Anchor My Faith

The Blessings of Persecution

Scripture: Matthew 5:10

We have already written two lessons related to the beatitude: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10), but we need one more to discuss the blessings of persecution. A good place to start is with Philippians 3:8-11 (NKJV): “⁸ Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; ¹⁰ that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, ¹¹ if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

Under persecution there is much you lose in terms of the world. You lose your freedom to assemble with others, possibly your home and even your job. That which provided your position in society is taken from you and you find yourself struggling with the outcast. But as the things of the world are taken away, you find greater need for the Lord and you seek to gain the excellence of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Persecution tends to strip away that which hinders your growth in gaining Christ. Your focus is to know him more and more. As he suffered and died for you, you now understand the honor of suffering for him as you enter into the fellowship of his suffering with him and others going through persecution with you. Jesus surrendered himself to suffering and death on the cross for our salvation, while in our persecution we suffer and maybe die to build up the kingdom of Christ. In this we find great joy and blessing.

In China a typical sentence is three years and is known to many as a time of training. While in prison you have opportunity to learn from other Christians, to have fellowship with them and share your faith with others. You are already in prison and the work of ministry may result in more suffering, but the benefits in what is learned in great. Some really develop as leaders under such conditions and when it is time to be released they are actually sad to leave others behind. Those who use prison time wisely, end up being released as matured leaders to accomplish even more ministry than before prison. This knowledge and experience is indeed a blessing.

One more important illustration comes from Matthew 5:44 (NKJV): “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” Here in the western culture, we demand justice when wronged and thus find it very difficult to love our enemies, to bless those who curse us, to do good to those who hate us, and to pray for those who spitefully use us and persecute us. Those who live under persecution, learn that when the need of justice is turned over to God, then there is freedom and the ability to do those things listed above. There have been many hardened persecutors who have been broken by the loving forgiveness of those they are torturing. As Jesus hung dying on the cross, he loved and forgave those who put him there. It is indeed a blessing to be given the ability to love and to forgive as Jesus did as we experience persecution.

Prayer

Father, in our culture of rules and the need of justice it is very difficult to see the benefit of sacrifice and service needed under persecution. Our need of comfort, safety and security draws us away from the suffering that provides us with understanding and service. Father, we need to understand that Christianity is a ministry of rescue. We need wisdom and encouragement to enter the domain of darkness and search out lost sheep to bring them into the sheep pen of our Lord. But maybe that comes with too much risk so we gather for social events instead.