The Blessing of True Spiritual Persecution

The eighth and final defining characteristic of those who have truly entered the kingdom of heaven, what we have come to know commonly as the Beatitudes, is persecution. But not just any persecution, persecution because of righteousness, and persecution because of me, Jesus says. That is persecution that is the direct result of the godliness and Christlikeness of our lives. That’s an important distinction. A great deal of what passes today for Christian persecution may be more about our lack of those qualities than it is about either righteousness or him. Hostility that is the direct result of our lack of wisdom, or lack of love, or lack of Christ-like graces like meekness and mercy. Or even worse, hostility that is a direct response to our hostility. This morning we’ll turn our attention to understanding this key marker of authentic Christian faith, in Matthew 5:10-12, in a message entitled “The Blessing of True Spiritual Persecution”.