Answering The Call Of The Beatitudes

Good morning, church. Could you please to your Bibles to Luke chapter six?

We'll be examining verses 12 to 23. And you have that.

Please do stand for the reading of God's word. Hear ye the word of the

Lord this morning. In these days, he went out to the mountain to pray all night. He continued in prayer to God.

And when they came, he called his disciples and chose from the 12, chose from them 12, whom he named apostles,

Simon, whom he named Peter, Andrew, his brother and James and John and Philip Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas and James, the son of Alphaeus and Simon, who was called the zealot and Judas, the son of James and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

And he came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all

Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases.

And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured and all the crowd sought to touch him for he for power came out of him and healed them all.

He lifted up his eyes on his disciples and said, Blessed are you who are poor for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who are hungry now for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now for you shall laugh.

Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil on account of the son of man.

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy. For behold, your reward is great in heaven.

For so their fathers did to the prophets. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated is bow your heads in prayer.

Father, we come before you thankful for your word as we just son. We really now receive the instruction that comes from thy word.

Help us, O Father, to not just be hearers of the word, but doers to internalize these truths that would motivate us to action as we answer the call of Scripture and answer the call of the beatitudes here in Scripture.

Father, may you bless us and teach us and lead us in level ground to the glory of your son,

Jesus. Amen. The church is a call to be answered.

Jesus Christ, the Lord of the church, the Lord of his people, the Lord of all creation, beckons us and calls us to a life of servitude, a life of serving others, a life of serving him as the grand object of our affection.

Notice what the word of God teaches us here in these texts of Scripture. Starting in verse 12.

In these days, he went out to the mountain to pray and all all night and he continued in prayer to God.

This is teaching us here right off the bat that the son of man, Christ Jesus, the son of God.

He prioritizes something of great importance. Now, it doesn't take a scholar to figure out the answer here of what he is prioritizing.

Christ Jesus, our Lord, is prioritizing prayer. He's prioritizing prayer and he's prioritizing prayer before he's about to accomplish something of great significance.

He's about to call the 12 apostles. He's about to appoint them, anoint them, send them out.

And before he chooses these 12, he devotes himself to prayer.

Now, you may be asking or you may be thinking to yourself, well, that's not unlike Jesus.

Jesus often, as in Scripture, secludes himself and goes to a place so that he can pray.

But I don't want this to be lost on us. I think there is something of great significance here. There's a treasure here that we so often overlook.

Pastor Conley was reading the text in Exodus this morning and talks about the holy and the mundane. We often treat things that we do often as mundane.

And I'm afraid that we have begun to treat prayer as such a thing that we go to prayer so often in our service, maybe in our life, when we wake in and when we eat and when we sleep, we pray.

And so it becomes kind of a rhythm. It becomes something that we kind of just do. And because of that, we may confuse prayer with something that is mundane, not sacred, that is just out there.

But I would submit to you today that prayer is sacred. Prayer is powerful.

Prayer is effective. So much so that even Christ Jesus himself goes to a deep place of prayer.

He doesn't just go to his bedroom. He doesn't just go to under a tent. It says in these days he went out to the mountain to pray.

Why the mountain? Well, in ancient civilizations and in the ancient context of the

Bible, the mountains were always a place in which people were to meet God. Even in ancient pagan religions, you have holy sites,

Mount Olympus. You have all these these mountaintops that were associated with God, the heavens, because this is a place in which you can, while still being on Earth, can even begin to touch the sky, begin to touch the heavens.

And so there's an association in ancient civilizations with high mountain peaks and heaven and the divine.

And Jesus treats mountaintops very similarly as he goes to Mount Olympus, not because he's trying to get near to God, but because of the seclusion that that that that that mountaintop brings.

When you're on top of the mountain. There's no McDonald's there. There's no

Shell gas station. There's no one around you. It's just you and God. And that's why

Jesus decides to seclude himself. He goes to the mountain to pray, because that's the place in which he can find himself alone to be with his father.

He equates that mountaintop as a time of intimacy with God. How often are we seeking that mountain?

How often is it that we are finding a place so that we can secludes that we can be alone with our heavenly father?

That intimacy that Jesus is building, that he's that he's demonstrating in this text should not be lost in us.

We should all be seekers of intimacy with our heavenly father. He doesn't just go there for a moment.

