EPISODE 212 GOSPEL OF MATTHEW CHAPTER 5 PART 5 "This is What You Get for Doing Right"

Welcome to Share the Word, a Great Commission project. As Pastor Paul addresses the last of the Beatitudes, we look at the cost and the persecution endured by those who simply are attempting to live and to follow Christ's teachings and encourage others to do the same. Let's get started. Matthew chapter 5, part 5. This is what you get for doing right. I have an aversion to pain.

Most sane people do. In the good old days when I was growing up, my parents still used pain as a motivational tool. When I stepped clearly over the line in some well-defined area, like, for example, lying to them or challenging their authority or hurting another person on purpose, the result was usually some pain. The favored method at our house was my dad's belt applied to my gluteus maximus. If you're not up on your Latin terms, that means behind. My dad didn't punish me when he was angry.

He was always pretty calm, and it didn't happen at all very often. But I do remember it happening a few times. At night, when he came home from a meeting somewhere, my mom would fill him in on the problem, and I would be waiting in my room where I'd been sent. As he unbuckled his belt and slipped it off, he would usually say something like, You understand why I'm going to punish you, right? Can you tell me what you did wrong? And I had learned from experience that trying to rationalize or make excuses at that point would only make matters worse.

So I spelled out the infraction clearly so I knew he knew I got it. After he administered a few painful swats, he would say, This is what you get for doing wrong, Paul. Don't do it again. I realized later it was a blessing to have parents who did their best to teach me that doing wrong has consequences. I never questioned their love, and I'm glad they did. That's a very important life lesson, and the earlier and better we learn it, the better off we will be.

If you do wrong, you should expect consequences, and I tried to get that across to my own kids. My assignment today, though, is to not convince you of that. Believe it or not, my assignment today is to convince you of pretty much the opposite. Imagine experiencing pain, then having someone say to you, This is what you get for doing right. Sounds strange, doesn't it? Upside down.

Unfair. But that is precisely what Jesus declared in the last of the Beatitudes, Matthew chapter 5, verse 10: Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And then he expanded on that by saying, Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, 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. We always want to be sure we understand clearly what Jesus was teaching. What he is not saying is, Blessed are you when you act obnoxious and people cannot stand you and react to you.

He's not saying that. And he's not saying, Blessed are those who are persecuted because they are political fanatics either. No. What he said is, Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, as a result of doing what God says is right, or trying to conform to God's character. In the follow-up statement, he added, similarly, Blessed are those who are persecuted because of me. That is, because of their association with Christ in the eyes of others.

Back when I was in school, the largest evangelical Christian college in the country at the time, it was located in the South, and it still did not admit Black students. Many churches in the South at that time were segregated and would not admit Black children even to their Christian schools. A suit was brought to strip these Christian churches and organizations of their tax-exempt status if they would not open their doors to all races, a suit that went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. All the while this was going on, these Christians were moaning that they were being persecuted. Well, the truth is they were being persecuted, all right, but it wasn't for righteousness, and it wasn't because of their association with Christ. It was because they were practicing racial prejudice, and they were trying to cloak that as religious conviction.

Hey, there's no favor from God on that. When you hear the word persecution, what do you think? Persecution, fortunately, seems a long way off to me. Maybe it seems a long way off to you, like it's from another time. Many Western Christians do not even realize it's still going on. But organizations like Voice of the Martyrs, Freedom House, Open Doors, these are people that are trying to do their best to bring to the attention of the world the fact it is still going on and apply pressure to end it.

One of the most effective voices highlighting Christian persecution in my lifetime has been David Horowitz, who just passed away actually earlier this year. Horowitz, ironically, was an Orthodox Jew, but he understood persecution. He became aware of the issue of Christian persecution when he and his family took in an Ethiopian refugee who was seeking asylum in the United States. A few years ago, I heard him say this in an interview: There is a man who came to live with us who is the embodiment of Christian faith, and I'm in awe of this man. He's from Ethiopia and was an evangelical church pastor there. He's trying to get asylum in the United States and is meeting every possible roadblock you can imagine.

Here is a man who has been beaten 25 times for his faith. He's been tortured. On one occasion, he was hung upside down with boiling hot oil poured on the bottoms of his feet. He's a man of abiding faith, and he will be tortured again, probably murdered if he's sent back to Ethiopia. But do you know what happened when we petitioned for asylum? The State Department sent a letter to Immigration Service and said, There's no persecution of Christians in Ethiopia.

This was a few years back and not under the current administration. But it's hard for many, like me, to get a grip on this because we live in this unusual insular environment called the United States of America, where Christian persecution has not been a part of our experience for the last few hundred years. But our experience is the exception, not the rule. The truth is, a great many Christians today do not live with protections for religious liberty. They live under the constant threat of persecution, of losing their job or being ostracized from their family and community, or of imprisonment, or in some cases, torture, rape, even murder, just for being openly a Christian. You might be shocked to know that an estimated 5,000 Christians were martyred last year in 2024 just for their association with Jesus Christ.

