SIDEWAYS GRACE AND UPSIDEDOWN MERCY: THE BEATITUDES
BLESSED ARE THE PERSECUTED
DR. JIM DIXON
MATTHEW 5:1-12
MARCH 11, 2001
The ancient writers Tertullian of Carthage, Gaius of Rome, Eusebius, and Origen all describe the martyrdoms of the Apostles Paul and Peter. They tell us that Paul was beheaded on the Ostian Way by the order of the Roman Emperor Nero in the city of Rome around the year 65 AD. They tell us that Peter was crucified upside-down in the city of Rome, also by the order of the Emperor Nero near the place that was called Nero’s Circus. Around the year 65 AD, both apostles died. Today, the beautiful Basilica of St. Paul stands near the Ostian Way where the apostle was martyred for Christ. Today, the place where Peter died is commemorated by the Egyptian obelisk which stands in the midst of the Piazza before the Basilica of St. Peter’s.
These two martyrdoms were really not unusual in the Roman era. The Apostles Paul and Peter were just two of thousands whose lives were snuffed out because of their faith in Jesus Christ. Archeologists and historians tell us that the place where Peter died, the place near Nero’s Circus, was a place of Christian genocide. It was impossible to count the number of Christian men, women, and children who died there. The Emperor Nero rolled Christians in tar and lit them on fire so he could watch them die for his amusement at night. By day, he wrapped them in animal flesh and fed them to wild animals.
The death of Nero did not bring about the end of Christian persecution. The Ostian Way where the Apostle Paul died was lined with crosses for decades and centuries to come, Christians dying in agony on crosses. The only reason the Apostle Paul was not crucified was because he was a Roman citizen, and it was not legal to execute a Roman citizen by crucifixion.
For the next 250 years after the death of Nero, nine Roman emperors sought to annihilate the Christian faith and the church of Jesus Christ, from Domitian to Diocletian. The year was 303 when Diocletian, the Roman emperor, issued his infamous decree to eradicate all Christians and all of Christianity from the earth. Every Christian edifice, every Christian church, every Christian building, was to be destroyed. Every Christian writing, every Christian scripture, everything written by Christians and for Christians, was to be burned and incinerated. And every single Christian throughout the Roman world was to be executed. But here we are today because Jesus said, “I will build My church, and the powers of hell will not prevail against it.” Jesus foreknew what was coming. That’s why He gave the 8th and the 9th Beatitudes. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake and blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all manner of evil against you.”
Christian persecution, the Bible tells us, comes from two sources and these comprise our two teachings this morning. First of all, Christian persecution comes from Satan. Satan seeks to persecute the church of Jesus Christ. Today, in the Republic of Turkey, there is a city that is called Izmir. It is on the Aegean Sea. It is a city approximately the size of Denver, with approximately 2 million people. It is a very ancient city, a city that flourished 700 years before the birth of Christ. In the time of Christ, the city of Izmir was called Smyrna. Even today, the Greek people refer to the city of Izmir as Smyrna. In Revelation, chapter 2, Jesus sends a message to the church at Smyrna. He said, “Unto the angel of the church of Smyrna, write the words of the First and the Last who died and who came to life. I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich. I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life.”
Christian historians tell us that the church of Smyrna was amongst the most persecuted of Christian churches. Jesus makes it very clear that persecution was coming from Satan, coming from the devil. The name Satan, comes from the Hebrew which means “adversary.” The name devil comes from the Greek “diabolos,” which means “accuser.” There are many names for Satan in the Bible. He is called Beelzebub, the “prince of demons.” He is called “the father of lies.” He’s called “the evil one.” He’s called “the destroyer,” “the dragon,” “the serpent.”
