Welcome to the MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my sixty ninth episode. Tonight, I want to present a sermon on the first sixteen verses in Matthew chapter five. Please enjoy.
If you have your Bibles you may turn with me to Matthew chapter 5, beginning with verse 1 and finishing with verse 16. I am going to go through these verses one by one as I elaborate on this text. But for right now I just want to read these words to you. These are the words of Jesus Christ. These are such beautiful words. This is the beginning of his Sermon on the Mount. The greatest sermon ever preached.
The Sermon on the Mount
5 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
The Beatitudes
2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons[a] of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Salt and Light
13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that[b] they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. When I first began my apprenticeship with my mentor, one of my earliest tasks was to write out a sermon and turn it in to him. I had never done anything like that before and so both of us were kind of interested to see how it would turn out. At this time, I had only just begun to walk down the road to pastoral ministry. And so I thought to myself, I need to write a sermon on the most difficult book in the Bible. Out of the wealth of wisdom that this text contains – I chose to write a 25 minute sermon on Leviticus. And that sermon came out really good. What I discovered from that project is that anywhere in this book. Any page of Scripture – gives us information which is a glimpse into the mind of God.
And that fact is what makes today such a special delight. The Sermon on the Mount is very famous. Many people who have never opened a Bible have heard of the Sermon on the Mount. Some have called it the Constitution of Christianity. After all, it is a map of godly principles laid out by the Eternal Logos Jesus Christ himself. The term Logos is Greek for Word. The Word of God. Right at the beginning of this famous sermon is a particularly famous passage called the Beatitudes. The name Beatitudes comes from the Latin term beatus – which means blessedness. The Beatitudes have widespread recognition because the Beatitudes give us precious insight into what it means to be Christlike. Let’s begin with verse 1:
5 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
So imagine being there with Jesus as one of his disciples. He has become very popular at this point. As one of his closest associates, you might start to feel rather important, rather proud, and maybe a little bit possessive. Being seen with him brings you prestige and an opportunity for money and power. You see the crowds gathering once again. You follow him up a hillside nearby Capernaum. And then, Jesus pulls you aside – and he warns you against the temptations that come with being one of his associates. He says don’t expect fame and fortune – no no – expect mourning, hunger, and persecution. There is a cost to discipleship. Hearing this, you, you come back down to reality. You take a seat and watch him stand to address the crowds. Verses 2-3:
2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Right away Jesus is speaking in a manner that stands in stark contradiction to the beliefs of the world. Blessed are the poor in spirit? The world says we are supposed to be proud of ourselves just the way we are. You cannot be proud and be poor in spirit at the same time. To be poor in spirit requires humility. If you believe that you are the standard of perfection, if you believe that you’ve seen it all – that you’ve arrived – then you will not be able to see your need for God. Listen to what God says about this in Isaiah chapter 57:
15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite.
In those verses contrite is referring to contrition which is another way of saying repentance. Right now in elementary schools, in middle schools, in high schools, and in universities – kids are being told that they are perfect just the way they are. There are few things you can say to a kid worse than you are perfect just the way you are. These are kids you are speaking to. Maybe they’re 18 in university. Who were you when you were 18? Have you grown since then? At 18, I was profoundly confused about the nature of reality. I had absolutely no idea how my life would unfold. I was largely ignorant to the problem of evil and at a total loss for knowing how to deal with it. At 18 years old you haven’t even started exploring the possibilities of who you could become. And the same thing is true if you do not know Christ – you haven’t even started exploring the possibilities of who you can become.
There are growing populations of people in our country who are anxious, depressed, and miserable. And the world is trying to convince them that they are perfect just the way they are. So all that pain you feel, all that depression, and all that nihilistic meaninglessness – that’s it for you buddy. You’ve arrived. That’s all there is. This is the message you are sending to someone when you tell them that they are inherently perfect. If a person is miserable and they believe that nothing is wrong with them – all they have left is to blame God and blame reality itself. That was Cain’s mindset when Abel’s offering was accepted and his was rejected. It is a mindset of hopelessness and bitterness. If there is something, or many things, wrong with you then you can change yourself by having the humility to acknowledge your shortcomings. But if your pride convinces you that there is nothing wrong with you, then the source of your misery can only be reality itself and the God who created it. That is a hopeless message to send someone because they cannot change the structure of reality and they cannot change God. Putting yourself on the throne of your own heart causes your misery to be permanent.
