James Meehan - How Jesus Transforms Our Pain Into Something Better

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Well, it's pretty common as Christians here in the US of A to talk about how blessed we are to live in a nation where we can practice our faith without the fear of persecution. Because there are actually places in the world today where public Christianity is a no-no. Like if people found out you are a follower of Jesus, you would be cut off from all of your friends. You would potentially lose your job and in certain places they would actually take your life because there are places in the world where to be a Christian brings persecution at really severe levels.

And what I'm not trying to tell you is that we should not be grateful to God, that we can practice our faith here in the ways that we can. That is an amazing privilege to enjoy. But it's really interesting because when Jesus talks about the blessed life, he doesn't say the blessed life is for the privileged. In fact, he says the opposite. He says, "The blessed life is for the persecuted". In Matthew Chapter 5:10-12, he says, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, when they persecute you, when they falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me, rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you".

That's why if you're taking notes, the main point from this week's message is this, that the blessed life is rarely easier, but it is always better. The blessed life is rarely easier, but it is always better. Now throughout this series, we have been walking through the introduction to the Sermon on the Mount. The greatest sermon ever preached it is Jesus's manifesto on what life is like when God is in charge and he kicks things off with a series of nine blessings that are called the beatitudes. And that's what we've been walking through in this series. Like in the first week we looked at the first four of these blessings that when you hear them they sound kind of backwards like the first four.

Jesus said, "Blessed are those who are poor in spirit because theirs is the kingdom of heaven". He says, "Blessed are those who mourn for they'll be comforted. Blessed are the meek or the powerless because they will inherit the earth. And blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness". The fact that they're hungry and thirsting for it means that they do not have it, but they will be filled. That's the first four. And then in week two of the series, we looked at the next three where Jesus goes on to say, and also "Blessed are the merciful because they'll be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers for will be called children of God".

And like those ones actually seem to make sense, like it seems like a good thing to be merciful. But then Jesus like closes out the whole thing with this, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven". That's what we're gonna talk about this week. How in the world it can be true that those who are persecuted are actually blessed. Now actually before we get to that, we do have to address a very important detail that Jesus says. He does not say, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because they're being a bunch of jerks".

That is not what he says. He says, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness". And this is like really important because it is not uncommon to hear Christians complain about the persecution and the pressure they're experiencing that they kind of bring on themselves because they're being a bunch of judgmental jerks. Like when I first became a Christian, I totally messed this up. Like I was really excited about living for Jesus and sharing what life with like is like what life with him is really like to all the people around me.

So like at my job, I was the assistant manager at this frozen custard shop in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was telling everybody about how much Jesus has changed my life, but I was being so self righteous that I kept making these like passive aggressive comments that I didn't quite realize were so aggressive and really not that passive to the point where my attempts to bring them to church was actually just pushing them farther away from God. And they didn't want to have a whole lot to do with me. Not because of righteousness, but because of my own self-righteousness. Jesus does not say, "Blessed are those who are jerks". He says, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness".

Now, how does that work? Now, I think the answer actually comes from the fact that if we look at the way Jesus works, if we look at how he responds to our pain, if we look at his own life, Jesus who endured immense suffering, always used it for good and he does the same exact same thing for you. That's why I would say one of the reasons we can trust that the persecuted are blessed is because persecution actually develops resilience. It develops resilience in us. Like when you go through hard things, you become stronger. Like faith is kind of like a muscle that the more it is tested, the stronger it grows.

And some of the greatest testing you will experience in your faith is actually persecution because of righteousness. James, he's the brother of Jesus and he was a leader in the early church. He writes this in the first chapter of his letter in the New Testament. He says, "To consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because trials, persecution, struggles, suffering, all of that, the testing of your faith, it produces perseverance, it develops resilience. And when perseverance is allowed to finish its work in you, you'll become mature and complete, not lacking anything".

Why are those who are persecuted called blessed by Jesus? Because persecution develops resilience in us. When we are pushed, when we are stretched, when we are challenged, we actually get better. And like this makes sense because it is true in almost any craft that we might engage in. Like when it comes to your sport, if you wanna get better at your sport, you do not get better by simply sitting on the couch watching YouTube videos about your sport. Like you might learn a little bit, it might be enjoyable, but if you're not actually pushing yourself and challenging yourself, you're probably not gonna grow very much.