It is evident that at the dawn of time before the foundation of the world, Satan was an angel. Perhaps he was an archangel, high and lifted up. The Bible says he corrupted his wisdom for the sake of his splendor. He said in his heart, “I shall ascend above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high. I will make myself like the most high god.” His fall from glory is described perhaps in Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28, and certainly in Revelation, chapter 12. He led a rebellion in heaven, and he was cast down, taking perhaps a third of the angelic hosts with him. It is possible that in the beginning, before his fall, he was called Lucifer. This is perhaps the meaning of Isaiah 14:12. The title Lucifer means “light bringer,” but he brings light no longer. He is the prince of darkness. He fell, taking a third of the angelic hosts. Most Bible scholars agree those angels who fell have become demons. Satan is not omnipresent, but through his demonic legions he is everywhere active.
The demonic can possess people. The demonic can oppress people. The demonic can attack people. Demons attack Christians, and they can afflict Christians. They can afflict them financially. They can afflict us physically and medically with illness and disease. They can afflict us relationally. They can attack us spiritually. In every arena, they can attack.
You might think, “Well, that’s mythology.” You might think, “That’s just superstition and mythology,” but it is a grave mistake to deny the reality of supernatural evil, and it is the ultimate of naivete to deny the spiritual warfare so clearly described on the pages of scripture. The reason we have prayer ministries in this church is because we believe spiritual warfare is taking place. We have prayer going on every day. The reason we have a prayer team down here after the service each week is we want to pray for you for protection, for deliverance if necessary. We believe in prayer, and we believe in spiritual warfare.
I know many of you are familiar with the book of Job, the 18th book of the Old Testament. It is the book of poetry, written in dialogue with a narrative prologue and a prose epilogue. It is classified amongst the wisdom literature of the Old Testament. We are unwise if we don’t read it. Job was a wealthy man, extremely wealthy, and he was a righteous man, a man of faith. But Satan decided that Job’s righteousness was shallow. He was only righteous because God had blessed him. He only had faith because God had provided for him and protected him, and so Satan came against Job. He attacked him, believing that if his prosperity and his blessings were taken away, he would curse God and die. And so, he attacked Job financially. He took away his assets and destroyed his property. He took away his means of livelihood. He attacked Job’s family, and Job and his wife lost their children in death. He attacked Job physically, and Job was riddled with disease and illness and hideous sores and ulcerations. He attacked Job socially. He had once been socially prominent. Now he was an outcast. He attacked Job spiritually. He tempted Job to curse God and die.
I must say, I think it extremely rare that God would ever allow one of His people to be so persecuted. It is extremely rare that Christ would allow one of His sheep to be so persecuted, but it is true. God does allow the evil one to test us. Some of you may be tested today. You might sense that you’re being tested in your financial life or in your health or in your marriage or in your relationships, your family life. Maybe you’ve sensed that you’re being attacked spiritually or emotionally. Certainly, these things happen. It’s a test. This life is just a classroom. That’s all this life is. It’s just a classroom. The real life is in the world to come.
Certainly, Job passed his test with flying colors. He said, “The Lord gave, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. I brought nothing into this world. I can bring nothing out of this world. Though He slay me, yet shall I trust in Him. When He has tested me, I will come forth as pure gold.” How are you doing in the midst of the persecution that comes from Satan?
There’s a story that has been circulating in recent months. Some of you may have heard it. The story is so amazing that a local magazine checked to see if the story was true, and they discovered that indeed it was true. It’s a story about the FAA and how they test the windshields on their airplanes. Of course, when planes fly, oftentimes birds crash into the windshields. They crash into the glass. The FAA is concerned that these windshields are able to withstand the moment of impact, and so they’ve created a cannonlike apparatus that fires a dead chicken at the windshield of airplanes. They are able to set the cannonlike apparatus to shoot the chicken at the speed of the plane’s maximum velocity. This is the way they check to make sure that the windshields are solid and sound.
Apparently in Great Britain they produced a new high-speed train, and they wanted to test the windshields because high-speed trains are also endangered by birds flying into their windshields. They asked the FAA if they could borrow this cannonlike apparatus that fires the chicken. The FAA said, “Sure.” The British government began to test this high-speed train. They set the velocity, the speed of the cannonlike apparatus, to fire the chicken at the maximum speed of the train. They were stunned when the chicken went right through the windshield of the train. It went right through the engineer’s chair and embedded in the back wall of the engineer’s cabin.