He doesn't pray for for an hour, for a few moments. It says in these days, he went out to the mountain to pray in these days, meaning that is probably in the days of which he's going about to call the apostles, but also denoting that this might be over several days.

And all night he continued in prayer to God. He continued, continued, continued.

Beloved, do we continue, do we persevere, do we push onward in prayer?

You're following in the notes. I want you to take note of this. Before the call, the twelve, Jesus obviously prayed all night.

And why does he decide to pray? Again, Jesus in his earthly incarnation, he's fully man, fully dependent upon the goodness of his father, his sustenance.

His need comes from God. All his needs will be met by God, even that which he is praying for.

And so he is praying all night for even for without prayer. There is no direction.

There's no direction. There's no clarity. Jesus is demonstrating for us the model that we have to follow.

Having full dependence upon God. Christ, no doubt, is praying for direction.

He's praying for clarity. He's praying for the strengthening of the apostles, for the ministry, for the work that's that lies ahead.

He is praying for these things. And we so often in life need to find ourselves praying in times in which we're seeking direction.

And it's in prayer that we find direction. It's in prayer that we orient ourselves around God's call.

And this is why prayer is of such great importance, not so much so because we move heaven on that mountaintop, but rather heaven moves us when we encounter the divine on that mountaintop.

And that's the purpose of prayer, not so that we can change the mind of God, but rather that the mind of God may change our mind and our hearts.

And therefore, we become aligned with heaven. That's the beauty, the power, the majesty of prayer is that in that prayer, in that devoted life, we find true direction for our lives.

Jesus is no doubt seeking direction for his apostles, seeking direction for his disciples so they may be strengthened.

And we see this other times in Scripture. John 17, right before and in Matthew 26 as well.

We see how Jesus prays fervently for his disciples. He loved his disciples.

He pray, he demonstrates his love for them and how he prayed for them and how he prayed for him.

He demonstrates his love for his people. Church. How often do we pray for one another?

How often are we praying for our pastors? How often are we praying for the needs of God's people to be met in our midst?

This is one of the reasons, again, why we encourage you, not because we're legalistic or because we want to fill the pews in the afternoon, but we encourage you fervently to be with us in the afternoons when we pray and so that we can begin to build these spiritual muscles around prayer so that we can be more effective in our

Christian walk. What's interesting here of note as well in verse 13.

And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them 12 whom he named apostles.

Jesus prays all night, he goes to the mountaintop, and then he finds his people, his anointed ones, his disciples, from whom he's about to choose 12, whom he then calls apostles.

The term disciple means learner. We've learned that before. It means a pupil, someone who sits at the feet of the rabbi, someone who sits at the feet of the teacher.

Apostle, however, is someone who is sent out, is a sent one. So not only is

Jesus looking at his disciples, those who are learners, but he's looking for among the disciples, those who he's going to particularly send out for a particular purpose at a particular time.

He's looking for his foot soldiers. He's looking for those who will then answer the call.

And it says in verse 14, among them were Simon, whom he named Peter and Andrew, his brother and James and John and Philip Bartholomew and Matthew and Thomas and James, a son of Alpheus and Simon, who was called the zealot and Judas, a son of James and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

And these are people who are of great significance in redemptive history. I was once at a not a conference, but it was a gathering of pastors.

And and one of the pastors kind of hard nosed guy who was very much almost like a biblicist.

He's all about the Bible. And and he's asking the question to kind of put some of the other pastors shame.

He's like, well, how many of you guys can name the 12 apostles? And so I'm looking around trying to count.

And most other pastors are doing the same. They're trying to figure out and it dawned on me that, well, most of us probably don't know the name of the 12 apostles.

The average Christian, no less, probably doesn't know the name of the 12 apostles.

We don't even know the name of the 12 tribes of Israel. And that brings up an interesting point.

These are people of great significance in biblical history. We often, especially in our reform camp, we we we we esteem certain men of history.

John Owens, Jonathan Edwards, St. Augustine. There's so many men of history that we admire, that we put on a pedestal.

But we often forget even the very heroes that are set forth in Holy Scripture. We're so we have such a proclivity to forget what's before us in Scripture.

You see, Jesus doesn't make that mistake. Jesus knows who those who are his.

He knows us all by name. He knows you intimately well. And he knows you in such a way that the

Scripture assures us and promises that not one of his people will be lost. Not one will be forgotten.

