“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, 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.” Matthew 5:10-11 NIV
Jesus’s final Beatitude sayings deal with the persecution of His followers. The Beatitudes (Christian characteristics) end with the understanding that all who desire to follow Jesus will suffer persecution. Those who have realized their own spiritual poverty and mourned over their sin accepted Christ as their Savoir. They are meek with a hunger and thirst for righteousness. True Christians show mercy, are pure in heart, and are peacemakers in our world today. And due to these characteristics, they will be persecuted as Jesus says, “for my sake.”
John R. W. Stott points out in his book, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, “Persecution is simply the clash between two irreconcilable value-systems.” We cannot deny in the world in which we live there are two value-systems, the Biblical worldview and the non-Biblical view. They are without a doubt at odds with each other and irreconcilable, for in order to be reconciled there needs to be compromise between them. Compromising the truth of scripture for the sake of getting along with the world is not an option for Christians.
Christians are to be peacemakers in our world today, but it does not include compromise. We are to adhere to our Lord’s value system. German theologian Helmut Thielicke is quoted as saying, “Anybody who enters into fellowship with Jesus must undergo a trans-valuation of values.” Our value system before we became a Christ follower cannot coincide with His. As Paul wrote, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Cor.5:17 nlt) And that includes our value system.
But let us not get discouraged, Jesus calls us “Blessed” when persecution comes our way. Blessed because “for ours is the kingdom of heaven……. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is our reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before us.” (Matthew 5:10, 12 kjv)
Read: Matthew 5:3-12 NIV – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for – Bible Gateway
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