They wrote the FAA. They said, “What are we doing wrong?” They explained everything they had done. The FAA wrote them back and said, “Thaw the chicken!” Apparently it’s true. They’d been firing frozen chickens into the windshield of their train. You see, maybe… I mean, it’s just possible that you feel like the windshields of your life are just shattering and that Satan is firing frozen chickens at you. It might feel like that, and you’d like it to stop. You’re tired of it, and you’re not passing the test.
I want you to know… God wants you to know today that He loves you and has power to protect you. He will protect your soul for all eternity, you who have received His Son as Lord and Savior. He will guard your soul for all eternity, and He will protect your body until He’s ready to take you home. I believe that.
I love this story. It was told in 1980 by a pastor and concerns the pastor’s wife. This pastor’s wife, in 1980, was driving on the L.A. Freeway. Their little 3-year-old girl was in the back seat. In the front passenger seat, this pastor’s wife had her sister. They are driving along the L.A. Freeway, crowded as generally it is. Suddenly they heard the back door open and just a gust of wind. With great alarm, they turned around and saw the 3-year-old girl just fall right out of the car.
The mom looked in her rear view mirror and saw her daughter just tumbling backwards into the traffic. As she pulled the car over, she knew her little girl was dead. She pulled over to the side of the road. She and her sister got out of the car, and they started running backwards. They immediately noticed something was strange. All of the traffic had stopped. All of the cars and the trucks. There was just a line, a wall of traffic just three feet the other side of this little girl. There was a truck driver standing over the 3-year old’s body. He was saying, “She’s alive! She’s alive!”
She was unconscious. They took her to the hospital. They were stunned to discover that she did not have any broken bones, and there was no injury to her internal organs. She just had scratches and abrasions. When she woke up, she said, “Mommy, I wasn’t afraid.” Her mother said, “Why?” She said, “Because, Mommy, I saw Jesus. He was standing there on the highway. He had His hands out and He stopped the traffic.” Now, that is just a story told by a 3-year-old girl but, you know, God has power to protect. Jesus Christ has power to protect His people, and He has power to protect you.
If you’re in the midst of persecution and if you’re under Satanic attack, He wants you to have faith. He wants you to persevere in faith. He wants you to trust Him. It says in 1 Peter, “Behold, your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same experience of suffering is required of your brothers and sisters the world over. When you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to eternal glory in Christ Jesus will Himself restore you, establish you, and strengthen you. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen.” So, we have this first teaching that we are persecuted by Satan. God allows our testing. He seeks to sanctify and refine us, and we are called to faith. This life is a classroom. The real life is in the world to come.
The second and final teaching is this: We are persecuted by man. We are persecuted by this fallen world. Of course, these two teachings are connected because oftentimes Satan persecutes the church of Jesus Christ by virtue of mankind through the abuse of people. We are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.
Biblically, there are many forms of righteousness. On April 4, 1968, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. stepped out of his hotel room or onto his hotel room balcony at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. It was 6:01 P.M., and he would not live to see 6:02 because his life was snuffed out by an assassin’s bullet. James Earl Ray was arrested. He was tried, and he was convicted. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison, and he was incarcerated. Today, there are many people who doubt that James Earl Ray acted alone. In fact, the House Select Committee on assassinations in 1978 ruled that there was a 95% probability that James Earl Ray did not act alone. They ruled that there was a 95% probability of conspiracy in the death of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
Some people think that behind that conspiracy were White Supremacists because Martin Luther King, Jr. had a message of racial equality. Some people think that behind that conspiracy were the Black Panthers because Martin Luther King, Jr. had a message of social change through non-violence. Some people think that behind that conspiracy was the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover because J. Edgar Hoover had said that Martin Luther King, Jr. was the most dangerous man in America. The truth is we’ll never know. I mean, we’ll probably never know. Most of the data examined by the House Select Committee on Assassinations has been sealed up until the year 2027. We do know this: Whoever was behind that assassination had one simple philosophy. “If you don’t like the message, kill the messenger!”