You are perfect just the way you are. There is nothing you can say to a person that will misguide them more than that. It is far better for you to say: look, you are not all that you could be – all that you’re meant to be – and you know that. But inside of you is a spark of divinity that comes from God Himself and that is what gives you infinite value. That is what gives you infinite potential. Have the humility to let him into your heart and see exactly who you can become. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Let’s move on to verse 4:
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
When you think about the pain of death and grief, the last word that comes into your mind is blessed. There are many books, seminars, and classes given all around the world on how to achieve happiness in this life. There are billion dollar industries built solely on the premise that human beings will do whatever it takes to be happy. Listen to the words of the famous 17th century French theologian and mathematician Blaise Pascal:
“All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.”
Every act of evil is a person doing what they think they need to do to be happy or doing what they think they need to do to take away the happiness of someone else. As far as the secular world is concerned, happiness is the prime mover. But Jesus didn’t say blessed are those who are happy – no – Jesus said blessed are those who mourn. You see, happiness is a grace of God. It comes and it goes and you can’t control it. There are things in this life that will thrust you out of your happiness and into pain. When you face the reality of existence, the mystery is not why some people become anxious and depressed. The mystery is why any person at all would experience brief spells of calm and happiness. Everything in this space is trying to kill you. That’s why you have an immune system. And you have to kill in order to just stay alive. Even time itself is wearing away at your bones and counting down the clock to the worst day of your life.
And that’s just nature. That doesn’t even bring human malevolence into the picture. What is evil? Arbeit Macht Frei. Jedem das Seine. That’s Evil. German for, “work sets you free” and “to each what he deserves.” These were mounted gleefully on the archways of the gates leading into Auschwitz and Buchenwald – into the concentration camps where human beings would be made to do pointless work like build walls only to tear them back down and carry 80 pound bags of wet salt from one end of the camp to the other and back again. It was a joke about the useless misery added to lives of these already suffering prisoners and the laughter of their captors as they added it. In the face of all of that, in the face of all of this, why does Jesus say blessed are those who mourn?
It’s because to mourn is to accept the truth of the tragedy of this life. Accepting that truth means taking the blissful naivete that comes from closing your eyes to reality and sacrificing it to God. Accepting that truth is you voluntarily picking up your cross and being crucified in the likeness of your Lord. Listen to James chapter 4:
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
There is no hiding from the thing that you’re afraid of. There is no running from what’s already inside of you. If you shut your eyes and pretend like it’s not there – it turns into a monster and eats you when you’re most vulnerable. But if you have the faith to open your eyes and look, then – and only then – will you see that Christ draws near to you. There is no rebirth without the death. There is no resurrection without the crucifixion. And when, by the power of God, you transcend your suffering and come out on the other side – reborn, resurrected – you will be eternally thankful that God brought you through it. 2 Corinthians chapter 1:
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
I want to explicate this, or develop this, just a little bit further before we move on. When you face your suffering. When allow yourself to feel it. The pain does not get less severe across time. The gravity of your loss does not diminish over time. What happens is: you get braver and you get stronger and the horrible pain that crushed you in the beginning doesn’t hurt you as much anymore. By way of analogy, if I go into a gym and sit and stare at the weights for six weeks – I don’t get any stronger and they don’t get any lighter. But if I go into the gym and I connect with those weights and I work with them in manageable sessions – at the end of six weeks I am stronger and the weights feel lighter. Even though the weights are the same as they were in the beginning. Your pain and your fear function the same way. By the power of God you will get stronger and they will feel smaller.
And the part of that process which is most miraculous is that you are not the one healing yourself. If you could heal yourself you would have flipped that switch at the very beginning. It is not you healing yourself, it is God inside of you transforming you into the imago dei – into the image of God. He is comforting you and making you stronger so that you can go out and do the same for someone else. And that is the opposite of Arbeit Macht Frei. That is the opposite of Jedem das Seine. That is the opposite of evil. That is you going out into the world and advancing the kingdom of God. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Let’s move on to verse 5:
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
This is an interesting verse because of what our culture has done to the term meek. Many of us have been taught to think meek means some sort of frail, anemic, unimposing figure that can be blown over by a stiff wind. The world has portrayed Jesus himself this way. But that’s not what meek means. The true, biblical definition of meek means having the sword and choosing not to use it. The Bible calls Jesus Christ meek because Jesus Christ has all the weapons – and he chose not to use them.
