SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/6/2020
8:03 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “The Persecution”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt.
5:10-12
Message of the verses: “10 Blessed are
those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all
kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 “Rejoice and be exceedingly
glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the
prophets who were before you.”
As
we think for a moment about the early teachings and miracles that our Lord did
we can understand that following Him was costly, for His enemies were not going
to give up until He was dead and Jesus could not change for one of His
attributes is Immutable. The ones who
would enter the kingdom would actually suffer before they would reign with Him. MacArthur adds “That is the hard honesty that
every preacher, evangelist, and witness of Christ should exemplify. We do the Lord no honor and those to whom we
witness no benefit by hiding or minimizing the cost of following Him.”
The
cost of discipleship can be billed to believers in many different ways. There are examples in different places of the
NT where we find how believers could not do the things that non-believers could
do as they stood for their faith. I can’t
help but think of the cost that Stephen had to pay because he would not stop
preaching the gospel. I can also think
of kind of reading between the lines in the letters that our Lord sent to the
seven churches in Asia Minor. Paul talks
about eating food that was sacrificed to idols in his writings. The meat was cheaper in price but the cost
would be higher spiritually. A somewhat
modern day example would be a Christian housewife would not listen to gossip or
to laugh at the crude jokes of her neighbors, and this could cost her to be
ostracized with them. There are some
costs that we will know in advance, and some cost that may surprise us. Some costs will be higher than others will
be. Both our Lord and His disciples gave
us repeated promises; faithfulness always has a cost, which true Christians are
willing to pay. “20 ‘The one on whom seed was sown on the
rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it
with joy; 21 yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only
temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word,
immediately he falls away’” (Matt. 13:20-21).
MacArthur
adds the following story: “The
second-century Christian leader Tetullian was once approached by a man who said,
‘I have come to Christ, but I don’t know what to do. I have a job that I don’t think is consistent
with what Scripture teaches. What can I
do? I must live.’ To that Tetullian replied, ‘Must you?’ Loyalty to Christ is the Christian’s only true
choice. To be prepared for kingdom life
is to be prepared for loneliness, misunderstanding, ridicule, rejection, and
unfair treatment of every sort.”
We
can read from the books of the NT beginning with Acts and other books that were
what we call extrabiblical to see that the early days of the church the price
paid was often the ultimate. Persons who
chose Christ might mean choosing death by stoning, by being covered with pitch
and used as a human torch for Nero, or by wrapped in animal skins and thrown to
vicious hunting dogs. I suppose I could give other examples but I don’t think
that I need to do so. Jesus had these
types of things in His mind when He stated that His followers are those willing
to bear their crosses. This does not
have any reference to mystical devotion, but it is a call to be ready to die,
if need be, for the cause of Christ. I
want to close this SD by quoting from Matthew 10:35-29 and also 16:24-25. “35 "For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS
FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER
MOTHER-IN-LAW; 36 and A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD. 37
“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who
loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 “And he who does not
take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 “He who has found
his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.” “24 Then Jesus said to His disciples,
"If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his
cross and follow Me. 25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but
whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
6/6/2020 8:33 AM
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