Taken in part from Kingdom Living: The Commands of Christ by Zumé.
Key passages: Matthew 5:11-12; Luke 6:22-23.
[11] “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. [12] Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matthew 5:11-12).
[22] "Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man’s sake. [23] Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets." (Luke 6:22-23).
We do not like pain or suffering. We try to avoid it at all costs. We experience pain and suffering in different ways. One way is when we are rejected by others. We want people to like us, so we try to please them. But when our efforts fail, and they don't like us, it can lead to emotional pain and suffering.
Another way that we can experience pain and suffering is through physical harm. We take precautions to protect ourselves and others from physical harm. We wear seat belts when we drive down the road to help protect us if we are in a car accident. We wear oven mits when we are cooking to protect our hands from being burned.
We do these things to protect ourselves because we know that if we don't, we could experience immense pain and suffering, and possibly even death.
The King mentioned another kind of pain and suffering that His people will experience - persecution. We cannot protect ourselves from this kind of pain and suffering. It will happen simply by following Him.
Persecution is an indication that we are truly following the King. 2 Timothy 3:12 says that "all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." And the King Himself said, "A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you." (John 15:20).
Persecution is a mark of faithfulness and loyalty to the Jesus. It is in the bloodline of God's children. The Son had it, and His royal subjects all inherit it.
God's ways are so different from our ways, that it can be difficult for us to understand why He would allow us and want us to be persecuted. Ultimately, it is for His purposes and glory, but believe it or not, we also benefit from it.
In our key passage, the Teacher said to His students, "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven."
Jesus's promise to His disciples in this passage, is that they will be blessed and will have a great reward in heaven because of the persecution they will experience.
The primary reward that we will receive is Jesus. But the Bible says that we will also receive rewards and blessings in this life if we respond well to suffering and persecution.
Philippians 3:10-11 says,
[10] that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, [11] if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:10-11).
The writer of this passage understood that He would know Jesus more intimately, and that he would have intimate fellowship with Him, if he suffered for Him. He would know Him and fellowship with Him in a way that he would not, if he did not suffer for Him. These are extraordinary promises and blessings that we will receive in our present lives because we are persecuted for His sake.
Let's look at some more blessings that we will receive as long as we have the correct response to our persecution:
Position us to bless others
Test and refine and prove us and our faith
Give us hope. Show us OV’s love is unstoppable and He is good and is all we need
Show us OV is listening and is near
Comfort us
Equip us to comfort others
Prepare us to inherit the Kingdom of heaven
Increase our reward in heaven
Discover our true and real life in the Lord
Help us know the King more intimately
Help us become more like the King and identify with Him more fully
Help us gain more of the King's character
Demonstrate the permanency and power of OV’s love for us
Save our lives
Cause us to bear more fruit
(The list above is from Enduring Through Suffering by Zumé.)
The Word says that there are many more blessings that we receive when we are persecuted for the King's sake. I believe that we receive more blessings because of persecution than if we are not persecuted. But out of all the blessings, the most important one is knowing the King.
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[12] Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. (2 Timothy 3:12).
[20] Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. (John 15:20).
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Group Responses
S - "Persecution plays a great role in our life. It makes us to love Him more than ever. Knowing Him is a great reward. He has given us power to deal with persecution. We prefer to be persecuted than to lose His love. We don't want to lose His love so we are persecuted. We always deal with death so we can live. Persecution proves our love for Him, and our faith in Him."
M - "I agree with S. We experienced [persecution] this year, so we moved to another city to show His love to others there. We realize this is His love and what He wants us to do. We are glad because this is His plan for us. He wants us to move to show His love for others."
N - "Persecution is a tool to know Him better. Persecution shows me how to take His steps in His way. The greatest reward is being with Him."
R - "When we choose Light over darkness, we can accept persecution because this teaches us to show love because He is our power and love. We teach others His Light and love. We must show them the true "sun" is Him."
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