One of the best modern examples of meekness is the nation of Israel. Israel has a very powerful military. The Israeli Defense Forces are made up of very formidable and experienced soldiers. The nation itself is surrounded by enemies and yet they remain composed and collected. Enemy war fighters regularly store armaments inside places like schools and hospitals because they know the Israelis will not attack these places. Enemy war fighters regularly hold up children as human shields in an attempt to take advantage of Israel’s meekness.
Now, weigh the meekness of Israel against the aggression of Germany just prior to WWI. Germany had this strategy called the Schlieffen Plan where they would preemptively attack France to the west so they could knock them out. Then they would deal with Russia to the east. You see, Germany was terrified of having to fight a war on two fronts: east and west. But the irony of it is, Germany’s aggression – and the aggression of her allies – fueled the spark that ignited the fire that ended up embroiling them in a war on two fronts. And what was it that drove them to mobilize and attack? Fear. And what is the direct antidote to fear which could have changed the course of the first world war? Faith. Psalm 37:
5 Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.
7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
over the man who carries out evil devices!
8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
9 For the evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.
10 In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;
though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.
11 But the meek shall inherit the land
and delight themselves in abundant peace.
The world is a dangerous place. The best way to make the world less dangerous is to become meek. To weaponize yourself with resilience. To put on the full armor of God: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the boots of readiness with the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Word of God. And when you have all of these, the world doesn’t look so dangerous anymore and you can work to maintain peace. In the wolf pack the alpha male doesn’t need to be aggressive, because the other wolves know which one is the alpha male. I want to finish explaining meekness by reading you the account of General Peter Pace – he was part of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division in Vietnam. These are his words:
“There was an event in Vietnam where I almost made a very serious mistake. We had been on a patrol, and a young Marine named Lance Corporal Guido Farinaro, 19 years old, from Bethpage, New York, was killed by a sniper. The bullet came from a nearby village. I was the platoon leader, and he was my machinegun squad leader. I was enraged, and I called in an artillery strike to get the sniper. Then I looked to my right and saw 21-year-old Sergeant Reid B. Zachary. He did not say a thing, but he simply looked at me, and I knew what I was about to do was wrong.
“I called off the artillery strike and we swept the village, as I should have done in the first place. We found nothing but women and children, as the sniper was long gone. I don’t know that I could have lived with myself had I done what I originally planned to do. I don’t think I would be standing in front of you today. I had almost allowed the rage of the moment to overcome what I thought was some substantial thinking about who I was going to be in combat.
“After the event, I called my platoon together in a little bombed out crater, and I apologized to them. I told them had it not been for Sergeant Zachary, I probably would not have made the right decision. The reaction of the platoon was amazing. It was a very warm, family response, and I learned that a leader admitting mistakes, and thanking those who point them out to him or her, is really important.”
Blessed are those who are meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Verse 6:
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
This is the one that most young people are in touch with today. They see injustice in the world and they have a hunger to fix it. Psychologically speaking, it is far more common for younger people to have a messianic personality construct – they want to save the world. This desire is not a bad thing in and of itself, but like many virtuous ambitions it can become corrupted. The most common way for this beatitude to become corrupted is when individuals disguise the motives of their hearts. They say they want righteousness when what they really want is power. And so what I would say to a young person whose ambition is to reform the system – you better be absolutely certain that you are doing it for the right motives. Because it is very likely that you are not a saint. I am not a saint. It is this awareness of my sins and my shortcomings that makes me very leery of the seat of power.
For the Christian, it is a little safer to hunger and thirst for righteousness because we know that Jesus is the Messiah. We know that God is the one to establish a perfect kingdom. But for people outside of the faith, the only sovereign ideal they have is themselves or their group. And you’ll notice that many of these people who claim to be able to usher in the utopia also imagine themselves as a ruler in that utopia. And that is where everything falls apart. It’s easy to set up a dictatorship or a Marxist regime in the name of virtue when you get to be the one who holds all the resources and decides what goes where. But real, lasting change, never happens by that model.
When Abraham Lincoln delivered his Emancipation Proclamation and said that slaves in the south will be made “forever free”, there was a man in the audience named John Wilkes Booth. Booth, enraged, said “Now, by God, I’ll put him through. That is the last speech he will ever give.” Three nights later, at Ford’s Theatre, Booth carried out his threat. Lincoln never lived to see the new birth of freedom promised by the Proclamation. But he had the courage to stand up for what was right and the faith to pay for it with his life. It was this courage and this faith that changed the lives of millions and ended the Civil War.
