Now let us turn to the Word of God at Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. Today we come to verses 10 to 12. Verses 10 to 12. Matthew 5, 10 to 12. And this is what we read here:
Verse 10: "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so men persecuted the prophets who were before you."
In this connection I would like to read also the parallel passages in Luke chapter 6. Luke chapter 6. Which presents the same truth in slightly different words. Luke chapter 6 verses 22 and 23: "Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy. Literally jump for joy. For behold, your reward is great in heaven. For so their fathers did to the prophets."
In verse 26: "Woe to you when all men speak well of you. For so their fathers did to the false prophets." So here we see the parallel in Luke. That to the false prophets everybody spoke well. But of the true prophets people spoke evil. A very curious situation indeed. Showing that man in this generation does not know how to distinguish between a true prophet and a false prophet. The true prophets come under slander and criticism and reviling and rejection. But the false prophets are well received and spoken of well by all men. And the Lord Jesus warns there that beware when all men, He says to His disciples, speak well of you. Because that's what happened to the false prophets. They were held in high regard by the people of their generation. Whereas the true prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and all these other prophets were badly received and poorly spoken of.
Now, what is it that the Lord Jesus wants to teach us? I would like you to notice the parallel with the kingdom of God in verse 10. You remember the first Beatitude began, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And then in verse 10, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And this time it refers to those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. This shows that we have come a full circle back again to who are those to whom the kingdom of God belongs.
Now, next week we shall study something about the order and meaning of the sequence of these Beatitudes. And what is the spiritual meaning of this order? Today we shall content ourselves with studying the meaning of the words, blessed are those who are persecuted. In other words, the blessing here is the blessing upon those who suffer. Happy are those who suffer for righteousness' sake.
Now, the last kind of people that this world regards as happy are those who suffer. We regard those who suffer as to be greatly pitied. I have often heard when I came out of China, having spent seven years under the communists, people would say, oh, how pitiable are those people in China. How much they have to suffer. How deplorable that they must go through all these sufferings. And I looked at them and I said to them, they are the happy ones. You are the ones to be pitied. And when I said that, I had in mind the words of the Lord Jesus. Happy, blessed are those who suffer for righteousness' sake. They are the fortunate ones. They are the blessed ones. You Western Christians, I said to them, you are the pitied ones. You are the ones greatly to be pitied.
You see, it depends whether happy or pitied. Depends on which way you look at it. If you are looking at it from the spiritual angle, they are greatly to be envied. They are greatly to be envied for the spiritual blessing that comes upon them. But of course, the church is used to looking at things from the worldly way. What does a worldly church do but look at things from the worldly way? And looking at it from the worldly way, of course you feel, oh, how pitiable is their condition. How much they have to suffer. How unfortunate. How terrible is their life. But the Lord is teaching us to think spiritually. If you are looking at things spiritually, how blessed it is to suffer.
And in a moment we shall see why suffering is so blessed. What a great privilege it is to suffer. How joyful it is. In 1955 when I was in Tientsin and attended the church of Wang Mingtao, I remember how clearly he said, he said, I am not worthy to suffer for the name of Christ. But if God gives me this privilege, I shall count it a great blessing. Blessed are those who suffer. Wang Mingtao understood the lesson so well. That it is a privilege. And he did not count himself worthy of so high a privilege. There is the distinction between thinking spiritually and thinking carnally. If you think carnally, you pity those who suffer. If you think spiritually as Wang Mingtao did, then you regard it as a privilege, a high privilege to suffer for the name of Christ. For righteousness' sake.
Now, let us consider some of the reasons why it is so blessed to suffer. You know, even the Jewish Talmud, Talmud means learning, the Jewish books of learning, have observed very clearly this. That in the Old Testament, it is always those who are blessed who suffered. Or those who suffered who are blessed. Whichever way. Because these are inseparable. And the Talmud is written by Jewish rabbis. Not by Christians. And sometimes I feel ashamed that the Christians have not the same insight and depth as some of the rabbis had.
These Jewish rabbis studying their Bibles noted very well. This is what they observed. They wrote this. They said, God chose Noah because Noah was persecuted, rejected in his generation. He was excluded. He was standing out in righteousness in a generation of wickedness. Or think of Abel. Abel was persecuted by his brother. Indeed, put to death by his brother. But God chose Abel. Not Cain.
Or take Isaac. These Jewish rabbis say. Isaac was persecuted by the Philistines as we read in Genesis 26 and verse 27. And God chose Isaac. The one who was persecuted. And look at Jacob. Jacob was constantly persecuted by Esau. And God chose Jacob. Not Esau. Jacob have I loved. But Esau, the persecutor, have I hated. And then look at whom God chose. God chose Joseph. And Joseph was persecuted by his brethren. And God chose David. And David was persecuted by Saul. And so on it goes through the Old Testament.
Even the rabbis had noticed that God chose the persecuted ones. Or put another way, those who are persecuted are chosen by God. Or those who are chosen by God are persecuted. There is this constant relationship. The Jewish rabbis also noticed that all the sacrificial animals in the Old Testament were animals of peace. What were they? Well, there was the lamb. There was the bullock. There was the heifer. These were all animals of peace. They were non-aggressive animals. They were always animals being attacked by other animals like the lion, the leopard, the wolf. But did you ever see a lion offered in the temple? Or a wolf? Or a leopard? Oh no. These animals would not be accepted for sacrifice. Why? They were animals of death. They were animals of aggression. They were not animals of peace. But the animals of peace were the animals of sacrifice.
Now you see the connection of peacemakers. Blessed are the peacemakers. For they shall be the sons of God which connects right away to blessed are those who are persecuted. Because it is the peacemakers who are going to be persecuted. It is the peacemakers who are the most Christ-like. Why did Jesus take up His cross and suffer? Colossians chapter 1 verse 20 tells us to make peace for us by the blood of His cross. Then why are we called to take up the cross and follow Jesus? To be peacemakers like Him. To make peace by our cross. Not that our cross can make peace or atone for sin in the same way that Jesus' cross made peace. But yet we are to follow in His footsteps. We are also given the ministry Paul says of reconciliation. We are given this ministry of reconciliation, of being peacemakers as we read in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 18 and 19.
Now the kingdom of God then. The kingdom of God is a place of comfort. A place where God rules in righteousness. The kingdom of God is the place where you obtain mercy. Salvation. It is the place where we have the vision of God. It is a wonderful place. A spiritual place. A place where God's glory is revealed in salvation. And all flesh shall see it together. Flesh shall see. Not just a spiritual vision. But this flesh of course will be the flesh that has put on immortality.
Now the question is how then can we enter the kingdom of God? How may we inherit this kingdom? And here we have the answer. Maybe not the answer we like but it is the answer that Jesus gives. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake for theirs is the kingdom of God.
How shall we inherit the kingdom of God? Who are those who inherit the kingdom of God? Those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. And who might be the people who are persecuted for righteousness' sake? It is those who are poor in spirit. Who depend entirely upon God's grace because they are poor. They have nothing of themselves. Who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Who are merciful towards others. Who are peacemakers. They are all the same people. These Beatitudes don't speak about different people. They are all different aspects of the same people.
And this means that if you start at the beginning, if you are willing to be poor in spirit, if you desire righteousness, hunger and thirst for it, if you are prepared to be peacemakers, if you are prepared to be merciful, you will be persecuted. Make no mistake about it. You will be persecuted. The Apostle Paul says in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 12 very important words that all those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. You don't have to go and look for it. You will suffer persecution.
Now that's very important because if you don't suffer persecution sooner or later and you can be sure of one thing there is something wrong with your Christianity. We are blessed if we are persecuted. We are blessed if we suffer. For what reason? Because let me tell you one thing. Satan will not waste his time with you if you don't give him any trouble. He wouldn't bother to persecute you because you don't give him the slightest trouble. You don't give him any headaches. Why should he persecute you? You are no cause of trouble to him.
Satan will persecute those who give him an awful lot of trouble whom he knows are going to give him trouble. But why should he persecute those who give him no trouble at all? You can see one of the reasons why it is so blessed to be persecuted. Because it proves that you are giving Satan a lot of trouble by the godliness of your life. Not because you happen to have a louder voice than other people. Not just because you are able to talk better than other people. Satan is not worried about those who talk a lot. Too much of it is just hot air. But what bothers him are the kind of people whose lives speak forth the glory of God. Whose lives show forth the beauty of Christ.
This kind of person Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:12, those who live godly lives, Christ-like lives will surely suffer persecution. You will not escape. I will not escape. If you don't like to suffer persecution the Lord Jesus tells you very honestly, don't be a Christian. Don't become a Bible type of Christian. Don't become a true disciple because if you become a true disciple you are going to suffer persecution, that's guaranteed for you. That is why the Lord Jesus says that if you are not willing to take up your cross and follow Him, if you are not willing to suffer, you can't be His disciple. You won't survive it.
What all this means is that suffering is the gateway, the pathway into the kingdom of God. There is no way you can enter the kingdom of God without walking through the gate of suffering. Let's read Acts chapter 14 verse 22. That is exactly what the apostles taught the disciples in those days. Acts 14 and verse 22.
Here Paul has just been given such a beating and such a stoning at Iconium that he was left for dead. And that we read in verse 19. But Jews came there from Antioch and Iconium to Derbe and they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city supposing him to be dead. Well Paul took a lot of persecution especially from the Jews. But when the disciples gathered about him he rose up and entered the city and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples they returned to Lystra and Iconium, they returned to these places to Lystra where he got the stoning and to Iconium and then finally back to Antioch strengthening the souls of the disciples exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
How do you enter the kingdom of God? Through many tribulations. That's a very graphic way of speaking about it. Tribulations is portrayed as a kind of gate through which you enter the kingdom of God. You must enter the kingdom of God through those many tribulations. Tribulations, persecution, suffering is the gateway into the kingdom of God.
Now that's very much like what the Lord Jesus Himself says. He says in Luke chapter 13 to strive to enter in at the narrow gate. Luke chapter 13 verse 24: strive to enter in. How? Where? Through the narrow gate. Straight enter in where? Into the kingdom of God. How? Through the narrow gate. What is the narrow gate? The narrow gate of persecution, tribulation, suffering. The Lord Jesus does not deceive any man. He tells you like so many preachers would like to sugarcoat the pill and not tell you all the facts and say just become a Christian everything will be nice and rosy and everything will be fine. All you have to do is become a Christian and the Lord Jesus says no, no, no. Let me tell you the truth. You want to enter into the kingdom of God? You want to enter into eternal life? The gateway is through suffering. Inside is beautiful but it's not going to be easy to get in. It is a narrow road and you have to strive, agonize, the word is agonize literally in Greek, to enter in.
Even the very call is the call of suffering. The gateway into God's kingdom. We must understand it well. And nobody should be under any delusion about this. And truly inside the kingdom is life. But the pathway into it may be through death. And how else can we speak the truth? How else can we preach the truth? Say it as it is spoken by the Lord. Blessed are those who are persecuted, who suffer for righteousness' sake, for theirs. It's this kind of person to whom the kingdom of God belongs.
Let us continue then to observe what are the reasons why suffering is of such great spiritual value. Let me show you from the scriptures why suffering is of such great spiritual value. That when we suffer, we may rejoice in it and not think that something terrible has happened to us. Only when disciples are trained to understand from the teaching of the Word of God, that suffering is a great blessing. The next time when suffering comes, you welcome it as you would welcome a blessing. That you will learn to see blessing spiritually. You will see suffering in its spiritual value.
Here are some of the reasons why in the scriptures suffering, persecution, and here we are not talking about suffering in any general sense. I am not talking about the suffering that happens to come to us through ill health, because after all it is not just Christians who have ill health, non-Christians also have ill health. There is no great thing to talk about suffering. I mean I am not the only one who has ill health, non-Christians also have ill health. It is not peculiar to Christians. So there is nothing special about that. Everyone, but how you endure that trial is what makes the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian. A Christian who moans and groans whenever there is some suffering that comes his way is not fit to be a Christian. Such a person does not understand the spiritual value of suffering.
And here particularly this suffering is one that is for the sake of righteousness. Now ill health is not for any reason of righteousness, but still I can endure it in a spiritual and Christ-like way. But here we must bear in mind that suffering is brought on because of our godly lives, because of righteousness in our lives, for righteousness' sake.
Now here are some of the things, and I would like to share seven points from scripture of the value, the spiritual value of suffering, that we may just welcome it with joy when it comes, remembering that it is the gateway into the kingdom of God.
First of all, we rejoice in suffering and in being persecuted because it shows us that we are not of this world. We are not of this world. It is the mark of a Christian, not the mark of the world. And this is what the Lord Jesus says in John chapter 15 and verse 19. Let me read to you John 15 and verse 19 on the value, the spiritual meaning of suffering. That is the mark of the Christian. John 15:19.
The Lord Jesus says to His disciples, if you were of the world, the world would love its own. They would not persecute you because you belong to them. They are not going to persecute you. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore, the world hates you. The world hates you because you are not of the world. But if you were of the world, they would never persecute you. They would love their own. But because you are not of the world, that is why they hate you. That is why they persecute you.
In other words, you are persecuted if you bear the mark of the Christian that you are not of this world. How do you bear the mark? Righteousness in your life. The world cannot stand righteousness because righteousness exposes sin, exposes the sin of the world. Have you noticed that a sinner feels very uncomfortable in the presence of a righteous man? Why? Because his life is already condemning him. The world felt uncomfortable in the presence of Jesus because his life rebuked him. You don't have to say a word because it makes you feel uncomfortable to have someone so righteous.
Have you noticed if you're wearing a very dirty dress and you go into the presence of those who are all wearing such beautiful spotless dresses you feel very uncomfortable you feel out of place. Right? Or if there was a crowd of people who were all dressed in a very filthy fashion and someone comes in a spotless white robe well it makes all those others immediately realize hey how dirty I am now I realize it because I see the whiteness of that other person's garments. If you were one of them they wouldn't notice the difference but now you are not one of them therefore they hate you therefore they persecute you.
The world always likes to force people into their mold to do things their way. Have you in your life been subject to the pressures of this world? They want you to think their way they cannot understand why you don't think their way. For them money is the whole value of life. Money, money, everything is money. And they cannot understand somebody who does not regard money as so precious cannot understand you.
That Mai's father was so honest to say that when talking with us he said I guess there is a communications gap between us because our sense of values are not the same. He could not understand why they are a group of people who are all professional people who have all got professional training and could make money in this world who refuse to make money and instead what do they do they study the Bible. Well that for a man of the world is unintelligible. Everybody wants money. Money brings power. Money brings status. Brings material satisfaction. You can look at nice colored televisions you can drive nice cars. And here are people who have the professional qualifications to do this very thing and yet they don't do this very thing. The world can't understand it.
And yet and what is more it annoys them because somehow it condemns their sense of values. It negates their sense of values. It says to the world your sense of values mean nothing. Your love for this world means nothing to me. That all these things that you hold so dear that is the object of your life means nothing to us. They feel convicted they feel condemned. But what's wrong with my sense of values? They feel uncomfortable. They feel that they are after all in your eyes living for nothing. Nothing worth living for. Of course that's true but they don't like to hear that. It annoys them, distresses them, upsets them.
The mark of the Christian: people who live not for this world but for the world that is to come. Not for unrighteous mammon, filthy mammon, but for righteousness. The world can't understand that. It condemns them. And sooner or later when you live in this way you will be persecuted. First they will start saying bad things about you. After all that's what they said about the Lord Jesus. The names that they call Jesus is incredible. He's crazy. He's demon possessed. Out of his mind. And so on and so forth. And if they said that of our Master and Lord why should we expect to be treated differently.
And the second thing that this shows us about the blessedness of suffering. The first is that we bear the mark of a Christian only so will the world persecute us. If you think like the world, if you behave like the world, if you talk like the world, the world is not going to persecute you. Why should they? You are just one of them. But when you are different then they are going to start hating you because your difference shows up their sin and you are going to be persecuted.
Secondly the blessedness of suffering lies in this that it purifies our faith. It purifies our faith. It tests the genuineness of our faith. 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 6 and 7. This is exactly what the Apostle Peter tells us. He says this in verse 6: in this you rejoice though now for a little while you may have to suffer various trials so that the genuineness of your faith more precious than gold which though perishable is tested by fire may redound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The genuineness of your faith is tested by the suffering.
Oh we can all be Christians when being a Christian is having a good time. When being Christian means going with the church to have a barbecue somewhere, who can't be Christians? We all like barbecue. If being Christian means we can all go on a special tour to the Holy Land which I read in all these Christian magazines wherever where Paul once preached, it's nice to be Christian. And it's nice to be Christian because all these nice people are always encouraging you and smiling to you and clapping you on the back and oh it's nice. Nice to be a Christian when we can go for a nice cup of tea after the service so cozy and all these nice Christian people like Virginia and others making nice cakes for us. I mean it's so nice to be a Christian and who objects to being a Christian under those conditions?
We can all be Christians and so nice to be Christians because we can Sunday put on all the best clothing we got. Beautiful ties come to church and it's so nice to be going to church. It's a very special day. It feels good to be in church on Sunday. If you don't go to church, man, being a Christian is so enjoyable. But wait. Wait till you are persecuted for being a Christian. I wonder how many Christians are left.
You know that's the kind of Christianity we had in China. That kind of nice Sunday Christianity. Nice church building. Nice electric or other kind of organs. So beautiful churches. Stained glass windows. I was falling down. Nothing compared to those Shanghai churches that we had. Our Shanghai churches are so beautiful. Oh beautiful. We don't even have color. This one is not so good. You got to find it where you have nice carpets in the church, comfortable pews and the atmosphere is so cozy. So nice atmosphere.
And then the communists came into Shanghai. Oh yes I went to a church once or twice with my parents. It was called Community Church of Shanghai. Beautiful place. Garden outside was so nice. Rose bushes and flowers. Beautiful glass in the windows and that lovely organ so rich and that fine organist who just knew how to play that organ so beautifully. And all these people so beautifully dressed and they're so polite and courteous. Oh lovely people in that church. And then the communists came. And the communists were not nicely dressed. They wore green uniforms and a shabby cap with a red star on it. Their sleeves rolled up. I used to watch them marching into Shanghai. Dirty fellows and their gun belts and bullets around, grenades hanging all over the place. They didn't even look like those nice polished soldiers you see on television. They marched in there with their variety of guns and others had this kind of old fashioned Japanese rifles and some wore Japanese helmets and some wore American helmets and some wore helmets from wherever they could find helmets. And they said what kind of an army is this? The only thing is that they knew how to fight.
And these people came in and then all these nicely dressed people in church vanished. When the communists came where were the Christians? Oh they wouldn't want to be seen in church now because now it's embarrassing. All the Sunday Christians disappeared. And there was a small group of people left. Not so nicely dressed because they couldn't afford to wear nicely dressed clothes. And that small group of people were the real Christians.
Suffering purifies the church because it purifies the faith. It weeds out the false. And then I began to see the true Christians. Up to that point I never wanted to become a Christian. Not that because I didn't like nice clothes but I realized that that's not Christianity. If that is Christianity I'm not interested in it. But when I saw after the fire of communism burned through the churches what was left behind, when I saw those then my eyes began to open. Then I said those are real Christians. Now I see the true from the false. Before that I didn't know which were the sheep which were the goats which was genuine gold and which was just phony yellow metal. Now I could see the difference. The value of fire. The value of suffering is like fire that purifies your faith. Shouldn't you welcome it? Isn't it beautiful?
And those people that stayed behind they were the people that had counted the cost and were willing to go on. People like Henry Toy that I many times share with you who have come to the west and as a research chemist made a good living. My father tried so much to persuade him to leave because my father had such a great respect for this man. Said leave, leave, go to the west, make a living for yourself. And Henry said no. Here is where the church is, here is where I stay. I never cease to remember how much I owe him because had he left China I probably would not be standing here to preach the Word of God today. So much under God I owe to him because he refused to run. He was willing to endure the fire knowing as sure as anything that soon it would burn him too. And he didn't have long to wait.
And so that fire which purifies the faith. And the third thing we see about the value of suffering here in 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 1 is that we cease from sin. Oh have we not long to cease from sin? Well why not let the fire of persecution do that for us? 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 1 reads like this: since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same thought, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of his life in the flesh no longer by human passions.
Oh what does this mean? Well people like Henry and others who are willing to endure suffering are people of course who have rejected the appeal of the flesh. The appeal of the flesh was to go to the West, to make a good living, to have security, to escape the persecution that he knew was going to come to him. It must be a person who fully and consciously rejects the appeal of the flesh and these things that the flesh so craves for, that security, that wealth, that esteem that comes to people like him. People of great ability, great intelligence, of great innovative ability, like Henry, who could invent so many things. Who though he never left China, could speak English without accents. It's incredible. I don't know how he does this. But people who have lived years abroad and studied abroad cannot speak English without an accent. And yet he who never left China can speak English flawlessly, that if you didn't see his face you thought you were listening to an American speaking. And yet he never been out of China. People of exceptional ability and intelligence. And yet the world appealed nothing to him at all. Not even marriage. As I told some of you, he refused even to get married so that he may serve the Lord with undivided attention. Because he knew he would suffer. And he said to me that if I suffer, I would rather that I suffer alone. That I must not have to consider the sufferings that my suffering would bring upon my wife and my children. He prepared his mind so completely to be this sacrifice, that he refused even to be married. A very attractive man that he was.
And so, we see from these things, that a person who suffers has ceased from sin. In the sense that he has turned his back upon sin, upon the world, upon the flesh. A person who consciously has decided that he will happily accept suffering for the sake of Christ has truly finished in his mind with sin. This does not mean he is sinless. But that he has made a break with sin. There is a big distinction there.
And so we find that it is this kind of person who understands the value of suffering. Because they see that it removes, it enables them by God's grace to test the genuineness of their commitment. But also to break the power of sin in their lives. They use suffering to break sin in their lives. Sin becomes a tool by which they progress spiritually.
But fourthly, and very closely related to this, is what you see here in Peter in the next verse which we did not read yet. So as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer by human passions but by the will of God. By the will of God. Suffering not only helps one to cease from sin but enables one, if one depends on God's grace that is, not on one's own strength but on God's grace, enables one to live by the will of God. Because no one will accept suffering who is not prepared to put his life totally under subjection to the will of God. Will he? Of course not. Unless you are prepared to live totally under God's will and not your own will but under God's will you certainly will not accept suffering. You will not accept it. You will fight back. You will kick back. You will groan. You will mumble.
But you see what Jesus did. He put his life totally under God's will. Accepting suffering with joy. Not just with resignation but positively with joy. Now that is very important. It is the submission to God's will and the willingness to live under the submission which we find suffering provides us with precisely that opportunity. Suffering has such great spiritual value because it is through precisely this kind of suffering that we read in Hebrews chapter 5 that the Son Himself learned obedience. Learned submission to the will of God.
Now this is noticed. And I preached on this as you know at Easter and at Good Friday. But this verse never ceases to speak to my heart. That though He was a Son, that Jesus was a Son of God, or rather the Son of God, the "a" is not in the Greek, the Greek has no indefinite article. Though He was Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered. If the Son had to learn obedience through suffering, how much more do we need to learn obedience through suffering? Through suffering. How do you learn obedience? Through suffering. Through suffering. Suffering is the school of obedience. That's where we learn obedience. Where would we have to learn obedience if we didn't have to suffer? It is suffering that teaches us the need to obey. It is in the midst of suffering that we learn obedience.
And this takes us right on to the next point. The fifth point here. And that is in the next verse in Hebrews chapter 5 verse 9. And being made perfect He became the source of eternal salvation to those who obey Him. Now He was made perfect how? Through suffering. As Hebrews says also elsewhere that the Son, that the author of salvation, it was right that He was made perfect through suffering. It is suffering. It is suffering that matures us. Spiritual maturity comes only through suffering. I hope you bear this well in mind. Suffering is the means by which we become spiritually mature.
The Lord Jesus expressed this in another way in Matthew chapter 13 in the parable of the sower. In Matthew chapter 13 verses 5 and 6 He says that the seed that fell on rocky ground when the sun came up it withered because it didn't have enough root. It never made it to the kingdom of God. There are those who receive the seed but never arrive in eternal life because they withered before they got to the harvest. They never made it. Even though they received the seed.
But the point is this. That what is the sun compared to that caused it to wither? In verses 20 and 21 the Lord Jesus says the sun is persecution and trials that come upon the person who receives the Word of God. So notice this. The sun which enables the wheat to grow, the healthy wheat to grow, is also that which destroys those who do not have root. The sun, namely persecution, is life to one and death to another. It is the sun that brings maturity to the plants. Without sun the plants, as any farmer knows, could not reach maturity. But yet the same sun which brings maturity and growth to those seeds that have root brings death and destruction to those seeds which do not have root in righteousness.
And so here we find that it is persecution, like the sun, that brings maturity, ripeness to the harvest. In the same way we too must reach maturity through the scorching of the sun, through the heat of the sun. It is that which if we have roots will not only not damage us, it will cause us to reach full maturity.
I wonder if you have ever talked to servants of God who have suffered. Have you ever talked to a servant of God who has suffered? You will notice his maturity and depth that you will never find in those preachers that come out of seminaries who have never suffered anything for the sake of Christ. There is a quality that is different. When I talked to Wang Mingtao in Tientsin I sensed the depth and the power of this man. Because this man suffered a great deal for Christ. He suffered already under the Japanese occupation in China. He suffered again under the communist occupation. He suffered at everybody's hands. But when you talk to this man, when you talk to Wang Mingtao, you notice there is a depth, a maturity that you do not find. And after all I mean myself, I have talked with many professors of theology. I have talked with many theologians in my time. And there is a difference in quality that is not to be compared. It is just like talking to people from two different worlds. That one person has all the knowledge stored up in the head. The other person has spiritual richness and depth and maturity. It is a privilege to talk to men like this. To Wang Mingtao. To people like Yang Zi Jie. To Li Han. When you talk to people like these servants of God, these are people who have matured under suffering. There is a vast difference in quality between these men. And when they preach there is a difference in their preaching too. There is a difference in the maturity, in the power of their preaching. Such is the value of suffering. The spiritual value of suffering.
So this fifth point I want to share with you is this maturing effect of suffering which is so important.
But then let us go on to a sixth point. The value of suffering. And it is this. Paul says in Colossians chapter 1 and verse 24 something which is very important and yet many Christians especially Christians who have never suffered have no way to understand this passage. Paul as one who suffered a great deal in the course of the gospel understood this very well. Colossians 1:24. A great stumbling block to the academic commentators. "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you." Notice he rejoices. He is very happy about sufferings. He is not at all groaning or complaining or being like a martyr saying look here, look what I have to endure. He says I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake. "And in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of His body, that is the church."
I complete through my sufferings. Why am I so happy? Why is suffering such a blessing? It is because in that suffering I am completing that which is missing, which is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. Can anything be lacking in the sufferings of Christ? Oh yes indeed. That is exactly what Paul is saying. You see, Christ's sufferings serve to atone for our sins. But there is an aspect of suffering which is also important to the salvation of the church which Christ did not fully endure. And let us say it with all reverence because it is scripture. It is not something that I have said, not something that Paul invented. It is something which is important to the salvation of the church but which is upon us to bear, which is for us to endure, for you and me to endure.
If Paul did not suffer how would the gospel have reached the places we just read? For example in Acts chapter 14, Derbe, Lystra, and Iconium, and throughout Macedonia and throughout Greece and throughout Asia Minor and throughout the places where Paul preached in Cyprus and Crete and on perhaps to Spain. Who would bring the gospel to these people? Who? Who brings the gospel to these people but those who are willing to suffer like Paul did?
"I rejoice in my sufferings for you." Bringing the gospel to any place has a high price attached to it. Who suffers to bring the gospel there? Those faithful servants of God. Who else? Who else? So without their suffering would these places receive the gospel? Certainly not. Then is not their suffering essential to the preaching of the gospel? Certainly. Is not their suffering essential to the salvation of these people in the sense that without their suffering the gospel would never reach them? Well certainly. Well then is not this part of the suffering as important to the salvation of the church too? Certainly. For without that suffering they do not receive the gospel.
How do you see that there is this part of the suffering that is also essential to the salvation of the church? That part is for us to endure. That part is the part which Christ has left to us to follow in His footsteps. Take up your cross and follow Me. Now if it were not necessary for us to take up our cross, only necessary for Him to take up His cross, then there is no point of Him asking us to take up the cross. It is because we are to become fellow sufferers with Christ that He asks us to take up the cross. There is nothing difficult to understand about this is there?
But today we want to have a Christianity in which Christ does all the suffering and we do not have to do anything. Christ does all the suffering and He is the one who died. He does all the suffering and we just sit back and do the enjoying. What kind of Christianity is this? That is not the Christianity that the Lord Jesus taught. The Christianity the Lord Jesus taught is: the gateway into the kingdom is through suffering. Through your being persecuted, through your persecution other people receive the gospel. Other people see the witness of your lives. Your lives shine as light in the world.
Is light important? Of course it is important. Because if you don't have light you stumble into the pit. You break your neck. You die in there. We are the light of the world that brings God's salvation to a world that perishes. But to do that light has to burn out. Light has to burn out. The other day we had a power cut up in Pincock. I don't know if you had a power cut but we had a power cut. Five hours. We didn't have any light in the evening. And so we had to light our candles. And the candle gave forth such good light. I was saying to Helen these candles are so good. The flame is so long, so steady. Beautiful candles. They give such good light. Because I have some candles that are forever getting drowned in the wax and you are forever trying to pull up the wick because the light is disappearing as the wax is drowning the wick. But this one burns steadily from beginning to end shining. Long light like this about an inch and a half long is the flame giving beautiful light. Very costly though because to give that light the candle steadily burned down, down, down, down until it was no more. It burned out completely. It perished. The candle literally burned out so that we might enjoy the light that we may not fall down the stairs and break our neck, that we might see where we are going and what we are doing. We had the light.
We are to be light the Lord Jesus said. You are the light of the world. So shine. Shining is costly. You burn out in the process. You burn out. But others receive salvation. There is a suffering which we are called upon to bear. There is a sacrifice, a burning out that we are called upon to give so that others might have the life of Christ. We are to channel that life to others through our death, through our suffering.
I hope you understand Colossians 1:24 very well from now on. I rejoice in my suffering Paul says. I am so happy. Why? Because through my suffering I am making up that part which is lacking in the suffering of Christ. That part which I am called to bear that others might live. He died to bring that salvation, to make salvation possible. But that salvation would stop at Calvary if the disciples did not go out and bring that salvation to the rest of the world. He would have died and nobody would know about it. It would be finished. It was for the disciples to go out and tell the whole world. Go into all the world and make disciples. But to do that is a costly business. They had to suffer the whole way through. That part of the suffering, that part of the salvation of the world is for the disciples to bear, for the church to bear, for you to bear and for me to bear.
Now remember not only Paul. Don't say well that is only Paul suffering here. No, no, no. The whole point that he is saying here is that we should imitate him, that we should have the same mind as he had. In Philippians chapter 1 verse 30 that is exactly what he said in the previous chapter, in the previous letter. Philippians chapter 1 verse 30 and reading from verse 29: "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, remember for righteousness' sake, you should not only believe in Him" — not only believe, this is all the church wants today, only believe — "not only believe in Him but also to suffer for His sake, engaged in the same conflict which you saw and now hear to be mine."
You and I Paul says we are engaged in the same conflict. Because you and I were both called not just to believe but to suffer. We are engaged in the same battle. And in a battle for the salvation of souls as in any other battle there will be casualties. Some will be hurt and some will be killed. There is no warfare in which nobody comes out with a scratch. Everybody is going to get hurt.
So let us come through. Let us observe this value of suffering. It has a salvific value. The blessedness of suffering is that we are called to minister the life of Christ and the salvation of Christ to others. And in that process that part of the suffering is ours. That part is committed to us to bear. We cannot die to atone for the sins of others. Only the blood of Jesus can take away the sins of the world. But nobody would receive the blessing of that blood and that great salvation unless you and I carried it to the world. And in doing that we take up our cross, our suffering.
Let us then also on this matter of suffering, there are so many other parts of the Lord's teaching in scripture that bears on this point. 1 Peter chapter 3 and verses 13 and 14 says exactly the same thing. 1 Peter 3:13 and 14, verse 14: "But even if you do suffer for righteousness' sake" — notice exactly the same words as the Lord Jesus says, for righteousness' sake — "you will be blessed." Here Peter echoes the words of the Lord Jesus. "Have no fear of them nor be troubled. But in your hearts reverence Christ as Lord." Now here again we are to have this readiness and rejoice in this suffering for righteousness' sake because in this way we bring the gospel to others.
Let us come to the last of these points. The seventh point here. Why should we then rejoice in suffering sake? For all these above reasons but still more the Lord Jesus says here in Matthew chapter 5 verse 12: "For great is your reward. Your reward will be great." Why will your reward be great? Because in suffering you will be well pleasing to God. You will be pleasing to God. And why? For what other reason? It is you will be found in the company of the prophets. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Oh it's wonderful. The privilege of suffering because thereby you find yourself to be among the prophets. You prove yourself to be a genuine prophet of God. You know all the disciples are called to be prophets as we have just seen. To bring the Word of God to others, to bring salvation to others. That was the work of the prophets. And when you endure suffering and bring salvation to others you prove yourself not only to be a disciple but to be a prophet of God. A faithful prophet of God who brings the Word of God, the Word of life to others not just in words but in your life. You are found in the best company there is. You are well pleasing to God. You are shown to be a true disciple, a faithful servant of God. Now is that not cause for rejoicing?
You rejoice because it is of such that to whom the kingdom belongs. Well here then we see the reasons why there is such great value in suffering. Such great privilege to belong to God in this way.
We must also in conclusion also bear this in mind. We must suffer if we suffer at all for righteousness' sake. For righteousness' sake. Let no Christian ever suffer for wrongdoing. Let no Christian ever suffer for doing things which are disgraceful, for speaking evil of other people, for slandering, for misrepresentation, for doing wrong things. The clause here is for righteousness' sake and not for any other reason. But if you do suffer for righteousness' sake, rejoice in this that you are among the prophets.
And that is not yet all. I have found and I think all those who have suffered for righteousness' sake in any small or great measure will have found that never is God's presence closer to you than when you suffer. That is so wonderful. When you suffer for righteousness' sake there is another reason for the blessing. You will find God's presence so close to you as you have never experienced before.
You find that actually also in the scriptures. You remember that when Paul and Silas were thrown into prison and they rejoiced in being in prison for the Lord's sake. They sang hymns and praises to the Lord. And as a result of that the Lord's presence was there confirming His presence with an earthquake. Such an earthquake that the jail fell apart. The presence of God in suffering.
And time and again you will find this. In 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 17 Paul at his trial, he was on trial for his life, he said this: "Nobody stood by me but the Lord stood by me." God's presence was so close to him in jail and at the trial.
Suffering is so blessed because God's presence is so close. I pray that all of us here will fully understand the spiritual value of suffering. Never again to find ourselves groaning or moaning but to know that suffering is a spiritual blessing, a spiritual blessing of the highest order, to be welcomed with joy as a privilege.
Now sometimes I feel when I speak about suffering here in the West I feel whether I'm just wasting my time because I don't know that many Christians understand anything about suffering. After all what occasion do you have for suffering? If I were preaching this message in China I would feel everyone listening there understands what you're talking about and they would be encouraged and strengthened. But when I preach this message in the West I feel as though I'm beating the air and talking nonsense since nobody knows what persecution is about.
But perhaps that day will come. In Christ Jesus don't go looking for trouble but live godly in Christ Jesus and soon that persecution will come.
One thing disturbs me greatly about the church in the West. The church in the West is either ignored or respected. And both of these things bother me a lot. Why? Because the scripture says as I have many times said the church will suffer persecution. Then why is the church not being persecuted in the West? That bothers me. There's something wrong with the church that the world does not bother to persecute you. Obviously the world is not impressed with the church because the church is doing absolutely nothing to the world. It is doing absolutely nothing. There is no light that is shining. Otherwise believe me this world will start persecuting us.
But this church today that we have in the West obviously no impact. It bothers me that the church is not persecuted. It gets all kinds of special privileges. Now pastors I am told get special privileges that we are supposed to have tax deductions. And right now I was discussing with Don the other day that it bothers me. I don't like collecting these special concessions. In England I refused to accept any special concessions. They said pastors don't have to pay tax on their housing allowance. I said I am paying this tax like anybody else. They looked at me and thought strange guy. We don't want your money and you want to pay us the money. I said I don't want any concessions. If other people pay taxes I pay taxes.
Or some people may think I am a rather nutty case right? Well but what bothers me is that the world is giving the church special treatment and honoring. Here in the West we pastors are regarded as sort of rather high up in the world. We can sign particular forms if people want citizenship we can sign it. There are other forms we can sign those forms. We are among the people who are trusted by the government like lawyers and doctors and all these kind of people. Only a select group of people can sign particular forms and we are among the people who can sign. It bothers me. I don't like this particular special treatment. And I feel more at home when we get to the East where people despise you and reject you. Pastors they are not, they are only one grade higher than beggars. The scum of society. The kind of dropouts that because you can't pass on anything else, you can't get a profession in any other job in any other place so now you become pastors. Good, good, now we are beginning to talk. Despised and rejected. There is the joy.
But the church today, how far we have gone in the West. I would to God that the church again live as the light again, live in such a way in such a standard of godliness that the world begins to feel uncomfortable again and say hey we better withdraw privileges from these guys. The church today is not concerned to preach righteousness. It's not concerned to preach holiness. It just wants to preach dogma. And the world is not worried about dogma. You like to believe in dogma go ahead. You want to believe that Jesus did this and that, you go ahead. As long as you don't bother our lives. You can believe in transcendental meditation. You can believe in whatever you like. I don't care what you believe in. Just leave us in peace.
As long as John the Baptist talked whatever he liked they didn't worry. But when John the Baptist said you are a sinner, why did you say? Then you are in trouble. I would that God will revive His church in these days. In the meantime let us have the desire and the determination to take up our cross and follow Him. Let us be quiet in prayer.
# Blessed Are Those Persecuted for Righteousness' Sake (Part 2) — Matthew 5:10-12
The appeal of the flesh was to go to the West, to make a good living, to have security, to escape the persecution that he knew was going to come to him. It must be a person who fully and consciously rejects the appeal of the flesh and these things that the flesh so craves for, that security, that wealth, that esteem that comes to people like him. People of great ability, great intelligence, of great innovative ability, like Henry Toy, who could invent so many things. Who though he never left China, could speak English without an accent. It is incredible. I don't know how he does this. But people who have lived years abroad and studied abroad cannot speak English without an accent. And yet he who never left China can speak English flawlessly, so that if you didn't see his face you thought you were listening to an American speaking. And yet he had never been out of China. People of exceptional ability and intelligence. And yet the world appealed nothing to him at all. Not even marriage. As I told some of you, he refused even to get married, so that he might serve the Lord with undivided attention. Because he knew he would suffer. And he said to me that if I suffer, I would rather that I suffer alone, that I must not have to consider the sufferings that my suffering would bring upon my wife and my children. He prepared his mind so completely to be this sacrifice, that he refused even to be married. A very attractive man that he was.
And so, we see from these things, that a person who suffers has ceased from sin, in the sense that he has turned his back upon sin, upon the world, upon the flesh. A person who consciously has decided that he will happily accept suffering for the sake of Christ has truly finished in his mind with sin. This does not mean he is sinless. But that he has made a break with sin. There is a big distinction there. And so we find that it is this kind of person who understands the value of suffering. Because they see that it enables them, by God's grace, to test the genuineness of their commitment. But also to break the power of sin in their lives. They use suffering to break sin in their lives. Suffering becomes a tool by which they progress spiritually.
But fourthly, and very closely related to this, is what you see here in Peter. In the next verse, which we did not read yet. "So as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer by human passions but by the will of God." By the will of God. Suffering not only helps one to cease from sin, but enables one, if one depends on God's grace that is, not on one's own strength but on God's grace, enables one to live by the will of God. Because no one will accept suffering who is not prepared to put his life totally under subjection to the will of God. Will he? Of course not. Unless you are prepared to live totally under God's will, and not your own will, but under God's will, you certainly will not accept suffering. You will not accept it. You will fight back. You will kick back. You will groan. You will mumble.
But you see what Jesus did. He put His life totally under God's will, accepting suffering with joy. Not just with resignation, but positively with joy. Now that is very important. It is the submission to God's will, and the willingness to live under that submission, which we find suffering provides us with precisely that opportunity. Suffering has such great spiritual value. Because it is through precisely this kind of suffering that we read in Hebrews chapter 5 that the Son Himself learned obedience. Learned submission to the will of God. Now notice this. I preached on this as you know at Easter and at Good Friday. But this verse never ceases to speak to my heart. That though He was a Son — the Greek has no indefinite article; literally, "though He was Son" — He learned obedience through what He suffered. If the Son had to learn obedience through suffering, how much more do we need to learn obedience through suffering? Through suffering. How do you learn obedience? Through suffering. Suffering is the school of obedience. That is where we learn obedience. Where would we have to learn obedience if we didn't have to suffer? It is suffering that teaches us the need to obey. It is in the midst of suffering that we learn obedience.
And this takes us right on to the next point, the fifth point here, and that is in the next verse. In Hebrews chapter 5 verse 9. "And being made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to those who obey Him." Now He was made perfect how? Through suffering. As Hebrews says also elsewhere, that it was right that the author of salvation should be made perfect through suffering. It is suffering. It is suffering that matures us. Spiritual maturity comes only through suffering. I hope you bear this well in mind. Suffering is the means by which we become spiritually mature.
The Lord Jesus expressed this in another way. In Matthew chapter 13, in the parable of the sower. In Matthew chapter 13 verses 5 and 6, He says that the seed that fell on rocky ground, when the sun came up, it withered because it didn't have enough root. It never made it to the kingdom of God. There are those who receive the seed but never arrive in eternal life. Because they withered before they got to the harvest. They never made it, even though they received the seed. But the point is this. What is the sun compared to, that caused it to wither? In verses 20 and 21, the Lord Jesus says the sun is persecution and trials that come upon the person who receives the word of God.
