Right or Wrong, who's to say?
Matthew 5:11-12
“You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me. Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
Believers are salt and light, and some of you are just plain weird. And Jesus said they'll all be persecuted for his sake. Not because of the weird things they do, but for righteousness and for his name's sake. So, it's incumbent upon all believers to make sure that they are truly being persecuted for righteousness and for his sake, and not for some other reason having to do your particular religious practices.
Imagine that, imagine being responsible for the reasons that people are abusing you and your witness. But the fact of the matter is, our Christian witness is light broadcasting into the darkness. And we're salt in the wound, the preserving influence in the society that Christ has placed us. That influence is your good works.
So often today, there's been this erosion of that Christian saltiness. The Christian influence in America has pretty much lost all its saltiness. You can see it in every aspect of the culture. Feminism has overcome and overwhelmed the purity tests and moved the needle so far to the left that there really is no hope for this nation, in my opinion, The spiritual battle is being lost because sexuality has become the new god and worship altar at which every American must bow before or be canceled. It began with the free sex movement and eventually evolved into uncover the nipple Thursdays. The sexual "revolution" now promotes Only Fans prostitution and social media pornography as female empowerment. And motherhood and marriage are considered "weird". Family is considered weird, maybe even dangerous.
Satanic influencers are misleading the public with carnal weapons. The forces of Satan are demonic monsters, perverting the people's minds, polluting the planet with sexual violence and sex slavery. Child pornography is widespread and corrupting the world, transforming the children into depressed suicidal sex toys. There is Satanic imagery and propaganda bleeding into every aspect of our society, and even in the so-called religious corridors.
Meanwhile the churches have become social clubs and community centers. They are places for turning on the lights for an hour, maybe two. And then putting those lights away, back under the bushels, until next time. Fill up the lamp and then head on out into the perverted world for another week. They haven't even left the parking lot, and the light is dimming.
2 Timothy 3:12
"Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted..."
And so, by all the evidence, it's true that righteousness and Christ's witness is under persecution in the American media and in every other witness throughout our society. But who's really responsible for setting up the circumstances for that erosion of the witness and ultimately the persecution that follows?
Jesus talked more about this later on...
Matthew 10:25
"It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household."
The witness can be righteous. The witness can tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, but what is the witness doing outside the courthouse? Is the claim genuine? Is the light of truth bearing righteous fruit that exceeds the Scribes and Pharisees? Is authentic righteous wisdom growing in the hearts and minds of these witnesses? Is the witness of their lives improving and proving their righteous spirit?
Christianity’s message stands at odds with the world’s mindset. It is light living within the darkness. And it is inevitable that at some point in the life of a Christian person there will be persecution. It's a fallen world and people everywhere are persecuted, but are they persecuted for righteousness sake?
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake” (Matthew 5:10).
This is important because not all persecuted people are blessed.
Take a quick Look back at the beatitudes we just covered. They are arranged in two groups of four. And both end on the same note of righteousness.
The first ends with..."Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness."
And the second ends with..."Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake."
The circumstances leading up to the first group is "hunger" for righteousness. These are situations in which the Christian is soul sick, mournful, and caused to be meek because of the emptiness of a sinful life. These natural conditions for conversion. They are descriptions of emptiness, and soullessness. By human nature, if you don’t have something, you hunger for it.
The second group is no longer hungry, but filled with compassion and mercy, a pure heart genuinely filled with faith and sincerity, and a spirit that desires to make the peace of God a reality in the world.
The righteousness longed for is fulfilled in the changed hearts and minds of the people of God. Mercy, purity, and peacemaking are the good works that bring about this righteousness in the lives of a person of faith, and it's unfortunate but it also brings persecution. And so often the persecution begins in the church. Satan has his predators there, his people who love the lies. And they'll exert their power to quash the faithful witness wherever possible.
True righteousness, the righteousness that surpasses the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:20) — always involves a relationship with Jesus. It's for Jesus' sake that persecution comes. In fact, when the word of God talks about "righteousness", you can switch that word out with the name of Jesus and still be on the same mark. True righteousness is not done for its own sake, it is done for Jesus’s sake. If it is done for any other reasons, (political causes) it's likely the witness of the new age Scribes and Pharisees.
So why would anyone persecute love?
Luke 16:14-15
The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God."
It all comes back to the states of the mind and the matters of the heart. We live in a world that says, "right or wrong, who's to say?" And your message of righteousness for Christ's sake will bump up against that confusion. Why? Because you're not confused, and you refuse to live confused. You're not content with compromising your purity by saying and doing confusing things.
It's a matter of your heart and their perception.
Your witness, kind and sweet as you can make it, will be seen as an attack on them if it calls any of their carnal gods into question.
If you cherish purity, your life will become an attack on the people’s love for free sex without restrictions and responsibilities.
If you embrace a temperate life of holiness and clean living, your life will become a statement against their love of sensory experiences and the many drugs and cultural influences they use to achieve those results.
If you pursue self-control and contentment, living a simple and happy life always looking towards Christ's blessings and the kingdom to come, your life will become an indictment of their excesses, excuses, and the folly and futility of their luxurious living.
You walk humbly, they walk in pride.
You speak with compassion, they're crass and harsh in their ways.
Your desire to live a spiritual life that is earnest and punctual, makes them seem lazy and callous. And your spiritual outlook exposes their worldliness.
The Light exposes the Dark and reveals the shadows of compromise.
John 3:20-21
“For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But he whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
How is it that so many Christians seem to have failed to resist the persecution? How is it that the gospel got all mucked up by these Christian's? What happened to get them outside the riverbanks of Christ's way?
The storm waters washed them out of the river and into the mud, muck and mire on the riverbanks, and now they're stuck there. They're tangled up in the driftwood and seaweed cast aside by the storm waters.
Probably their light is hidden under a bushel of fear, shame, deception, confusion, sexuality and sexual identity, addictions, and the desire to find cultural acceptance, or keep friends that challenge their witness. They're allowing their values to be eroded by their surrounding environments. It's a matter of the heart.
You've heard it said that a person "has a heart for Jesus".
They better, because it's from the heart that comes both righteousness and corruption.
But that's for another time as we continue in the beatitudes next time.
God bless you all today and peace be with you now and always.