One hundred years later Pastor Martin Luther King Jr. was sitting awake in the middle of the night at his dining room table. His wife and children were asleep in their bedrooms. The phone rang. King answered. The man on the phone said that if King would back down now and stop the genesis of the Civil Rights Movement – then everything would be okay for him. But if you don’t stop – this man said – then we are going to come for your family and they are going to die. The man hung up. King sat in silence, and then he prayed. He asked God to give him something – anything – to confirm that he was on the right path doing the right thing. He asked for the strength and the bravery to keep going. God gave King what he needed. On April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King had the courage and the faith to stand up for what was right and pay for it with his life. Like Lincoln, King never got to see the fruit of his sacrifice in this life. But because of their faith, all of us did.
Now, I want to plant a flag at this point and say that I am aware of the articles that surfaced a few days ago regarding Dr. King’s alleged sexual misadventures. I have two things to say about that. First is that we make a grievous mistake if we deify Martin Luther King – if we try to worship him. He was a fallen human being and prone to sin just like all the rest of us. Second is that the source material used in these recent articles comes from the FBI. The Civil Rights Movement earned Dr. King many powerful enemies. These enemies included J. Edgar Hoover – Director of the FBI. That’s all that I will say on the matter. You can read the articles yourself and come to your own conclusions.
Anyway, long before Lincoln and King, there was Paul himself. Philippians chapter 3:
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
The world says that being the agent of change means empowering yourself. God says that being the agent of change means sacrificing yourself. History tells us that God’s way is the only way that results in the longstanding betterment of life. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Onto verse 7:
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Being merciful means treating someone else better than they deserve. Because God loves us, he was merciful in becoming a man to sacrifice himself on the cross so that we might live. Something I’ve discovered about mercy is that when you yourself have suffered a particular event or struggled with a particular sin – you have the information you need to be merciful to others who struggle with the same thing. You can understand what they are going through. But this information can be abused. If you have a heart full of pride, you won’t show them mercy – you will try to condemn them. After all, you suffered what they are suffering and you survived it – why shouldn’t they? Always guard yourself against pride by remembering just exactly who it is that got you through your trials. James chapter 2 says:
13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Okay, verse 8:
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
This is probably my favorite one, because in my estimation all of the other beatitudes are anchored on this point. Being pure in heart simply means being honest about yourself to yourself. Everyone of you has the story of your life. You have the story of your past as far back as you can remember. And you have the story of the future that you want for yourself. Seems pretty basic, but here’s where it gets tricky. All of us are required to write a story, and all of us are terrible authors. All of us have made many mistakes, many bad decisions, and have many regrets. And if history is any indication of future conduct – and it is – then the odds are we aren’t done screwing things up for ourselves and for others. This is why we need a Savior. This is why need a means to be forgiven. If we don’t have a Savior, if we have no way of being forgiven – then all that’s left for us to do is lie about our story. I have met people who have made so many mistakes and so many bad choices that they have invented a complex web of deception about who they are and the story of their life. They live each day in a fiction because they cannot handle the guilt of the truth. And if you poke a hole in their fiction and expose them to the truth of who they are – they cannot tolerate the pain and guilt that surfaces. It absolutely crushes them. We need forgiveness.
Being sinless is not the goal in this life. Being truthful is. If you are truthful and you know that you’ve done wrong, then you can repent. Then you can be forgiven. Then you can keep struggling forward in this cursed creation as a truthful person. Even if you have to repent and be forgiven over and over again. Psalm 103 says:
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
13 As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
14 For he knows our frame;[a]
he remembers that we are dust.
In Leviticus when God is showing the Israelites how to do their atonement rituals. It’s never the sin that matters – it is the effects of the sin on you. It is the guilt that attends the sin because the guilt causes you to deceive yourself about yourself and about God. What is the one thing your marriage or your friendships cannot survive without? Trust. Deception is what destroys your relationships on earth and deception is what destroys your relationship with God. That is why Satan is called the Father of Lies. A deceiver’s heart is blasphemous to the Holy Spirit. That’s the only sin that cannot be forgiven. And the only reason it cannot be forgiven is because you yourself have bought into the lie that you don’t need to be forgiven. Who gets to see God? Is it the sinless? No. Psalm 24:
3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
If you are surviving your guilt by lying to yourself, understand that a time is coming when you are going to look upon the face of Jesus Christ – the Truth Incarnate. If your guilt is causing you to hide from the light of truth about yourself at this moment, you are in danger of becoming the kind of person who prefers a place in hell than a place in the presence of Truth. That’s the bad news. The good news is, there is no real power in a lie. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been swimming in guilt your whole life. You have done nothing that the grace of God is not powerful enough to cleanse if you will seek it. He loves you, and he is merciful. You will be forgiven. 1 John chapter 3:
3 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears[a] we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Next is verse 9:
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons[a] of God.