Not one will be disgraced. All those who belong to Christ shall be his. These apostles, these men of God were chosen for such a sacred mission for such a time as that.

So that they could make known the purposes of God. Every single person that Jesus chose to be an apostle served a purpose.

I want you to write this in the notes. You're following along. Every person that Jesus chose served a purpose.

Even the last of the apostles, who many of us could probably name because he's among the more famous ones.

We usually get Peter. We usually get John. And we usually get Judas. Those are the ones that we normally can name out of the 12.

Why? Because these are among the more prominent ones in the gospel narratives. And we can usually pick out

Judas because of what he did. And he was known as the betrayer.

Every person that Jesus chose served a purpose. Even Judas who became the traitor.

Everyone serves a purpose. Everyone in God's church. Everyone in God's economy. Everyone who has made and fashioned the image of God serves a purpose.

And beloved, it is our conviction as those who hold to a reformed, not only reformed sociology, but a reformed perspective on creation.

We know this, that every single person serves a purpose. Whether it's for God's, for the demonstration of God's riches and mercy or for the demonstration of his wrath.

But everyone serves a purpose. I want you to turn to Romans chapter nine for a moment.

A verse that's familiar with most of us. But notice what it says in Romans chapter nine.

And then starting in verse 21. Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use, another for dishonorable use?

What if God desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory.

Everyone serves a purpose. And what is the grand purpose of the cosmos?

What is the chief end of all things? And for all beings, it is the glorification of God's holy name.

At the end of all things, good, bad, beautiful, wicked, at the end of everything, the pinnacle of creation, what will stand is the glory of God.

That's the chief end, not only of man, but of all things is God's eternal, unfaithing, immutable glory.

Amen. That's the purpose of all things. And God in choosing through Christ in Christ, the twelve apostles, he is choosing them for a purpose.

The purpose of his name being magnified among the nations as he chooses the twelve to then go through to the tribes of Israel and then eventually the nations of the world was so that his name may be magnified and glorified, not only among the

Jews, but also among the Gentiles and also proclaim to the powers and principalities on high.

And eventually, so the whole cosmos may hear and with all unison be declared the glory of God forever.

That's the purpose. That's the grand scheme of all things is God's own glory.

And therefore, we too play a role in that, whether we are those whom he has chosen for honorable use or for dishonorable use.

And can I tell you in the micro level, all of us in times and in our lives will face times of honorable use and dishonorable use.

All of us. Why? Because we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Your life isn't perfect.

Your walk isn't perfect. Your relationships are not perfect. Your finances are not perfect. You are not perfect.

But it's in that imperfection that Christ's superiority and perfection shines through.

And what God is looking for in his objects of mercy is not that we become perfect in every way, because that is not going to happen on this side of eternity, but rather that as we continue to walk in Christ through our brokenness and through the vessels, because what's interesting in the analogy here in Romans 9 is that Paul is using the analogy of clay.

He's using the analogy of pottery. God being the potter, we being the clay.

I'm not sure if I've shared with you this analogy before, but I'll do so in hopes that it would edify you.

Just as Paul is using the imagery of pottery and clay, so too I will.

I will share with you a parable, a story. There was a potter who had fashioned two pieces of...

out of two pieces of clay, made these vessels to hold water. One fell and one was in perfect condition.

Every morning, the potter would come to his garden and fill both of them with water.

The one that fell began to leak, so much so that by the end of carrying both pieces of pottery to its designated spot, it no longer contained any water.

One was used to pour water in the garden, and the other one, by the time it got there, had no water left to give, to offer.

Now, the pottery began to ask itself, why does my master use me?

I'm broken. I'm unfit. I cannot even contain the water.

And the potter says this to his creation, you, my son, are still of great use.

Because though you've fallen, though you're broken, you're still being used to water the flowers as I go through the field.

Everyone serves a purpose. Even if we're broken and destitute,

God is still working in us that which is pleasing in his sight. To the end of all things, especially for the believer, is the glory of God.

You will be used mightily as the apostles were, as the disciples were, if you yield to his glory, yield to his power, yield to his calling, just as those who were called to be the 12 apostles by the

Lord Jesus Christ. May you be of great use to the potter. May you use your life as broken or as neatly put together as it is for the glory of God.

Because even in our mess, even in the messiness and brokenness of life, God can still and will be glorified.