When it comes to like your musical instrument of choice, the way that you get better is you challenge yourself. You put in the work to learn to grow and to become better in the future than you used to be in the past. And the same thing is true when it comes to our faith. When our faith is tested, when we do the right things, righteousness and we experience persecution, pressure and pushback, God uses that to develop resilience in us. Emily took a communication class at her school and one of the really early assignments that they were given was to share about the most important night of their lives.

And so Emily got in front of her class and shared the story of how being at Switch changed her life because it was there that she devoted her entire life to following Jesus. But after she shared this with her class, things started to change pretty quickly. Like the people in her class started treating her very differently. All of a sudden they started making all sorts of comments about her being the girl who never stops talking about Jesus. They started to make her the butt of all the jokes. A lot of people began to say increasingly hurtful and hateful things to where there's this one guy sitting at her table who literally said to her, "You should go and kill yourself".

That was what Emily was walking through and it was ridiculously painful for her and so she did what most of us do when we experienced that level of pushback, she started to isolate herself. She started to withdraw because she did not want to be around the people who were inflicting so much pain on her. Like it got to the point where every day at lunch she would eat by herself in her car because she was convinced that nobody wanted her around. She stopped getting invited to parties, her friends stopped making time for her. It gotta the point where she felt completely alone and at times she was actually like a little bit okay with that because she felt like if she just keeps her head down, then the harassment will eventually come to an end. But thank God that is not how her story ends.

You see, while going through that, Emily felt like God was calling her to do something different, to not let the persecution push her down, but actually allow it to build her up, to give her the confidence to stand out, to be intentional in every space that God had placed her to be intentional with all of the people around her, doing the best she could to let her light shine even when it was hard. And what's super cool about Emily, she got together with one of her friends and they decided to start this Bible study because they knew that they needed each other and they knew that it is really hard to follow Jesus when you're doing it on your own and you don't feel like you have a safe space.

So they came together to create a space for other students just like them, to find community around the things that matter most to them to build each other up and encourage one another when they're feeling discouraged because of the persecution and the pushback they experience. Why is it blessed to be persecuted? Because God uses the persecution, he uses the pain that we endure to strengthen our purpose, to develop resilience, to make us more like Jesus so we can love others the way that Jesus has loved us. The other thing that God does is he uses our persecution to deepen our relationships.

Now, what's super interesting about this series of blessings is this one right here at the end versus 10 and 11 where Jesus says, "Blessed are those who are persecuted". Is the first time that Jesus doubles down on the same blessing because he says like, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness". And then he goes on to say right after that, "And blessed are you when you are persecuted". So what I wanna do is I actually wanna show you both of them next to each other because when you put them next to each other, you see a couple of really key differences.

And I think this is important because it could be the case that Jesus is just doubling down because he didn't think we would believe him the first time he said it, might be the case. But I think it's more than that. I think it's because the first blessing is a lot more general. Jesus says, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness". But the second one is so much more personal. It's so much more relational. Jesus blessed are you. When people insult you, when people persecute you, when people falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me, the first blessing is general. The second is relational. Because persecution, it has the power to develop resilience within us.

And if we let it, it has the potential to deepen our relationships with Jesus and his people. Because it's absolutely true that when people persecute you, they are pushing you away. And what they wanna do is push you into isolation. But if you will let it, then persecution can push you deeper into God's family, deeper into his kingdom, deeper into relationship with him. This is why the persecuted are blessed because it develops resilience and it deepens our relationships. Here's the thing that Jesus goes on to say, he says, "When you are persecuted, rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you, great is your reward in heaven".

Now, I think it is important to acknowledge that when most of us here in heaven, we think, "Okay, cool, so like my life is gonna suck until eventually I die. And then I go to the floating city in the clouds and that's where everything gets better". And the thing about Jesus is when he stepped onto the stage of history, he announced his ministry by declaring that the kingdom of heaven has come near. He showed up in history to tell everybody the good news that the rule and reign of God was taking root in the real world. It is not just some far off place in the future. With Jesus, it is here it is now, it is in the present. Yes, there is an aspect that we will not experience this side of eternity, but what Jesus came to do was to create a space in this life for us to know him, for us to experience God and for us to find community with his people.

This is why persecution can produce blessing, because it develops our resilience and it deepens our relationships if we will let it. And there's some of you like you're hearing all of this and it sounds good, but like none of it feels good because persecution is ridiculously painful and there are some of you who you have been insulted because of your faith in Jesus. Like there are people who have literally called you dumb, uneducated and closed minded because you believe in a God that you cannot prove scientifically.

