Matthew 5:10-12 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
This morning we come to the final rung of the ladder of the beatitudes. We have climbed from brokenness or being poor in spirit into the kingdom of heaven, to mourning and the gift of comfort, to meekness and the inheritance of influence, to hunger and thirst for righteousness and the miracle of being filled, to receiving mercy so that we can freely give it, to having pure and undivided hearts so that we can see the goodness and glory of God, to becoming peacemakers, ministers of reconciliation and ambassadors to Christ so that we can be identified as His children, and today, to the final rung, the view from the top if you will, to being persecuted and receiving the kingdom of heaven. This beatitude is somewhat difficult for us, especially seeing it as the height or the top of the characteristics of the kingdom of God. The other beatitudes are challenges but they seem to be challenges within us, challenges of character and challenges of transformation. Being persecuted, that’s an entirely different challenge; it’s a challenge of endurance, a challenge of faith and honestly, a challenge of trust and relationship. This final beatitude is so difficult to accept and obey that it is the only one that Jesus felt the need to expound upon as it was given. The rest of the Sermon on the Mount will show how these beatitudes are worked out in and through our lives, but this one had to be repeated from the beginning because many would overlook or ignore it if not. In fact, R.T. Kendall writes “Oftentimes in Hebrew literature, if something was very important it was stated twice.” Persecution isn’t an option, it’s not a higher calling that some receive and others avoid, it is, just like brokenness, meekness, hunger, mercy and all the others, a characteristic of those who dwell in the Kingdom of God, a kingdom principle that leads to a kingdom reward. This morning we are going to take a close look at this final beatitude and concentrate on three parts that Jesus shows us: 1. A true and accurate definition of righteousness 2. The cause and necessity of persecution and 3. The joy of receiving our reward.