Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Stand up



9/4 Sermon Prep Thoughts:  Rabbi:  Persecuted

Matthew 5:10-12 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,  for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 10 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

You can't really separate Matthew 5:10 from 11&12.    it's an extension of the same thought.  

It's appropriate that Jesus teaches these truths in the order that he does.

Poor in Spirit, mourning, meek, desire righteousness, merciful, purie in heart, peacemakers...

and then... those who are persecuted.

Jesus is foretelling how the world will respond to you as you become more and more like Christ, you will be persecuted.  

When you reject the very thing that people turn when they don't turn to God, you are messing with the very identity and source of comfort for people.  When people put sin as their God, they will defend it in the same way Godly would defend God if someone threatened to take Him away.    

And since they can't defend their sin from any position of truth, they turn to the offensive and point out the sin and hypocrisy in your life.  That is persecution.  And sometimes it gets downright cruel.

The MOST cruel behavior anyone has shown me personally, is when they are faced with the death of one of their idols.

Believe it or not, I've been called abrasive.  I don't have a lot of patience for the emotional games that people play and don't do well with passive aggressive behavior, sometimes in a spirit of truth, I confront people.  And, regrettably, sometimes I forget the "Love" and I do more damage than good.    (even truth without love is useless - 1 Cor 13)

As I reflect and wrestle with the issue of being persecuted for the sake of righteousness, I am driven to my knees to seek forgiveness for forsaking the humility required to "love people in to truth", rather than pride adopted when I "truth people in to love".


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Sermon Notes:

Passage: Matthew 5:10-12   “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Context of the Text

1.    This is the only beatitude that isn’t a single verse. 
a.    Jesus expands on this and It’s interesting to me that he switches the possessive pronoun in verse 11.
                                      i.      In verse 10, he’s talking about “those and theirs”. 
                                    ii.     In verse 11, he makes it personal.  “You and Yours.”
2.    This is very personal. 
a.    Those of us who have chosen a life of following Jesus on His terms, painfully remember each name of the people who have rejected us…..
                                      i.     Emphasize “On His Terms:
1.    Wholly Sold out and adopted Jesus’ mission as our own.
a.    (righteousness sake)
2.    Many people aren’t experiencing that persecution because they aren’t fully embracing what following Jesus means. 
b.    Last week we talked about, Although we try and try our efforts at righteousness might not work to create peace
                                      i.     When we stand up for morality that someone is rejecting, out of their conviction they reject us.
                                    ii.     When we upset the norm by treating the things that other people value like they are worthless, people take offense.
1.    ILL:  Giving away airline miles
a.    Petersons moving to Corvallis, living in a trailer so you can serve a new church
b.    Leaving your lucrative job so you can follow God’s call to Corvallis. 
2.    Leaving your family for the sake of a calling to serve other people.
3.    If you want to really go there, ask people to depart with their money so people can hear about Jesus.
c.     I should say, when we treat things with appropriate (or Jesus centered) value.
1.    (When we value people over being right.
2.    When we return an offense with mercy.)
d.    We will be persecuted for righteousness sake:
Persecuted for righteousness sake:
a.    Not persecuted for being an idiot. 
                                      i.     There are many times we are persecuted for things that deserve it. 
b.    When do non-Christians persecute Christians?
                                      i.     For our bigotry?
                                    ii.     our hypocrisy?
                                   iii.     Our selfishness?
                                   iv.     Our lack of compassion?
                                     v.     Our overwhelming compulsion to be right?
c.     When you are persecuted for these things, you’re not blessed.
                                      i.     Why?  Because you’re NOT stewarding the Kingdom of Heaven!

2.    Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.   V10
a.    Posessive:  It BELONGS to you! 
                                      i.     It means you’ve achieved the Kingdom when you are persecuted for the sake of righteousness and you receive it as a Blessing.
b.    It’s saying “When you are persecuted for the sake of the kingdom, and you count yourself blessed, YOU GET IT! YOURS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN!’
c.     In first Century Jewish thought, the idea of understanding something, was one of identity. 
d.    Son of = “Bar-Nabas”.
e.    So it is fitting to say that when you fully understand something, you possess it, it becomes part of you. 
f.      Yours is the kingdom of God.
3.    Vs 11-12 expands as to what the persecution will look like. 
a.    They will revile and persecute you and lie, exaggerate and gossip falsely because you’re standing for something they aren’t ready to let go of, but Rejoice.. you’re in good company. 