And he's often glorified most in the messiness of our lives. When we're broken, when we can't even hold ourselves together, when we can't even contain the water, because God always uses a broken life to magnify the greatness of his grace and to show his kindness and mercy, not while they continue to stay broken or sinful, but rather in the transformation of sinners to saints, amen?

And that's our story. That's the great story of redemption, that God in the pursuit of his own glory is with much patience dealing with sinners and turning them from sinners to saints for the glory of his own name.

Even Judas served a purpose as we were learning in Sunday school this morning as Pastor Collin was going through the teaching on apostates.

Even Judas serves a great purpose. He was the betrayer, the original

Christian apostate, so to speak. And it was because of his fulfillment of biblical prophecy, the betraying of Christ for 30 pieces of silver, that our

Savior was hung on a cross. He served the purpose onto his own destruction, onto his own damnation, but certainly even onto the glory of God.

This Jesus is of such great report in the times in which he was living in that it says in verse 17 of Luke chapter 6, back in our main text, and he came down with them and sat on a level place.

He came down with his disciples, with his apostles, and with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all

Judea and Jerusalem, the seekers of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases.

Here we're now entering the phase of what's often called the Sermon on the Mount. And Luke's gospel gives us some interesting information and data points that we don't find in the other synoptic gospels.

Matthew, we just see the temptation of Christ, and then you almost see immediately the call of the disciples, and then you have the

Sermon on the Mount. But this is giving us some more data, some more information. Jesus was already becoming renowned, and his disciples came and gathered and a great multitude from all of Judea, all of Jerusalem, the seacoast,

Tyre and Sidon, came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases.

And those who were troubled of unclean spirits were cured. They didn't just come to hear Jesus speak as what many people just assume when they see the

Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5, but rather they were looking for something. They were looking for healing.

They were looking for deliverance from oppression. They were looking for Jesus to do the miraculous. And he then goes on to preach the most famous sermon ever preached.

All the crowds were gathered around because they were seeking something from Jesus. And so much so that they would even just suffice just to touch him.

For scripture says, for power came out of him and healed them all. If you're following the notes, the crowd sought to touch

Jesus for he was so filled with God's power that he healed the masses.

In our pursuit as Christians for the glory of God, for the magnification of God's name, we look to Jesus as the answer.

Jesus is the visible bodily representation of God's glory.

Hebrews chapter 1 puts it this way, that God in various times and manners spoke by various means through the prophets, but has spoken to us in these last days through his son, who is himself the very radiance of his glory.

Christ in his incarnation is the embodiment of the glory of God.

And as Christ was ministering to the people, just a touch of his tunic, a touch of his flesh, would unleash the very power and radiance of God's glory.

Jesus is, again, the manifestation, the image of the invisible God. There's so much so the crowds, again, understood just by touching him, just by being in the vicinity of this man, they could be healed.

It's like if we come any closer to the sun, the sun, because it is a center of gravity in our solar system with so much power, so much mass, it attracts us, we move around it, all life is sustained by it.

So then, how great is the gravity of God's holiness, of God's glory in the person of Jesus.

Jesus is that centerfold of which all things come around. So much so that the

Bible says this of Christ, that he's the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, denoting his supremacy over all creation.

And it says that by him, all things were created, visible and invisible, whether they are thrones, dominions, lordships, principalities, all things are made through him and for him.

And he is before all things. And in him, all things hold, consist together.

That's the grandeur of this Jesus that we preach. It's the grandeur of the

Jesus that these people were seeking just to touch, just to be in the vicinity of, so that they could be healed.

This is a great Jesus. He's Lord. He is powerful.

And he's effective to turn sinners into saints and to bring healing, even in the midst of diseases.

Again, they all came gathered around to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled of unclean spirits were cured.

As people draw closer to Jesus, their spiritual infirmities begin to become healed.

As we draw closer to the center of gravity of God's holiness, of God's glory in Jesus, things begin to happen in our lives.

Draw close to him, draw ever so close to him, so that you can be completely enveloped in his love and his grace and his power and his grandeur.

Because all the crowds, again, sought to just touch him, for power came out of him and healed them all.

Again, just the crowds, if you haven't followed, if you're following the notes, the crowd sought to touch Jesus, for he was so filled with God's power that he healed the masses.

And this then leads us into the greatest sermon ever preached.

Jesus is so powerful, so incredible, that just proximity to him is able to heal sicknesses, heal diseases, and to cast out unclean spirits.