This beatitude is about the difficult work of conflict resolution. If you are part of a church congregation or a community – you know that conflict resolution is a work that never ends. But the rewards of doing it well are great. Think of all the relationships and all of the churches that have failed because of poor conflict resolution. Having access to people skilled in conflict resolution is one of the chief benefits of belonging to an association with other pastors and leaders. Now, the world would tell us that our personal peace is paramount and that conflict resolution is secondary to conflict avoidance. But in Romans chapter 12 Paul explains to us the marks of a true Christian:
9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit,[a] serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.[b] Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it[c] to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. We finish the Beatitudes with verses 10-12:
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Now, far and above the most important part of this beatitude is that it’s saying you are blessed if you are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. You are not blessed just for being persecuted for any reason. There is this very strange economy of prestige that has emerged Western culture. The currency of this economy is oppression. The more pronounced you can be in proving yourself as oppressed or as a victim – the more prestige you get. This is an extraordinarily dangerous game because corrupt people can cast themselves as victims and the culture automatically declares that they are virtuous by the simple fact that they are seen to be oppressed. That means if I want to seize power and leverage my will onto the lives of others – all I have to do is win the Oppression Olympics and show myself as the most marginalized victim. This mentality is an absolute disease on social order. If you fake being a victim so that you can curry favor and prestige – you make it that much harder for real victims to get the help they need. And when you deceive people who are trying to do good – you make those people that much more cynical about doing good in the future. So, the culture’s understanding of this principle is a warped parasite of the true meaning.
So what is Jesus saying here? He’s saying that following him is going to cause you to be persecuted – and that’s not always a bad thing. There are at least four reasons why being persecuted for Christ is good. The first is that persecution takes your eyes off of earthly rewards. Remember at the beginning how I said it would be tempting to leverage your association with Jesus for worldly gain. This temptation isn’t there when you are being persecuted. The second is that persecution strips away superficial belief. There are many, many people who have called themselves Christians up until the point where they saw persecution coming. Then they turned their coats. These are the people who just go with whatever the culture determines to be popular – even if that means genocide.
Persecution also strengthens the faith of those who endure it. This is why Christianity spreads so rapidly in places that are under duress. In 2017 a bus full of Coptic Christians was ambushed by ISIS. The terrorists took aside 29 of them and told them they could live if only they denounced Christ and said the shahada, the Islamic creed. All 29 of them chose execution. Being persecuted as a Christian strengthened their faith to the point of being willing to give their lives up for it.
Finally, persecution gives you an opportunity to serve as an example to others if you endure it with integrity. I’ve talked before about Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and how he saw people inside the Gulag refuse to compromise their integrity even in the face of absolutely miserable living conditions and the certainty of imminent death. Seeing those people remain strong changed something inside of Solzhenitsyn and set him on the road to writing the Gulag Archipelago – a publication which uncovered the horrors of the Marxist regime and played a key part in bringing down the Soviet Union. He may have never felt the calling to do that had he not witnessed Christ in those people as they lived their final days inside the prison. They were forgotten to a mass grave, but their conduct changed the entire world. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
I want to close this sermon by reading verses 13-16. Now that we have some insight into what it means to be a Christian, we can hear from Jesus how we should go out and what we should do with it.
13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that[b] they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Please pray with me.
Father. Thank you for opening our hearts to hear your word this morning. Thank you for this day and for this life. Thank you for giving us an example in Jesus. Thank you for giving us a Savior. I ask that you take those who are poor in spirit and who are mourning and that you comfort them. Bring solidarity to the meek and to those who hunger for righteousness – help them to do your will. Give us the strength we need to have mercy on those who have wronged us – and extend to us the mercy of your forgiveness. Purify our hearts, God, so that we may see you. Give us the wisdom that we need to resolve our conflicts so that we may work for peace in our lives. Finally, Father we pray to you on behalf of those who must pray in seclusion. On behalf of those who are persecuted for your Name’s sake. Give them what they need to endure, and to finish the race, and God have mercy on us all.
We pray this now in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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