Chapter Nine: Persecuted for Righteousness’ Sake
PERSECUTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS’ SAKE
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
MATTHEW 5:10-12
Persecution of God’s people is as old as the history of humanity. Reading through the Old Testament would confirm this, but the persecution of those times is best summarized by the writer of Hebrews:
Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated.
HEBREWS 11:35-37
Persecution continued into the New Testament era, with Stephen as the first Christian martyr (see Acts 7). The apostle Paul, before his conversion when he was called Saul of Tarsus, “persecuted the church” (1 Corinthians 15:9). In every century since then, people have been persecuted for Christ’s sake, sometimes even by unbelieving religious authorities. Yet it is a commonly recognized fact that there were more Christian martyrs in the twentieth century than any preceding one, and this is continuing in the twenty-first century. Persecution of believers is very real in some parts of the world today.
It is difficult for those of us living in the Western world to identify with this fact of relentless persecution of Christians. In fact I find it challenging to even address this eighth Beatitude because I have not personally experienced persecution of any form for my faith, nor do I know anyone who has.
But the reality is that many people are facing nonphysical persecution because of their stand for righteousness. This nonphysical persecution may come in different forms. It may be political, economic, or social persecution. It may be job discrimination or even dismissal. It may be denial of tenure to a university professor who does not hold to “politically correct” views on various social issues. Now there is a growing movement among public universities to require religious student groups to admit anyone to membership or even leadership, regardless of their faith or lack of it. This requirement seems to be particularly targeted toward Christian organizations.
I predict the various types of nonphysical persecution will become more widespread and intense. There is an old adage that says if you put a frog into a kettle of boiling water, it will leap out immediately to escape the danger. However, if you put that same frog into water with a pleasant temperature, and then gradually increase the heat until it starts boiling, the frog will not become aware of the threat until it’s too late. I think the “kettle” of our culture has been heating up for some time and will soon reach the boiling stage. So we need to be prepared to respond in ways that honor God.
There is no doubt that the culture is becoming more and more antagonistic toward biblical values. For some years I have thought of our American culture to be ungodly; that is, to believe and act as if God is irrelevant. Now I believe we have become not just ungodly but actually anti-God. An increasing number of those who most influence our culture —such as academia, the media, and the entertainment industry —are openly hostile to the whole idea of God or of biblical values. So how are we to respond?
It is true that in America we have a court system and the First Amendment protection of the free exercise of religion that we can resort to, and we should use that when necessary to defend our religious freedom. After all, the apostle Paul twice claimed his Roman citizenship as protection against unlawful persecution (see Acts 16:35-39; 22:22-29). And when he realized that the Roman legal system in Caesarea was biased against him, he appealed directly to Caesar (Acts 25:11) —even though Caesar eventually failed him (2 Timothy 4:6).
I suspect that our own court system will eventually fail us, as more and more judges are appointed who have been trained in law schools that at best are indifferent to biblical righteousness and at worst are openly hostile to it. Even our Supreme Court seems to be rendering decisions based on the mores of popular culture rather than on a principled application of the Constitution.
It is quite apparent that the Bible no longer has moral authority in society as a whole. So we should expect increasing marginalization of Christians, and in some instances curtailment of our religious freedom. How should we respond? Certainly not in a combative cultural-warfare attitude. Rather, it should be based on the principle Jesus taught in Matthew 5:44: “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
As I observe the response of so many Christians to the eroding of what have been called “traditional values,” I am concerned that we are acting no differently than many nonbelievers who may care nothing about the Bible but who want to defend those values. Instead of loving those whose actions and lifestyles we oppose, we seem to engage in some form of action that is inconsistent with Jesus’ admonition to love our enemies.
In the mid-1970s, abortion was hotly protested by Christians, and rightfully so. I attended a meeting on the subject of the proper Christian response, and I remember a Christian leader saying that we evangelicals should become cobelligerents with Catholics, who also staunchly opposed abortion. Technically the word cobelligerent means a country fighting with another power against a common enemy. The speaker was adapting it to the abortion topic. I suspect we all agreed with him at the time, but as I reflect back on that meeting, I am appalled that he used (and we accepted) the term cobelligerent. Allies, yes, but cobelligerents? The term denotes hostility. It certainly does not suggest the humility that Christ taught when He called on us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.
