The Sermon on the Mount Part Six Matthew 5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The Sermon on the Mount Part Six

Matthew 5:10	Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11	Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12	Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

What is it about persecution and suffering that is good for us?

2 Timothy 2:12

If we suffer, we shall also reign with him:

There is a connection between suffering and qualifying to reign with the lord.

Romans 8:17	And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
18	For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

These scriptures show us that persecution and suffering if responded to rightly, has a way of preparing us for great things in God.
It is not so much the suffering in itself so much as our response to it. It has been said that suffering and trouble will either make you ?bitter or better?.
The story of Job: The bible brings into focus a man God wished to bless, however God could only bring him to a larger place through suffering. This story was put into the bible as an example of how God uses suffering in order to bless us.
Job went through great suffering, through this suffering God was able to bring him to a place where he, Job qualified for advancement in the Kingdom of God. Like the experience of Isaiah who found himself in the manifest presence of God and as a result saw his own sinfulness which in turn resulted in a new level of cleansing and commissioning; see Isaiah Chap 6 Even so Job saw his own sinful nature and through repentances entered a new place in God

Job 42:5	I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
6	Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

Entering higher levels in God requires deeper repentance

Job 42:10

And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

His attitude to the friends who had tormented him now has changed. And Job now enters into a new place in God.

Job 42:12	So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.
13	He had also seven sons and three daughters.
14	And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Kerenhappuch.
15	And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.
16	After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations.
17	So Job died, being old and full of days.

This story is placed by God in the bible in order to show us how we proceed to greater levels in God.
There can be no resurrection without there is first a death. Suffering has a away of transforming our view of life, it has a way of ordering right priorities in our lives. Suffering cuts away at the materialism in our lives and brings us to a place where only God and His will matters.
This cutting away of the clutter and wrong priorities in our lives is preparatory to advancement in His kingdom.

Psalms 119:67

Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.

Don?t waste your troubles make them stepping stones to greater glory.
Pain tempers the soul making it pliable and receptive to greater levels in God.
You say but it not God?s will for me to be in pain, Jesus bore our pain so that we could be free. That is true, however sometimes pain is the only way that God can condition us to receive greater blessing. God does not afflict us, but He can and does when necessary allow the enemy to afflict us in order to bring us to a place where we hear what God is saying to us and what He wants of us. This is the story of Job.

Job 33:14	For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not.
15	In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed
16	Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction,
17	That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man.
18	.He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.
19	He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain:
20	So that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat.
21	His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen; and his bones that were not seen stick out.
22	Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers.
23	If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man his uprightness:
24	Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.
25	His flesh shall be fresher than a child's: he shall return to the days of his youth:
26	He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness.

When the work of suffering has finished great healing comes and a new place in God is achieved.

Romans 8:18

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

There are many kinds of suffering of which pain is just one, whatever God allows you to go through, use it as a stepping stone to Glory.
A number of years ago I was climbing a fence with a loaded rifle in my hand when the fence gave way and I fell, as I feel I swung round so as not allow the gun to hit the ground and discharge, even when the safety catch is on a gun can discharge if it receives a heavy blow. I fell onto my back and dislodged a disk in my lower back. For weeks I was in severe pain, the worst pain I had ever encountered as the disk was pressing on the sciatic nerve.
One day when I was in pain to a level that was hard to endure, I said to the Lord, ?Lord I will bear this pain but let it not be in vain I wish this pain to alleviate a portion of the suffering that you are going through as you see mankind so far away from you, and I will bear it as long as you wish?.
The pain continued on for a number of days, then one day the Lord appeared to me and he had tears in His eyes, he just said ?thank you? and disappeared.
The pain began to ease from that day on.

Philippians 1:29	For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;
Colossians 1:24	Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:
James 5:10	Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
11	Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

James N Johnson © 2004
God Bless you