And what does he begin to do now? He begins to deliver the word of God. It says in verse 20, he lift up his eyes on his disciples and said, blessed are you who are rich.

Those of you who are powerful, those of you who are wealthy, those of you who have it all together.

No, no, no, no. Just after power was coming out of Jesus, and he was influencing those around him, what does he begin to preach?

What does he begin to say? Blessed are you who are poor. Not what

I was expecting. After power is coming out of Jesus, after Jesus, the

God -man is beginning to heal diseases, and people and crowds and multitudes are gathered around him.

The King of Jerusalem, the King of ages is before them. And what does he decide to say?

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Now you're used to this because you've read this before. You've grown up in church. You've heard this sermon preached a hundred times.

Blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of God. And so you're used to this, you're already conditioned. But let me tell you, this is revolutionary.

Jesus is saying, not blessed are you who are powerful, who can take over the world through your might, through your military strategies, through your technology.

He's saying, no, blessed are you who are poor, humble, lowly, who are lost, who are desperate.

Yours is the kingdom of God. This is absolutely counter to what the world has seen in history.

It is usually the powerful. It is usually the wealthy. It is usually those who have great, who've acquired great wealth, who are able to take over kingdoms and worlds.

But in this case, in God's kingdom, in God's economy, it's the poor. It's the poor.

So brother and sister, I don't know what your bank account looks like this morning, but if you're poor, you're in good company. You're in good company.

But it's not just one's personal bank account that Jesus is alluding to here. He is talking about something that is even deeper than material poorness.

He is saying, blessed are the poor. Write this down in notes. Blessed are the poor, meaning those who are aware of their spiritual poverty.

One paraphrased Bible, I'm not a fan of paraphrased Bibles. You guys know this already. I take gripes even with the

ESV sometimes with how they translate certain things. But one paraphrased Bible I think is helpful in this. It translates this phrase this way.

Blessed are those who know they are spiritually poor. I think that's a helpful way of understanding understanding this particular phrase and what

Jesus is trying to get across here. Blessed are those who know they are spiritually poor.

Meaning that they have no object, riches inherent in themselves.

But that their poverty is a humility knowing that all that they have, all that they can receive comes from another one.

Comes not from themselves, not from within. So much so that the world will tell you today that all the answers to your problems are within.

And I would say no, all the problems are within. For Jesus says, it is out of the heart that comes all types of sins and maliciousness.

So the answer is not internal but rather external. Someone else, someone else's riches has to be inserted into the picture.

Which is what we see in 2 Corinthians when Paul says that it was through Christ's riches that we can be satisfied in our poverty.

His riches, he became poor on our behalf so that through his poverty we might become the riches of God in Christ.

Blessed are those who know they are spiritually poor. Blessed are those who know their spiritual poverty, their spiritual condition.

For theirs is the kingdom of God. Verse 21 continues.

Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

Again, the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes. It's often, the Sermon on the Mount is often referred to as the

Beatitudes. Beatitudes meaning these are the attitudes that we ought to have, the instruction, the teaching.

These are the things that we should have in mind. And there's a call in the midst of these

Beatitudes, there's a call in the midst of the Sermon for us to engage in. And he says, blessed are you who are hungry now, now.

Again, continue the steam of poverty. Jesus is demonstrating again the importance of understanding one's condition.

If you are hungry, it is inevitable, you'll know it. You know what it feels like to be hungry.

Maybe some of you are hungry today, right now. You're wondering when is the preacher gonna be done? I'm ready for lunch.

Maybe you're hungry. And what does hunger do to us? It usually motivates us to look for food.

What is the type of hunger that Jesus is likely alluding to here? Is that just physical hunger?

I grant that that is an aspect of what he is talking about. He's clearly speaking to a class of people who are literally poor, who are often literally hungry.

For what does he do later on in the Sermon? He feeds them. He feeds the multitudes later on as well.

And so he understands that there is a physical component, but there's a spiritual component that should not be lost in us.

If we are hungry, we seek food. If we know we are spiritually poor, that we are spiritually hungry, we look for the food of the

Word of God. We look for nourishment in his Word. We look for the answers that we are looking for here in Scripture.

Blessed are those who are hungry, for you shall be satisfied. Also denoting the fact that those who are suffering now in this world, whether it be just material, spiritual, usually all those things combined, will have blessings to look forward to in the future.

So the Christian walk is not one of immediate gratification. The world is looking and sells immediate gratification.