What was the message of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.? What was his message? I think his message was summed up in a speech that he gave on August 28 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. I want to read some excerpts from that speech to you if I can find it. And I want to say I would not even attempt to read this with the intonation or the force that Martin Luther King, Jr. brought to it, but I want you to listen to the words. “I say to you today, my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed. ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.’ I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hue out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together knowing that we will be free one day. This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning, ‘My country ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride. From every mountain side, let freedom ring.’
“If America is to be a great nation, this must become true, so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California, but not only that. Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside let freedom ring.
“When this happens, and when we allow freedom to ring and when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we’ll be able to speed up that day when all God’s children—black men and white men, Jews and gentiles, Protestants and Catholics—will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty, I’m free at last.’”
How could millions of people in this nation have hated that message? How could that be? And what was this message? It was a message of righteousness. It was a call to righteousness, not in the sense of moral transformation. It was not in the sense of the gospel and its call to the cross and repentance but righteousness in the sense of social justice. And, you see, when you teach and you preach and you live righteousness, it’s dangerous in this world. In all of its forms, righteousness is dangerous.
The Greek word in the Bible for righteousness is the word “dikaiosune.” It comes from the word “dikaios,” which means “right.” The gospel is called “the word of righteousness” because the gospel calls people to what is socially right. The gospel calls people to what is morally right. The gospel calls people to what is theologically right through repentance and the cross and the theological affirmation that Jesus is Lord. It’s all dangerous.
Jesus said, “This is the testimony that Light has come into the world. Man loves darkness rather than the Light.” And so, the church of Jesus Christ is persecuted, not just in history but today. And there is some evidence that there is greater persecution of the church of Jesus Christ today than at any time in history, even during the Roman era. Christians are being persecuted today in the nations of the former Soviet Union. Christians are being persecuted today in the remaining Communist nations, from Cuba to China, from North Korea to Laos to Vietnam. Christians are being persecuted today in the Islamic world. There are 22 nations of the earth the governments of which are constitutionally or practically Islamic. In all of these parts of the world there is great Christian persecution. Christian children are being sold into slavery. Christians are being incarcerated, they are being tortured, and yes, they are being executed.
More than a million people have died in the Southern Sudan just in the last few years because of an oppressive Muslim regime in the Northern Sudan. The carnage continues virtually unabated. This might seem amazing to you. You might say, “Well, how is this possible? I’m not reading about it in the newspapers.” But, you see, these atrocities and these violations of civil liberties are documented, and they have been documented by the Freedom House, by Amnesty International, and by the United States State Department and the U.S. Commission of International Religious Freedom and by the NAE. These things are really happening.
The United States government, just a few years ago, in both the House and in the Senate, passed a Resolution of Outrage at the persecution perpetrated against Christians globally. Just this last week, Tom Tancredo, Congressman from Colorado and a member of this church, as reported in the local newspaper, is seeking to pass legislation in Washington that would put pressure on the Sudanese government to stop this slaughtering of human life and the selling of human life. Colin Powell, according to the newspaper, has stepped forward and he wants to stop this. He’s quoted as saying, “I do know there is no greater tragedy on the face of the earth than the one unfolding in the Sudan.” That’s what our Secretary of State has just said. But, of course, it’s just a little article on the 23rd page of the paper, a page just filled with liquor advertisements and then this one little article. You’re not going to get the truth. You’re not going to get the truth in the media, not normally, not on this subject.
Even in academia, in higher institutions of learning, many professors love to portray the church of Christ as the perpetrators of persecution rather than the recipients. They constantly refer back to the Crusades and to the Inquisition and ignore what is happening in the world today.
You must pray. The Bible says you must pray. As one member of the body suffers anywhere in the world, everyone suffers. You come here in the midst of the hardship of snow. People all over the world today are hiding in basements seeking to worship Christ, fearing for their lives but too in love with God to not worship. Many of them are worshipping in prison and some are facing death simply because they love Jesus. We need to be faithful to pray.
