Matthew 5:9-11 Luke 6:21-22
Pain is something that most of us like to avoid as much as
possible. We don’t like pain and, given
the choice, would much prefer comfort every time. In reality, pain is one of God’s gifts to us
and one of His favorite tools to use on us.
Pain lets us know when something is wrong and it is used to produce
character in our lives. We have seen
that the humble are happy, the holy are happy and now we will see that the
hurting are happy. The final three
beatitudes seem to all center around the conflict and pain that can be
associated with following Christ in a sin cursed world. The call to discipleship is not an easy or
comfortable call. It is a call to follow
Jesus and to be imitators of Him. When
we act like Jesus, it is only logical to presume that we will be treated like
Jesus was treated. He was despised and
rejected by men so we ought to expect similar treatment. Jesus makes statements that seem like
paradoxes to us but they are, none the less, true. He talks about three types of hurting people
who will experience the ultimate happiness.
PEACEMAKERS: Sin creates conflict between people. Anytime you have a group of people you will
have a certain amount of conflict.
Sometimes those conflicts are minimal but other times they can escalate
into all-out war. Jesus taught that the
peacemakers would be called the sons of God.
Peacemakers always face a certain amount of conflict; it is what
requires them to make peace. Peacemakers
help defuse conflict between others and they refuse to enter into conflict with
others. A fight always requires at least
two people. Those who follow Jesus and
consider themselves to be children of God; must be known peacemakers. When the sparks of conflict begin to fly, our
natural response is to add fuel to that fire.
God calls us to be fire fighters.
Instead of throwing fuel on the fires of conflict; God wants us to grab
a bucket of water and promote peace.
This may mean suffering personal loss or injustice at the hands of
sinful men. It may mean putting
ourselves in harm’s way and getting caught in crossfire. The sinful world in which we live is at
war. It is at war with itself and it is
at war against the followers of Jesus.
In the midst of war, peacemakers are desperately needed. Unfortunately, they are very rarely
appreciated by those at war who have no interest in peace. As sons of God, we must respond to those who
attack us by promoting peace.
PERSECUTED: The humble and holy will suffer persecution is a
sinful society. In many ways, the
believer’s commitment and loyalty to the Lord is offensive to a sinful
world. Followers of Jesus stand in stark
contrast to the sinful character in the world.
Saints make sinners feel bad about themselves so they do all they can to
drag others down or eliminate them. Jesus
taught that the kingdom of heaven was made up of people who were persecuted
because of their godliness. Jesus and
all of the apostles suffered persecution during their lives and ministries; we
should not expect anything different.
God has called us to proclaim the truth of His Word and the hope of the
Gospel in all the nations of the world.
Many people and nations are not accepting of that message. The prefer to remain in their sin because the
love their sin. Their hearts are aflame
with a hatred for God and His Word so they will do all they can to make us stop
sharing the love of Christ. In light of
eternity, the pain of persecution will fade away and give birth to eternal joy
in the presence of God. Believers should
expect persecution and never allow it to discourage us in our pursuit of
righteousness.
PRISONERS: Governments were established by God to reward good
and punish evil. Unfortunately,
throughout the history of the church; just the opposite has been true. Those who have followed Christ have been
falsely accused, thrown into prisons and killed. The call to discipleship is a call to carry a
cross not a pillow. We should expect the
world to twist our words, call us names and outright lie about us. This is how the world treated Jesus and it is
how it will treat us too. Jesus was
crucified on the testimony of bribed false witnesses. The same thing will happen to believers who
take the Gospel to corners of the world where the light of God’s Word has yet
to shine. False accusations will be
leveled against us. Slanderous statements
will be made about us. Insults will be
made to us. As a result, godly people
will be imprisoned. These things should
not take us by surprise. Instead, we
should expect this kind of mistreatment and take comfort in the truth that all
of these things will be made right in eternity.
Jesus, the prophets and the apostles suffered, were imprisoned and were
killed because of their testimony for God.
That is very good company and should encourage us to stay the course no
matter what the cause.
APPLICATION: When conflict is raging all around us we need
to do all we can to promote peace. Help
others resolve their conflicts and don’t take use personal attacks against us
to draw us into conflict with others.
Expect to be persecuted when we follow the mission God has given
us. Don’t allow persecution to discourage
us from proclaiming the Gospel no matter what the cost. Be willing to suffer imprisonment and even
death for the cause of Christ. Don’t
expect a sinful world to “play fair.”
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