Blessed in Suffering: Comfort for the Persecuted

Look at your bank. Look at your time. Look at your screen time. Look at how you do life. To whom are you listening? And I think it's meant to make us feel uncomfortable. I think very particularly, Jesus' words are meant to comfort those who are struggling and challenge or convict or make uncomfortable those who are feeling pretty comfortable at this moment. The third way I wanna get into this is, and I think probably the most applicable, is that I think they're meant to really focus, invite us to go internally and sort of think about our own hearts. Right? Jesus wants to comfort us. He wants to be our hope. [00:56:16] (53 seconds)  #HeartCheck

Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Again, we need be careful here. Right? Who here practices like intermittent fasting? Is there anyone here? Yeah. You had your meal yet today? Are you hungry? Blessed are you because you've intermittent fasted in the morning and come into this space with a growling tummy. No. Of course not. That is not what he is saying. Right? The goal is not hunger. Jesus is offering comforting words to the hungry. He wants them to know even if they are hungry today, God will satisfy them. Maybe they've lost a job. Maybe they've lost a home. [00:32:33] (57 seconds)  #GodWillSatisfy

On the flip side, I think we need to be careful here about glorifying poverty though, because I don't think Jesus is saying, you know, to be poor, hungry, and weeping is the goal of Christian existence either. Right? Like, man, you really nailed it. You're really weeping today. Or like, you lost everything? Wow. You're on the right track. Right? Renunciation of money is not the goal of sanctification or becoming like Jesus. Jesus is not saying to every follower, though he does say to some, give up every last cent of your money. I think he is saying, hey, if you have lost every cent because of me, know that you are loved and seen [00:30:16] (52 seconds)  #LoveNotPoverty

The disciples, many of whom, right, to whom Jesus is speaking right in this moment, have literally left their livelihoods to follow him. And as a result, right, they are literally poor. And at the end of the beatitudes in verse 22, Jesus will connect all of these beatitudes within a sort of assumption of a persecuted world or a world that is persecuting. Right? That his disciples will be a persecuted minority that will have property taken, jobs lost, social influence withdrawn. They will literally be poor. And he wants them to know no matter what you have lost in service of me and my kingdom, you are blessed and beloved and chosen and favored, and you have chosen the best life. [00:29:23] (52 seconds)  #BlessedInPersecution

Jesus ends with this word, like, great is your reward. There's this funny moment where I think, at least in my brain, I ping back into, like, I did it. You know? I earned it. Right? Reward functions, though, three different ways in the New Testament. One, it can function, like as a wage one has earned, which I think is, like, the primary way we think of reward. Right? Like, you won an award. You got a reward. Why? Because you rocked it. Right? Another way is to think of it in terms of judgment, actually. the result of a bad choice is also someone's like just desserts their reward. What they deserve is another way this word in Greek functions. [00:44:13] (44 seconds)  #HeavenlyInheritance

The problem is in twenty first century modern English, happy is often connected for us to an emotional state. So it gets tricky, like, blessed are you who are weeping. How does that work if happiness is an emotion? And, like, it sort of doesn't land, I think, for modern twenty first century Americans at least. There are other ways to think about this is, like one way is, like, favored. In the same sense, right, like, Jesus wants people to know who are struggling, that they are loved and chosen and beloved of the father. Yeah. You may weep now, but know you are blessed because you are beloved of God, and you will enjoy his presence and his kingdom forever. [00:26:35] (51 seconds)  #RejoiceInPersecution

What he is saying is, if you are hated because of me, because you actually live your life in a public way, in the public sphere, and you're hated because of me, I see you, and I love you, and I am with you. In fact, go farther than that. Don't just not despair, rejoice. Rejoice in all that you are suffering because I am with you and yours is the kingdom of God and the party is coming and it's gonna be awesome. I have a seat at the table ready for you and I'm gonna welcome you personally. [00:43:20] (52 seconds)  #FaithInPublic

Jesus doesn't talk about just money. Right? He talks about lots of things. I think one of the things that strikes me is he says, you know, something like, blessed are those who told the truth even when it cost them something. Woe to those of you who didn't. That's like the whole frame of persecution. The only reason they're persecuted is because their private belief entered the public sphere and the public didn't like it. I think this really hits home for us too. I I actually think the biggest thing I have reason I have found that people do not talk about Jesus outside of church walls is because they're afraid of how people respond. [01:02:17] (42 seconds)  #WhoAreYouListeningTo