Blessed in Persecution “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. 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.” – Matthew 5:10-12 There is a difference between being comfortable and being comforted. This passage comforts us while calling us to follow Jesus no matter what. 1.EXPECT PERSECUTION, DON’T BE SURPRISED BY IT Persecution is when you are mistreated for following Jesus. We must remember when we follow Jesus in a fallen world, we should expect persecution. Consider how often we are told this in Scripture. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you – John 15.20 In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. – 2 Timothy 3.12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you, as if something unusual were happening to you. – 1 Peter 4.12 Jesus was persecuted. His followers will experience the same. When we choose to follow Jesus it comes with a cost and that cost can come in the form of persecution. A study from Gordon Conwell stated, “We estimate that more than 70 million Christians have been martyred over the last two millennia, more than half of which died in the 20th century under fascist and communist regimes. We also estimate that 1 million Christians were killed between 2001 and 2010 and about 900,000 were killed from 2011 to 2020.” Dr. Gregory Cochran who did his PhD on the persecuted church said: Some international humanitarian agencies have estimated that 80% of all religious persecution in the world today is aimed at Christians. 2.TAKE UP YOUR CROSS, DON’T RUN FROM IT Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it. – Matthew 16:24-25 We want to live out a full gospel faith. Some versions of Christianity we see look comfortable because it is indistinguishable from the world. But if you do things the world’s way you can expect to get the world’s results. Instead, we must loosen our grip on this world and hold tight to Jesus. 3.REJOICE IN THE PROMISE OF PERSECUTION, DON’T FEAR IT We can rejoice even in persecution because we belong to God’s eternal Kingdom! Our live here is like a vapor (James 4) it is here and then gone. “The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever.” – Isaiah 40:8 Persecution can verify what Kingdom we belong to and remind us that this fallen world is not our home. Not only that, but God uses persecution to build His Kingdom. There are so many examples of this happening all around us. Together we can pray for the persecuted church around the world. We can share the gospel boldly and be willing to speak the name of Jesus even when we face some form of persecution. He is worthy of it all!