There is something wonderfully refreshing about meeting a person who is candid about what they think. They say things how they are. There is no beating around the bush. If they don’t like what you’ve just served them for lunch, they tell you. If they didn’t like your sermon, they won’t say ‘the message was interesting today.¹ The Bible is like that when it talks about persecution. It doesn’t sugar coat the reality that the Christian life is not a picnic. It simply tells it like it is. It is refreshingly candid about the pres­ence and benefit of persecution.

Firstly, the Scriptures tell us not be surprised when persecution comes. I always find myself recoiling in horror when I hear about another violent attack on Christians overseas. I am saddened, and angered, and often surprised. Whilst we in the west don’t face such severe persecutions, we do face our own more subtle version. The outrage whenever we mention anything about biblical sexu­ality. The feeling of isolation when we are excluded from the next social gath­ering. The chuckles of neighbours that you choose to be ‘just’ a stay at home mum when you could be out doing something ‘useful’ with your life. And we are often surprised that these kinds of things could happen to us. We are being the kind of loving and faithful dis­ciple Christ calls us to be, and it looks like everything is going wrong. We are surprised by persecution.

You will be Persecuted⤒🔗

But the Bible tells us we shouldn’t be. Persecution in the Christian life is not a sign of getting things wrong, or some kind of anomaly in what is supposed to be a trouble free existence. Persecution is part and parcel of the Christian life. Jesus tells us “‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” (John 15:20). Paul tells us that “everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2 Tim 3:12). Peter says “do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Pet 4:12). The consistent message of the Bible is that if you are a Christian, you are going to have ‘bad days’. Sometimes they will be ‘very bad days’.

We have a saying: ‘forewarned, is forearmed.’ If I know that there is going to be some difficult questions at the congregational meeting, I can prepare myself. I can think through my responses. I can anticipate objections. That way I’m not flustered and floundering when the questions come. And it’s the same with persecution. Jesus is forewarning us so that we can be forearmed. Persecution will come if you are living out your faith before the watching world. Persecution is not a surprise, but the norm in the Christian life. In fact, you should be sur­prised if you are not being persecuted.

Our Best Days – A Paradox←⤒🔗

Secondly, the Scriptures teach us that our ‘bad days’, our days of persecution, can be our best days. When we think of what constitutes the life of divine blessing, the ‘good life’, generally we think in terms of having no worries. We think that sitting on the beach in Rarotonga sipping a cold one and having an ever expanding list of people who love and admire us is the good life. But Jesus turns our views of what the good life is upside down. Because the good life, the life over which he pronounces the divine blessing, is not the life of comfort and ease, but the life of persecution. Jesus says ‘blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness.’² (Matt 5:10) Jesus is saying, what you perceive is your worst day living under my rule and in my fellowship, is actually your best day.

There is a very important qualifier that Jesus gives in this passage. Notice that the blessed person is the one who is persecuted because of righteousness. They are persecuted because they are Christlike, they are the aroma of Christ in this Christ rejecting world. Jesus is not saying that I am blessed when I am rude and offensive to a non-believer and they respond by being rude and offensive in return. Jesus is not saying you are blessed when you are persecuted for doing something wrong. As Peter says, ‘If you suffer it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler...’ (1 Pet 4:15). The employee who spends half the day at work checking out Christian blogs and is then disciplined by his em­ployer can’t claim they are being perse­cuted because of righteousness. A church member who is argumentative and sows disunity by nit-picking at everything the session does is not being persecuted because of righteousness when the elders come and talk with them about their at­titudes and behaviour. Jesus pronounces his blessing only upon the person who is persecuted because of righteousness.

Mocking, Despising Christ←⤒🔗

So why is being persecuted the life of divine blessing? Because when we are persecuted it shows that we are in relationship with Jesus Christ. It is the evi­dence that he is ours, and we are his. Persecution is personal. When we are persecuted because of righteousness, we are not being persecuted because of who we are, but because we represent Christ in this world. We are his ambassadors and our presence in this world confronts people with the fact that they have to bow before the majesty and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. If they won’t do that, they have to find a way to ignore, reject, mock or despise Christ. And that is what persecution is. It is a rejection of Christ himself, not of us. And that is why it is a reason to rejoice. It means that we are being identified with our precious Lord. It means he is at work in us, and that brings us joy. That is why after the apostles were jailed and flogged, they responded in the most star­tling way. ‘The apostles left the Sanhe­drin rejoicing, because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.’ (Acts 5:41).

