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  27^th April 2024

SaturdayReflection

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John Piper discusses

Blessed Are the Persecuted
Matthew 5:10

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Has modern society become so tolerant that talk of persecution is outdated?

My answer is that these verses are very relevant and not at all outdated.
Paul, "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."

How could Paul make such a sweeping statement?
He is convinced that there is such a tension between the message and way of life of Christians on the one hand, and the mindset and way of life of the world on the other, that conflict is inevitable.

"Christianity's message stands at odds with the world's mindset."
Millions of Christians in our global village are being persecuted for their faith this very day, but also because - to one degree or another - all of you who are dead-earnest about putting God first will bump into some form of opposition sooner or later.

Not all persecuted people are blessed.
Only those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake.

In verse 10, the persecution is "on account of righteousness," but in verse 11, it is "on account of Jesus."

"Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account."

"On my account" and "on account of righteousness" probably mean the same thing.

True righteousness is not done for its own sake.
It is done for Jesus's sake.

But that raises a question: if that is what righteousness means - being merciful and pure and peaceable by relying on Jesus and living for his glory - why would anybody persecute that?
It doesn't seem very offensive.

Jesus has just said,

"No servant can serve two masters . . . You cannot serve God and money."

Then comes the persecution, the mockery. "The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they scoffed at him."

There is the persecution and part of its explanation: "They were lovers of money."
In other words, Jesus's attitude toward money is an attack on their love of money.

So here is the root of persecution with its two shafts.
One shaft is the love of something evil or untrue and the other shaft is the need to justify that love.
This is the root cause of persecution.

Jesus comes on the scene with a way of life and a message that implies that the love of money is treason against God.
This is not an antagonistic insult.
It is part of his purity. It is true.
It is essential to know if you are going to be saved.

But it goes against the Pharisees' love of money.
So, to justify themselves, the Pharisees put Jesus down.

When you desire to be godly in all your affairs and relationships - when you follow the righteousness of Jesus in his strength and for his glory - there are two possible responses people can have who stay around you.

"For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed."

That is one possible response: hating the light and not accepting it.
"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."

That is the other possible response: doing the truth and coming to it and freely admitting that all good in us is accomplished by God.

The two options are persecution or conversion.
But, we ask, what about all the unbelievers in my life who are neither converting nor persecuting - who are just civil, or even polite?

There are at least two possible explanations:
Your light is under a bushel. You are keeping the stumbling block of the cross well concealed. You don't let your distinctive values show.

You are letting your values show and the people around you are moving toward one or the other of these two polls: persecution or conversion.

Neither of these must happen immediately.
In fact, many people are torn inside themselves, partly hating the claims of Christianity in your life, partly attracted by them.

So we should all examine ourselves to see if we are playing a kind of cowardly Christian incognito.

This is an extremely edited version.
The full article is avaiable on request

John Piper
is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary.
For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Foundations for Lifelong Learning: Education in Serious Joy.

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