Righteousness: 
1.    If I were to boil down the beatitudes, I would say:
a.    It’s a call to righteousness
b.    Abe Lincoln in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
                                      i.     Be excellent to each other!   (party on dudes)

2.    It's appropriate that Jesus teaches these truths in the order that he does.
a.    Poor in Spirit, mourning, meek, merciful, purie in heart, peacemaking... hunger and thirst for righteousness
                                      i.     and then... those who are persecuted.
b.    Jesus is warning how the world will respond to you as you become more and more like Christ, you will also be persecuted like Christ.  
c.     Just as Jesus shook up the standards/morals/norms of the world, the world pushes back.
                                      i.     We are no different. 

3.    Righteousness is not titles, rituals, praying, preaching, speaking without cursing, saying grace before a meal or putting $ in the offering basket. 
a.    has nothing to do with being right. 
4.    I heard a pastor say it this way: 
a.    “Righteousness is to Journey with God in to the mysterious unknown.”
                                      i.     The mysterious unknown of counterintuitive thinking
1.    Beatitudes are like that.
                                    ii.     Contrary to the world’s norm
1.    structure/values/ideology/economy

5.    What does it look like to be righteous?  To Journey with God in to the mysterious unknown.
a.    The unknown of the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, walking on water, commanding the wind and the rain to settle down, cloning two fish and loaves of bread 5000 times.

6.    The unknown of disrupting the norm by
a.    loving your enemy
b.     praying for your persecutors,
c.     responding to an offense with mercy
d.    seeing blessing in your mourning and
e.    finding the joy in your poverty. 

7.    After a lifetime of mysterious unknowns on His journey of righteousness, with plenty of persecution.  Jesus sums this up in John 15:9 what this looks like:
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.

8.    I am convinced the motivation behind every act of righteousness that drew persecution, was his Jesus heart beating
a.    “lay my life down for my friends”
b.    the mysterious unknown of righteousness. 
9.    The righteousness God is looking for is laying your life down for your friends.

Persecuted for RIGHTNESS is NOT Blessed!

1.    ILL: Believe it or not, I've been called abrasive.  
a.    I don't have a lot of patience for the emotional games that people play and don't do well with passive aggressive behavior,
                                      i.     sometimes in a spirit of truth, I confront people.  
                                    ii.     And, regrettably, sometimes I forget the "Love" and I do more damage than good.    
1.    (even truth without love is useless - 1 Cor 13)

b.    This week, as I reflected and wrestled with the issue of being persecuted for the sake of righteousness, I was broken and driven to my knees to seek forgiveness.

c.     I was guilty of forsaking the heart of humility required to "love people in to truth",
                                      i.     rather adopted the heart of pride when I "truth people in to love".

Friends:   Write the name of 3 friends
4.    Definition of a friend from an online poll:
a.    “a true friend is there for you no matter what. They don't lie to you no matter what. They also keep their promises. They also don't stab you in the back”
b.    From the internet, basically a true friend is:
                                      i.     loving, patient, merciful, humble, kind, gracious, selfless, thinks youre totally awesome is rich because he or she doesn’t need a job because they have tons of free time and nothing to do in life except “be there for you at all times”.
c.     From this definition, I doubt many people have many true friends. 

10. In the Bible, when friendship is mentioned:  in three contexts.
a.    Spiritually under
b.    Spiritually with
                                      i.     Ministry
                                    ii.     Family at home
c.     Who God has commanded to reach with the Gospel.
11. Friendship is always represented in the context of
a.    Teacher (Someone you’re under)
b.    Talmadin (Someone you’re alongside)
c.     Mission (Someone you’re called to reach/serve)

CLOSE:

1.    As you pursue righteousness,
a.    (joining God in the mystery of Christ’s call to lay your life down for your friend),
2.    People will respond with some cruel rejection, hurtful comments, exclusion from their lives … persecution. 
3.    When you look at that cost and count the cost of living righteously,
a.    (and because you “GET IT” and claim that YOURS is the Kingdom of God
4.    You are BLESSED!

5.    Many of you are facing that in your life right now.  It is very practical and painful for you. 
a.    You want to grow and put away things that are “unrighteous” and you want to adopt righteousness and you KNOW that it will result if broken friendships and rejection from family. 
                                               i.     They will use words to criticize what you’re doing. 
                                             ii.     They’ll call you a Jesus freak,
                                            iii.     they’ll call your “biblical’ friends a Cult.
1.    Who your under/with and serving

6.    But if you count that cost and because yours is the Kingdom of God, you are Blessed!!
a.    And by Jesus inviting us to lay down our lives for our friends,
                                               i.     He is inviting you to Blessedness! 

7.    Make that call today! Take that stand. 
a.    Stop settling for superficial relationships.

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