Nurtures Faith←⤒🔗

Being persecuted is a life of divine blessing because as with other trials, persecution nurtures our faith. Suffer­ing produces perseverance, and perse­verance character, and character hope (Rom 5:4-5). This is certainly evidenced in the lives of those who’ve been im­prisoned for their faith. Richard Wurmbrand³ the Romanian pastor writes about being kept in solitary confinement for two years. He had nothing to read, and only his thoughts for company. He was not a meditative man and was con­cerned with what this would do to his faith. Following his release he wrote:

The prison years did not seem too long for me, for I discovered, alone in my cell, that beyond belief and love there is a delight in God: a deep and extraordinary ecstasy of happiness that is like nothing in this world. And when I came out of Jail I was like someone who comes down from a mountaintop where he has seen for miles around the peace and beauty of the countryside, and now returns to the plain.

Persecution can lead us into joys of our relationship with Christ that we don’t experience in times of peace.

Reward Greater than Suffering←⤒🔗

Being persecuted is the life of divine blessing because there is a reward for those who are persecuted. Christians are not going to get rewards for being Christ-like from the world in which we live. You’re not going to be thanked, or get little certificates, or a lovely cer­emony from the council for your Chris­tian life and witness. The rewards don’t come today for the Christian, but in the future. We’re not keen on the concept of delayed rewards, because we live in the world of instant gratification. If we can’t learn the piano in one lesson, we want to give it away. And if the Chris­tian life doesn’t give us comfort today, we’re tempted to throw it in. But Jesus teaches us delayed gratification. Heaven is where we get our final reward. It is not our ‘best life now’, the best life is still to come. When we arrive at our heavenly home, the reward will certainly far outweigh any suffering we have every experienced in this life.

More Courage←⤒🔗

Finally, the Bible teaches us that per­secution can serve the advance of the gospel. When we think about persecu­tion we can easily become quite glum. ‘No-body loves us, everybody hates us, I think we’ll eat some worms’ can be our pessimistic chorus of response. But in God’s plan to draw men and women to himself, he often uses persecution. Think of Paul floundering in prison where he writes to the church at Philippi. The great church planter, evangelist, apolo­gist, whom the Lord had used to bring so many to faith is now in jail due to persecution. And we think ‘what a waste! What a victory for the kingdom of darkness.’ But then Paul gives us his interpretation of his persecution – it has ‘really served to advance the gospel’ (Phil 1:12). Those in the palace guard begin to hear the good news about Jesus Christ. Those free Christians who hear what has happened to Paul are encouraged to preach the gospel more courageously. Persecution can serve God’s purpose to advance the gospel.

Advancing the Gospel←⤒🔗

As you read the book of Acts, you notice that persecution is the very means God uses to advance the gospel. After the death of Stephen a great persecution breaks out against the church in Jerusalem (8:1). What happens next? Everyone apart from the Apostles scatter through­out Judea and Samaria. And what do they do? They preach the word wher­ever they go. In chapter 8 of Acts we discover that as a result many come to faith. Would they have come to know Christ without the fierce persecution ex­perienced in Jerusalem?

Cal Thomas writes about speaking to a Chinese pastor in 1997 who was over­seeing one of the largest house churches in China at that time. Pastor Lamb had spent half his life in prison for preach­ing the gospel. Cal had the following conversation with him.

Cal: Do the Public Security Bureau still come around to observe your ac­tivities.
Pastor Lamb: Not so much now,
Cal: Why not?
Pastor Lamb: Because every time they threw me in prison, the church grew.⁴

Perhaps there is a prayer request that we need to add to our regular petitions before the throne of grace. ‘Father, may we experience what it means to be per­secuted because we love Jesus Christ.’ Who would be bold enough to pray such a prayer? Who knows what good could come if the Lord were to answer it. What spiritual blessing could come into our lives, into our churches, and for the eternal good of those who are not yet in the fold of Christ. Blessed indeed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness.