Matthew 5:3–12 (ESV)

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 

We covered those first 7 beatitudes a few weeks ago Sunday. You can catch that message at FLFC.church

Jesus gives two more beatitudes here in this list from Matthew. But that last two are different than the first 7. The first seven you can choose them.

You can 

• Recognize your need for God and choose to be poor in spirit
• You can realize the shame of sin and choose to regret past sin
• You can choose to be gentle and humble
• You can choose to deeply desire righteousness 
• You can choose to give mercy 
• You can choose to give up self and pursue Jesus as Lord and be are pure of heart
• You can choose to work for peace

But then he gives these other two.

Matthew 5:10–12 (ESV)

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 

12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 

So one thing I didn’t talk about a couple weeks ago - is what is the Kingdom of heaven? This is the second place in this short list that the benefit is the kingdom of heaven.  

The first one was blessed are the poor in spirit - for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And now here, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

So lets ask two questions;

1. What is the kingdom of heaven?
2. What does it mean to say it is theirs?

I love this - many Christians have a solid understanding of the Kingdom of heaven - until you ask them what it is.  And then it seems to get complicated. And in all fairness it is little complicated because we are talking about things beyond our immediate perception. 

Many people would agree that there are 3 kingdoms.

• The kingdoms of the world
• This is our kingdom - we see it feel it and understand it...
• Kingdom of Darkness
• This is the kingdom of evil. It is where Satan or the Devil is ruling.
• The Kingdom of Heaven or God.

I think it is debatable the idea that there is a “Kingdom“ of darkness. I don’t like idea of considering Satan a king. 

But John 20 refers to him as the ruler of this world. So I think we can have a discussion about the difference between the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of darkness.  

But I am trying to bring clarity to this not more confusion. But one thing is beyond debate - 

There is a realm where God is ruling and there is a realm where Satan is at least influencing or ruling.-

And here is the interesting part. We, in this world, have access to both. And one day one of those kingdoms will be our kingdom. 

There is no doubt there is a heavenly realm that is eternal where Jesus is next to the Father

Here is a short list of scriptures you can look up and see that detail clearly established. 

• Acts 7:55–56
• Romans 8:34
• Ephesians 1:20
• Colossians 3:1
• Hebrews 1:3
• Hebrews 8:1
• Hebrews 10:12
• Hebrews 12:2
• 1 Peter 3:22
• Revelation 3:21
• Matthew 22:44
• Acts 2:33...

So if that is the kingdom of heaven - how is it theirs? The people who are poor in spirit and are persecuted for righteousness sake?

Let me talk you back to a comment that Jesus made when he started his ministry.

Matthew 4:17 (ESV)

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 

Many translations say near. And I think a lot of people’s assumption is that what Jesus is saying is that the Kingdom of Heaven is starting soon. Meaning that at hand or near is a time reference.  

But that is not the only way you can read this. 

Rather than seeing it as near in time - we can see it as near in proximity.  

Jesus is saying that the Time of Repentance is NOW because the place of the Kingdom is here. Jesus is that place. 

~ “Jesus is the Kingdom of Heaven being established on earth.”  

Jesus is literally the way you and I inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. 

That is why - HAPPY are the poor in Spirit those who KNOW they need Jesus - because theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.  

They are Heirs to the Kingdom. In other words - this is your kingdom. You don’t own it - but your are in it. 

So now lets jump back to today’s passage. 

Matthew 5:10–12 (ESV)

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

When you are persecuted for righteousness sake - you are being recognized by the world as belonging to Jesus. 

This is so cool - it is an endorsement from the world that you are not part of their system - you are part of God‘s.

Being persecuted for rightnesses sake - is making it known in word and conduct that you are a follower of Christ and that knowledge is costing you something. You get fired because you are a Christian, that’s persecution. Getting arrested, beaten or murdered - that is definitely persecution.

Now let’s keep reading.  

Matthew 5:11–12 (ESV)

11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 

12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 

Some key words in there are Falsely, this does not apply to you if you are being persecuted for actually doing wrong things. 

And On My Account. Meaning being persecuted for a voting a particular candidate is what this is about. If you are being persecuted because of your relationship with Jesus - then you should rejoice and be glad. For great is your reward!

I hope you hear this message today. This entire introduction from Jesus is counter intuitive to what we really want. 

Persecution is one of hardest things for us to bear.  

Most of us would rather die than be persecuted. 

Our goal should not be the approval of the world - nor should it be our goal to offend the world. Some people are just really mean to people and then claim it is persecution that they are unliked.  

Our goal should be to 

• Recognize our need for him - for ours is the Kingdom of God
• Regret our past sin and turn from it - we will be comforted
• To be humble and gentle for we will experience peace
• To hunger and thirst for righteousness for we will be satisfied
• To be merciful For we will receive mercy
• To pure in heart for we will see God
• To be a peace maker not a peace taker - for we will be called children of God. 

Then when we are persecuted for living like this, reviled, and lied about for righteousness sake, Then we should be very very glad - because it means we will have a great reward in heaven! Can you imagine what a great reward in heaven must be like?

Let me give you one last verse:

Acts 5:40–41 (ESV)

when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.