There is a sense in which this eighth Beatitude is the climax of several preceding ones dealing with our response to the way others treat us. In the third Beatitude, Jesus teaches us to practice meekness toward those who mistreat us in any way. In the fifth Beatitude we are taught to forgive others, however much they may sin against us. And the seventh Beatitude teaches us to strive for peace with all people, regardless of who is at fault. The “others” in these Beatitudes may or may not be fellow believers —though, sad to say, they often are. But in this eighth Beatitude Jesus has in mind persecution rooted in the hostility of the anti-God culture we live in.
Surprisingly, in this Beatitude Jesus does not address our response to those who persecute us. But as I have already mentioned, He does so elsewhere in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5:44, He says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” In Luke’s account of this sermon, Jesus says, “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” (Luke 6:27-28). Keep in mind these words from Jesus are precepts —authoritative commands of God. Furthermore, they address more than our attitude toward those who persecute us. They are action steps: We are to love our enemies, do good to them, bless them, and pray for them. Specifically what these action steps will be will vary according to different situations, but they should be governed by these words from Jesus, and by the realization that these people have eternal souls and will spend eternity either in heaven or hell.
Another important question is, How will we respond if our religious freedom is curtailed and our court protection fails us? Will we consider ourselves to be blessed because of being reviled or persecuted for righteousness’ sake? When push comes to shove, will we really believe that God is sovereign over all the affairs of humanity? Will we believe the words that King Nebuchadnezzar learned by experience?
All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth;
and none can stay his hand
or say to him, “What have you done?”
DANIEL 4:35
Will we believe that, despite many appearances to the contrary, Jesus is building His church and “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18)?
I put all these statements in the form of questions because I do not know if I myself would answer them correctly, and act accordingly, if and when the difficult day comes. But I believe that the day is coming and that we should begin now to prepare for how to respond in a God-honoring way.
As we consider our Christian response to persecution, we should also think carefully about our response to governmental authorities. Our best scriptural guidance on this subject is probably 1 Peter 2:13-17:
Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
Peter wrote those words during the reign of Nero, one of the most terrible persecutors of Christians, and he says, “Honor the emperor.” Remember, Peter wrote under the divine guidance of the Holy Spirit, so this is another precept from God. We are to honor those in authority over us (see also Romans 13:1-7).
It is difficult in our democratic society —where we elect our governing authorities all the way from president to county commissioners —to know how to apply Peter’s directives, which were given in the context of the absolute rule of the emperor and his appointed local rulers.
I believe the key word is honor, or we might say respect. Even when we totally disagree with an elected official, we should respect the office.
But in our democratic and increasingly egalitarian society we have largely lost the concept of respect. Twelve presidents have served our country during my adult life. I have often disagreed with some of their policies and actions. But I believe the Bible teaches me to honor and respect them because God, acting through our electoral process, has sovereignly installed them in that office. As Daniel said, “The Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will” (Daniel 4:25). So a biblical response toward those who might persecute us, and a biblical attitude toward governing authorities over us, are both expressions of humility in action.
Meanwhile, as we struggle to act biblically in our increasingly anti-God society, let us consider our brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering real persecution (and sometimes even death) in many countries of the world today. Even though Jesus said they are blessed (Matthew 5:10-12), persecution makes their lives difficult and painful. We should be praying regularly for God’s sustaining grace for them, as well as for safety and deliverance from their persecutors. We may think prayer for our persecuted brothers and sisters is a meager or even useless effort, but remember the words of James: “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16). God is still on His throne, and as Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hands of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.”
We will gain a true perspective of our own suffering when we realize how much more our persecuted brothers and sisters are going through.
As I have been working on this chapter, one verse of an old hymn by the great English hymn writer Isaac Watts (1674–1748) kept coming to my mind. I include this stanza of “Am I a Soldier of the Cross” here, praying that it will challenge you as much as it has challenged me.
Must I be carried to the skies
On flowery beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize,
And sailed through bloody seas?
In God’s providence, those of us in the West are, for the most part, experiencing the “flowery beds of ease.” May we consistently and prayerfully remember those in other parts of the world who are “sail[ing] through bloody seas.” This will be another demonstration of humility in action.