Persecuted

“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:10)

This beatitude seems on the surface like an extreme contradiction. After all, who would be happy to be persecuted? And yet, “happy” is just what the word “blessed” literally means.

Perhaps this paradox will be easier to unravel if we consider the fact that it is not the persecution itself that makes us happy, but the cause for which we are persecuted.

For Righteousness’ Sake

The blessedness of persecution hinges on the fact that we are not being persecuted because of something wrong we have done. I Peter 4:14-15 gives us the most concise explanation of this concept:

“If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.”

Persecution for righteousness’ sake comes for the simple reason that we are like Christ and unlike the world. It is the natural consequence of exhibiting the Christlike character of all the preceding beatitudes, for the righteousness of Christ makes all the world’s self-righteousness look decidedly shabby.

The more we grow in the righteousness of Christ, the more the world hates us, because the world hates Christ. As Jesus said,

“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” (John 15:18-19)

I love the way D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones puts this:

“To become like Him we have to become light; light always exposes darkness, and the darkness therefore always hates the light.”*

Our growth in righteousness will inevitably bring us into the way of persecution of some form. It may be as mild as looks of contempt or spiteful words, or it may even be as extreme as martyrdom. God has a unique plan for each of His children, but one common thread runs through them all:

“In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

To suffer for righteousness’ sake is part of following Christ. In fact, the early Christians considered it to be the greatest honor. In Acts 5, the apostles, having just been beaten for preaching the gospel,

“departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.” (Acts 5:41)

We cannot avoid conflict with the world: but we can make sure that the conflict is due to the righteousness of Christ shining through us, and not our own sinful attitudes and actions. If the world is persecuting us because we are living righteously, we can be encouraged to know that we are following in the footsteps of Christ.  

“For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously: Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” (1 Peter 2:21-24)

Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven

As much encouragement as we can find in the occurrence of persecution which arises because we are growing in Christlikeness, there is even more encouragement to be found in the promise tied to persecution throughout Scripture: that the suffering of the persecuted Christian is never unrewarded.

The word for persecution in Matthew 5 has the idea of being pursued or pressed forward. There is a great contrast in this beatitude. To those whom the world has hunted down and driven from place to place, it promises a future of ownership in the very kingdom of heaven. They may be poor and persecuted now, but in the kingdom of God they will be rulers, for the Christian who suffers for Christ will one day reign with Him. (2 Timothy 2:11-12)

A few verses after this promise about the kingdom of heaven, Jesus says we ought to respond to persecution this way:

“Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.” (Matthew 5:12)

The point is not to rejoice in the physical or emotional pain of persecution, but rather to glory in its cause and its future result. We rejoice in persecution because it shows that we are in some measure reflecting the righteousness of Christ, and we rejoice in persecution because we know with the utmost certainty that God is a righteous Judge, and He will one day correct the injustice of our persecution and reward us for enduring it faithfully.

—And through it all, we can rest in the truth of Romans 8:35-39.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, for angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

*D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount p. 137