Jesus said, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues and drag you before governors and kings for My name’s sake, that you might bear testimony to them and to the nations. Do not be afraid about what you are to say, for what you are to say will be revealed to you in that hour when they hand you over. For it will not be you speaking but the Spirit of My Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother to death, and a father his child. Children shall rise up against their parents. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. If you acknowledge Me before men, I will acknowledge you before My Father who is in heaven. If you deny Me before men, I will deny you before My Father who is in heaven. Think not that I have come to bring peace on earth, but rather I’ve come to bring a sword. I’ve come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. One’s enemies will be the members of one’s own household. He who loves mother or father more than Me is not worthy of Me. He who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. He who will not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. He who would save his life would lose it, but he who would lose his life for My sake will save it.” That is a difficult passage in Matthew’s Gospel, the 10th chapter.
What is this sword that the gospel brings? It is the sword of persecution. That’s the sword the gospel brings, the sword of persecution. It is a fact of history that at many times and in many places, when Jewish people accept Christ, they have been renounced by their families, renounced by their mothers or their dad or their children or their siblings. They have been excommunicated from their family because they accepted Christ. They have been stripped of their jobs and their means of livelihood. It’s a fact of history.
It’s a fact that today, in many parts of the Islamic world, when someone comes to Christ and asks Jesus to be their Savior and Lord, sometimes they are reported to the governing authorities by their own parents, by their children, by their brothers or sisters. They are incarcerated, they are tortured. Sometimes they are executed. There are places in the Islamic world where rewards are given by the government if you will report the existence of a Christian Bible study group. Those people are apprehended and tortured and sometimes killed.
Do you understand why Jesus says, “He who loves mother or father more than Me is not worthy of Me” and “He who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” and “He who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me” and “He who would save his life will lose it, but he who would lose his life for my sake will find it”?
You see, sometimes in the Islamic world today, people who accept Christ are told to renounce Christ or suffer the consequences. But they better not renounce Christ. “There is no other name under heaven whereby we may be saved.” In John, chapter 15, Jesus said, “If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you. Do not wonder that the world hates you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own, but because you are not of the world, because I’ve called you out of the world, the world hates you.”
There IS hatred in this world for Christians. Even in our western culture and in this nation, there is a growing hatred for evangelicals. I think evangelicals are misunderstood by many segments of the media, many segments of academia. Certainly, in Hollywood evangelicals are misunderstood. There is a growing tide of persecution, no matter how subtle that comes against Christians.
If you say you believe that the practice of homosexuality is sinful, you’re called a hatemonger even though you love homosexuals and you are seeking to love all people. If you say that sex is a beautiful gift meant to be opened only in the context of marriage, you’re accused of antiquated morality. If you say Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life no one comes to the Father but by Him, you’re accused of theological exclusivity, particularly in this world of religious pluralism and theological syncretism.
It’s not an easy thing to be a Christian here in America. You might feel the tide moving against you as you are less politically correct than perhaps the culture would want you to be. Jesus said, “Your reward is great in heaven. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
Is it not true that heaven awaits us, and this life is a classroom? Sometimes in the Bible, heaven is described as paradise, from the Persian word “paradisio,” which means “a park.” And it will be beautiful. Sometimes heaven is described as a glorious city, the New Jerusalem with streets of gold. Perhaps that New Jerusalem will function as the earthly one did, and we will gather there from time to time for festivals and celebrations and festive occasions. Sometimes in the Bible, heaven is described as a new universe, a new cosmos, the New Heavens and the New Earth wherein righteousness dwells. Perhaps, as believers in Christ, we’ll be given the privilege of exploring all the works of God’s hands.
Heaven is a place of intimate friendship, a place of adventure, a place of spine-tingling, awe-inspiring worship. It’s just an awesome place, and it awaits you. So be faithful in the midst of whatever you’re going through. Satan attacks the church of Christ. Sometimes this fallen world attacks us. Pray and be faithful head to toe as long as we draw breath, and we will receive the crown of life. Let’s close with a word of prayer.