Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
West Lafayette, Ohio
January 13, 1985
Persecution
Matthew 5:10-12, KJV
The Bible says in many different passages that followers of Jesus Christ will be persecuted. According to Jesus himself, persecution is not just possible but inevitable.
One of the most vivid memories I have of being a young Christian in high school was the Holy Roller meetings at a little German town called Bensheim. The American preacher at these meetings was a wiry young man with a super-charged delivery. He never stood still, but he never moved around either - he bounced. Every three or four words he would jump up on his tiptoes and thrust his hand in the air. One of his messages has stayed with me. It was the one where he bragged that he had been preaching on a street corner somewhere and had started a small riot. A German shop-owner had even pulled out a gun and fired at him. The preacher's ringing conclusion was a quote from 2 Timothy 3:12 -
All that will live godly [lives] in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
As I look back, I feel some sympathy for the shop-owner. Nowadays we tend to think that persecution is limited to the kooks and fanatics.
In other periods this wasn't the case. In the early days of America, persecution was widespread. Contrary to popular opinion, the pilgrims did not come here to establish religious toleration and freedom. They came to practice their brand of faith, period. If anyone disagreed with them, they could move on.
This is exactly what happened to Roger Williams, an early Baptist. He arrived in Massachusetts in 1631 to escape persecution in England, but by 1636 Massachusetts kicked him out, too. He ended up starting the colony of Rhode Island, the first area in America to guarantee religious freedom to everybody.
Over the last few centuries, it has appeared that persecution has faded. We no longer support the intolerance of the Crusades or the Inquisition. This is ironic, because even though our attitude toward persecution has changed, persecution itself has been more intense in our century than at any time in history.
At the turn of the century, the Turks killed more than one million Christian Armenians. During the 30's and 40's the Nazis exterminated six million Jews. The Communists have killed several tens of millions, from Russia to Cambodia. For many people around the world, persecution is a fact of life. According to Jesus, this should be especially true of Christians. He not only mentions it prominently in the last beatitude, but he also expands it into a double beatitude.
Persecution is a strange topic for a beatitude. Properly understood, all of the other beatitudes deal with our personal attitudes and actions. We should have a poor, humble spirit toward God. We should mourn for our sins and be merciful to others. But this last beatitude deals with what others will do to us.
It's one thing to strive to be pure in heart or poor in spirit. But how do you strive to be persecuted? Some people seem to be good at it. A guy I knew in seminary was recently featured in InterVarsity magazine. His name was Cliffe Knechtle* and on weekends he evangelized bars in Boston. The bars were the blue-collar-type with a TV up in one corner. Every time the Celtics or the Bruins lost a game some drunk would invariably stand up and curse God at the top of his lungs. Whereupon Cliffe would stand up and say, "Gentlemen, I demand equal time. If you can curse God at the top of your lungs then I can say something positive about God at the top of mine."
Following a short sermon, Cliffe would experience various forms of persecution, from cold indifference, to getting bounced out on the sidewalk. One day a reporter went along with him. After watching him get ejected from several beer joints he told Cliffe, "By my definition, you are a failure."
There is a place for people like Cliffe Knechtle but not every Christian has to get thrown out of bars. Even Cliffe would say that he's not trying to get persecuted, he's just trying to reach unbelievers that everyone else misses. (But some persecute themselves, if no one else will)
Persecution is not a requirement for getting to heaven, and neither are the other beatitudes. Instead, they show the character and experiences that those who are already saved should possess. If you are a true Christian, then persecution should not be an unusual event.
There are several reasons why Christians can expect to be persecuted. First of all, you can expect to be persecuted if you're obnoxious. This is not a valid reason, but it's a popular one. If you self-righteously condemn people, shove gospel booklets in their face and pester them in general, you will be persecuted. But don't expect a blessing for it, either here or in heaven. A rancid personality does not honor God.
You can also get persecuted if you conduct your life according to God's will. Notice what verse 10 says: "they which are persecuted for righteousness sake". By living uprightly and speaking up for God's ways, you're going to catch some flack.
There are many examples of this in the Bible. For one of them, turn to Acts 24:24. Paul is in prison in Israel and the Roman governor wanted to meet him. It says:
And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, a Jewess, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.
And as [Paul] reasoned of righteousness, temperance and the judgment to come, Felix trembled and answered, go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season I will call for you.
It takes a lot of courage to stand up for what's right, especially when it won't gain you anything. When you see something that's not right, what do you do? Hope someone else says something? Or stick your neck out?
You don't have to be verbal about what you believe for people to turn against you. Just the fact that you are living a consistent Christian life can bother some people. I don't know why, but the fact that you won't give in to their way of doing things infuriates them. Maybe they feel condemned by implication.
Persecution can take many forms. We usually think of getting killed or thrown into prison, but verbal abuse is the most common. In verse 11 Jesus equates persecution with being reviled or having people make false, malicious statements about us. Ridicule can hurt and Jesus said you should expect it from your family, your neighbors and those you work with. If you don't laugh at their dirty jokes or join in cutting down other people, then you can expect a cold shoulder.
We live in a country that has adopted many Christian values, tolerance being among them. Persecution for us won't be what it was in the early Christian centuries but it is also true that much of our Christianity has sunk to a level where it is hardly noticed. The world has become more tolerant of us. But we have become far more tolerant of the world. Sometimes there is very little of our Christian character visible. We want to avoid being different. If we must witness about Jesus, we do it as silently as possible. We want to fit in. Persecution can be due to how faithful you are.
[Invitation]
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* Cliffe Knechtle is still defending the gospel. See his website at http://www.givemeananswer.org/main/home/index.html
Typed on February 2, 2005, by Sharon Lesko of Ledgewood Baptist Church, New Jersey
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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