Just look at a McDonald's drive -thru. If it lasts more than 90 seconds, we're already on Yelp writing a bad review.

We're looking for immediate gratification. If it takes too long, we lose our minds.

Yet what Christ is calling us to, the call of Christ in the

Beatitudes is one of perseverance and patience. He's calling us to be different than the world.

The world is impatient. The world cannot wait for things. We are called to persevere and wait for the blessings of God because God's blessings are not always immediate.

God's blessings are not always immediate. Sometimes Christians get confused because they say, well, if I'm doing this right, if I'm doing that right, why isn't he blessing me?

Why am I still struggling? Why haven't I figured this out yet? And beloved, because you're not called to have it all figured out.

You're called to be patient. You're called to wait on the Lord and he shall be your stronghold.

He will answer you at his time. So again, this theme here, this call in the

Beatitudes, blessed are the poor, blessed are the hungry, blessed are those who weep. And it's pointing to this fact, our hardships, our difficulties, our trials are never in vain.

They're never in vain. God is always using our trials, our difficulty, our hunger, our poverty, our weeping to develop in us what the book of Romans calls an eternal weight of glory.

It's developing something in us. It's calling us to something. There's a destiny that awaits us for those who persevere to the end, for those of us who answer the call of Christ in the

Beatitudes here in the Sermon on the Mount. It's delaying satisfaction here, delaying satisfaction now for glory in the future.

That's the call of the Beatitudes. Delaying and denying oneself for the eventual glory of God.

And it's something worth waiting for. It's something worth persevering through that we wait upon God and we wait and we answer the call now of suffering.

We answer the call now of perseverance so that later we can enjoy this eternal weight of glory that we have been called to because not only is

God glorious, but he calls us into that glory through his son, Jesus. Isn't that marvelous that God invites us into that glory?

It goes on to say in Luke chapter six, verse 22, blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you or avow you and spurn your name as evil on account of the son of man.

Again, you're conditioned to know this. You're conditioned. You've learned that this is what to expect from Jesus.

But imagine if you're hearing this for the first time. Again, not something you'd probably be expecting.

Instead, you'd probably want to hear something to the degree, a blessed are you when people love you because don't you feel blessed when people love you?

Don't you feel blessed when people come around alongside you and comfort you?

Don't you feel blessed when you have a community that stands with you? But Jesus is saying, blessed are you even when you don't have any of that.

Not only when people don't love you, but rather when they hate you.

Blessed are you when they hate you and not only that, but they exclude you. To be excluded is not fun.

Have you been excluded by something or by someone or something? It usually isn't a good feeling.

It's not something that feels rewarding. Yet, here in God's economy, here in the

Sermon on the Mount, here in the Beatitudes, Jesus is blessing you when people hate you. When you're being persecuted.

So I want you to write this in the notes. Blessed are the persecuted. The persecuted.

Why? Because we will be hated.

On account of Jesus' name. He says this again.

And they will revile you and spurn your name as evil on account of the

Son of Man. Let me get eschatological with you for just a moment. Rarely in history have

Christians been loved and approved. But even so much more now in our day,

I think relatively in the last 100 years, Christianity has enjoyed some level of respite in the

West. For at least the last 200 years. And the sands of time are quickly fading in regard to our favor.

Our favor is now quickly disappearing. And I say, it's about time.

Why? Because blessed are you, not when people love you, not when people celebrate you, not when the culture is following you, but rather when it's all against you.

Because then a stark contrast can be made between that which is evil and that which is good, between that which is darkness and that which is light.

And now more than ever, we as Christians should not look for the approval of the world, but understand that you cannot, the world will not love you if you truly follow

Christ. You cannot compete for the world's affection and for Christ's affection.

It's going to have to be one or the other. And blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and revile you because you bear the name

Christian. Because you bear that sacred name, they will hate you.

They will persecute you. They will revile you. They will lie about you. They will exclude you. And what's our call to that?

How should we respond? How should we act? Verse 22. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy.

For behold, your reward is great in heaven. For so their fathers did to the prophets.

What's our call? What's our disposition? Is it to mourn? Is it to cry?

Is it to retreat? No, it is to rejoice. To leap for joy in fact, so that we may know that our reward is great on that day when

He comes to be glorified amongst His people. Our call to persecution, our call to Christian bigotry is joy.