Why? Doesn't seem to follow. Why are people persecuted simply because they are Christians? Why are people hated for just trying to live righteously, or just trying to follow Jesus' teachings and encourage others to accept Him and follow Him too? I said, you may be shocked because, for sure, many, many Americans were shocked when last week a young Christian apologist named Charlie Kirk was assassinated on a college campus in front of a large crowd of students. Man, that brought it all home, and in a big way.

Jesus answered the why question this way. He most likely, by the way, spoke these words to His disciples as they were on their way out of Jerusalem to the Garden of Gethsemane the night before He Himself was killed. He said, If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own, as it is, you don't belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words that I have spoken to you.

No servant is greater than his master. If they have persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed My teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of My name, for they do not know the one who sent Me. It's John chapter 15. For the answer to the why question, Jesus said, we really need to look no further than to what happened to Him.

He was the most compassionate, gracious, truthful, the most truly righteous person who's ever lived, and look what happened to Him. Truth is, genuine righteousness and association with Him will draw some people to you, but seriously repel others. Just like the light draws some insects and flying creatures to itself while others scurry back under something to stay in the dark. Some people were drawn to Jesus and accepted His teaching. It rang true in their hearts. He rang true in their hearts.

But others were repelled by it. He angered them. Something about His righteousness implicitly condemned them, so they hated Him. Jesus was the archetypal example of this. No one has ever been more loved and more hated at the same time, more honored and more reviled at the same time. Whether this seems reasonable and fair or not is irrelevant.

It's reality in our fallen world, and proof of the reality of evil and the grip of the evil one on many, many men's hearts. Many times we're told in the New Testament, as Jesus expressed in the Beatitude, Don't be surprised when what is true of Christ is also true with you. The Apostle Paul told his protégé Timothy in unequivocal terms, You know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, my faith, my patience, my love, my endurance, the persecutions, the suffering, what kinds of things happened to me. But in fact, everyone who wants to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Second Timothy chapter three. While Jesus was the clearest example of this reality, that all who live godly, who live righteously, will experience some persecution, it's always been that way since the beginning when Cain killed righteous Abel.

As Jesus said in our text, remember all the prophets who were persecuted before you. He meant, when it happens, remember you're in good company. The early Christians were persecuted just for their association with the name of Jesus, and the church history up until our time is full of examples of that phenomenon too. I think the reason for this shock in the last week or two over the Charlie Kirk assassination is because most assumed it wouldn't happen here. We had been lulled to sleep by the fact that Americans have been privileged to live in this unusual time and place where Christianity has been an influential force, where religious freedom has been an integral part of our culture because of our Christian heritage. But as that heritage erodes and generation arises who do not own it or value it, it's becoming clear that persecution can come even here in America.

If you're on the internet, you know this. This recent situation has certainly exposed how many people hate righteousness, and so hate anyone who will stand boldly for it. One comment among the thousands I've seen in the last several days said, Suddenly, it doesn't seem so shocking that the crowd would cheer for the release of Barabbas, a criminal and a murderer, while also calling for the condemnation and execution of Jesus, whose only crime was speaking the truth. Let's pray that what happened with Charlie Kirk will shock our society and beyond that, to reassert cherished values like respecting differences of opinion and the freedom of speech to express what we believe. We in America have been blessed to have lived in a time and place where those who would persecute Christians Haven't had the public or governmental support to really do that, to pursue that.

We should pray and work to protect that special freedom here, and along with those organizations I mentioned earlier, to try to see that protection expanded to those places where it doesn't now exist. But at the same time, we can't lose sight of what Jesus said here. Persecution for standing for Him is not to be unexpected. The battle in the spiritual realm is real. The battle for hearts and minds and souls is real. So the evil one will keep trying to figure out ways to gain and keep the upper hand.

If he can't gain the power to create a society where killing Christians is normal in the public interest, he will keep agitating for less violent but effective forms of opposition to keep the influence of Christianity in check, to minimize it. As Jesus suggested here, the persecution may come in lesser forms, like, Blessed are you when people insult you, revile you, or Blessed are you when people falsely say all kinds of evil against you for my sake. And in the parallel passage in Luke chapter 6, he added, or exclude or ostracize you because of me. Have you ever been ostracized, seen people pull away from you because for some reason your faith makes them uncomfortable? Again, not because you're obnoxious, but just because you're living out your Christian faith. There's a story from church history that sticks in my mind.

It was told by Tertullian, an early Christian leader in North Africa. He said there was an exceptional leader of Christianity who lived in Athens named James and was called by everyone there James the Just. Nevertheless, under Roman persecution, he was tried by the powers that be in that situation as a troublemaker and was banished, along with his whole family, and their property was confiscated. Tertullian said one of the town fathers, when questioned why he voted to banish such a man, he said, Because I am tired of hearing him called the just. Some people will insult and make fun of you and pull away from you and tell lies about you just because you are trying to do the things that are right and because you associate with Jesus openly. It makes them that uncomfortable.

They feel convicted by it. I've experienced a little bit of that, not a lot, but some. I remind myself that Jesus said it's normal. In fact, if someone who claims to be a follower of His and has never experienced any of that, it could be fairly asked if they are openly living out their Christian faith. We can escape. Let me tell you how.