So notice this. The sun, which enables the wheat to grow, the healthy wheat to grow — the healthy wheat that has root — is also that which destroys those who do not have root. The sun, namely persecution, is life to one and death to another. It is the sun that brings maturity to the plants. Without sun, as any farmer knows, these plants could not reach maturity. But yet the same sun which brings maturity and growth to those seeds that have root brings death and destruction to those seeds which do not have root in righteousness.
And so here we find that it is persecution, like the sun, that brings maturity, ripeness, to the harvest. In the same way, we too must reach maturity through the scorching of the sun, through the heat of the sun. It is that which, if we have roots, will not only not damage us, it will cause us to reach full maturity.
I wonder if you have ever talked to servants of God who have suffered. Have you ever talked to a servant of God who has suffered? You will notice his maturity and depth that you will never find in those preachers that come out of seminaries, who have never suffered anything for the sake of Christ. There is a quality that is different. When I talked to Wang Mingdao in Beijing, I sensed the depth and the power of this man. Because this man suffered a great deal for Christ. He suffered already under the Japanese occupation in China. He suffered again under the communist occupation. He suffered at everybody's hands. But when you talk to this man, when you talk to Wang Mingdao, you notice there is a depth, a maturity, that you do not find elsewhere. And after all, I mean myself, I have talked with many professors of theology. I have talked with many theologians in my time. And there is a difference in quality that is not to be compared. It is just like talking to people from two different worlds. One person has all the knowledge stored up in the head. The other person has spiritual richness and depth and maturity. It is a privilege to talk to men like this, to Wang Mingdao, to people like Yang Zi Jie, to Li Han. When you talk to these servants of God, these are people who have matured under suffering. There is a vast difference in quality between these men. And when they preach, there is a difference in their preaching too. There is a difference in the maturity, in the power of their preaching. Such is the value of suffering. The spiritual value of suffering. So this fifth point I want to share with you is this maturing effect of suffering, which is so important.
But then let us go on to a sixth point, the value of suffering. And it is this. Paul says in Colossians chapter 1 and verse 24 something which is very important, and yet many Christians, especially Christians who have never suffered, have no way to understand this passage. Paul, as one who suffered a great deal in the course of the gospel, understood this very well. Colossians 1:24, a great stumbling block to the academic commentators. "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you." Notice he rejoices. He is very happy about sufferings. He is not at all groaning or complaining, or being like a martyr, saying, "Look here, look what I have to endure." He says, "I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of His body, that is, the church." I complete through my sufferings. Why am I so happy? Why is suffering such a blessing? It is because in that suffering I am completing that which is missing, which is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.
Can anything be lacking in the sufferings of Christ? Oh yes indeed. That is exactly what Paul is saying. You see, Christ's sufferings serve to atone for our sins. But there is an aspect of suffering which is also important to the salvation of the church, which Christ did not fully endure. And let us say it with all reverence, because it is Scripture. It is not something that I have said. Not something that Paul invented. It is something which is important to the salvation of the church, but which is upon us to bear, which is for us to endure. For you and me to endure.
If Paul did not suffer, how would the gospel have reached the places we just read? For example, in Acts chapter 14: Derbe, Lystra, and Iconium, and throughout Macedonia, and throughout Greece, and throughout Asia Minor, and throughout the places where Paul preached in Cyprus and Crete, and on perhaps to Spain, or wherever the gospel was not preached. Who would bring the gospel to these people? Who? Who brings the gospel to these people? But those who are willing to suffer, like Paul did.
"I rejoice in my sufferings for you." Bringing the gospel to any place has a high price attached to it. Who suffers to bring the gospel there? Those faithful servants of God. Who else? Who else? So without their suffering, would these places receive the gospel? Certainly not. Then is not their suffering essential to the preaching of the gospel? Certainly. Is not their suffering essential to the salvation of these people, in the sense that without their suffering the gospel would never reach them? Well certainly. Well then, is not this part of the suffering as important to the salvation of the church too? Certainly. For without that suffering they do not receive the gospel.
How do you see that there is this part of the suffering that is also essential to the salvation of the church? That part is for us to endure. That part is the part which Christ has left to us. To follow in His footsteps. "Take up your cross and follow me." Now if it were not necessary for us to take up our cross, only necessary for Him to take up His cross, then there is no point of Him asking us to take up the cross. It is because we are to become fellow sufferers with Christ that He asks us to take up the cross. There is nothing difficult to understand about this, is there?
But today we want to have a Christianity in which Christ does all the suffering and we do not have to do anything. Christ does all the suffering, and He is the one who died. He does all the suffering, and we just sit back and do the enjoying. What kind of Christianity is this? That is not the Christianity that the Lord Jesus taught. The Christianity the Lord Jesus taught says: the gateway into the kingdom is through suffering. Through your being persecuted. Through your persecution, other people receive the gospel. Other people see the witness of your lives. Your lives shine as light in the world.
Is light important? Of course it is important. Because if you don't have light you stumble into the pit. You break your neck. You die in there. We are the light of the world. That brings God's salvation to a world that perishes. But to do that, light has to burn out. Light has to burn out. The other day we had a power cut up in Pincock. I don't know if you had a power cut, but we had a power cut. Five hours. We didn't have any light in the evening. And so we had to light our candles. And the candle gave forth such good light. I was saying to Helen, "These candles are so good. The flame is so long, so steady. Beautiful candles. They give such good light." Because I have some candles that are forever getting drowned in the wax. And you are forever trying to pull up the wick, because the light is disappearing as the wax is drowning the wick. But this one burns steadily from beginning to end. Shining. A long flame, about an inch and a half long. Giving beautiful light. Very costly though. Because to give that light, the candle steadily burned down, down, down, down, until it was no more. It burned out completely. It perished. The candle literally burned out so that we might enjoy the light, that we might not fall down the stairs and break our neck, that we might see where we were going and what we were doing.
We had the light. We are to be light. The Lord Jesus said, "You are the light of the world. So shine." Shining is costly. You burn out in the process. You burn out. But others receive salvation. There is a suffering which we are called upon to bear. There is a sacrifice, a burning out, that we are called upon to give, so that others might have the life of Christ. We are to channel that life to others through our death, through our suffering. I hope you understand Colossians 1:24 very well, very well from now on. "I rejoice in my sufferings," Paul says. "I am so happy." Why? Because through my suffering I am making up that part which is lacking in the suffering of Christ. That part which I am called to bear, that others might live. He died to bring that salvation, to make salvation possible. But that salvation would stop at Calvary if the disciples did not go out and bring that salvation to the rest of the world. He would have died and nobody would know about it. It would be finished. It was for the disciples to go out and tell the whole world. "Go into all the world and make disciples." But to do that is a costly business. They had to suffer the whole way through. That part of the suffering, that part of the salvation of the world, is for the disciples to bear. For the church to bear. For you to bear. And for me to bear.
