Many believers have died for their faith. Many more have been imprisoned, tortured, and persecuted. Jesus was very plain that Christians could expect persecution. In John 16:33 Jesus said: “In this world you will have trouble.” And in John 16:2, Jesus said: “The hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.”The accounts of Stephen who was stoned to death for preaching the Gospel and the apostle James who was killed by the sword are told in Acts. We’re told in Acts 8:3 that after Stephen was stoned to death, “Saul (Paul) began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.” And later in Acts 26:10, Paul said that, “On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.And, of course, once Paul became a Christian and preached about Christ he said that, “Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned” (II Corinthians 11:24-25). And ultimately, it’s said that Paul was beheaded for his faith.Tertullian, an early writer, said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” Now, I might have missed the memo on this, but when I was baptized into Christ, I don’t remember ever being told that if I took my faith seriously, there might be a chance I could end up being persecuted, or being arrested for my faith and thrown into jail, or even come face to face with somebody who wanted to kill me.This is not a real popular message and many preachers avoid this topic! But this is what Jesus promised. In fact, He never promised that you’d be healthy, wealthy, or successful. But Jesus DID promise that you will be hated, have trouble, and you will suffer.Now – that said – there’s an odd comment that Jesus makes in our text today: “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 5:11-12).Jesus says that when these bad things happen to us, we should ...