How can you go your whole life and not suffer any persecution for being a Christian? Just approve of the world's standards. Just do your best to seamlessly fit in. Quietly condone the worst acts of sin in your society and rebellion against God. Laugh at your friends' dirty jokes. Entertain the same vile entertainments that they enjoy.

Smile when people mock God and keep silent when someone uses your Savior's name as a curse word. Never use terms like sin or repentance. Don't tell anybody that they are lost and need a Savior. In short, if you've got any faith at all, hide it. But just remember, Jesus also said, If you are ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when He comes in His glory. Can we really be ashamed of being identified with Jesus Christ?

Can we really fear people so much that we hide our relationship with the One who died for us? God forbid. Stand up. Stand up for Jesus. Finally, let me talk for a moment about how this upside-down beatitude makes sense. Jesus said, If you're persecuted for your association with me and with righteousness, be glad.

Why would any sane person be glad about that? He gives us two reasons. First, it puts us in very good company, as I mentioned. Jesus said, If you're experiencing suffering because of association with Him and righteousness, realize that those in the past who stood up for the right things also experienced it. Daniel was dropped into a den of lions. Noah was scorned and mocked relentlessly for decades as he built the ark.

Elijah had to run and hide from Ahab and Jezebel and live off the grid. When Hebrews chapter 11 recounts the heroes of the faith and all the consequences they endured for standing for righteousness, I love the line there which says, And these were men of whom the world was not worthy. But their challenging stories are in the Bible, and we know who they are because they are heroes in God's Hall of Fame. And the inductees only continued after Jesus said all this, after He was gone. For example, we featured this in Acts chapter 5, when the apostles emerged from being beaten at the command of the high priest in Jerusalem for preaching about Jesus openly and about His resurrection. Do you remember their reaction?

The apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for His name. And that spirit continued on in the early church, and it continued on throughout history. Are you familiar with Foxe's Book of Martyrs? It tells story after story, and it continues on today. Yet Christ is telling us in this text, persecution shouldn't discourage you. It's a very good evidence that you're on the right side of things.

They persecuted me. They persecuted my apostles and prophets. If it happens to you, it's proof that you are mine and that the kingdom of heaven is yours. So be glad. Rejoice. And the other thing Jesus pointed to was this promise: If you're persecuted because of me, great is your reward in heaven.

Jesus, as we've seen over and over, said he's coming back to establish a literal kingdom on earth one day, the kingdom of heaven, and as the end of Revelation says, his rewards are in his hands. We need to decide whether we really believe the claim of his is real, whether Jesus is really coming back, and whether there will really be a kingdom of heaven. I listened to a young woman this week who posted online a video describing her reaction after listening to the story about Charlie Kirk's wife vowing to continue on with his campus outreach work. She clearly disagreed with really everything that Charlie stood for and has been doing and saying. But her take was this, and I found this so interesting.

If I really believe the stuff Charlie preached and the beliefs Erica, his wife, says she wholeheartedly shares about heaven and all that stuff, I would probably be doing the same thing she's going to do, you know, carry on the work. It makes sense if she really believes all that. Yeah, it does. It makes sense. Eternity will last a long time, and Jesus has all eternity to reward and honor and show his appreciation to those who stood up for righteousness here, who stood up for him here, who shared the gospel here. He promised, Blessed are those who are persecuted for my sake, for their reward in heaven will be great.

Do you believe him? Enough to let that make a difference in how you live now? Enough to free you up to boldly live out your Christianity at school, among your friends, when you're at work, wherever you are, rather than hide it? Followers of Christ, this is a big and challenging idea, isn't it? God favors those who are willing to be persecuted for righteousness, for Jesus' sake, for the gospel's sake. How will you respond to that challenge?

Charlie Kirk and many more Christian martyrs whose names we will never know until we meet them in heaven have shown us the way. Will you pledge this with them and with me? I will strive to be in my world what Christ would have me be. I will authentically pursue His righteousness. I will say what Christ would have me say. I will not be ashamed of the gospel, regardless of the flak I may take or even persecution that may come my way.

I will openly identify with the Lord Jesus Christ. I will stand up and I will be counted. I hope your heart says yes to all that. If so, God is happy with you. This is Paul for Share the Word. Thank you, Paul.

There's only one way to conclude this podcast, and that's to echo Pastor Paul's closing words and challenge made a moment ago. When he said, I will strive to be in my world what Christ would have me be. I will authentically pursue His righteousness. I will say what Christ would have me say. I will not be ashamed of the gospel, regardless of the flak I may take or even the persecution that may come my way. I will openly identify with the Lord Jesus Christ, and I will stand up, and I will be counted.

Would you stand up and be counted? Will you make that pledge today and take up your cross daily? There are those like Charlie Kirk who did that, and if you make that pledge today, please send us an email and simply put, from episode 212, I will stand up and be counted. Our email address is info at sharetheword.org. From all of us at Share the Word, our blessings and prayers go out to all of you.