{"id":619,"date":"2016-08-29T11:19:34","date_gmt":"2016-08-29T11:19:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/?p=619"},"modified":"2018-01-20T03:28:47","modified_gmt":"2018-01-20T03:28:47","slug":"8-persecution-of-the-righteous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/?p=619","title":{"rendered":"#8 Persecution of the Righteous"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matthew 5:10 \u00a0Blessed\u00a0are<\/em> they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake; for their’s is the kingdom of heaven.<\/h4>\n
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Paul said very plainly and explicitly, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2 Tim 3:12) \u00a0This verse is very troubling. \u00a0If persecution is a litmus test for godly living, I’m afraid most of us would fail the test. \u00a0Persecutions are not troubles, trials and temptations that are common to man. \u00a0The children of the devil also must endure such as these. \u00a0Unbelievers get sick. \u00a0Unbelievers run out of money. \u00a0Unbelievers lose loved ones. \u00a0Unbelievers have hardships and trials just as the Christians do. \u00a0This may be hard to swallow, but unbelievers also are delivered from such. \u00a0 What we deem as our personal trials and tribulations are merely Adam’s bane. God told Eve, “I will greatly multiply thy sorrow<\/strong><\/em> and thy conception; in sorrow<\/strong><\/em> thou shalt bring forth children…” (Gen 3:16) \u00a0Likewise, God told Adam, “…cursed<\/strong><\/em> is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow<\/em><\/strong> shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life<\/em><\/strong>;” (Gen 3:17) \u00a0Life has a way of bringing forth sorrow: troubles, trials and tribulations indeed.<\/p>\n

However, there’s a difference between that and persecution for righteousness’ sake<\/em>. \u00a0In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, he warns them of false apostles. \u00a0He reluctantly (almost sarcastically) compares the works and experiences of the deceitful workers to those of himself, a true apostle. \u00a0Paul asks, “Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am<\/i> more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes<\/i> save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned…” (2 Cor 11:23-25) \u00a0Does living godly in Christ Jesus afford such fruit? \u00a0Stripes, prisons, deaths, beatings, and stonings? \u00a0When’s the last time you had to endure just one of those?<\/p>\n

Now, we don’t want to go off the deep end and say that one absolutely cannot live godly in Christ Jesus unless<\/strong><\/em> they suffer persecution, because that’s not what the Bible says. But why do we always stop short when we quote Phillippians 3:10? \u00a0“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection…” \u00a0No, that verse doesn’t end there. \u00a0Paul also desired to know “the fellowship of his sufferings.” \u00a0We may truely know God. \u00a0We may know the life changing power of his resurrection. \u00a0But are we acquainted with the fellowship of his sufferings? \u00a0Paul desired that he be “made conformable unto his death.” \u00a0Now some people will teach that this is equivalent to the mortification<\/em> of sin: “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5); and that being made conformable unto his death<\/em> is a crucifixion of the flesh: “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” (Galatian 5:24) Some may see the fellowship of his sufferings<\/em>\u00a0as being crucified with Christ. (Galatians 2:20) \u00a0In our circles, a dying to oneself<\/em> is taught and this is sometimes likened to being made conformable unto his death<\/em>, including dying to the world and the world to you. (Galatians 6:14) \u00a0All these are so and may be necessary to know the fellowship of his sufferings, but they hardly are<\/em><\/strong> the fellowship of his sufferings.<\/p>\n

The fellowship of his sufferings is\u00a0the actual partaking of his sufferings (1 Peter 4:13). \u00a0To partake of Jesus sufferings is to be persecuted for righteousness’ sake<\/em>. \u00a0This is the solemn fellowship of the martyr<\/em><\/strong>: those that came out of great tribulation (Rev 7;14), those that loved not their lives unto the death (Rev 12:11), those that held fast His name and as not denied His faith (Rev 2:13). \u00a0These are they that are\u00a0troubled on every side, yet not distressed;\u00a0perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. (2 Cor 4:8-10) \u00a0The trials they faced were not common to man, but common to Jesus Christ, the righteous suffering Saviour. \u00a0Yes, Jesus was touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but they were touched by the feeling of his sufferings? \u00a0Jesus said, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it\u00a0hated<\/em> you.” (John 15:18) \u00a0Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. \u00a0How earnest is our desire for the blessings of God?<\/p>\n

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Here is some real good preaching on the fellowship of his sufferings. \u00a0He makes it real clear that it’s not<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0a partaking of the substitutionary aspects of his suffering, but rather something else. \u00a0Dr. James Crumpton, The Fellowship of His Sufferings.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Matthew 5:10 \u00a0Blessed\u00a0are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake; for their’s is the kingdom of heaven. Paul said very plainly and explicitly, “Yea, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotionchallenge"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7qg4l-9Z","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=619"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":630,"href":"https:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619\/revisions\/630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thereisnewsinthetruth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}