There are some of you who have been persecuted because you have chosen to live in a way that honors your purity and your sexual integrity. Like you're not sleeping around, you're not looking at porn because you wanna honor God and your future spouse, and that makes you really weird. And the people are around you, they're telling you about all the things that you're missing out. There are some of you who because you follow Jesus, there are people that are spreading rumors and saying all kinds of untrue and evil things about you. And every time you hear it, it hurts again like it's the first time because none of that, none of that is what we wanted.

None of it's what we asked for. The blessed life is rarely easier, but I promise you it is always better because when you choose to follow Jesus, he invites you into his kingdom. He creates a place for you in his family. He fills you with his spirit. He breathes new life into your lungs. He gives you purpose and freedom and joy that this world can never understand or take away. And there will be times where you are tempted to throw in the towel, but you will choose to stay in the fight because you know that yes, this sucks. But following Jesus is so much better than anything I ever experienced before.

And I am not going back where I came from because this isn't perfect. But Jesus is making me and Jesus is working in me, and Jesus is using me to do more than I ever could on my own because the blessed life, it's rarely easier but I promise you it is always better because Jesus uses persecution to develop our resilience. He uses the persecution to deepen our relationships to him and with others. So what do you do? What do you do when you're ready to call it quits? What do you do when you don't think you can keep following Jesus? What do you do when you're tempted to throw in the towel? How do you stay in the fight?

I got four things for you. The first thing, you gotta lean on others, because none of us were meant to do this alone. We need each other to carry the weight of following Jesus. Second thing you need to do is focus on Jesus to actually point your eyes at him, fix your attention on him because he wants to help you through it. Third thing you gotta do is you have to remember your why. Like when you are tempted to stop, remember why you started. How has Jesus moved in your life? How have you seen him work in you to produce change and blessing and to show you that life with him is better than life without? And fourth thing, you gotta focus on Jesus and I don't just put that one twice because it's Jesus, I put it twice because those four steps actually are what shows up in one of my favorite scriptures of all time.

It's in the book of Hebrews chapter 12:1-3, where if we read this, what it tells us is that, "Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses". When you feel alone, you're not on your own because we are surrounded by God's people. You gotta lean on others. "Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that's so easily entangles. Let us run with perseverance with resilience, the race that is marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus. Focus on Jesus, he's the pioneer and perfecter of faith. It was for the joy set before him that he endured the cross".

What was Jesus' why? It was the joy set before him. It was your salvation. It was you, you are the reason that Jesus endured the cross, because of the love that he had for you. It is the thing that pulled him through all of the pain he endured. So focus on Jesus. Remember your why. "After Jesus endured the cross, he scorned its shame. He sat down at the right hand of the throne of God and then consider him". Focus on Jesus. "Who endured such opposition, such persecution from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart".

When you are tempted to throw in the towel. Choose to stay in the fight by leaning on others, by focusing on Jesus, by remembering your why, and also focusing on Jesus, the blessed life. It is rarely easier, but it is always better. So what's it gonna look like for you to stay in the fight when you're tempted to call it quits? For some of you, the thing that you need to do is actually start leaning on your Switch group, your church family, inviting them into the struggles that you're going through so that you can feel the joy of other people being in your corner.

For others of you, it's gonna be to focus on Jesus. Like when you're showing up here to Switch week in and week out, actually paying attention to the songs we sing, to the messages we preach to hear freshly the goodness of God and all that he has done for you. Others of you, you're gonna remember your why. You're gonna remember why you started following Jesus. You're gonna remember who you used to be and who it is that he is turning you into, transforming you from the inside out.

And for all of us, let us choose to focus on Jesus, fixing our eyes on him, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, the one who for the joy set before him endured the cross scorning its shame because he's inviting us to live the blessed life. A life that begins by believing in him and a life that always involves him, making us more and more of who we are meant to be. That's why the persecuted are blessed, because persecution, it develops resilience and it deepens our relationships.

So Lord Jesus, we come before you right now, so grateful for the example that you have set for us. Help us to lean on others, to focus on you, to remember our why and to keep our eyes fixed on you every time we are tempted to throw in the towel, because we know that following you is worth it because life with you is so much better than anything else this world has to offer. We pray all this in your name. Amen.