Because the one thing the world cannot and will not take from the Christian, they can take your house.

They can take your job. They can take away your money. They can take away even your life. But the one thing they cannot steal is your joy.

Amen. They can't take it. Because you know what? Kings and emperors have tried leading

Christians to their martyrdom. And how did Christians in times past respond? With joy.

So much so that there was an emperor named Caligula. Maybe you've heard of this story. And Caligula led many

Christians to martyrdom in coliseums. And one time he observed that these

Christians were heading to their martyrdom and they were singing. Now they weren't singing in a tone like almost like a, what you might be thinking like a monastery where it's all very solemn and very monotone.

Apparently they were singing in such a way that it sounded like they were excited. It sounded like they were happy.

And he could not understand why. And someone gives him this word and says,

Caligula, haven't you heard? Death is dead. Death is dead.

Death is dead. Why? Because the joy that we know is that we have is rooted in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Because Jesus lived a holy, perfect, blameless life. Never sinned, never cursed

God. Even in the midst of his trials, even in the midst of his persecution, he endured suffering as one who was obedient, even an obedient son.

And Jesus lived the life that we could not live. He died the death that we deserved on that cross next to two criminals.

And on the third day, God did not leave his son disgraced in the grave, but instead he raised him from the dead, demonstrating that Christ had mastery over death itself.

And God raised his son from the dead and seated him. He ascended on high and seated him at the right hand of majesty where he now lives and intercedes for you and I.

And it's because of the assurance of Jesus's finished work on the cross, the assurance of his resurrection from the dead that we can have this joy even in the midst of poverty, even in the midst of hunger, even in the midst of weeping, and even in the midst of a people who hate us on account of his name.

We can have joy because there's a reward of a resurrection from the dead.

That's our reward, brothers and sisters. It's the resurrection. That is our eschatological hope.

Not just that we simply die and go to heaven, but rather that the bodies in which we were persecuted in, the very bodies that endured poverty, the very bodies that endured shame, the very bodies that endured all these difficulties of life will one day have its climax at the resurrection from the dead.

That all things shall be redeemed, even these poor lowly bodies.

We hold fast in awe to the glory of God's fame.

If you're following along the last part of the notes, if we hold fast to the call, this call of perseverance, this call to obey, this call of the

Beatitudes, we can rejoice and leap for joy on the day of our reward, even the resurrection from the dead.

May you know him, and may you know the power of his resurrection. And if you've not come to know this

Jesus, if you've not come to know this joy, God calls you and beckons you today through the preaching of this word to repent and turn to Christ.

Repent and trust in the Savior. And the Bible says, if thou shalt call on the name of the

Lord, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart one believes, and with the mouth one declares, declaring us through faith righteous.

So brothers and sisters, may we hold fast to the call. And may we again find our joy and our peace in the eventual hope of the resurrection from the dead.

Because he was raised, we too will be raised. And because he lives, we too shall live also.

Let's pray. Father, we are but weak, feeble sinners.

And we look to you for sustenance, knowing that we are indeed poor, knowing that we have nothing innate in ourselves to offer.

We have no riches to bear. We have no glory to share, but rather all good things come from my bountiful hand.

And we as poor beggars and sinners, beg and petition your throne through the name of Jesus, the perfect one, the righteous one, that you would help us,

Lord, in our poverty to become rich through Jesus. That we would receive the riches of your mercy, the riches of your kindness, the riches of your grace.

And that you would lavish it on us in the beloved, in your son, Jesus, for all good things come from his wounded and crucified hands.

Blessed indeed, Lord, are those who are poor. Blessed indeed, Lord, are those who hunger and weep.

Even now, Lord, blessed are those who are in our midst, who are facing difficulty, knowing that one day they shall be comforted.

Their consolation is near through the brotherhood of believers and also through the consolation, the ministry of the

Holy Spirit, and also through the eventual resurrection from the dead. Lord, thank you for this consolation that you've given us through your word, through the ministry of your spirit, through the ministry of the word.

Help us, Lord, even to endure great persecution for the days are even now when we will be hated even more so and be called bigots on account of your name.

Lord, may we leap for joy in times of trial, leap for joy in times of difficulty, knowing that you are at work.

And Lord, help us to hold fast to the call so that we too can rejoice and leap for joy on that great day of our reward.

To the glory of the one true and trium God, Father, Son, and Spirit, we pray these things in Jesus' name.