Now remember, not only Paul. Don't say, "Well that is only Paul suffering here." No, no, no. The whole point that he is saying here is that we should imitate him, that we should have the same mind as he had. In Philippians chapter 1 verse 30, that is exactly what he said in the previous letter. Philippians chapter 1 verse 29: "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ" — remember, for righteousness' sake — "you should not only believe in Him" — not only believe; this is all the church wants today, "only believe" — "not only believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, engaged in the same conflict which you saw and now hear to be mine." You and I, Paul says, we are engaged in the same conflict. Because you and I were both called, not just to believe, but to suffer. We are engaged in the same battle. And in a battle for the salvation of souls, as in any other battle, there will be casualties. Some will be hurt. And some will be killed. There is no warfare in which nobody comes out with a scratch. Everybody is going to get hurt.
So let us observe this value of suffering. It has a salvific value. The blessedness of suffering is that we are called to minister the life of Christ and the salvation of Christ to others. And in that process, that part of the suffering is ours. That part is committed to us to bear. We cannot die to atone for the sins of others. Only the blood of Jesus can take away the sins of the world. But nobody would receive the blessing of that blood and that great salvation unless you and I carried it to the world. And in doing that, we take up our cross. Our suffering.
And on this matter of suffering, there are so many other parts of the Lord's teaching in Scripture that bear on this point. 1 Peter chapter 3 and verses 13 and 14 says exactly the same thing. "But even if you do suffer for righteousness' sake" — notice exactly the same words as the Lord Jesus says, "for righteousness' sake" — "you will be blessed." Here Peter echoes the words of the Lord Jesus. "Have no fear of them, nor be troubled. But in your hearts reverence Christ as Lord." Now here again, we are to have this readiness and rejoice in this suffering for righteousness' sake, because in this way we bring the gospel to others.
Let us come to the last of these points, the seventh point. Why should we then rejoice in suffering? For all these above reasons. But still more, the Lord Jesus says here in Matthew chapter 5 verse 12, "Great is your reward." Your reward will be great. Why will your reward be great? Because in suffering you will be well pleasing to God. You will be pleasing to God. And why? For what other reason? You will be found in the company of the prophets. "For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Oh, it is wonderful. The privilege of suffering, because thereby you find yourself to be among the prophets. You prove yourself to be a genuine prophet of God. You know, all the disciples are called to be prophets, as we have just seen, to bring the word of God to others, to bring salvation to others. That was the work of the prophets. And when you endure suffering and bring salvation to others, you prove yourself not only to be a disciple, but to be a prophet of God. A faithful prophet of God, who brings the word of God, the word of life, to others, not just in words, but in your life. You are found in the best company there is. You are well pleasing to God. You are shown to be a true disciple. A faithful servant of God. Now is that not cause for rejoicing? You rejoice, because it is of such that the kingdom belongs.
Well, here then we see the reasons why there is such great value in suffering. Such great privilege to belong to God in this way. We must also, in conclusion, bear this in mind. We must suffer, if we suffer at all, for righteousness' sake. For righteousness' sake. Let no Christian ever suffer for wrongdoing. Let no Christian ever suffer for doing things which are disgraceful, for speaking evil of other people, for slandering, for misrepresentation, for doing wrong things. The clause here is "for righteousness' sake," and not for any other reason. But if you do suffer for righteousness' sake, rejoice in this, that you are among the prophets.
And that is not yet all. I have found, and I think all those who have suffered for righteousness' sake in any small or great measure will have found, that never is God's presence closer to you than when you suffer. That is so wonderful. When you suffer for righteousness' sake, there is another reason for the blessing. You will find God's presence so close to you as you have never experienced before. You find that actually also in the Scriptures. You remember that when Paul and Silas were thrown into prison, they rejoiced in being in prison for the Lord's sake. They sang hymns and praises to the Lord. And as a result of that, the Lord's presence was there, confirming His presence with an earthquake. Such an earthquake that the jail fell apart. The presence of God in suffering. And time and again you will find this.
In 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 17, Paul at his trial — he was on trial for his life — said this: "Nobody stood by me, but the Lord stood by me." God's presence was so close to him in jail and at the trial. Suffering is so blessed because God's presence is so close. I pray that all of us here will fully understand the spiritual value of suffering. Never again to find ourselves groaning or moaning, but to know that suffering is a spiritual blessing. A spiritual blessing of the highest order. To be welcomed with joy, as a privilege.
Now sometimes I feel, when I speak about suffering here in the West, I feel whether I am just wasting my time. Because I don't know that many Christians understand anything about suffering. After all, what occasion do you have for suffering? If I were preaching this message in China, I would feel everyone listening there understands what you are talking about, and they would be encouraged and strengthened. But when I preach this message in the West, I feel as though I am beating the air and talking nonsense, since nobody knows what persecution is about.
But perhaps that day will come, in Christ Jesus. Don't go looking for trouble. But live godly in Christ Jesus, and soon that persecution will come. One thing disturbs me greatly about the church in the West. The church in the West is either ignored or respected. And both of these things bother me a lot. Why? Because the Scripture says, as I have many times said, the church will suffer persecution. Then why is the church not being persecuted in the West? That bothers me. There is something wrong with the church that the world does not bother to persecute you. Obviously the world is not impressed with the church, because the church amounts to absolutely nothing to the world. It is doing absolutely nothing. There is no light that is shining. Otherwise, believe me, this world will start persecuting us.
But the church today that we have in the West, obviously has no impact. It bothers me that the church is not persecuted. It gets all kinds of special privileges. Now pastors, I am told, get special privileges. We are supposed to get tax deductions. Right now, I was discussing with Don the other day, that it bothers me. I don't like collecting these special concessions. In England, they said pastors don't have to pay tax on their housing allowance. I said, "I am paying this tax like anybody else." They looked at me and thought, "Strange guy. We don't want your money, and you want to pay us the money." I said, "I don't want any concessions. If other people pay taxes, I pay taxes." Some people may think I am a rather nutty case, right? Well, but what bothers me is that the world is giving the church special treatment and honoring us.
Here in the West we pastors are regarded as sort of rather high up in the world. We can sign particular forms. If people want citizenship, we can sign it. There are other forms we can sign. We are among the people who are trusted by the government, like lawyers and doctors and all these kinds of people. Only a select group of people can sign particular forms, and we are among the people who can sign. It bothers me. I don't like this particular special treatment. And I feel more at home when we get to the East, where people despise you and reject you. Pastors are only one grade higher than beggars. The scum of society. The kind of dropouts that, because you can't pass in anything else, you can't get a profession in any other job, in any other place, so now you become a pastor. Good. Now we are beginning to talk. Despised and rejected. There is the joy.
But the church today, how far we have gone in the West. I would to God that the church would again live as the light. Again live in such a standard of godliness that the world begins to feel uncomfortable again. Say, "Hey, we better withdraw privileges from these guys." The church today is not concerned to preach righteousness. It is not concerned to preach holiness. It just wants to preach dogma. And the world is not worried about dogma. You like to believe in dogma? Go ahead. You want to believe that Jesus did this and that? You go ahead. As long as you don't bother our lives, you can believe in transcendental meditation. You can believe in whatever you like. I don't care what you believe in. Just leave us in peace. As long as John the Baptist talked whatever he liked, they didn't worry. But when John the Baptist said, "You are a sinner," then you are in trouble.
I would that God will revive His church in these days. In the meantime, let us have the desire and the determination to take up our cross and follow Him. Let us be quiet in prayer.