This study was first taught on January 27, 2010

Topic: You Are … (1)

No audio available for this study.

---

Background
Last week we studied the last of the beatitudes: enduring persecution for righteousness’ sake till the end. The first seven beatitudes being : (a) recognizing our need for God always; (b) being sorrowful for sin and its consequences; (c) surrendering totally to the will of God; (d) a very strong desire for the establishment of justice in lives and society; (e) being merciful to the good and underserving alike; (f) having clean thoughts towards all men and in all things; and, (g) having received the peace of God in your heart, making it known to all men, how they too can receive it in their hearts. We observed that while the first seven beatitudes refer to possessing certain imputed spiritual attributes as we yield to the operation of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, the last one (persecution for righteousness’ sake) refers to our attitude when others treat us disdainfully just because we are followers of Christ and His teachings!

We defined ‘persecution’ as ‘harassment’, ‘hatred’, ‘hacking down’, or ‘hunting down’; and noted that the Lord Jesus was saying in Matthew 5:10 that we are blessed when, not if, we are harassed, hated, hacked down, or hunted down, for doing what is right in the sight of God, and living in accordance with God’s way for man. We also observed that the Lord Jesus encourages us to not only endure such harassment, hatred, hacking down, or being hunted for righteousness’ (or for His) sake; but also to enjoy it so that we can persevere till the end!

It became clear that enduring and enjoying persecution is one of the toughest parts of Christianity today, especially with the populist messages of prosperity, divine health, prayer against death and pain, etc., and the lure of the things of the world.

We determined that persecution of those who are doing right by God, is as old as time, and will continue to occur because, men who do evil do not want their deeds to be regarded as evil, and so would go to any length to discredit those who are doing and living right in the sight of God! The challenge is thus whether the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ will join those doing evil, rather than do what is right, just because they may becoming a laughing stock, they may lose their jobs or means of livelihood, or they may even lose their lives to hit men sent after them?; whether the Christian would keep silent in the face of injustice, just so that he can save his skin?; and whether he would opt out of persecution so that he can live a ‘peaceful’ life while here on earth? The folly of refusing or avoiding persecution for righteousness’ sake is that those who seek to keep their lives by avoiding it, end up losing their lives; while those who are prepared to lose their lives when persecution comes their way, save their lives and obtain wonderful rewards in eternity.

We were thus challenged to live as we ought to in this dark and perverse world even though we may be hated and reviled by others; remembering that several thousand others have gone before us and though they suffered persecution, they endured and have left for us a heritage of true Christianity! We were therefore urged to build on what has been laid down for us rather than trying to lay another basis for Christianity (which really isn’t the basis for Christianity).

Scripture Text(s)
Matthew 5:13

In our scripture text tonight, the Lord Jesus tells us, Christians, that we are “the salt of the earth”. He is saying in other words that, just as the natural salt gives taste to food, and preserves meat that could rot, among other uses; the Christian is the ‘salt’ who makes life on earth worth living, and for whose sake extreme wickedness and lawlessness is being restrained. But then, the Lord says just as salt can become useless, the Christian can become utterly useless and thus trampled upon if he loses his ability to make the earth worth living in. May the Holy Spirit help us to know what we must do and avoid if we are to remain the flavour of the earth.
Genesis 3:17-19; Psalm 14:2-3; Romans 3:23; Galatians 3:10-11; 13-14; Job 6:6; 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8; 2 Kings 2:19-22; Judges 9:45; Mark 9:50;Clossians 4:6; Luke 14:34-35; Romans 8:9; Galatians 5:16-26; 2 Timothy 2:19; 1 Peter 2:1-3; 3:1-5; Ecclesiastes 10:1; Hebrew 10:21-39; Judges 16:20-22; 1 John 5:16-17; Hebrews 10:29; Matthew 12:31-32; Ephesians 4:30.

Conclusion
What could have been a blissful life on earth, was truncated and damned because of the sin of Adam and the disobedience of man thereafter; but Christ came and redeemed man from the curse of the Law. To ensure that the deliverance of man and the earth from the curse of the law is maintained, the Christian is kept on earth to make it worth living. When the Holy Spirit leaves the earth taking with Him all that should be raptured, lawlessness will become the order of the day.

The believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is thus the ‘salt’ that makes the earth worth living in. He gives it taste, preserves and even purifies it. The greatest challenge, however, is keeping the ‘saltiness’ of the believer in Christ, in the face of the lure of the world. We have thus seen that we must have the Holy Spirit constantly in and with us; we must desire, and live out, the word of God in our everyday lives.

The consequence of not retaining our saltiness is something we don’t want to experience; for once a person, having tasted the goodness of God, sins continually, he is lost forever! Let us therefore not just be salt for a season, but for all seasons (Psalm 1:1-3); and let us not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

---

Back to all Bible Study Outline List