? It is the kind of thing that
happens every week.
Ending
As I end, I want to mention
Richard Wurmbrand was a pastor in Romania at the time of the Communist regime
of Ceausescu. He was imprisoned for 14 years and suffered greatly.
Some years after the fall
of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Communism in eastern Europe, Wurmbrand was
asked in the USA, if it really is possible to rejoice in your sufferings.
This is what he said in
reply. “I hope my answer doesn’t offend anybody but I tell you this: when I was
in prison, they put all the Christians in the same cell. We were all bound with
chains, but our chains were to us musical instruments. And sometimes in the
middle of the night we would all wake up and be so full of the joy of the Lord
that we would dance around our prison cells and all clang our chains together
for musical accompaniment.”
Let’s pray…
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 24 February 2019
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 24 February 2019
